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6 Reasons To Exercise In The Morning – Better Than The Evening?

  • Fitness

We almost all know such a person; someone who swears by exercising early in the morning. The big question is of course; is it best to exercise in the morning and if so, why? We will discuss this question in detail in this article.

Table of Contents

girl exercising

The benefits of exercising in the morning

  1. It’s quiet : Most people will sleep in the morning and exercise later in the day. So it will be much quieter in the gym, for example. Awesome! No more waiting for machines to be released!
  1. A good feeling : Exercising in the morning will lead to a good feeling both during exercise and during the rest of the day. During exercise you really have the feeling that everyone is still asleep and you are already working on yourself. This gives a great feeling! The hormone endorphins are also produced during exercise. This hormone gives you a feeling of happiness, if you exercise in the morning you will benefit from this during the rest of the day.
  1. Free in the evening : If you still have to exercise later in the day, you may be a bit hesitant all the time. However, if you exercise early in the day, you can work in the afternoon, for example, and then relax in the evening. You certainly deserved it then!
  1. You will eat healthier : If you start the day with exercising, you start the day healthy. As a result, and this is also shown by research, you will be less likely to make the choice to eat unhealthy food later in the day. Otherwise you will get the feeling that your sports session has been for nothing. If, on the other hand, you exercise late in the day, you will be more likely to eat unhealthy foods during the period before your sports session.
  1. Extra energy for the rest of the day : Exercising gives your metabolism a huge boost. For example, there is more supply of oxygen and nutrients to the lungs and heart. This can result in a more energetic feeling for the rest of the day.
  1. More self-discipline : By making it a habit to get up early and exercise, you create a lot of self-discipline. It won’t be easy at the beginning, but once it’s in your system, your perseverance will increase significantly. The great thing is that self-discipline is a fairly general personality trait, which means that you can often use it in other areas, such as at work for example.

Is exercising in the morning better than in the evening?

Whether exercising in the morning or evening is better for you is a pretty personal question. It depends on your goals.

  • Do you have a goal to lose weight? Then exercising in the morning is probably best. It has been shown that you burn more fat in the morning and generally burn more calories compared to the evening.
  • Do you want to gain more muscle mass? Then exercising in the evening is probably better. In the evening, the release of testosterone is higher, a hormone that contributes to building muscle mass.

What is good to monitor if you often exercise in the evening, is your sleep. During exercise, a lot of adrenaline is released, which increases your heart rate and makes you feel active. If you exercise in the evening and notice that you have trouble falling asleep, it may be wise to start exercising earlier in the day. If your goal is to gain more muscle mass, you can, for example, exercise at the end of the afternoon.

Is it good to exercise on an empty stomach?

You have probably heard that exercising on an empty stomach burns more fat. This is right! At rest, you will mainly get your energy for your body from the burning of carbohydrates. Because you do not consume carbohydrates overnight, your carbohydrate content will be quite low in the morning. Your body will then burn more fats to still get the necessary energy. This seems to be a big advantage for exercising on an empty stomach, but it is not that simple.

Burning more fats won’t make you burn more calories on an empty stomach, and this is exactly what you need to lose weight. So if losing weight is your goal, it’s not very important. I would recommend having a light breakfast and trying to get it 30-60 minutes before you start your workout. This breakfast will give you extra energy during your sports session. Examples of such a light breakfast are:

  • A peanut butter sandwich
  • Yogurt or cottage cheese with muesli
  • 2 crackers with chicken breast

A low-intensity workout is no problem to do on an empty stomach. However, with a high-intensity workout, you definitely need this extra energy in the form of carbohydrates.

bread with peanut butter and jam

Tips for exercising in the morning

Exercising in the morning, especially if you’re just starting, isn’t easy at all. It requires quite a bit of perseverance, but once it becomes a habit it will get easier anyway! We will now give you some tips to make exercising in the morning easier.

  1. Divide it into steps : If you’re not already exercising in the morning and you’re going to make it a goal to set your alarm clock every day from now on at 7 a.m. and start exercising, I have a sad announcement to make. The chance that you will keep it up is very small. We as humans are really ‘creatures of habit’, by which I mean that it is easy for us to continue with habits, but difficult for us to develop a new habit. So make sure you take steps in the process. For example, start by exercising twice a week in the morning for fifteen minutes and gradually increase this.
  1. Don’t look for a buddy! : This is something you might not expect, many people recommend looking for a sports buddy with whom you can exercise. And in principle there is nothing wrong with this, it’s about what often happens when people have a buddy. Many people then become very dependent on their buddy, they only manage to exercise in the morning if their buddy encourages them. The bad thing is that there will always come times when you won’t get this encouragement, so it really has to come from within yourself. So you can exercise with a sports buddy, but make sure you don’t do this every time.
  1. Use a light alarm clock : Exercising in itself is not even that difficult for many people once they are awake, but getting up early is something that does form a major barrier for many people. A light alarm clock can help enormously with this; you may have never heard of this. A light alarm clock will start emitting light about 15-30 minutes (differs per light alarm and can often be adjusted) before your alarm goes off. This will take your body out of your deep sleep and you will end up in a lighter sleep. When the alarm goes off, you will feel much less tired and it will be easier to get up.
  1. Sleep at least 7 hours : Whether you use a light alarm clock or not, if you don’t sleep much, you will wake up feeling tired. Besides that you will feel less fit throughout the day, you will most likely have less motivation for your sports session and your performance will also be worse. So try to get at least 7 hours of sleep, but about 8 hours is best for healthy adults.
  1. Find a workout you like : This sounds very simple, of course, but it is incredibly important to continue exercising in the morning. Whether it’s walking, running, cycling, strength training or a quick HIIT workout (if you want to learn more about a HIIT workout click here), it’s about you feeling good. So try out different things and find out what you like!
  1. Prepare the day before : To make it as easy as possible for yourself in the morning, it is important that you prepare yourself the day before. For example, prepare your sports clothing or simply think about what kind of workout you are going to do the next day. Don’t let this arrive at the last minute, this way you increase the threshold to actually do it!
  1. Make your bed : This probably sounds a bit strange; ‘what does making your bed have to do with exercising?’. And I get what you mean, but still it’s very relevant. When you get up, it is important that you make your bed right away. In this way you can immediately complete a task when you have only just woken up, so you start the day right. The psychological effect of it makes this a good idea, because you then easily move on to the next task … and that is the exercising of course!