This is a question that gets thrown around quite a bit. You have some people who swear by early morning workouts and others who say your strength is a lot less in the morning. To me, it all comes down to the individual. Are you a morning person? Can you wake up at 5 or 6AM in the morning and be ready to go straight away?
Or are you exhausted when you wake up and don’t even want to think about working out?
Early morning workouts certainly have their benefits. The biggest one is that you start your day off with a workout and don’t have to worry about it later. You already accomplished something which makes you feel great. It can also give you some energy to get through the workday. Some people when they get off work, the last thing they want to do is lift some weights. So it is good to do it in the morning and get it out of the way. This gets rid of your excuses.
Alternatively, there are some people who use working out as something to look forward to after work. To hit the weights and have a hard workout after sitting all day or hating being at work.
What do I do? I have a pretty flexible schedule. I really don’t like morning workouts as I feel very weak. Cardio in the mornings is fine for me but lifting heavy I never really liked it. My workouts are normally around 12-3pm somewhere in that range. I feel I have the most energy at this time. Also if I wanted to take a pre-workout or caffeine it won’t effect my sleeping at that time. I don’t get how some people can take a pre-workout at 8 or 9pm and expect to sleep well.
This wasn’t always the time I worked out though. When I was in college my workouts were normally late at night depending on my class schedule. Still now if I have clients at random times I may need to adjust it.
So in general, the best time to workout is the time that best fits your schedule. The time where you put aside for exercise. I usually recommend people to actually write down that time in a calendar. This way they know they have to do it.
Don’t get lazy and just go for it!