Many of you wonder if there is an optimal time to perform your weight training session. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to determine what the best time of day to train is.

Stress, work, eating habits, and the quality of your sleep influence your biorhythm just like your mental state. In fact, it is your lifestyle and habits that determine the time of day that is best for you to exercise.

To help you identify whether you should train in the morning, noon or evening, this article gives you a list of the advantages and disadvantages for each of these times of the day.

Best time for strength training: morning

If you are more of a morning person, you will certainly have more fun working out at the start of the day.

The benefits of strength training in the morning

Finishing your workout in the morning leaves you feeling great and energized for the rest of the day, which is perfect for early risers.

Most gyms are practically empty at this time of day, so you won’t have to wait to use the equipment and machines.

In summer it is much more pleasant to train in the morning due to the cooler temperatures.

Studies have shown thattestosterone levelsare at their highest in the morning. This can be an advantage, especially for strength exercises.

The disadvantages of strength training in the morning

After waking up, your joints and muscles are still a little rusty and stiff. A thorough warm-up is necessary to prepare your body for exercise.

Generally, people tend to lack energy in the morning. Yourmetabolismand your cardiovascular system will take some time to activate.

If you want to train before you go to work, you should go to bed earlier the night before to make sure you get enough sleep and are fit enough for your session.

If you’re not a morning person, you’ll have a hard time working out at the start of the day. This may frustrate you.

Best time for strength training: noon

It is more and more common to see people doing their session during their lunch break.

Benefits of strength training at noon

At work, you can take advantage of yourlunch breakto train. You thus optimize your time during the day to keep free time in the evening.

If you’ve had a stressful morning, a midday workout can boost your energy for the rest of the day.

Take the opportunity to train with your colleagues. This boosts your motivation and makes training more fun, while strengthening the bonds in your team.

The disadvantages of strength training at noon

For many people, the biggest problem remains the time factor. If your lunch break is short, you won’t have time to train and eat lunch. In this case, it is better to eat a good, healthy, and balanced breakfast without rushing than to skip it or eat it on the go while doing your bodybuilding exercisesquickly.

In the summer, when it’s really hot, it’s not really a good time to exercise. You risk discomfort.

Best time for strength training: evening

In the late afternoon or early evening, your body is working at full speed.

The benefits of strength training at night

Your muscle temperature peaks, improving your athletic performance.

You can train harder and/or longer because you have enough time afterwards to recover.

It’s a great way to relieve work-relatedstressso you can enjoy a relaxing evening.

In the summer, the temperature is more pleasant for training.

The disadvantages of bodybuilding in the evening

People often lack motivation especially after an exhausting day at work. It’s up to you how you feel after work.

Intense workouts close to bedtime can make it difficult to fall asleep. Your autonomic nervous system needs time to return to normal. That’s why you should finish your workout at least two hours before going to bed.

When is the best time to do strength training?

The benefits of strength training are only seen when you practice regularly, so if the only time of day you can hit the gym is 6am, then that’s the best time to train.

But, if you have free time to train at any time of the day, because you don’t work, have no school, no family obligations, and you can train whenever you want, there is lots of scientific studies showing that your peak strength and performance can fluctuate throughout the day, with lows occurring in the early morning and highs occurring in the late afternoon.

These variations in your performance are most often caused by high intensity exercises of short duration, such as lifting weights in resistance training, weightlifting, sprints, Hiit, and are less often caused by low intensity exercises such as the walking and moderate-intensity exercise.

You’re not a morning person? Don’t worry, working out at any time of the day is beneficial anyway. Tailor your sessions to your own schedule. Doing your sport after a day’s work is not madness, as some non-athletes sometimes think, training “late” brings various physiological benefits.

One possible explanation for the variation in your strength throughout the day is your body temperature, which peaks later in the afternoon. Raising your body’s core temperature could have a warming effect:

• Increasing your metabolic reactions
• Increasing theflexibilityof your ligaments and tendons
• and increasing your conduction velocity, which is the speed at which an impulse passes from your nerves to your muscles in the contraction phenomenon.

This change in your body temperature throughout the day could partly explain the variations in your muscle strength and performance, in the short term.

Scientific evidence also suggests that your body struggles to recruit muscle fibers in the morning. Several studies show that muscle activity is lower in the early hours of the day. This won’t necessarily affect low-intensity activity, but much more so for your heavy lifting or HIIT sessions.

And, of course, there are also fluctuations in your hormonal profile that occur throughout the day.

The peak of testosterone and cortisol in the morning is reduced in the evening and at night. The rise in morning cortisol is counterproductive if you train in the morning, as it can increase muscle breakdown, but the concurrent rise in testosterone in the morning is thought to counter the effects of cortisol. Scientific studies have shown that weight training in the evening works by lowering cortisol levels, which may result in optimizing the hypertrophic adaptations that are associated with weight training.

At this point, it’s hard to say if short-term changes in your muscle size and muscle performance can lead to long-term adaptations, but it appears there isn’t much difference in the muscle size when comparing groups of individuals who train regularly in the morning or in the evening.

To anyone who likes to exercise in the morning, it may seem like you’re limiting the gains from your workout while others sleep, but there’s something you can do to balance that out. If you can, train in a warmer environment.

This can help your body raise its temperature to about the same body temperature it would have in the late afternoon. If you’re not a fan of training in hot weather, just extend your warm-up by adding 5–10 minutes to help increase the flexibility and mobility of your muscles and ligaments. If all else fails, be consistent in your strength training frequency.

In summary

Regular strength training at a specific time of day can alter your performance day in and day out, in the short term. This means that if you train repeatedly in the morning, you can improve poorer morning performance to about the same level as accessible late afternoon and evening performance. The best hour of bodybuilding is therefore the one that suits you after several tests.

The most important success factor in bodybuilding is putting your all into it when you’re in the gym, going in regularly, and sticking with it for the long haul.