Ideal time for training. The best time to workout The best time to workout in the gym

As in life, so in sports, everything should have its time. The best time to train is the most effective in terms of achieving results. If you choose the wrong one, then training will not help you achieve your desired goals. What's the best time to gain weight? When is it better to go to the gym, and when to work out?

All this depends on the goals being pursued. What does a person want: to keep his body in good shape, lose weight or, conversely, gain? It is these goals that determine the best time to train.

Scientific research

Scientists from different countries are constantly conducting all kinds of research related to identifying the most suitable period of time to play sports. And what did they come to?

American researchers stated that the best time to train the body is determined by its body type. People are divided into three main types: If a person belongs to the third type, then he has a very slow metabolism and is more susceptible to gaining extra pounds. For this type of person, the best time to exercise is in the morning. This is from approximately 7 to 10 o'clock. At this time, the body has very little glucose and glycogen, and it is forced to take energy by oxidizing fats.

When a person is an ectomorph, his metabolism is very fast and there is a predisposition to thinness. For this type, the best time for training is in the evening, as the body has enough energy and strength. And he really needs them during training.

People with an average body type are called mesomorphs. Their metabolism is normal. There is no tendency to be overweight or thin. These people are the luckiest, since for them the best time to workout can be any: morning, afternoon and evening. Everything depends only on desire and well-being.

Other scientists from the city of Williamsburg carried out a series of experiments, dividing the day into four periods: 8, 12, 16, 20 hours. At certain times, several participants performed exercises with heavy weights. It should be noted that these people had not previously engaged in sports.

The experiment showed that they were most effective in the evening. This is due to the contraction and work of fast muscle fibers. They are most productive during evening weight training, when body temperature is slightly higher. Another important reason that was identified during this study was testosterone and cortisol levels. The first is responsible for the growth of muscle mass. The second is for destruction.

At rest, testosterone levels are highest in the first half of the day. When training is underway, its level increases significantly more precisely after evening classes. Conclusion: if the goal is to build muscle mass, then it is better to train in the evening.

The best time to exercise to burn fat and promote weight loss is in the morning, as cortisol levels are higher. But it's not that simple. This will be discussed in more detail below.

Early Bird Workout

When a person wakes up very early, for example at 5 o’clock, and feels full of energy, then early training is suitable for him. You just need to take into account the lower body temperature at this time. Ligaments and joints are not very elastic in the morning, so the most active exercises are not the best option. Well, breathing exercises and yoga are excellent choices. Little energy is expended, and the body is charged with strength for the whole day.

From 7 to 9 we burn fat

It is these morning hours that are suitable for burning fat and cardio training. Cortisol levels are high at this time, glycogen is low, and the body takes energy from adipose tissue. It is best to spend no more than 40 minutes at moderate intensity. If a person does not have problems with blood pressure and heart, you can increase the pace and cut the time in half. You need to focus on how you feel, since not everyone can exercise in the morning.

Aerobic exercises - from 15 to 16 hours

At this time, body temperature begins to actively rise and by half past five it reaches its peak. This watch is perfect for active types of fitness, which include cycling, aerobics, dancing and running. They will have a beneficial effect on the fat burning process, and will also help strengthen the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

High-intensity and strength training - from 17 to 18 hours

This is the best time to train with heavy weights. During these hours you need to go to the gym or do interval and high-intensity training. They require a lot of endurance. In the evening, body temperature is higher, as is the level of the hormone testosterone. All these factors have a positive effect on strength. This increases productivity during training.

Training after 19:00

At this time, body temperature begins to decrease, and bodyflex, yoga, tai chi, and stretching are suitable for the body. They have a calming and healing effect, promote the formation of correct and beautiful posture, strengthen deep muscle layers, develop endurance and flexibility, and also have a positive effect on the psyche.

Conclusion

Considering all of the above, we can say that the best time for training depends on the individual characteristics of the person’s body, as well as his goals. The morning hours are the best for losing weight, and the evening hours for pumping up muscles. Just before you start training, you need to visit a doctor to find out more about your body and make sure that there are no contraindications. And while playing sports, it is important to monitor nutrition and sleep, since the result will appear only with the right approach to all three components. If at least one of the factors is left unattended, then even if you choose the best time of the day for training, you can torture yourself with exercises for a long time, but still end up with excess or, conversely, insufficient weight.

When training regularly in the gym or at home, not only the exercise program is of great importance, but also what time the classes take place.

This is due to the fact that in a person, at different times of the day, various processes are activated that are responsible for gaining muscle mass or vice versa - for losing weight, as well as for sleep and wakefulness.

When is the best time to exercise and why ^

All athletes know that the body’s ability to burn fat depends not only on nutrition and the training program, but also on the time at which they will be carried out - in the morning, at lunch or in the evening. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that each person has his own circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake cycle - changes in various biological processes depending on the time of day.

