When & What To Train

Just going to the gym and eating a clean, healthy diet is enough for a lot of people to make sure they see great results but if you find yourself already doing that and are struggling for gains then science suggests that there are certain times to exercise that are more beneficial than others.

Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi conducted a study involving young athletes and got them to train with weights at different times of day and then recorded the results. Although all of the athletes showed similar improvements in strength, the group that trained at 6pm gained significantly more muscle than those who worked out at 10am. Not only that, the evening group remained slightly leaner than the morning group at the end of the experiment.

The benefits of weight training later in the day tend to make sense from a biological point of view. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol, peak early in the morning. On top of that, your metabolism slows down naturally as the day progresses, but an evening workout force it to speed up again. So, you’ll end up burning more energy over the whole day, which will result in more lean muscle gains.

Something like this should help you have more visible results. The exercise parts are for training days only. Meditation, stretching and lunch time walk can be done every day.

Wake up – 10 minutes of meditation

Before work - morning cardio for up to 40 mins

Lunch time – have lunch and go for a walk (in no particular order)

After work – head to the gym and hit the weights

Late evening before bed – Full body stretch for 10-20 mins and 10 minutes of meditation (if not done in the morning).