The best time of day to exercise

There was an article in the New York Times yesterday about the best time of day to exercise—essentially, whether evening or morning is best for your body. Researchers found that while in general, people tend to perform better between 4 and 7 pm, you can actually train your body to get better at exercise at a certain time of day—practice makes perfect, essentially.

Of course, for most of us, the best time of day to exercise is the one where you actually go out and do it. I posed the question of whether morning is best to Best Health’s followers on Twitter and here’s what some of them said:

Cynthia30 @besthealthmag I think it’s hard to get going any earlier in the day. I’ve found mid-day works great. Boosts my energy for the pm workload.

RootsCanada @besthealthmag Re: Your question about exercise. Morning is best for me (unfortunately). If I don’t go then, it’s just not gonna happen!

raelenet @besthealthmag I still much prefer to exercise in the morning – it gets me going for the day, plus the gym is generally less crowded

stephnairn @besthealthmag I find I benefit more from a morning workout than an extra hour of sleep. The exercise wakes me up and keeps me alert all day

RunningBunny @besthealthmag I love to exercise in the morning, it is my ideal…but I will also exercise whenever I can. Running first thing is great!

michael_bach @besthealthmag it’s better because more people tend to be consistent in theor approach towards it in a morning instead of letting it slide

Me? I’m apparently in the minority, but I’m not a fan at all of exercising in the morning—it just doesn’t feel as good and my whole body feels sluggish. That being said, just about every race you can run is in the morning, and the New York Times article gives me hope that I really can train my body to run well in the am.

When do you prefer to exercise?

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