I have always had an understanding that it’s better to exercise in the mornings vs. evenings. This morning on the way to work, I was telling my fiancé that I feel better during the day when I swim or run in the mornings. I also went on to tell him that it’s better for your body’s metabolism but I couldn’t really back it up with much scientific evidence.
Does physical exertion in the morning jump start your metabolism and improve your resting metabolic rate for the rest of the day? I know that exercising in general improves your metabolic rate, but I want to know if this can be improved even more by exercising in the mornings. If this is the case, exercising in the morning would be more efficient for weight loss than exercising at night.
Sorry it’s mostly from bodybuilding websites, but as I understand it the concept originated from the community. Other athletes usually don’t care to get down to 5% bodyfat.
And yes, exercise in the morning has been shown to raise metabolic rates for at least a few hours thereafter. The most cited reason, though, is that your body would have had been starved for (if you sleep well) eight hours and there’d be little else than bodyfat and protein to burn.
Seriously, Ruby has it. The best exercise program is the one you’re going to stick with.
Even though morning exercise has many things going for it, I can barely get out of bed to do things I have to do, like work. Optional stuff, like exercise, is better left to later on in the day when I have more motivation.
For other people, it’s different.
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Heh. Just the thought of doing HIIT first thing in the morning makes me want to vomit.
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Whatever advantages morning exercise has at the onset, over time it all evens out.
Little things like ‘morning exercise and the effect on metabolism’ are what can be considered ‘fine tuning’. The overwhelming impact on your health is:
Total (quality) caloreis in…versus total calories burned. If you are looking for that ‘edge’ to drop the last 1.5% of body fat you want to, then start worrying about exercising at 6am versus 6pm. Either way, you body will get ‘used to’ any routine, and there is value in switching up.
Even if morning exercise doesn’t have a metabolic edge over exercising in the evening, it has other advantages. For instance, if I exercise in the morning I’m less likely to skip doing it. Last summer I worked out religiously, doing weight training in the mornings and aerobic activity in the evening and I never missed my morning workout, but I skipped the one in the evening more than once. Even though I did them both in my home, life was more likely to get in the way in the evening. To me that’s a big advantage.
