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morning or evening?

polycounter lvl 18
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Lee3dee polycounter lvl 18
Is it better to workout in the morning or evening? when attempting to shed some pounds?

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  • AstroZombie
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    AstroZombie polycounter lvl 18
    Morning is better AFAIK but the important thing is just to do it.

    That reminds me that I need to start working out again tongue.gif
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    I think last time we had a thread like this pretty much everyone said it didn't matter. Just whenever you had time, and knew you could keep up doing it frequently.

    Don't know for sure, though, I imagine somebody will correct me and give you a better answer soon.
  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    The time of day does not really matter as I'm sure you're more referring to cardio. Go ahead and hit it early, then again in the evening. Blast that crap! wink.gif

    Do not perform heavy lifting (squat, deadlift, etc.) in the morning. Your spine isn't ready early. Any other time (afternoon, evening) is good.
  • TheWinterLord
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    TheWinterLord polycounter lvl 17
    the best time is both working out in the morning and evening :P

    Me i just workout a little before going to bed, it makes the sleep better smile.gif. I read it somewhere and it works for me so dont take my word for it.
    (However if you are working o heavily then dont do it before going to sleep)
  • Ryno
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    Ryno polycounter lvl 18
    Both good. In morning a workout can up your metabolism for the rest of the day. An evening workout can burn off that big dinner that would be sitting in your stomach as you sleep, some of which could be converted to fat. As far as cardio and muscular gains, not much difference that I've heard of.
  • Jesse Moody
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    Jesse Moody polycounter lvl 17

    When I was floating around in the persian gulf while still in the navy there wasn't really much else to do but work out. So a few of my friends and I would do cardio for a while in the morning and hit up the weigths heavily right before or a little after dinner depending on our schedule.

    Speaking of which I am re-joining the gym after being away for so many years. I am tired of having a tire around my waste and now that my wife has lost almost all the weight she gained while pregnant I feel that it's my turn.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    It's best to work out after 7. smirk.gif
  • sledgy
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    sledgy polycounter lvl 18
    Working out in the evening tends to make me stay awake longer than I normally would because I'm all charged up with adrenaline. Late afternoon seems to work best.
  • Jay Evans
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    Jay Evans polycounter lvl 18
    6:32 seems to give the best results.
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    6:32 seems to give the best results.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    AM or PM?
  • blankslatejoe
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    blankslatejoe polycounter lvl 19
    I'd take what everyone here's say with a grain of salt and check a forum dedicated to bodybuilding and exercise.

    www.johnstonefitness.com has a ton of info on this stuff on their message boards. goodluck!
  • jgarland
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    I don't know how much truth there is to this, but it was told to me by my high school PE teacher, and it seems to make sense. If you work out in the morning, before having breakfast, your body starts working on burning the fat on your body instead of trying to cut through the fast-burning carbs that you just ate.

    Can anybody else confirm this for me?
  • TomDunne
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    TomDunne polycounter lvl 18
    What kind of workout, Lee?
  • blankslatejoe
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    blankslatejoe polycounter lvl 19
    ive heard things like that jgarland. I've also heard the opposite--that working out(lifting) with no food in you can cause your body to harvest its own muscle for energy. From what I can tell, the best time to work out is about an hour after you've eaten, and then to eat protein immediately after lifting.

    Ive also heard that lifting early causes your body to burn calories at a higher rate for the rest of the day, since it sets to repairing torn muscle right away. I'm not sure what sleep does to that higher rate of burning, but if that's true, it would be one more reason why people who seriously want to lose weight should making lifting a higher priority than cardio (along with the whole %BF/muscle burns more calories than fat). Cardio stops burning calories the moment your heart rate drops back down.
    but, like I said in my first post, checking a forum where people are more read up on this stuff might be wiser, since I know my own opinion is half made of 'things i've heard' instead of 'things I know'.
  • TomDunne
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    TomDunne polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I don't know how much truth there is to this, but it was told to me by my high school PE teacher, and it seems to make sense. If you work out in the morning, before having breakfast, your body starts working on burning the fat on your body instead of trying to cut through the fast-burning carbs that you just ate.

    Can anybody else confirm this for me?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    There is some science to this, but it's highly debated. It is true that when you do anything on an empty stomach, your body has to take energy from elsewhere. The upside is that you will get some of those calories from fat. The downside is that you will also get some of those calories from muscle (the process of catabolism includes the breaking down of muscle tissue for energy - it's actually easier for your body to convert muscle to energy than fat, particularly in a starvation situation.)

    When people are talked about fasted exercise (the just-woke-up approach), they're talking about long, steady-pace cardio work, like walking or cycling. Many people believe that this is the least effective form of exercise for fat loss (I am in this camp myself.) Better alternatives are shorter term but higher intensity exercises that raise your metabolism all day.

    Also, you can cut down on the fast-burning carb issue by not eating fast-burning carbs, or restricting them to during/after intense workouts.

    It's always a matter of time until I pimp this site, so I might as well get it over with: www.t-nation.com Get yo' learnin' on! smile.gif
  • TomDunne
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    TomDunne polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    ive heard things like that jgarland. I've also heard the opposite--that working out(lifting) with no food in you can cause your body to harvest its own muscle for energy. From what I can tell, the best time to work out is about an hour after you've eaten, and then to eat protein immediately after lifting.

