What is the best time of the day to exercise?

What time of the day do you typically work out? Have you ever wondered if maybe working out at a different time would benefit you more?! I have.. So I did some research and read an article on it!

I usually ALWAYS workout first thing in the morning.. either before or after breakfast. I try to get it done right away before my daughter gets up ;) I found that this is actually really benefiting me.. waking up and working out first thing in the morning.

In the morning, before you have eaten, your body is forced to use its fat stores as energy. This isn't as effective as burning glycogen when it comes to losing body fat. SO, I learned that its good to do easier workouts in the morning before breakfast. If you are going to do cardio or something that is going to get your blood pumping more, eat a little something before hand! If working out in the morning, like me, is the only time you have-- Eat half of a banana or something small before you workout.

Working out when your glycogen stores are full is the best time! Glycogen is recharged by carbohydrates and is used up very quickly with brain activity, exercise, and other activities. This means that you glycogen levels are usually the highest after you digest a meal containing carbohydrates. This is why early morning workouts are not ideal. You may hit something called "the bonk". This is what happens when your body runs out of glycogen. Basically you will feel like you hit a brick wall and completely run out of energy.. I know I've been there!!

Working out at night before bed is your last option. The reason for this is that training late at night can actually effect your sleep. Some people have a hard time falling asleep after working out. You need this time to recover. Sleep is very important in recovering and training. Some people actually fall asleep very well after working out. So if this is your case, you are fine! :)

The bottom line is that exercise is very important. So first of all make sure you are working out when you can. If it is not the ideal time of day, that is fine. There are ways to make it work by changing your diet plan, the times that you eat, etc. There are many different things that can effect the quality of your workout/progress. Making sure that you actually get a workout in is the most important.

I hope this helped some of you! I know we don't have time to pick and choose an ideal time of the day to workout. But I thought by sharing this you could see how you can maybe sculpt your meals  around your workouts better in order to benefit more!! Because after all you are doing all that hard work, you mine as well be getting the best results possible!

xo
Briana