Is there a generally valid ideal time when we should go to exercise?

I'm sure you've wondered if there's an ideal optimal time toexercise, whether it's to lose weight, gain muscle or build fitness. Is it better to go in the morning, because we are rested after sleep and have the most energy, or is it better to go in the afternoon to avoid the risk of injury that is often inflected in the case of morning exercise due to the fact that the body is not warmed up? So what is it, is there an optimal time to train?

If we want a short and clear answer, it's very simple - the best time to exercise is one that fits into your daily routine and you are able to stick to it regularly. The benefits of exercise only become apparent when you are able to do it regularly. So whether you develop a habit of early morning workouts because then you have to be at work all day, or conversely if you are a sleeper, or perhaps you have to be at work very early and are used to going to work out in the afternoon, both cases are perfectly fine. The ideal time to exercise is an individual matter, and always depends on your daily routine, your job, your sleep patterns and so on. But let's imagine a situation where you have no obligations - i.e. no work, no school, no family obligations. Will our answer change then? Of course it does, and for several reasons:

FLUCTUATIONS IN PERFORMANCE

It is well known that peak strength, power and concentration can fluctuate throughout the day. In the morning these levels are very low, and conversely our performance reaches its maximum around midday. These variations are particularly noticeable in the case of more intense types of exercise such as strength training, crossfit, sprints, or HIIT, and conversely less significant in the case of sub maximal low intensity activities such as cardio at a constant load.

We morning exercise fans may be at a bit of a disadvantage, but exercising in the afternoon actually offers several fairly significant benefits. One of the most prominent causes in the fluctuations in exercise throughout the day, is the change in body temperature, which usually peaks in the afternoon. An increase in core body temperature could produce a passive warming effect, i.e., an increase in metabolic responses, an increase in ligament and tendon flexibility, and an increase in the conduction velocity of action potentials, or the speed with which impulses travel from nerves to muscle.

WHAT ELSE AFFECTS THE IDEAL TIME BESIDES BODY TEMPERATURE?

Changes in body temperature throughout the day can only partially, but not exclusively, explain fluctuations in short-term muscle strength and performance. There is also evidence that there is less EMG activity in the morning - which represents the transmission of electrical biosignals produced by the muscles due to physical activity (now neglecting the fact that the muscles also produce signals at rest through so-called plate noise). This phenomenon doesn't affect lower intensity activity much, but is it a good idea to attempt personal bests in the morning when research shows that you can only actively use 75% of your muscle fibres? Well, it's hard to say.

What else we need to take into account is that there are fluctuations in our hormonal profile throughout the day. If we take the two main hormones that affect our performance - i.e. testosterone and cortisol, the levels of both are highest in the morning.We won't go too much into the details of the action of these hormones here, but you'll know that cortisol is a "stress hormone" with catabolic effects and, in layman's terms, can be considered a minor enemy in the quest to build muscle mass. In the case of cortisol, we can observe very pronounced fluctuations - it has been reported that as much as 75% of daily cortisol output is eliminated between 4am and 10am, and furthermore, cortisol counteracts testosterone, effectively nullifying the benefit of elevated morning levels of this hormone. This is another reason that lends itself to the fact that the optimal time for exercise is more likely to be in the afternoon, when cortisol levels have dropped.

It has been shown that training with a load in the evening means training with lower cortisol levels, which leads to a reduction in catabolic processes and increases the anabolic environment, which could lead to the optimization of hypertrophic adaptation associated with training loads.

SO WHAT IS THE VERDICT?

Let's be honest, if we're talking about muscle size and strength, there weren't too many differences observed between the groups of individuals training in the morning and the groups training in the evening.From the article, it would seem that exercising in the afternoon offers greater benefits, but as you know, everything has its pros and cons and the same is not the case with training time. Of course, you also need to take into account your daily schedule, your job, your sleep patterns and also your subjective perception of training time.

If you're an early bird and can't imagine starting your day without the gym, don't feel bad about the fact that "according to research", you're slightly reducing the amount of muscle that can be gained, because there are many things you can do to level the playing field with afternoon exercisers! If you train in the morning, it's a good idea to train in a warmer environment, or use functional clothing that helps raise your body temperature to roughly match what your body maintains in the afternoon.

If you don't mind long clothing or a warm environment, we have another solution for you. Just stretch out your warm-up or warm-down by a few extra minutes to give the body enough time to prepare the muscles for the load, warm them up sufficiently and increase their flexibility and mobility. If you want to blunt the fatigue-inducing effects of cortisol, try eating a piece of fruit before your workout and sipping BCAAs during your workout to prevent muscle protein breakdown.

However, the most important thing is to create a habit. If you start exercising regularly in the mornings, your body will adapt to this routine and it will be practically an automatic activity for it, just like sleep rituals work, for example. Studies suggest that regularity of workouts can push your morning performance to the same, or even higher, level than exercisers can achieve in the afternoon. Plus, endorphins are released after exercise, ensuring you'll be in a great mood all day long. And at the same time, you can check off one activity first thing in the morning so you can devote time to family or other responsibilities in the afternoon.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE ARTICLE?

The time of the workout practically doesn't matter. It is important to set a training time that you will be able to maintain regularly over a long period of time. You should take into account your sleep needs, your occupation, your daily schedule, the nature of your training and your subjective feeling when setting up your training time. Everyone's optimum time is different, some of us prefer to train first thing in the morning, either because of how we feel or because of our jobs, while others choose to train in the afternoon because they have to work early in the morning or simply prefer to contribute. Whether you belong to one group or the other, your muscle gains won't be affected too much. It is important to warm up carefully before your morning workout to avoid injuries. With afternoon training, the risk is lower performance due to fatigue from the day's activities or hard work. But there is no such thing as a universally valid "ideal exercise time". We all have to find our own time and stick to it regularly, because regularity makes every training time the optimal one , and through regularity you also create a kind of ritual that your brain fixes and sets this time as the "optimum".

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21857363
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21993020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12430993
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s004210050311
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/07420529609037077?journalCode=icbi20
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1081/CBI-100101075
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18608836
GANONG, William F. Review of Medical Physiology. 20th ed.Prague : Galén, 2005. 890 p. p. 380. ISBN 80-7262-311-7.