Totorus

Photo credit by RelaxingMusic

What is the best time to exercise? This is an often asked question related to exercise. Frankly, timing is a matter of personal choice and habit, convenience and availability. The best way around it is to actually work it through for yourself and come up with the best answer, once the considerations have been made. It works differently for different people. Those who have erratic schedules do it whenever they have the time, while others manage to stick to a regular time.

Time can pertain to the time of the day as well as the time of the year. In situations that have constant weather conditions, there is no requirement to modify your program. But those exercising in places with changing conditions need to constantly re-assess their environment and make changes accordingly.

This would apply even to those who travel or like to exercise in different situations. There are also some that break up their routine into two and work out both morning and evening, due to lack of time.

Time of the day

There are early risers and there are those who sleep at the crack of dawn. Expecting the former to work out in the evening when the day is almost done or the latter to get cracking at dawn with a routine would seem futile and unrealistic. Examine the type of person you are and then make your schedule accordingly to ensure you stick by it.

The Early-Morning Riser

The positives:

• Yoga and other softer forms like tai-chi seem to have a calming effect in the morning.
• Whether or not you should do exercises after you have bowel movement depends only on whether you are comfortable.
• Eating a light fruit or drinking tea will not hamper your movement.
• If it is a heavy meal, wait for an hour and a half before working out.
• Look at it this way: the good deed for the day is done.
• Start the day on a charged note by exercising in the morning.

The negatives:

• Late morning risers may not have enough time to work out.
• Those rushed for time may not find it rewarding enough.
• There are some who are terribly inflexible in the morning and need a very long warm up before starting out.

The Late Risers

The positives:

• Limbering up for them happens sooner than in the morning.
• Very early morning routines might lead to muscle cramps and pulls due to an inadequate warm up period.
• High powered workouts like martial arts and kick boxing are generally better executed in the evening hours.
• Evening hours provide an opportunity to spent pent-up anger and frustration.

The negatives:

• You could be too charged up before bedtime to find sleep.
• There should ideally be a gap of one hour before your exercise and meal time, thus delaying your bed time.
• Post-meal workouts are a no-no. The body is too busy assimilating the meal to be bothered with providing blood to the extremities, thus making you feel lethargic rather than energetic.