My morning workout provides a great jump-start to the day ahead. It wakes me up in a way that a shower can't and gives me a good dose of energy to deal with the tasks that may come up throughout the workday. My afternoon workout is a healthier (though, probably, healthiest were it not for the other two workouts in my day) alternative to filling up on lunch foods and doesn't come with the typical late afternoon food coma brought on by a hearty lunch. My after-work workout provides a great way to de-stress from the hectic days that are so typical in New York employee life and provides some down time to separate my work-life from my domestic like.
So, while many say that my workout regimen verges on obsession, as you can see, I derive many different benefits from each workout throughout the day.
However, I have noticed that my actual productivity (miles run, for instance) does change based on the time of day in which my workout is taking place. For the most part, I have found that I am at my
peak performance during my afternoon workout and I tend to be more sluggish during my evening session. My theory for why this is so is as follows: As my morning workout follows my waking for the day by a half hour or so, my body is still in its REM-state and thus not particularly well prepared for a workout. By lunch, my body is fully awake, my body is free from any soreness I had when I woke up (probably helped by the morning workout) and I am as prepared as I can be to get in a workout. By early evening, my body is tired from the day that just ended (probably also exacerbated by waking up so early for the morning workout), my muscles are achy from the two already completed workouts and my mind is already preparing for a restful night of slumber. So, in the end, I'd have to say my body is at its best during the lunchtime hour.
As it turns out, however, it would seem that my conclusion flies in the face of scientific research which has shown that, in general, the early evening is the time in which the body can produce the best and in which one can expect to get the best workout. In her December 10th article, Ready To Exercise? Check Your Watch, in the New York Times, Gina Kolata writes that, "not only are performances better in the late afternoon and early evening, but, contrary to what exercise physiologists would predict, heart rates are also higher for the same effort". Citing Michael H. Smolensky, an expert in chronobiology, the study of the body clock, as well as a host of studies done at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in England, Kolata reasons that "If you exercise later in the day, your muscles are more flexible and stronger and your heart and lungs are more efficient."
Given that, by the early evening, my legs have already propelled my body anywhere from 6-12 miles, it's hardly surprising that I would find my third and final workout of the day to be my lest beneficial from a performance perspective. Were I to follow a normal workout routine and only workout, say, in the early evening, I have no doubt that my performance would be in line with the results cited in Kolata's article. But, one workout would not be sufficient to balance out my candy-based diet and, no matter how effective that one workout is, my body would soon have me looking more like the Pillsbury Doughboy rather than the handsome surprisingly-thin-for-all-the-candy-he-eats fellow I am today.
But, being someone who is always open to trying new things, maybe I'll try moving my morning and afternoon workouts to the early evening and get my three workouts in during the time when experts say is the best for the body. Maybe then, I'll can move from a 90% sugar-based diet to a full and complete 100% one!! The idea itself sounds incredibly sweet to me!
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