By Dayne Hudson
When it comes to making changes to your physique - every inch counts.
That's why I feel it necessary to examine the data into the best time to train.
As you'll learn, there seems to be a certain time of the day when the body might be more ready to go than others!
TIMING YOUR WORKOUT PLANS
For starters, it's important to learn about your circadian rhythm, which is a roughly 24 hour cycle in the physiological process of all living things; think your sleep/wake cycle and more. Check out the picture below.
HORMONES AND THEIR ROLE ON YOUR WORK OUTS AND MUSCLE GROWTH
Testosterone production is at its highest at night and lowest during the day (1) while cortisol (the stress hormone) has a low output at night, but is at it's highest upon awakening before dropping off as the day goes on (2).
The testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio is normally what is used as a sign of tissue anabolism, which in this context is muscle growth (1).
The T/C ratio is the highest in the afternoon and evening (3).
When testosterone is high and cortisol is low - training at this time may be more beneficial.
This is why the afternoon is seen to be the best time to train.
And there's more.
During this time, your training causes the smallest increase in cortisol and the largest increase in testosterone (1,3).
You can loosely compare it to how the beach is better in summer - it's that particular time of the year when the sun is hotter that the beach is more appealing (there's no hormones here but you get my drift!).
Furthermore, your elevated levels of cortisol also recover faster in the evening (4), giving more evidence to the possibility it may be a superior time to train.
Now you've heard me talk before how I'm not convinced by the data that any elevations in hormones results in anymore muscle growth - so why is this any different?
It isn't.
The data is still mixed as to whether or not higher testosterone will make any difference to muscle growth - but if there was ever any science pointing towards an answer to the common question: "when is the best time to workout?" then this is it!
I'll always give you my opinion on this website - but I'll tell you when it's my opinion - and won't pass it off as fact!
Forgive me if it's not what you want, but I'd rather let you make up your own mind.
But I'm not shooting down this afternoon theory altogether, because hormones are just a small part of this theory.
Hormones aside, muscle hypertrophy signalling is higher in the afternoon than in the morning - that much is fact (5) and it's that I'd like you to focus on!
Further research (6,7) has found that even when training is consistently in the morning or the afternoon - the afternoon still reigns supreme (see below).
Furthermore, strength increases are normally better and muscle growth levels up to 84% higher in evening trainers compared to morning trainers.
So with all this talk of the afternoon - what time is precisely the best time to pump iron?
MUSCLE BUILDING: THE BEST TIME TO WORK OUT FOR MASS GAIN
The literature suggests between 14:30-20:30, which is 2:30pm and 8:30pm for those of you who hate 24 hour time (8).
This advice is for those who sleep at night and move about when it's day time.
So if you're a shift worker (I heard from a few of you over the weekend wanting some of my fool-proof diet plans!) then wait about 6 hours after waking up before hitting the gym.
Further to any shift workers who might be reading this, one study has found that peak performance is before work (9).
TRAINING IF YOU'RE 40 OR OVER
If you're in this age group try training an hour or 2 earlier.
I say this because research suggests that peak performance occurs earlier for you folk (10).
So if you want to be super accurate (and every inch counts, right?) then try training 4-5 hours after you awake.
CONCLUSION: WRAPPING UP THE FITNESS TIP
So regardless of whether you're under 40 years-old or above it - think about all of this information when figuring out when to schedule in your workouts.
As I say, every inch in this game of muscle growth counts!
"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!"
REFERENCES
(1) Interactions of cortisol, testosterone, and resistance training: influence of circadian rhythms. Hayes LD, Bickerstaff GF, Baker JS. Chronobiol Int. 2010 Jun;27(4):675-705.
(2) Debono M., Ghobadi C., Rostami-Hodjegan A., Huatan H., Campbell M.J., Newell-Price J., et al. (2009) Modified-release hydrocortisone to provide circadian cortisol profiles. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 94: 1548–1554.
(3) Influence of circadian time structure on acute hormonal responses to a single bout of heavy-resistance exercise in weight-trained men. Bird SP, Tarpenning KM. Chronobiol Int. 2004 Jan;21(1):131-46.
(4) Erdemir, I., & Bozdogan, T. K. (2013). Effects of Exercise on Circadian Rhythms of Cortisol. International Journal of Sports Science, 3(3), 68-73.
(5) Acute responces in muscle hypertrophy signalling to a morning vs. afternoon resistance exercise protocol. Sedliak et al. 7th International Conference on Strength Training, 2010.
(6) Time specific strength training induced hypertrophy and muscle strength increase of young untrained men. Laczo et al. 7th International Conference on Strength Training, 2010.
(7) Effect of time-of-day-specific strength training on muscular hypertrophy in men. Sedliak M, Finni T, Cheng S, Lind M, Häkkinen K. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Dec;23(9):2451-7.
(8) Reilly T, Atkinson G, Edwards B, Waterhouse J, Farrelly K, Fairhurst E. (2007). Diurnal variation in temperature, mental and physical performance, and tasks specifically related to football (soccer). Chronobiol. Int. 24:507–519.
(9) Husmer HN (2013). The Effects of Time of Day on Resistance Exercise Workout Responses. DigitalCommons@UConn.
(10) Myers BL, Badia P. (1995). Changes in circadian-rhythms and sleep quality with aging—mechanisms and interventions. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 19:553–571.
