I remember about 7 – 8 years ago I used to train in the evening and there was nothing that could make me change my habit. That’s what I thought…
I don’t remember exactly but it must have been an evening job that made me re-train myself and start training early in the morning. I recall it wasn’t easy in the beginning, and I’m sure many who have tried morning training will agree.
But once you get accustomed to morning training you start to wonder what in the world made you think that morning workouts are difficult. Especially if you consider the added benefit of clearing up your evening from having to spend time in the gym and not with friends or family, or even doing whatever your favorite thing to do is at the moment.
Now ocassionally I still have to train late in the evening.. and I have to tell you training in the evening gives me a lot better pumps, and I feel stronger. Not to mention that I’m not half asleep.
But the habit of training in the morning still makes me head for the door as soon as I wake up without too much thinking. After all that’s why we call it a habit..
I guess my point is if it weren’t for the habit and for the fact that I like to have my evenings free, I’d still train late at night as this is the time when I feel primed to hit the weights really hard.
And to prove my point I just read about a study from the University if South Carolina. In this study the researchers examined how swimmers perform in their training at 18 different times during the day for the length of 3 days. They found that the athletes’ bodies were primed for peak performance at 11 pm.
The researchers concluded that this has something to do with the circadian rhythms – all your physiological processes in a 24h period.
Any way, fact is training at night means better performance if you don’t mind not leaving time for other things to do and people to spend time at night.
What is your take on that? Have you tried early morning training and late evening training? Which one do you find to be better, based on your personal experience?