When we propose to start at to practice a sportOr we want to improve our performance, we probably think of different questions on how to organize our sessions training. One of them is usually related to the time of day most suitable for physical activity. Is it better to train in the mornings? Or should I go to the gym in the afternoons? What if what I do is a long-term workout? What is real in everything we hear about biorhythms? Why do I feel better as a workout at a certain time?
We will analyze in the following lines these aspects of the performance, As well as the influence it has on our rest practice sport at one time or another. We must first understand that we cannot understand the performance without a correct one recovery.
Hormone levels, biorhythms and performance
(…)
a good physical performance during the day it is in many cases related to a good quality of sleep during the night. This allows the organism an adequate one recovery and therefore better performance the next day. In those people who suffer from sleep problems, this could be an aspect of great relevance.
We must keep in mind that the sleep quality it could be modified by the biorhythms or circadian rhythms of the organism. These depend on the hormonal changes that occur. In this way, and answering this heading the question would be: according to our biorhythms, will it be better to train in the morning or in the afternoon?
In principle, during the morning and in healthy people, we find higher levels of cortisol and of testosterone. The first of these is the so-called stress hormone, And is related to the catabolism, In other words and in what we are interested in here, protein degradation.
the testosterone for its part, it is a anabolic hormoneThat is, protein synthesis and its high levels during the morning could counteract cortisol levels.
We could think of taking advantage of them effects of these hormones to achieve better performance. However, and although it seems that training in the afternoon (for example, strength training) helps to lower cortisol levels towards the last hours of the day by facilitating later rest, studies they are contradictory in this sense.
Thus, at the moment we cannot guarantee that training in the morning or in the afternoon will have a significant relevance if we pay attention to the hormonal levels.
Training and nervous system
the hour to which the training it could have a different effect on ours autonomic nervous system. This in turn is subdivided into nervous system kind i parasympathetic. The first of these is related to situations of stress and alertness, while the second has the opposite effect on our body, to understand us, generates a state of calm in it.
the practice of physical exercise it creates changes on the autonomic nervous system, which can alter the quality of sleep during the night. To analyze and understand the changes on it, you can study the changes it causes on the heart rate.
First, we must understand that one intense training increases heart rate after exertion, due to stimulation on sympathetic nervous system. In this sense, we know that an afternoon workout could in some people worsen the quality of sleep. In addition, science shows us that one training by tomorrow it generates an increase towards the last hours of the day of the parasympathetic system and does not interfere with the quality of sleep or recovery for the next day.
Therefore, it would be possible to find people who, after a workout towards the last hours of the day, find it difficult to rest, something undesirable. In this sense it would be advisable to train in the mornings to benefit, in addition, from the activation effect which has physical exercise on the body.
But then when is better performance achieved?
We already have an idea of the effects who have the training and the different hours of the day in our body. But, if I want to get the best performance possible, and I have no trouble sleeping, when is it best to train?
the science is more or less conclusive in terms of training of force. In principle, if we have to choose, we should train during the afternoon. At this time of day the levels of activation i muscle contraction they are usually larger. It is therefore, compared to the morning, where higher performance peaks are achieved.
The same does not happen in the case of aerobic training (Development of activities with less intensity but for longer periods of time, with the aim of achieving greater resistance), where there does not seem to be a big difference between the results obtained at one hour or another.
Similarly, the anaerobic training (It consists of performing high-intensity activities such as lifting weights, short runs at high speed or any exercise that requires a lot of effort for a short time) of short duration achieves its best performance peaks in the afternoon. This could be due to the increase in the body temperature during this period, which has a good preheating effect on the body leading to a better subsequent state.
Still with this information, we need to keep some aspects in mind. The first is that strength gains and hypertrophy are similar regardless of the time of day you train. On the other hand, the cos has a great capacity of adaptation, And if training is usually done in the mornings, the performance will be comparable to that in the afternoons. So we don’t have to worry about whether our training needs to be done before noon as long as it has continuity.
Finally, it is important to note that if we have to compete in the mornings or afternoons, will have adaptation noeball organism to training in the same time slot.
Health and training at different times of the day
We do not want to close this article without making a brief note about them effects which has on health to train at different times of the day. It is a broad and complex topic, but we would like to give some examples: the time of day, the time of day and the characteristics of the sporting activity could be elements to consider when improving some health problems.
We begin by mentioning a topic that will always be relevant: the loss of fat or he overweight. In this regard some studies show us that training in the mornings and before breakfast could have one positive effect on the organism, As a 24-hour increase in fat oxidation has been observed. This stimulus would not be similar in the case if the training was performed after breakfast or throughout the day.
On the other hand, a aerobic training in the morning could have a positive effect on the arterial pressure and would normalize its values, probably thanks to the modulation that exercise has on the autonomic nervous system.
That way, when we choose the time of day to train, it will not only be a matter of physical performance, but a process of individualized programming guided by a professional attending to the overall health of the person.
conclusions
(…)
If we are going to start a strength workout or perform one anaerobic training, The afternoon is surely the best time of day to do it.
the aerobic training or of long duration would for its part have no inconvenience in being carried out both in the morning and in the afternoon.
However, we need to be able to adapt the training at needs from’ athlete. Thus, if the competition is at a certain time, the workouts must be performed at a similar time to achieve an adaptation of the body to the desired time slot.
Finally, we need to keep in mind that training is not just a performance-seeking process, but the movement in itself implies Health. In this way, it may be advisable for some people to do theirs physical activity in the morning. Thus, training will not alter yours sleep quality and will allow them better control over their weight and more efficient fat burning.
* This article was published in The Conversation and reproduced here under the Creative Commons license. Click here to read the original version.
* David Recuenco Serrano is director of the Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences. In addition, he is director of the Double Degree in CCAFYD and Physiotherapy, Nebrija University.