For you Work Out guys

[blazerazor]

Im considering joining a gym and am thinking about how to fit it into my daily schedule.

Seems a good time to go would be in the morning. There are less ppl in the gym, and my energy level would be very high. But it will take enormous amount of self disicpline to get my butt out of bed, in the car and to the gym, .. and not hitting the snooze button like I do every morning till I absolutely HAVE to get up.
Or what I'm sure will happen is I go in the late afternoon and fight all the other ppl in there, work out less, cause I'm tired from the day. I'm shooting for 3days a week light routine with 30-45 cardio at first, or till I get used to it.

For you guys who do it, which do you find better.
And what drives you to continually push your self?

 

[slimrhcp]

Test levels are typically higher in the morning. This would benefit your lifting routine. And definitely lift before cardio.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: blazerazor
Im considering joining a gym and am thinking about how to fit it into my daily schedule.

Seems a good time to go would be in the morning. There are less ppl in the gym, and my energy level would be very high. But it will take enormous amount of self disicpline to get my butt out of bed, in the car and to the gym, .. and not hitting the snooze button like I do every morning till I absolutely HAVE to get up.
Or what I'm sure will happen is I go in the late afternoon and fight all the other ppl in there, work out less, cause I'm tired from the day. I'm shooting for 3days a week light routine with 30-45 cardio at first, or till I get used to it.

For you guys who do it, which do you find better.

I like the morning for the reasons you listed

And what drives you to continually push your self?

The futile attempt to beat Father Time.

 

[Flyback]

The difference is negligible. That is, to say, either time of the day is infinitely better than nothing at all. Find out which one suits your schedule best.

When I'm cutting and do lots of cardio I go for mornings. When bulking I'll hit the weights later in the afternoon/early evening. I enjoy morning workouts more, particularly when doing cardio. It gets me energized for the rest of the day, and I feel fully awake afterwards (normally I'd feel sleepy/half there until 1pm).

Find out what fits your schedule and what you can stay consistent with. That is, by far, the most important thing--consistency and sticking with it.

Lastly, go and get a one week pass at the gym you want to check out. See how you like it--how clean it is, the equipment they have, the patrons. If its a crappy gym you can move to the next one without having invested a lot into it.

 

[Ktulu]

I've been consistently getting up at 5 am to hit the gym for over 2 months now. Not sure if it has more benefits, but I really only do it to avoid the huge crowds at the gym after work.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: Flyback
Find out what fits your schedule and what you can stay consistent with. That is, by far, the most important thing--consistency and sticking with it.

Exactly. This is probably what people struggle with most: they get bogged down in the minutia of "how" to exercise, to the point that they get discouraged or bored and don't exercise.

The best time to exercise is the time that fits your schedule best so that you can keep doing it.

 

[K1052]

I always workout better in the evenings after work. I have more energy and I aways feel tons better than when I tried to do it in the morning.

I do not wake up early well or happily.

 

[Kadarin]

I do evenings, because that's simply better for me schedule-wise.

 

[Sex Smurf]

Cardio in the mornings (before breakfast) when your body has used up the food in your stomach and will be forced to eat away at your fat cells for fuel.

Weight train at night.

 

[IEC]

Morning is better. I need to go to bed earlier so I can wake up earlier...

Lately been playing b-ball with friends at the gym, but it's usually 9PM/10PM when we start due to everyone being busy until at least 8PM...

 

[Vic]

Don't make it hard on yourself. Work out whenever it's best for you. I do evenings right after work. I'm just not a morning person.
Don't sweat the details, just try to keep your routine rounded. I see guys who keep a written record of every rep and set. That's just making it hard on yourself.
Whether you should do cardio first or lifting first depends on which one you consider more important to your overall rountine. Personally, I do cardio first. IMO it's more important.
What drives me? Good health. Feeling good and looking good. Why do you keep your house clean? Same reason.

 

[purbeast0]

I have always done weight training in the evenings, but I have tried doing it in the mornings as well. In the mornings I just do not have the energy to push heavy weight. I am a lot more energized after I've been up all day at work and feel pumped up to lift after work. Even when I go mid-afternoon on Saturdays around 1pm or so, I still don't have as much energy as when I go after work.

Cardio though ... I would really REALLY like to do it in the morning. I am just NOT a morning person and getting up early is really tough. I've been running 3 times the past week, and it's always late at night. We have a small fitness center in the basement of our apartment with 2 treadmills and 2 eliptical machines, and I've been going around 11 or 11:30 to do cardio for 25 mins on the treadmill and haven't seen one person in there.

I am going to try and get my ass out of bed one day before work this week though and do cardio in the morning. I am curious how it'll make me feel the rest of the day, and I'm also curious to see if it's crowded at all.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: K1052
I always workout better in the evenings after work. I have more energy and I aways feel tons better than when I tried to do it in the morning.

I do not wake up early well or happily.

Same here. Too much creaking and joints popping early on.

I have tried running in the am b4 work too. But same thing, didn't do well on my knees.

OP, you should prolly aleady know if your an "early bird" or a "night owl". If you don't you'll find out quick is my guess.

Fern

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: VicI see guys who keep a written record of every rep and set. That's just making it hard on yourself.

I used to keep a log with me at the gym, and it had nothing to do with making it hard on myself.

Considering I do each muscle once/week, I would sometimes forget what I did the previous week, and I'd waste a set on figuring out what weight to do. So I started logging it. This also really helps you keep progress and push yourself to do more weight than you did the last time. It really didn't make it any harder on myself at all.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: paulxcook

Originally posted by: Flyback
Find out what fits your schedule and what you can stay consistent with. That is, by far, the most important thing--consistency and sticking with it.

Exactly. This is probably what people struggle with most: they get bogged down in the minutia of "how" to exercise, to the point that they get discouraged or bored and don't exercise.

The best time to exercise is the time that fits your schedule best so that you can keep doing it.

Yep, consistency is the key. Time of the day won't matter if you stop going after a couple weeks.

 

[JS80]

i personally think doing it in the morning makes my day happier

 

[irishScott]

I do 45 min to an hour of rowing (with some push-ups afterwards) 5 days a week in the 9-11pm zone. Most free time of the day, and if I get it done by 10, I get tired sometime between midnight and 1, when I go to sleep.

Being in shape alone gives me an energy boost I wouldn't have otherwise.

Typically, you should wait at least 3 hours after working out before going to sleep, but if going to sleep earlier works for you (as it does for me) go with it.

The only problem with doing it in the morning IMO is that I like to work myself out to physical exhaustion (after the rowing, if I still have energy left, I'll run a mile or so on the treadmill). If I did that in the morning, I'd be dead for the rest of the day.

 

[Mellman]

I used to do it at night - around 9pm, however i found it hard to want to go back out to the gym since I was already home. I did it for about 3 months, but then the holidays hit, and I got sick, and bam, havn't been back since...pretty crappy.

To prevent myself from having to go back out I've been wanting to try going in the morning. The problem for me is, working out has never felt 'good' i always am more tired after a workout, i do sleep better, but directly after a workout i am very drained. I can't do much cardio because my lungs suck, asthma is teh lose.

 

[Koing]

Do which ever one you can STICK TO the most.

I do lunchtimes and evenings Mon-Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons.

What motivates me? I want to be a complete monster and beat everyone else. Be British Champion someday and do some Commonwealth, Euro and World Champs

Koing

 

[XZeroII]

You should just set up camp in the gym parking lot.