Should I work out in the morning?
Morning workouts have advantages: they are done before the day's interruptions and, outdoors, add morning light to your routine. But both morning and evening workouts work for fitness, and evening exercise does not generally harm sleep. Pick what you will actually do consistently.
The morning benefits
Outdoor morning workouts add bright morning light, the strongest signal to your body clock (NIGMS). They are also done before competing priorities emerge.
Evening workouts
Many athletes perform best later in the day, though the peak depends on chronotype (Facer-Childs & Brandstaetter, 2015). And evening exercise does not generally harm sleep: a meta-analysis of 23 studies found the main exception was vigorous exercise ending within about an hour of bedtime (Stutz et al., 2019).
The real lever
What matters most is a time you will actually stick to. Pick a slot you can keep on most days of the week.
Sources
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH). Circadian Rhythms fact sheet
- Facer-Childs & Brandstaetter, Current Biology, 2015. The impact of circadian phenotype and time since awakening on diurnal performance in athletes
- Stutz et al., Sports Medicine, 2019. Effects of Evening Exercise on Sleep in Healthy Participants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
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