Does the time that you exercise influence the effectiveness of your workout? New research provides evidence that it does – but also that this effect is different depending on your gender.

Study Summary

A recent randomized controlled trial including 56 participants found that after 12 weeks of a training program:

• For women, morning exercise decreased blood pressure and belly fat.
• For women, evening exercise increased power, endurance, and upper body strength, and also improved mood and satiety.
• For men, evening exercise lowered blood pressure and fatigue, and increased metabolism, when compared to morning exercise.

The Hearty Take

While this study is limited by sample size and study design, it provides an interesting look into how time of day could impact fitness optimization. At Hearty, we are keeping an eye on related future studies. One thing that is certain, is that all exercise is better than no exercise. Whilst this has potential implications if the effect is born out in more studies, our advice will remain to get enough exercise before it will be about exercising at a certain time of the day.