Obviously, life doesn’t always allow us to choose the time we want to work out. But if you have a little flexibility, you’ve probably asked yourself this question before: When is the best time to go to the gym? Body temperature, testosterone levels and cortisol… the factors are numerous and will be sorted a little in our following article.
One thing in advance: people naturally perform differently at different times of the day. Your subjective perception will confirm this, as will science. In the course of evolution, we have developed into a diurnal being – and our organism has adapted to this. Many physical characteristics change cyclically during the course of the day to ensure the greatest possible performance when it counts.
A meta-study from 2020 names the following factors influencing daily fluctuating performance as significant:
Body temperature
Electrical activity of muscles
Biomarkers in the blood (e.g., inflammation parameters)
Oxygen kinetics (e.g. maximum oxygen uptake capacity)
Among these, body temperature is considered to be by far the most significant.
Body temperature during the course of the day and its influence on our performance
Our body temperature is subject to natural daily fluctuations with a low point around 2:00 am. The high point falls in the afternoon hours, between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m., depending on the rhythm of the day. The core body temperature can rise here by up to 1°C compared to the time immediately after waking.
In general, a higher body temperature is also associated with a higher temperature of the muscles, and this in turn correlates positively with our performance, especially in short and explosive efforts.
Typically, this includes sprints, jumps, throws and, and this is probably crucial for the reader: (heavy) strength training. Among other things, muscle activation and triggering is said to improve as the time of day and temperature progress. Flexibility also increases with body heat.
Now, the obvious thought is to compensate for the natural low in muscle temperature in the morning hours by the usual methods – extensive warm-ups, heat ointments, massages, etc. – and thus produce the performance of the late afternoon and evening hours. However, scientists have failed at this in various experiments. Raising the temperature to a 5 p.m. level still failed to produce the 5 p.m. performance. So the power fluctuations during the day are much more complex and have not yet been conclusively researched.
(Growth) Hormones in the Course of the Day
Many hormones play a role in building strength and muscle. But one is undoubtedly the center of attention: testosterone, the male sex hormone with legendary anabolic effects. But in connection with the optimal time of day for training, science also looks at cortisol, often referred to as the “stress hormone.”
Both testosterone and cortisol reach their highest concentration in the body in the morning hours and the lowest in the evening hours. Thus, the ratio does not change throughout the day. However, research suggests that heavy weight training in the evening leads to increased testosterone release, but inhibits cortisol production. Overall, therefore, a more “anabolic environment” is created – another plus for late-night training.
Long-term effectiveness of training over the course of the day
Performance as a function of time of day as a time-related response variable is easy to measure, for example through simple maximal strength tests, heart rate measurements, and so on.
On the other hand, it is more complex to quantify to what extent the medium- and long-term training effect depends on the training time. After all, training progress depends on a great many other parameters – nutrition, regeneration, motivation, talent, etc. – and there are correspondingly few studies on the subject. The number of studies on this issue is correspondingly thin.
In one study, 16 subjects participated in a 5-week training program that included squats, jumps and sprints. Eight subjects trained between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., and eight trained between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.. At the end, all participants had improved, and to roughly the same extent. The training success was thus found to be independent of the training time.
Individual preferences: The chronotypes
We distinguish between three chronotypes: Morning type (also known as “lark”), evening type (“nightingale”) and neutral type without preferences. You have certainly heard of these and will be able to categorize yourself approximately.
The categorization is not completely objective and lacks scientific selectivity. Accordingly, the influence of the chronotype on the performance has been investigated so far. Previous studies suggest that morning types actually perceive morning training as subjectively less strenuous than neutral or evening types.
As for the performance of the different types depending on the time of day, results are not entirely clear. The research nevertheless appeals to take one’s own chronotype into account in training planning, if organizationally possible.
In any case, one thing is clear: with increasing age, the personal peak shifts; from the age of 50 at the latest, most people tend to train in the morning hours and also show an appealing performance here.
