Hello fitness friend. I’m Mike Mathews. This is Muscle for Life and thank you for joining me today for another short episode, one of these little little episodes that I’ve been recording every two weeks that people just like to mix up the duration of the episodes because the interviews tend to run a little long.
45 to 60 minutes plus. The monologues are maybe 20-40 minutes long, and so I thought people might appreciate that. Three five minute episodes get straight to the point. So let’s talk about training time. So if you want to train with some of the fittest, healthiest, and most consistent people in your gym, start going between 5 and 6 a.m. Seriously, that’s always the best.
A productive, motivated, upbeat crowd at any gym I’ve ever participated in, but you might be wondering if this is the best time to lift weights. In general, most studies show that you’re likely to gain muscle and strength a bit faster if you train in the afternoon or early evening versus in the morning.
For example, a study conducted by scientists at YaaS University. 52 untrained men between the ages of 26 and 37 were divided into two groups. One group lifted weights in the morning and another group lifted weights in the evening. All participants trained several times a week for 24 weeks.
And while both groups improved their strength equally, the evening group gained slightly more muscle mass than the morning group. The researchers also found that the difference in muscle growth between the two groups did not become apparent until about halfway through the study, and this suggests that it may take a few months for any benefits from evening training to become apparent.
Now, this study and many others like it make a strong case for training in the evening which will generally be better for training in the morning. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that early workouts will hinder your ability to gain muscle and strength effectively. While most studies show that people are usually weaker in the morning than they are in the evening, research also shows that if you train consistently in the morning, this handicap goes away over time.
Specifically, if you switch from training in the evening to training in the morning, you can predict your strength. Maybe about five to 10%. At first, you’ll likely have to drop weight from the bar to get to the reps, for example, but you’ll also find that the strength returns to somewhat normal after about a month or so.
What’s Next? Your personal preferences play a role in your exercise performance and results. And that’s a preliminary point. In a study conducted by scientists at Sanford University, researchers found that college-aged, experienced weightlifters who preferred to train in the morning showed slightly more physical fatigue than when they trained in the evening.
That’s how they were. Tape measure speed. And what the researchers found is that you had these guys, they loved working out in the morning. They were a little more tired at the end of their sets and these little drills that were put together for research in their early training. But the interesting thing is these guys themselves too.
She mentioned more motivation to exercise. They enjoyed their workouts more and reported a lower perception of effort. They said the exercises seemed easier, though they showed more physical fatigue at the end of those workouts, again, as measured by bar speed on the bench press in particular.
So where does all this leave us? While there may be a physiological benefit to training in the evening, basically all of us may be able to do a little better on evening workouts versus morning workouts. It seems to be a minor effect that is basically irrelevant to almost all of us.
Maybe if you were a natural bodybuilder and made it happen. Basically, all of your genetic potential to gain muscle and strength, and you’re trying to squeeze every last ounce of muscle and strength you possibly can, it could be a little different. The discussion may be different, the recommendation may be different.
It might make sense to force yourself to train late in the afternoon, early in the evening, even if you prefer to train in the morning, but that’s probably not you. this is not me. And for most of us, if we were to perform a little worse in the morning workouts, it wouldn’t be enough to make progress, and it would be less important than when we want to work out.
It will be less important than working out at the right time for us which we enjoy the most. And if it’s morning. Is that yours then that’s enough reason to start training in. I’ve worked with tens of thousands of people over the years, and the most important thing I see with the people I’ve helped the most is that they often miss one important piece of the puzzle.
If you are having trouble accessing. Fitness goals at your own pace. I’ll guess it’s the same with you. You’re probably doing a lot of things right, but dollars for cake, there’s something you’re not doing right, and that’s what gives you the most grief. Maybe it’s your calories, maybe it’s your macros.
Perhaps this is your choice of exercise. Maybe food options. Maybe you’re not fading your muscles progressively, no matter what. Here’s what’s important. Once that, I’m this one thing. Once you figure it out, that’s when everything finally clicks. This is when you start to make serious progress. It’s like typing the password to log into your computer.
You can get all letters, numbers and . Symbols are written with only one exception. And what happens? You can’t log in, right? But once you get the last character left, you’re in business. And I bet the same can be said about the body you really want. Maybe it’s just one major shift, one mission vision, and a solid new attitude away from Easy street.
This is why I offer VIP Personal Training where my team and I can help you do exactly that. This is a high level training where we look at everything you do and help you discover the one thing you are missing. And it could be two things as well. this is good. There are no additional fees for this.
But once we figure that out, that’s when you start making real progress. This is when you start to look and feel better. So if you’re ready to make more progress in the next three months than I have in the past three years, and yes, this has happened to many of our clients, go to Muscle For life.show/vip.
This is Muscle or, Life Show slash vip, and schedule your FREE Consultation Call, which by the way is not a high pressure sales call. It’s just a friendly chat where we get to know you. your goals and lifestyle, and then decide if our program is right for you. Because sometimes we talk to people who aren’t a good fit for our service, but we always have other experts and other resources to refer those people to.
So if you’re still listening to me and you’re even a little concerned, schedule your free consultation. a call [email protected] slash vi. I hope you liked this episode. I hope you found it useful and if you did subscribe to the show as it ensures you never miss new episodes.
And it helps me too because it increases the ratings for the show quite a bit, which of course makes it more easily found by other people who might like it just like you. And if you don’t like something about this episode or about the show in general or if you… Ideas, suggestions or just comments to share.
Send me an email, mike muscle for life.com, muscle for life.com and let me know what I can do better or what are your thoughts on maybe what you would like to see me do in the future. I read everything myself. I am always looking for new ideas and constructive feedback. So again thank you for listening to this episode and I hope to hear back from you.
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