Morning vs After Work?

[Breakneck]

So this question has been asked a lot but I am wondering if I should shift my workouts to morning instead of after work.

I like my job and all but it leaves me tired by the time I get home. I mostly do dumbell exercises combined with Callisthenics. I'm not a morning person in the least but I don't have the discipline to get myself to workout in the evenings. The house is just too busy. I would really like to go to a gym but I don't have transportation and my area isn't safe to walk in as I'm a woman alone.

However I feel kinda stupid? Like why am I forcing myself to get up earlier when I can just practice more discipline in the evenings?

Basically how do you guys build up discipline to keep at it and would doing it in the mornings actually help? Or am I just being a dumbass?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Hello @Breakneck ! Welcome to the Hive!

If you think it might be easier for you to stick with morning workouts as opposed to evening ones, give it a try!

There has been research done into the training effects of exercising at different times of day. (See this DAREBEE Guide for a summary of some of the more significant studies, with references.) But for most of us the best time of day to workout is the time when it's easiest for us to get off our butts and actually do the work.

If you're struggling with finding the discipline to build a consistent workout habit, I would suggest starting with something small. Don't worry if your program seems too easy in the beginning, or you don't think you're doing enough. But be hardcore about doing it every single day. This will turn working out into a habit for you, which will make it easier to keep doing it. Once you have your habit established, and you know you're going to do something every day, you can incrementally increase the volume and difficulty level of what you're doing.

You could also try splitting up your workouts and doing something small at different times of the day.
An example schedule:

First thing in the morning: do the Exercise of the Day. You will find this at the top of the DAREBEE homepage. It changes every day and is something you can complete in < 3 min.
At the start of your lunch break: do one of the Workouts in the At Your Desk Workouts Collection. These are easy, low-sweat workouts you can do in your office clothes. (Not sure if you have a desk job. If you don't, check out DAREBEE's other Collections and see if there's any there you like better.)
When you get home from work: Do something from the Low Energy Day Workouts Collection. The cardio workouts in this collection may actually help to boost your energy level and give you a more productive evening. The yoga workouts are a better choice if you just need to decompress and wind down from your work day.
Before bed: do the monthly Challenge. (You'll find this on the homepage too.) If the current monthly Challenge is not to your liking, choose a different one from the archives. There are over 150 Challenges to choose from! Each gives you 1-3 exercises to do each day, which will take you 1-10 minutes to complete.

If you try a split schedule like this for a month, it will help you to determine which time(s) of day is/are easiest for you to maintain as a consistent workout time. (Or maybe you'll decide you like doing a little bit at different times of the day and stick with the split schedule.)

Some more great resources on DAREBEE for short workouts that will help you to build a consistent daily habit:

2-Minute Workouts Collection
Micro Workouts Collection
Daily Workouts Collection
Express Workouts Collection
Exercise Snacks Workouts Collection
more ideas for Exercise Snacks on DAREBEE's YouTube channel
any of the Difficulty Level 1 Programs

I hope some of these ideas help.
Good luck with your journey to a consistent workout habit!

 

[GentleOx]

This is a very real problem. There are advantages to doing both (I presume you're working out at home).

If you do it after work, you don't have to stress about it interfering with your work, and have more latitude, time-wise. IE you can workout directly after work, but how much later is up to you.

I personally don't favour this, as a powerlifter. I don't want to spend most of my energy working and then show up to the gym at least partially drained. I want to be fresh and energetic for my workouts so I can fully rely on being strong.

If you do it in the morning, you do have to wake up extra early, unfortunately. I don't know how much time it takes for you to workout; some of mine run to close to two hours. However, once it's done, you can fully focus on work and head home straight afterward, with no-frills. Then you can worry about the rest of your evening.

I'm more a fan of this. I can show up to my workout, coffee in hand, and hit the weights while I'm fresh. Waking up early in the morning is tiring, but it can be done. Give it a try a few times, and find a time that works for you.

 

[avatar]

Hello and welcome ,
A problem with a workout at the morning is to do it before or after breakfast. I thing we can do the bodyweight cardio and strength darebee workouts before breakfast but HIIT and weight lifting seems to be better to do after breakfast, that means that you need to wait one hour for the digestion if you drink a cup of cacao or something.
The problem to wake up earlier for the workout, I thing it can be solved as it will became a routine.

 

[EnbyFitness]

Hullo,
To add to @avatar’s point, I’d like to say that I started working out in the mornings after breakfast. I’ve found that smoothies are enough to give me the energy to exercise, but aren’t heavy enough to make me feel gross.

A simple pre-workout smoothie I like is:
-some nut milk
-banana
-handful of spinach

Maybe this will help you not feel too tired during your morning workout. There’s also a Darebee guide on how drinking coffee beforehand also helps exercise performance, so take that how you will.

Hope this was helpful!!

 

[AquaMarie]

Hi @Breakneck !

I'm in the 'after work' camp, myself - morning is when the pain in my back and joints is the worst, so I physically CAN'T workout then. But I totally understand how tough it is to get the motivation to do more work when you get home, especially when you're tired and have a lot going on.

What helped me most was to tie my workout to something else I do almost every day - brush the cat. She loves it, and after about 5 minutes (when she's all stretched out and relaxed) I get out my exercise mat and I do my workout. At this point it's become such an expected routine that if I don't get out the mat immediately after a brush session, the cat will get up and pester me until I do, lol .

The nice thing is that you can link it to anything you want, really, depending on how often you wanted to workout. Linking it to something you do every day anyway (say, taking a daily medication or feeding a pet) will make it easier to workout every day, but you can link it to something you do less often if you only want to workout a few days a week.

Hope this helps!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

At this point it's become such an expected routine that if I don't get out the mat immediately after a brush session, the cat will get up and pester me until I do, lol .

Ah yes. Getting the housemate on board with wanting you to do the workout is an excellent tactic!