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The Best Time of the Day to Exercise

There's no absolute best time to exercise; it depends on the needs of the individual doing it. You may choose to exercise based on your specific time constraints from work, home or school, or you may want to select the time based on your biorhythm, that is, the time of the day when you either have the most energy, or when you need it the most.

For example, morning people, those whose combination of hormones, temperature, and brain chemicals peak early in the day, may select going to the gym immediately after waking up, enjoying the extra vigor to push themselves in the direction of the gym. Or instead, they may save the exercises for later, as an antidote to the fatigue that creeps in by the middle of the afternoon and spoils the rest of the day for so many of us. Anyway, avoid working out too late in the evening since exercising before going to bed may impair one's sleep.

If your health permits it, try to perform the whole exercise routine in a single sitting instead of splitting it into two or more sessions spread out during the day. If you must split your routine, do so by clustering them according to type: stretching, aerobic, and resistive. It is important to maintain an elevated heart rate for a substantial part of an aerobic program in order to obtain the maximum cardiac benefit; during the anaerobic part of that program the benefits are greatest when the muscles develop fatigue and have to resort to energy produced by alternative metabolic pathways.



Fitness & Health


Getting Started

Going to the Gym Versus Home Exercises

Advice for Injury Prevention

Hydration

The Best Time to Exercise

The Exercise Trio

Warm-up

What to Wear

Will I Get Too Muscular?

How To Avoid Getting Injured

Agonist and Antagonist Muscles

Do I need an exercise buddy?

Exercise is an Investment

Risk factors in Osteoporosis #1

Risk factors in Osteoporosis #2