The best time to train
There is some interesting material regarding what is the best time of day to train? Most studies show that muscle strength, power and endurance are greatest between about 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Muscle temperatures are generally highest at this time, which probably accounts for the difference. A study from Finland showed that daily variations in strength and power cease to exist in people who train in the morning. They examined 27 men who weight trained either in the morning (7 a.m. to 9 a.m.) or in the afternoon (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.). Initially, all subjects were stronger in the afternoon than in the morning. But these differences disappeared in the morning training group, but not in the evening training group. This study showed that you should exercise in the morning if you have a morning competition, because morning training will eliminate normal strength differences between early and late times of the day.
Personally i train in the evening, or even late in the evening because my job does not allow me. What are your oppinions about training time bros?
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I don't know about the muscles being warmer has much to do with it. Imo we are stronger later in the day because we are more full of glycogen and better hydrated. On really heavy days I like to get at least 2 to 3 meals down first.
Agreed late evening workouts are great for me. I am never as strong in the mornings.
Basically whatever works for your schedule. People trying to re-invent the wheel with stressiong out about what time to lift.
AnonI suppose his theory is appropriate here.. It's not so much the temperature that provides the benefit here, as it is the other factors leading to muscular temp increases.
A proper warm up should consist of two phases. 1) light cardio to increase HR and core temp. 2) light sets to increase the blood flow to the working muscles. When muscles are cold (inactive), the cellular components responsible for producing energy are mostly inactive. As they are stimulated thru muscular contractions, they will produce heat. In tandem with this will come increases in blood flow to these areas, which will aide in efficient contractions and motor unit recruitment.
Taking this concept into consideration, and the context of his post, it would make sense that the muscles will be more primed for work in the evening due to varying activity levels throughout the day.
1jakd_hipyIt's tough to say the "best" time to train for everyone for a number of reasons i.e. do you compete? Are you a full time strength athlete who doesn't have to work? Reality is whenever you have time to train and when your head is most in the zone is when it's best. It's all a mental game because you could make arguments either way all day about when your body is most ready. Studies show that GH levels are higher in the morning but you also have a higher rate of catabolic acids that have settled over night. Studies also show that testosterone in natural males peaks at night time but your body is tired from working all day (for most of us). So I go usually mid afternoon because that when my head is right it goes lunch then hour nap then hour awake with high carb snack then gym usually around 3ish