When is the best time to exercise?

I have many patients ask me, “What is the best time to exercise, in the morning or at night?” Well, there are two schools of thought on that. Some experts think it is better to exercise in the morning because you will burn more calories during the day. Also if you include it into your morning regiment as you get ready for the day, you will always get your work out in. On the other hand, some experts feel it is better to exercise later in the day because it will burn the calories and carbs you ate during the day. In addition, if you exercise after work, it will help release the stress from the day resulting in less stress hormones being produced and consequently less belly fat. The only downside from exercising at the end of the day is that you may be too tired and decide to skip it. So, if you decide to wait until the end of the day, do not make any excuses and get it in whether it is a walk, a gym routine, class or at home regiment. In actuality, you should exercise when it fits into your schedule. I have some patients that have a hybrid: they exercise a little in the morning or at lunchtime and then workout again when they get home at night. The point of exercise is to burn calories, tone the body and increase metabolism and you will receive that benefit regardless of the time of day.

Remember it is best to get a mixture of both cardio and weight resistance training. You want to efficiently burn the calories with cardio by working within your target heart rate zone. Don’t go above it or you could burn precious muscle away. Also it is extremely effective to do some sort of resistance training, whether it is weight machines at the gym, dumb bells or bands. Resistance training will increase lean muscle mass causing an increase in metabolism. The lean muscle in your body burns many more calories than fat cells. Doing some sort of resistance training every other day will help you burn more calories, burn fat and sculpt the muscles. For women, I recommend lighter weights and more repetitions for definition without the bulk. Bulk will add weight to you. If you have ever seen women in the gym on the adductor leg machines using 150 pounds of weight and their thighs have muscle but are huge…that is why.

For those of you that see me weekly, you know I love to work out and I love weight training. It’s one of my personal interests. Last year, I felt stuck with my own routines and felt my progress was limited on muscle development. So, I decided to study to become certified personal trainer to help myself and to hopefully pass on information to help our patients. I usually do my workouts after work at about 8:00 PM or so as it helps me to release the stress from the day (and from working with Dr. Posner all day, just kidding)…For me, there are no excuses, after work I must immediately do my workout. I may not want to as I may feel tired from working the last 12 or 13 hours, but all I remember is how I feel after I am done and my car is on autopilot to the gym. As women, weight training can seriously give us the greatest boost in metabolism and it doesn’t matter at what age we start. We can reap the benefits at any age.