Exercise O’Clock! Best Time To Work Out?

Have you ever wondered what the best time to work out is for your body? According to research by the American College of Sports Medicine, it transpires that early morning exercise is the best time to work out for a number of reasons including better quality of sleep and better sleep patterns, lower body fat and fewer workouts missed. The final point is interesting and one I can definitely relate to. When I used to work out in the afternoon or early evening, I’d often find a reason not to do it. However, when I work out first thing, I don’t even think about it, I plan it into my day every week day morning. Not exercising is not an option. What’s not mentioned here are the benefits early morning exercise brings to your mind. Exercise is essential brain food. It’s the no.1 method for emotional renewal according to Tony Schwartz who wrote the Power Of Full Engagement. Exercise induces neurogenesis (the creation of new brains cells), it even helps to reverse the damage done by alcohol! These are just a few of the benefits of exercise and why we need it to thrive and be healthy – and of course raise our Testosterone (except for long distance cardio which can lower it!) If you’d like to learn about the rest of the benefits of exercise, I wrote a book called the Truth About Exercise. Download your free copy here.  Now you know why we need it, read the rest of this article to see how to make it happen first thing!

If you currently can’t fathom exercising in the morning, here are some tricks that work for other morning exercise achievers.

1. Organize all your workout clothes/gear at night. Make it as easy as possible to get your workout in by having everything ready to go.

2. Go to bed earlier. When you start working out early, you’ll naturally start wanting to go to bed earlier too. But when starting out, try going to bed 30 minutes earlier than normal so it’s easier to get up for your workout.

3. Enlist a friend. Call a friend to see if s/he will meet you. Those who have exercise companions are more likely to get their workouts in.

4. Do what you love. There are so many ways to become fit, you don’t have to do something you don’t like. Find something (anything!) that you like and do that. It’s also great to shake it up, and do different types of exercise so it never gets boring. For best results combine aerobic exercise with strength workouts (with either bodyweight exercises or weights).

5. Reward yourself. For each am that you exercise, give yourself a little reward like a nice nonfat latte. The best part of all my am workouts is the latte at the end! After a week of doing your morning exercise, splurge on a new exercise DVD or video. There are so many great ones now, one of my favorites is P90X. It’s an at-home version of Crossfit which focuses on muscle confusion for building strength and endurance.

6. Don’t have an all or nothing attitude. If you only have time for a half hour workout, when your routine is usually an hour, go for the half hour and give yourself a pat on the back. Try to make up during the day (take the stairs, take a brisk walk on a break. When I have early morning meetings, I not only shorten my workout routine, but try to increase the intensity. If I walk out of an vigorous group fitness class early, it’s all smiles, no guilt!

–Sherri Nordstrom Stastny, Ph.D., RD, CSSD., Assistant Professor, Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences at North Dakota State University

7. I never know when co-workers or friends are going to want to go out for a glass of wine after work. If I haven’t exercised in the morning, I have to go to the gym after work, so no wine (big whine!), no great time relaxing with friends. I do, however, keep it to one glass and no appetizers. Although happy hour only happens maybe once a week, it’s in the back of my head on some of those “don’t want to do this” mornings, so I get up and go in order to keep my evening options open.

Read full article on Appetite For Health

–Colleen Luther RD, LD