It is this cycle that regulates body temperature, blood pressure, metabolism and many other physiological processes of the body. All living things have an internal clock. As a rule, these biological rhythms are subject to a 24-hour day, but can change under the influence of environmental signals. The time at which a person usually exercises is one such signal.

At the same time, we should not forget about the concept of “biorhythm”, which allows us to divide people into “larks” and “night owls”.

• Early risers are people who find it easier to get up early in the morning, but more difficult to stay awake at night.
• With owls, the opposite is true: after waking up early, they will feel a loss of strength, but closer to night they will have a surge of energy and their performance will increase.
• There is a third human chronotype - pigeons. People who belong to it can start work with equal efficiency both early in the morning and late in the evening, and they will not lack energy.

It often happens that a person’s circadian rhythm gets confused, this is especially true for early risers. This phenomenon can occur for a number of reasons:

• Working with a shift schedule;
• Pregnancy;
• Taking certain medications;
• Transfers and flights;
• Change to winter or summer time;
• The presence of small children, if the circadian rhythms of the mother and child do not coincide;
• Spending a long time at the computer before bed.

The circadian rhythm determines what time is best to exercise at home or in the gym:

• For example, a morning person who decides to exercise at 8-9 pm will feel weak and uncomfortable due to lack of strength;
• For owls, this time, on the contrary, is considered the most optimal.

Thus, physical activity will bring results only when it is combined with the human biorhythm, as well as with proper nutrition and a well-designed training program.

Is it possible to change your circadian rhythm: how to adjust your internal clock

Research shows that a person can change their circadian rhythm, for example by waking up to an alarm and eating at the same time.

• Scientists have also found that people who consistently exercise in the morning can “teach” their body to be ready for physical activity at that time of day.
• Volunteers who were used to working out in the morning felt less strong and focused during the evening workouts.

Experts say that this adjustment of the biological rhythm is especially important for athletes who are preparing for specific competitions. They recommend rescheduling training for the exact time of day when the competition will take place.

Best time of day to exercise

According to scientists, the optimal time for fitness is when normal body temperature reaches its maximum and muscles become warm and elastic. For most people this happens around 16:00 - 17:00. Also, according to various sources, a person is about five percent stronger in the middle of the day, and more resilient in the afternoon.

It is believed that in the mornings the body temperature is most reduced, and it is undesirable to exercise at this time - simple exercise will be enough. The rest of the time, human biorhythms operate clockwise as follows:

• From 10 to 12 days the highest concentration of adrenaline is observed, so you can engage in any sports that require attentiveness and endurance;
• From 14 to 15 days, human activity is reduced, and it is best to devote time to rest;
• From 15 to 16 days the muscles are in increased tone, and you can work out with dumbbells;
• From 16 to 19 pm - you can exercise, go to aerobics, run. During such a period, the body has the most favorable effect on stress;
• From 20 to 22 pm the temperature gradually decreases, energy decreases, and fatigue appears. It is advisable to postpone any loads.

Before or after meals

• The answer to this question depends on the goals of the exercise, but all trainers recommend eating light food 2 hours before training, otherwise you may not have enough energy and the person will be tired.
• Immediately after eating, any exercise is prohibited, with the exception of using gainer or protein: athletes need to take them 30-60 minutes before visiting the gym.

In the morning or evening

In fact, the choice of time to exercise should depend not only on the generally accepted norms of the circardial rhythm, but also on your own well-being.

• Larks should visit the gym in the first half of the day, because... In the evening you will feel very tired.
• For owls, on the contrary, it is advisable to postpone classes until the evening, because in the morning hours they will not be as active as they should be.

Experts believe that, regardless of personal preference, almost all people are physically stronger and more resilient in the afternoon.

When is the best time to run?

• There is a theory that cardio exercises immediately after waking up contribute to the rapid burning of subcutaneous fat, because. Because of this, the body experiences stress.
• Therefore, those who want to lose weight are recommended to run before breakfast, after drinking a cup of unsweetened coffee or tea.

When should you exercise?

Of course, exercise is designed to wake you up quickly, warm up your muscles and the whole body, so it must be done in the morning.

• It is advisable to do this before breakfast, after visiting the bathroom and washing your face.
• After eating, even mild physical activity can cause digestive problems.

The best time to gain muscle mass

It is believed that training in the afternoon is the best option for those who want to accelerate muscle growth. And you can't argue with this:

• Between 14:00 and 16:00, muscles are most susceptible to stress and metabolism reaches its peak activity, which ultimately contributes to favorable training results.

Is it possible to exercise before bed?

Most studies show that exercise improves sleep quality. It doesn’t matter at all what time of day the training takes place.

• Scientists believe that even vigorous exercise just half an hour before bed does not affect the quality of sleep.
• And one thing experts are unanimous about is that lack of sleep significantly reduces the results of training.