    Ive also heard that lifting early causes your body to burn calories at a higher rate for the rest of the day, since it sets to repairing torn muscle right away. I'm not sure what sleep does to that higher rate of burning, but if that's true, it would be one more reason why people who seriously want to lose weight should making lifting a higher priority than cardio (along with the whole %BF/muscle burns more calories than fat). Cardio stops burning calories the moment your heart rate drops back down.
    but, like I said in my first post, checking a forum where people are more read up on this stuff might be wiser, since I know my own opinion is half made of 'things i've heard' instead of 'things I know'.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    This is pretty much right, Joe. Different types/intensitites of exerise hit the body differently, and something long/slow will damage muscle less than something intense/fast, so a morning walk isn't really that bad (just not terribly efficient.)

    Post-workout nutrition is a pretty new science, and peopel are just starting to come around to that. Protein right after you work out is important, but carbohydrates are even more important (even if you're dieting.) Right after a serious session in the weight room, your muscles are depleted and your blood sugar is really low, so you can jumpstart the recovery process with some quickly absorbed carbs along with the protein. Even plain sugar is fine in this case, if you've busted ass in the gym.

    Weightlifting, or intense aerobic exercise like interval sprinting, does raise your metabolism for hours after you exercise, as well as stimulate the body to procude hormones that repair and grow the body. This is why I don't care for the long cardio approach to fat loss. You might burn 500 calories by walking for an hour, but the energy usage stops as soon as you stop walking. Weightlifting might only burn 300 calories while in the gym, but your increased metabolism will continue the rest of the day, thus burning more calories overall. AND... weightlifting also builds muscle. Muscle burns more calories just to maintain itself. If ou pack on more muscle, your body naturally burns more calories all day long, even while sleeping.
  • Fuse
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    Fuse polycounter lvl 18
    The danger of doing intensive exercise right in the morning is that ( like cholden already said ), the space between your spinal disks gets filled with liquid during your sleep. In fact, you are actually taller in the morning. After some movement the spinal chord tightens back into it's original shape. You should avoid doing any intensive exercise in the morning to avoid injury, especially if you are a beginner to regular physical activity.
  • TheWinterLord
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    TheWinterLord polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    Working out in the evening tends to make me stay awake longer than I normally would because I'm all charged up with adrenaline. Late afternoon seems to work best.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Yeh thats what happens if you workout hard but if you take it easy you can get a deeper sleep. yeh the bad thing is that the workout wont do that much good hehe. im gonna try ot 6:32

    thanks for the link joe il check it out.
  • Lee3dee
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    Lee3dee polycounter lvl 18
    just wanted to spice up my workout routine, maybe get better results. Thought if i did it in the morning, maybe it would help my metabolism throughout the day smile.gif

    AstroZombie: we should get u out of the office more wink.gif
  • Entity
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    Entity polycounter lvl 18
    doesn't matter, cardio is much more effective when done on an empty stomach, so it depends on your diet.

    That said, performing cardio right after some weight lifting tends to produce better results
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    I tend to exercise in the morning... by cramming my mouth full of bacon.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    i always found if i work out in the morning, i'll be tired at work the rest of the day, but if i work out in the evening, i'll ache in the morning lol.

    so it doesn't really matter, neither are more beneficial than the other, but if you want an actual daily workout routine, it would be something like this:

    Eat a breakfast of musli, or some other highly complex carb food. wait 30-45 mins. go for a 5 mile run (it's not as far as it sounds). (for the breakfast, i actually make a musli with banana+strawberry smoothie, with milk of course).

    then later in the day, work on some squats, pushups, pullups, situps.

    then go for a run in the evening.

    do that every day for a week and you'll be dropping lbs fast.
  • Kytos
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    Kytos polycounter lvl 18
    You could try adding a stretching routine in the morning, and then do your usual work out in the evenings.
  • PfhorRunner
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    PfhorRunner polycounter lvl 18
    In the morning your testosterone levels allow you to workout longer than in the evening, and you'll often notice that your general performance in running is better, but both give you the same benefits.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    I saw a news report once about you shouldn't exercise during morning or afternoon rush hours as per the increased Carbon Monoxide being in the air. I think though that would effect people in larger cities and who jogged outdoors (like me).

    fwiw
  • Lee3dee
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    Lee3dee polycounter lvl 18
    ok, so everyone pretty much is morning or evening. I looked around in Dallas for a gym today, my choices are LA Fitness or 24hour Fitness. Both have great facilities but prices are very different.

    LA fitness: 29.99 for any location in dallas. additional member on account was 29.99
    24 hour: 42.99 for anywhere in the country (some places aren't 24 hours) additional member was 39.99.

    i got a 1 week pass to 24 hour, but LA fitness wouldn't provide me one, so i downloaded a free 3 day pass. has anyone used these companies?
  • Pedro Amorim
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    [ QUOTE ]
    The best way to lose weight is to procrastinate and go on a futile search for the best routine on the internet.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    lolololl
  • Lee3dee
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    Lee3dee polycounter lvl 18
    i have decided, moving to a new town deserves a new workout routine as follows.

    morning & evening cardio (M.T.W.TH.F) (evening cardio, would be swimming laps or boxing)
    morning & evening cardio & weights (M.W.F)

    See if i can see some better results, spice up my workout. Since gearbox has flexible hours, working out in the morning is doable. I went t his morning at 8am and it felt great afterwards. Not sure if this is an overdose, but I'm gonna ty it. Gotta break my 6 month plateau!
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