Is it better to exercise in the AM or PM? (2023)

What time of day is best to exercise?

“Exercising at 7 a.m. or between 1 and 4 p.m. helps your circadian clock to 'fall back' in time, making it easier to wake up earlier,” Heisz says. If you need to train your body to wake up later in the morning, try working out between 7 and 10 p.m. “The best time to exercise is when you can fit it in,” Arciero says.

Your physical performance might improve: Research shows that most people function better, physically speaking, later in the day. Muscle strength, flexibility, power output and endurance are all better in the evening than they are in the morning.

Women who exercise in the morning lose more belly fat than evening exercisers, a study suggests. For men, evening exercise lowers blood pressure and reduces belly fat more than morning exercise. Working out at the time of day that suits you is best for results, trainer Ben Carpenter said.

Body temperature affects the ability to sleep — the lower, the better for sleep. Exercise raises body temperature. Experts say not to exercise anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours before bedtime.

Exercising in a fasted state may burn some quick body fat, but it's not the best option for your body in the long-run. Eat a small snack or meal before and after your workout to ensure that you're properly fueled to perform your best in the gym and recover quickly when you get home.

While there are some people who say exercising on an empty stomach is a great way to burn fat, the experts at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend eating at least a small snack prior to morning exercise. This means you might need to allow an extra hour after waking up to get your workout in.

In general, for healthy individuals looking to lose weight or get fitter – morning workouts are perfectly fine. In most cases, they are even a great choice (see next section).

The most effective exercise to burn stomach fat is crunches. Crunches rank top when we talk of fat-burning exercises. You can start by lying down flat with your knees bent and your feet on the ground. Lift your hands and then place them behind the head.

Why you should not exercise at night?

However, experts caution that vigorous exercise within one hour of bedtime doesn't allow time for core body temperature to cool. This may delay sleep, affect sleep quality, and provoke more nighttime awakenings.

Traditionally, experts have recommended not exercising at night as part of good sleep hygiene. Now a new study, published Oct. 29, 2018, in Sports Medicine, suggests that you can exercise in the evening as long as you avoid vigorous activity for at least one hour before bedtime.

You may burn fewer calories if you go to bed right after as opposed to staying awake and moving around. However, this is not a hard fact, and there is conflicting evidence to suggest that working out right before going to bed or taking a nap can actually promote weight loss.

By doing some low moderate intensity cardio on an empty stomach, you are burning primarily fat. Cardio is great of course for fat loss, but also is good for (you guessed it) your cardiovascular system. Morning cardio will also help set the pace for your eating for the day by keeping your metabolism in check.

Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in liver cells and after significant protein loss. After prolonged periods of starvation, the body uses the proteins within muscle tissue as a fuel source, which results in muscle mass loss.

Two-a-day workouts can be a good idea, but only if you stick to a structured workout plan with enough time for rest. There are many benefits to working out twice a day. It reduces your sedentary time and improves your overall performance. But twice-a-day workouts also carry a risk of overtraining and injury.

Eat after you exercise

To help your muscles recover and to replace their glycogen stores, eat a meal that contains both carbohydrates and protein within two hours of your exercise session if possible. Consider a snack if your meal is more than two hours away. Good post-workout food choices include: Yogurt and fruit.

The morning exercisers shed about 7 percent more abdominal fat than women working out in the evening. (None of the volunteers' total body weight fell, since they gained muscle as they lost fat.) Morning exercise also lowered blood pressure in female exercisers significantly better than the same workouts in the evening.

Can we do belly fat exercise at night?

So, according to some experts, you should complete your workout at least 3 hours before going to bed. We have some quick exercises you can try right at home before hitting the hay to burn away that belly fat. This quick HIIT workout can help you get your heart rate up as well as de-stress before bed and improve sleep.