If you decide to take up fitness, choose a time for exercise taking into account your current routine and lifestyle. To avoid injury and fatigue, you need to consistently stick to your chosen schedule and make exercise part of your routine.

Many trainers recommend that their clients, when choosing a time for training, be guided not by generally accepted standards, but by their own well-being. You can choose the most optimal option by experimenting: try working out in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening on different days, and then compare your feelings at different times.

When it comes to the best time to exercise, it is important to separate strength training in the gym for the purpose of muscle growth and cardio training for the purpose of losing weight and burning fat. These are fundamentally different activities, implying different metabolic processes - which is why it is extremely difficult for the body.

Workouts for weight loss are aerobic (that is, requiring the cells to consume oxygen), while strength exercises for muscle growth are anaerobic. Cardio's effectiveness for burning fat increases when blood glucose levels are low (which literally forces the body to burn fat reserves), while strength training is not possible under such conditions.

Why is it hard to exercise in the morning?

Strength training early in the morning is much more challenging for most people than training in the afternoon. The main reason for this is that the body simply does not have enough energy in the morning - and blood sugar levels are minimal, and the energy from fat stores cannot be used to perform strength exercises.

Let's say you are doing squats with a barbell - just a minute ago the body did not know about the upcoming load, but now it needs energy. The source of this “fast” energy can be exclusively glycogen reserves from the muscles working in this movement, but not fat depots. In order to get energy from fat, the body will need at least 15-20 minutes.

How to swing correctly in the morning

If you exercise early in the morning without sufficient glycogen stores, your blood sugar levels will drop, making your workout much more difficult and leading to brain fog or even fainting. For a full-fledged strength training for muscle growth, the body needs at least 100-150 g of carbohydrates, stored in the form of glycogen directly in the muscles.

A hearty breakfast an hour and a half before strength training will help saturate your muscles with energy, but in real life, not all athletes have time for such a breakfast. The situation is aggravated by the fact that in order to successfully gain weight at the end of the training, the body again needs calories for closure - or a second breakfast in the case of morning training.

Strength training early in the morning

For strength training early in the morning (especially when there is no time for a hearty breakfast), it is critical to take it immediately after waking up - otherwise the body simply will not have enough energy. By the time you arrive at the gym, carbohydrates from sports nutrition will have already been absorbed and their energy will enter the bloodstream.

However, after finishing your morning strength training, it is still important to have a full breakfast and provide your muscles not only with carbohydrates and proteins, but also with vitamins and minerals. Also remember that it will take about 1-2 weeks for your body to get used to this type of training regimen, and don’t be discouraged if the first few days seem too difficult.

Morning workouts to burn fat

Let us remind you once again that fat burning occurs exclusively when blood glucose levels are low. The reason lies in the fact that insulin, increased by sugar, is necessary for the formation of energy reserves, while the hormone adrenaline is needed to remove this energy from cells (1). In this case, insulin and adrenaline cannot be synthesized by the body at the same time.

For this reason, it is recommended for successful weight loss - in this case, the body first spends glycogen and carbohydrate reserves, reducing insulin levels, and only then adrenaline increases, activating fat burning processes. The good news is that this process happens much faster in the morning.

How to get rid of and remove soft sides? Training strategy and cutting recommendations.

Cardio on an empty stomach

In most cases, immediately after waking up, glycogen reserves in the body are minimal - which is why slow cardio performed in the early morning leads to the fastest weight loss. Moreover, any breakfast (even a protein isolate that does not contain carbohydrates) will force the body to primarily burn the calories of this breakfast, and not fat reserves.

The main rules of morning workouts for weight loss are an empty stomach and the most moderate pace of exercise (running is definitely not recommended) lasting at least 30-40 minutes. Immediately after completing such a fat-burning workout, it is recommended to take 2-3 capsules, while a full breakfast is acceptable no earlier than half an hour later.

Is it possible to train in the evening?

Unfortunately, late evening is the worst time for both strength training and weight loss training. Fat burning training will be ineffective due to the presence of sugar in the blood (glucose levels decrease only 4-5 hours after the last meal), and strength training can cause sleep problems due to overstimulation of the central nervous system.

If you have absolutely no other choice and can only go to the gym in the evening, plan a large meal 2 hours before your evening muscle-building workout, so that only a light dinner is left afterward. Also carefully study the composition of sports nutrition, making sure that it does not contain other stimulants that disrupt sleep.

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Morning workouts on an empty stomach are best for weight loss, but before strength training for muscle growth, it is recommended to take a portion of a gainer in the morning. Training late in the evening is the worst option - the presence of glucose in the blood will block fat burning, and general fatigue during the day will not allow you to carry out strength training with maximum impact.