By the way: Around noon, the performance of virtually every chronotype is at its lowest point.
Adaptation of performance to regular training time
As written: If you are not a full-time athlete, you have to adapt your training time to your other life anyway. In this case, does our body also adapt? Can a night owl, who has to go to the gym quickly before work due to family reasons, also perform at his or her best at 6:00 a.m.?
That could actually be the case. In one study, 30 subjects underwent a (strength) performance test first in the early morning hours and then again in the evening. All participants performed worse in the morning. In the subsequent 8-week training program, ten of them were assigned to a morning training group.
In the final test, these participants no longer showed any performance differences between the morning and evening test; the performance peaks had thus adjusted to the regular training time.
Influence on the time of day-dependent performance
In any case, we are not at the mercy of our natural rhythm. Researchers name several measures that have been found to be effective against morning lows:
A moderately warm, sultry environment (emphasis on moderate!).
Active warming up
Intermittent fasting/meal timing around workouts
Caffeine
Stimulating music, especially during warm-ups
Getting used to regular workout times (see above).
The perfect workout time – summary
Here once again the essence:
The higher core body temperature in the late afternoon/early evening alone argues for moving strength training in particular to this time period if possible.
The higher muscle temperature ensures, among other things, better control of the muscles and improved force production.
The testosterone-cortisol ratio is optimal for muscle building in the evening.
While temporary performance has been shown to peak in the afternoon/evening, little is known about the effectiveness of morning vs. evening training. Presumably, however, training success does not depend on training time.
Not everything is known about the role of chronotype either, but it should be taken into account when possible.
It seems possible to adapt performance by training regularly at the same time each day.
A word in conclusion: You can get something out of every situation anyway. After all, the privilege of always training under the perfect conditions is denied to us amateur athletes. Flexibility is what is needed here. If, for example, you can only make it to the gym at 5:00 a.m. in the morning during turbulent times at work, and this time of day doesn’t suit you at all, then it doesn’t have to be a set of 20 heavy squats. A bit of cable pumping should be possible at any time of day and is still better than nothing!
And the most important thing: In the long run, your workout should be fun and fit your lifestyle and personality. Otherwise you won’t stick with it anyway. Make a plan that you can realistically implement over the long term – because exercise should never be another stress factor in your life. This affects your training success much more than training time ever could.
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References
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- Bernard et al: Time-of-day effects in maximal anaerobic leg exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1998.
- Bird, S.; Tapenning, K.: Influence of circadian time structure on acute hormonal responses to a single bout of heavy-resistance exercise in weight-trained men. Chronobiology International, 2004.
- Blonc et al: Effects of 5 weeks of training at the same time of day on the diurnal variations of maximal muscle power performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2010.
- Brisswalter et al: Morning-to-evening differences in oxygen uptake kinetics in short-duration cycling exercise. Chronobiology International, 2007.
- Cappaert, T.: Time of Day Effect on Athletic Performance. An Update. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 1999.
- Chtoutou et al: The effect of strength training at the same time of the day on the diurnal fluctuations of muscular anaerobic performances. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012.
- Chtoutou, H.; Souissi, N.: The Effect of Training at a Specific Time of Day. A Review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012.
- Dalton et al: Circadian rhythms have no effect on cycling performance. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 1997.
- Kusumoto et al: Factors Contributing to Diurnal Variation in Athletic Performance and Methods to Reduce Within-Day Performance Variation: A Systematic Review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2020.
- Mirizio et al: Time-of-Day Effects on Short-Duration Maximal Exercise Performance. Scientific Reports, 2020.
- Movaseghi et al: Time of day effect on oxygen uptake changes and lung function of active female. Turkish Journal of Sport and Exercise, 2016.
- Pullinger et al: Diurnal variation in repeated sprint performance cannot be offset when rectal and muscle temperatures are at optimal levels (38.5°C). Chronobiology International, 2018.