Training in the Morning vs. Evening | Biolayne Educational Video

For years people have asked me what time of day is best to train? Many people have postulated that you should train in the morning when testosterone is at it's highest. However, I've always felt best training in the early to mid afternoon. However, more recently (last few years) I've had to stick to training in the morning due to my work and kid commitments. Let's break down what the research actually says about when the best time of day to train is...

Afternoon training improves performance relative to morning training in basketball players

[bastipear]

One of the most underrated YouTubers! I love your content Mr Norton! You helped me a bunch during my training and dieting!

[bastinelli]

I prefer working out when I get home from work around 6. The problem is now that I have kids I want to spend time with them after work so I wake up at 5 am now and do it then. I fucking hate it but I do it for my kids.

[AdamOpzun]

Early morning trainer here. It’s the foundation on which I build my day. I get up, have breakfast and coffee and head to the gym. I’m in control & the gym is quiet. When I train at a different time, I have the extra concerns of what to eat and when (meal 2 or 3/snack) when to have a coffee or energy drink, how busy the gym might be, etc.

[lb]

For me - it’s morning. Give me all day to come up with a reason to skip my workout and I’ll skip it lol. Mornings, I actually show up consistently. And consistency is 90% of what matters in exercise.

[Magic_beans_]

I find I’m stronger in the early afternoon, probably because I’m better fed, better hydrated, and as you said, more coordinated in general. However, work obligations being what they are, my real options are:

a) rush through a lunch-hour workout, or
b) wake up early and put in a solid 90+ minutes.

I’ll take the latter.

[sunnysideup]

One of the best no BS channels in youtube. You are top tier in content with no drama. Thanks layne

[clintpurches]

I train fasted at 5am, gets the hardest thing I’m going to do all day done, by the afternoon I’m tired from work. Other benefits...train at 5am and get a free run on the equipment, most days I’m the only one there whereas if you train when everybody else does in the afternoon/evening you get in a queue or you get bothered with people asking how many sets you got left.

[aznmarinex]

I think a study needs to be done on how long after you wake up you do training. Wouldn’t this be better than morning and evening due to sleep variables?

[TeamYouphoric]

I've always preferred training in the evening. Especially, for strength training.

[mahfuzulkabir]

While watching your channel something sounded different... I felt I was in a research seminar back in grad school at UIUC. Then you talked about your PhD work and my interest peaked immediately. Then I found out you graduated from Illinois which makes you the most acceptable fitness guru to me 😁😁😁. Thanks for your amazing research based approach and keep up the great work!!!

[truthbetold]

train when ever you can, i have a home gym, when i used to go to the gym i would go in the morning i hated the crowds at night.

I always train in the morning last year i did 5 x 5 without any issue, warm up pre workout and ready to go and i am also older at 48.

[juhosuomi]

This is just my opinion but for strength athletes it might be beneficial trying to adapt to train at the same time of the day the competition is held, at least couple weeks before the competition. If your flight starts at 9am and you're used to working out at 8pm, you might end up taking your openers / first event half asleep.

[lindseyfrazier]

I used to workout after work and did fine for a while. But then, due to work days creeping into the evenings more and more, I decided I needed to make sure I got it done before work so that I wouldn't have to worry about it after work. I was too tired once the work day was done plus it was more crowded. Long story short, once I got my morning workout routine down, I haven't been able to go back to evening or even after noon workouts. I feel lethargic and much less powerful, even if I took a preworkout. There also seems to be an anxiousness to hurry through it, whereas in the morning I feel settled and relaxed and focused.

[DadBodFitness]

Great point! I was really hoping you were going to come back to that by the end of the video. I do always find it interesting to look at the research and what it shows, but from my audience the bottom line I always come back to is do it whenever it's convenient and actually can happen. Sometimes I worry putting this question out there could discourage some people from training. They might think, well I don't have time in the evening so I guess I just can't train at all. Thanks for pointing that out that's the best time is the time you can make happen. That is what's optimal for anyone to make progress. Sub optimal progress is better than none. Thanks for all your content Layne!

[fl]

I find now that I’m older I moved from morning to late afternoon workouts helps my joints to loosen up better . In the morning still tight .

[laurenromeo]

It could be where you are in life as well. Younger will probably be able to do early morning, older later in the morning...etc. Thanks!

[enjoyer]

I train better at night but have to do it at 5-ish in the morning because I have too much crap to do. Work gets in the way and can run long. I have things I want to do with the kids and in the house during the day, and I’m not missing evening time with the wife or kids bedtime. I’ll hit 99 out of 100 morning workouts but maybe 85 out of 109 evening workouts because stuff comes up during the day. So I’ll take the extra consistency at the cost of a little effectiveness.

[JoshuaKevinPerry]

Run for one hour when you wake up, lift after work, and do light cardio after lifting.

[heavymetalfitness]

Waking up at 3:30 am, getting hydrated, taking my fat burners, eating my breakfast to get to the gym at 5:00am is my favorite schedule. Late night training is annoying because then all day I’ll be thinking about it, and I’ll build up anxiety. Waking up early to go kill it in the gym is the best imo! The early crowd is also better too because I’ve realized those are usually when the serious lifters workout too! So less annoying gymshark wannabees.

[suedemutant]

Paul Revelia brought me to Laynes channel. Than Paul said he was inspired by Layne. Circle closed.