Scientific sources:

1. The Stubborn Fat Solution, Lyle McDonald,

The success of your gym workouts depends to some extent on what time of day you choose to improve your body.

How to choose the optimal time for training?

First, it’s better to listen to your own biorhythms. It has been proven that there are several chronotypes of people. If you get up early and feel great, then early training will bring good results. Well, for those who feel overwhelmed in the morning and become more active only in the evening, late classes are suitable.

Choose your workout time depending on your goal. For example, the morning is great for activities aimed at... Firstly, working out in the morning invigorates you and increases your metabolic rate for the rest of the day. Secondly, the morning hours are the best time to exercise for weight loss, because you can do exercises on an empty stomach, which will allow the body to immediately begin burning excess fat deposits, rather than wasting food eaten and glycogen stored in the liver.

If you choose the best time for training based on the physiological processes occurring in the body throughout the day, you can draw some conclusions.

We consider the pros and cons of training at different times of the day.

Analyzing the indicators of human biorhythms, hormone levels and our body temperature at different times of the day, we come to the conclusion that our functional state changes during the day. The highest performance in a person is observed from 10 to 12 and from 15 to 18 hours.

Interesting: Experts are of the opinion that during the midday and early evening, our body temperature is higher than the body temperature immediately after waking up. Training during this period of time is optimal, as it reduces the risk of muscle strains and injuries.

But not everyone is able to exercise in the middle of the day. Work and study take time, and we are left with two options: to train in the morning or in the evening.

Physical activity will be beneficial in any case, because there is no specific time for sports. But at what exact hours will you be able to achieve maximum results? We invite you to consider in detail the most optimal and convenient options.

1) Morning workouts:

Exercising in the early hours, immediately after waking up, is difficult only at first. Over time, the human body gets used to systematic morning exercise, and after several such workouts you can easily wake up without an alarm clock at the time allotted for exercise. Immediately after sleep, a person’s body temperature is lowered, therefore, more energy is expended during morning workouts, which promotes increased fat burning by the body.

Also early workouts are great for speeding up your metabolism, which makes it possible to burn more calories throughout the day. Plus, after morning physical activity, the body is in good shape, which makes it easier to endure the afternoon, during which one usually falls asleep and loses performance.

But it also has its weaknesses: Unwarmed muscles are easy to injure, so before your morning workout you should definitely do a good warm-up for all muscle groups. Despite the fact that playing sports in the morning promotes rapid fat burning, at low levels of temperature and hormones, calories are burned more slowly during the morning workout itself than during the evening. If you exercise in the morning, make it a habit have breakfast an hour and a half before training and again provide the body with food after.

Ideally, to achieve noticeable results, you need to practice at least 1 hour daily. Morning exercise improves blood flow to the brain, which stimulates its functioning.

2) Daytime workouts:

Such training quickly becomes a habit. At this time, the most effective exercises will be strength exercises, stretching, crossfit and other exercises that require endurance and strength.

In the afternoon, body temperature and hormone levels rise. The muscles become pliable and more flexible; an afternoon workout will bring good results, while reducing the risk of muscle tension and, as a result, muscle pain.

Daytime workouts are great for those who want to increase muscle strength and increase their endurance levels. They need to be planned wisely, taking into account the obligatory meal. Lunch, in case of physical activity, is divided into two doses: one and a half to two hours before and one hour after training.

Of the minuses Let's highlight a busy schedule of study or work. Not everyone can afford to spend time training during their lunch break (40-50 minutes). The lesson may be “crumpled” and ineffective due to the desire to do everything at once in a minimum period.

3) Evening workouts:

After 16:00 the muscles are in the best shape. Strength training with dumbbells or a barbell will be effective - that is this time is more suitable for drawing relief than weight loss.

Evening workouts are practically no different in effectiveness from late afternoon workouts. At late times, fitness clubs are usually tightly packed: everyone is in a hurry to go in for sports after work and study and relieve emotional stress. But it is worth considering the fact that physical activity provokes the body to produce adrenaline. If it’s too late to study, then such exercise can cause sleep disturbances. The optimal time for an evening workout is 2-3 hours before bedtime.

To consolidate the results of your workout, we recommend drinking a protein shake that contains a large amount of protein, which is necessary for the formation of muscle relief, and also has an active restorative effect on muscle tissue, relieving muscle tension and pain. At the same time, protein shakes are easily absorbed and digested due to their liquid consistency, making them ideal for restoring the body after an evening workout, without being deposited in fatty tissue and without creating a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. It is recommended to drink protein shakes 2-3 hours before bedtime.

Important: Don't forget to eat before strength training, as it is really dangerous on an empty stomach.

Whatever time you choose to exercise, remember, the main thing is regularity of training! Periodically at least 3 times a week the results will not keep you waiting.

To contact an individual consultant who will create a training and nutrition plan for you, go to link. 18 November 2016, 17:56 2016-11-18