Submitted By: Peter Simon, Los Angeles, CA

My question is regarding the timing of resistance training. I know you advise morning sessions -- however in my experience I am significantly stronger (and more motivated) when I do my weight training around 5 - 6 pm... Is there a possibility that some of us may not be biorhythmically the same as others and that 5 or 6 may be a better time for me? Or do you think regardless, I should be moving my workouts to the morning?


Some people perform better, and are more motivated to train, later in the day. Performance and motivation are key factors in any successful exercise program, and training later in the day is immeasurably better than not training at all. If one could train anytime, 11 to noon may be optimal though not necessarily better than a morning workout. The potential rate of progression is greater when training earlier in the day than in the evening, for reasons relating to biorhythm and interaction between training and feeding patterns (particularly in reference to the nightly fast). This hypothesis corresponds with evidence indicating that the risk of overtraining is higher at a given workload when training in the evening. For those doing light exercise where there is no risk of overtraining, time of day may not make a difference. As to your specific question, I believe you will be more successful staying with your current workout schedule than switching to a less practically suitable time.