This is a question that so many of my clients have asked before. Some have heard exercising in the morning is best because if you exercise before you eat breakfast, you won't have all those carbs in your body, and you'll burn off a lot more fat as a result.
To set the record straight, this is completely false. Exercising on an empty stomach is about the worst thing you can do because without energy from food, your body will start pulling energy from the stored protein in your body. You know what stored protein is? Muscle. You body will break down your muscle in order to get the energy it needs, and when it comes to burning off fat, muscle is your friend. It's your calorie burner, so if you're allowing it to be eaten away, your fat loss potential is going away with it.
So what about evening exercise? Though exercise does help with achieving better sleep, exercising right before going to bed can actually cause you to have a hard time falling asleep. The body gets so revved up during exercise that trying to calm it down quickly, in order to go to bed, can sometime be very hard to do.
The truth is, exercise when you like to exercise. If you're a morning person, exercise in the morning; just make sure you allow yourself some time to eat something before working out. If you're and evening person, it's probably going to be a lot easier for you to stay consistent to an evening routine compared to a morning routine; just don't exercise too late.
The key is consistency. Success comes from consistency, not time of day, so make sure you choose a time that you like. Now with that being said, if your goal is to see a great strength or muscle mass improvement, working out in the late afternoon or early evening will be most beneficial because your muscles will be warmest then, and muscles perform better when they're warm.
For any other goal, the time of day doesn't matter. If you do work out in the morning, make sure you allow your body to "wake up". This should be done for any workout, but when talking about morning workouts, you have that extra task of getting out of bed and jump-starting the nerves and muscles even more.
As far as doing cardio or weights first, again, if your goal is to increase strength or mass, perform your lifting first because if you do cardio first, you'll actually drain some energy out of your muscles and they won't be able to perform at peak potential like they would if cardio were done after lifting. Also, for building mass, you don't want to get in the habit of doing too much cardio because cardio burns off a slight amount of muscle with the fat, and that's definitely counterproductive for building mass.
For any other goal, the order in which you perform your cardio and resistance training is up to you. Whatever you enjoy more is the order that you should do it in. Remember, consistency is more important than order.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Morning Exercise
If I had to pick a single factor that I thought was most important in a successful exercise or weight loss program, it would be to exercise first thing in the morning... every morning! Some mornings, you may just be able to fit in a 10 minute walk, but it's important to try to do something every morning.
So why mornings?...
1. Over 90% of people who exercise *consistently*, exercise in the morning. If you want to exercise consistently, odds are in your favor if you exercise first thing in the morning.
2. When you exercise early in the morning, it "jump starts" your metabolism and keeps it elevated for hours, sometimes up to 24 hours! That means you're burning more calories all day long just because you exercised in the morning!
3. When you exercise in the morning you'll be *energized* for the day! Personally, I feel dramatically different on days when I have and haven't exercised in the morning.
4. Many people find that morning exercise "regulates" their appetite for the day...that they aren't as hungry and that they make better food choices. Several people have told me that it puts them in a "healthy mindset"
5. If you exercise at about the same time every morning... and ideally wake-up at about the same time on a regular basis, your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms adjust to that, and physiologically, some wonderful things happen; A couple of hours *before* you awaken, your body begins to prepare for waking and exercise because it "knows" it's about to happen...why? because it "knows" you do the same thing just about everyday. You benefit from that in several ways...
a) It's MUCH easier to wake-up. When you wake-up at different times everyday, it confuses your body and thus it's never really "prepared" to awaken.
b) Your metabolism and all the hormones involved in activity and exercise begin to elevate while you're sleeping. Thus, you feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake-up.
c) Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc.
6. For many people, that appointed time every morning becomes something they look forward to. It's time they've set aside to do something good for themselves...to take care of their body and mind. Many find that it's a great time to think clearly, pray, plan their day, or just relax mentally.
7. Research has demonstrated that exercise increases mental acuity... on average it lasts four to ten hours after exercise! No sense in wasting that while you're sleeping. :)
8. Exercise first thing in the morning is really the only way to assure that something else won't crowd exercise out of your schedule. When your days get hectic, exercise usually takes a backseat!
9. If finding time to exercise is difficult, anyone can get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier to exercise (if it's a priority in your life). If necessary, you can go to sleep a little earlier. Also, research has demonstrated that people who exercise on a regular basis have a higher quality of sleep and thus require less sleep! :)
So why mornings?...
1. Over 90% of people who exercise *consistently*, exercise in the morning. If you want to exercise consistently, odds are in your favor if you exercise first thing in the morning.
2. When you exercise early in the morning, it "jump starts" your metabolism and keeps it elevated for hours, sometimes up to 24 hours! That means you're burning more calories all day long just because you exercised in the morning!
3. When you exercise in the morning you'll be *energized* for the day! Personally, I feel dramatically different on days when I have and haven't exercised in the morning.
4. Many people find that morning exercise "regulates" their appetite for the day...that they aren't as hungry and that they make better food choices. Several people have told me that it puts them in a "healthy mindset"
5. If you exercise at about the same time every morning... and ideally wake-up at about the same time on a regular basis, your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms adjust to that, and physiologically, some wonderful things happen; A couple of hours *before* you awaken, your body begins to prepare for waking and exercise because it "knows" it's about to happen...why? because it "knows" you do the same thing just about everyday. You benefit from that in several ways...
a) It's MUCH easier to wake-up. When you wake-up at different times everyday, it confuses your body and thus it's never really "prepared" to awaken.
b) Your metabolism and all the hormones involved in activity and exercise begin to elevate while you're sleeping. Thus, you feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake-up.
c) Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc.
6. For many people, that appointed time every morning becomes something they look forward to. It's time they've set aside to do something good for themselves...to take care of their body and mind. Many find that it's a great time to think clearly, pray, plan their day, or just relax mentally.
7. Research has demonstrated that exercise increases mental acuity... on average it lasts four to ten hours after exercise! No sense in wasting that while you're sleeping. :)
8. Exercise first thing in the morning is really the only way to assure that something else won't crowd exercise out of your schedule. When your days get hectic, exercise usually takes a backseat!
9. If finding time to exercise is difficult, anyone can get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier to exercise (if it's a priority in your life). If necessary, you can go to sleep a little earlier. Also, research has demonstrated that people who exercise on a regular basis have a higher quality of sleep and thus require less sleep! :)
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