What time of day do you workout?

I work a rotating 12 hour shift so workout times vary from week to week. This week I am off from work so mid morning suits me just fine (lots of good looking women to look at during training LOL). Other weeks it is late evening or early afternoon.
 
Early evening, as Bulldog says I too feel stronger then, also with LOL, I psyche myself the whole day to hit squats and deads hard and fast!

Too damn hot during the day, I tried during the holidays but it was murder, I'm talking 29 degrees in the shade.

In the morning I do Tabata (fasted) for 4 minutes flat then tea/oats + Protein powder, then shower, dress and off to work, I only get back at 5:00 pm anyway so it is the best time.

Between 5:30 and 6:00 I start, work out for 30 minutes flat no more no less.
 
The last couple of weeks I have had to start lifting in the late evening.  I switched my lifting days to Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday so Saturday is ok because I can usually lift around 4:00 PM or so.  But on Tuesday and Thursday I have been lifting around 7:30 PM.  This is because my wife does not like waiting until 7:00 PM to eat dinner after I get done lifting.  So now we try to eat as early as possible when we get home (we're usually done eating around 6:30 PM).  Then I wait an hour to an hour and a half before I lift.  Quite frankly I hate it!  Waiting two hours might be better to let my food digest more but then it is late enough that I can’t sleep at night.

I thought about trying mornings but I feel very week for the first couple of hours that I’m awake and I’m afraid I might injure myself if I were trying to lift in the mornings.  So I’m kind of stuck since my wife gets mad if I make them wait to eat and she gets equally mad if I tell them to eat without me and I will eat later.  It just isn’t worth making her angry.
 
It depends what shift I work. When I work afternoons, I work out in the morning, around 10 AM, when I work nights or mornings, I work out around 2 PM.
 
I have a related question.

I am a newbie, and have one more 15's session before i move on to the 10's. Trying to balance work / family time has had me working out at different times from early moring a few times to 9pm a couple of others. What i have noticed in me is that when i lift in the mornings, it seems that i am hungry all day long after that. I mean it seems that almost every hour, my body is telling me that i need to eat. But when i lift in the evenings, i do not seem to have those issues, in fact i have to almost force food down my throught in the afternoon, just to have a snack.

Any ideas as to what is going on? Anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks in advance,

Runjor
 
I am not sure about morning vrs evening. But I found HST makes me hungery. Especially when I first started doing it. Famished. I think it is just my body telling me it needs more "building blocks"

Bob
 
I just started my next cycle this morning and I'm giving the early AM a go.  I just finished up about 15 min. ago and I'm completely gassed. It's going to be a lllloooonnnngggg day!  I drank some whey and grape juice about 30 min. before I started hoping for a little energy and to hopefully help avoid losing any LBM. I will have breakfast in about 45 min. or so. Anyone see any problem with that or recommend a different nutritional approach when working out first thing in the morning?

It probably didn't help that I didn't sleep very well last night....I just tossed and turned.  Hopefully I will get used to going to bed a little earlier and will have more energy for these early morning workouts because it will be much more convenient to get it out of the way in the AM.
 
No poll option for me. I do my squats in the morning and my deadlifts in the afternoon. Then I box on my "off" days.

I have something to look forward to no matter what time of day it is....
 
I workout right after work ~5:30pm

I feel way too weak and drained to workout in the morning. And its not like I haven't tried.

<---is in the military and has morning PT 3x per week

After work I have eaten at least 3 meals and had plenty of time to energize and fill up on nutrients.
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Brian
 
Older lifters can suffer anheurisms exersizing before being awake for two hours. I read that somewhere. Good excuse to sleep normally.
 
The only time I have to hit the gym is early morning. I have a wife, two kids, and a career that changes schedule-wise potentially daily, and all those things combined make after-work lifting nearly impossible. I've done the mid-day thing with some success, but I can't devote nearly enough time to it; I'm not a fan of A/B splits.

Once I got used to doing the early morning thing, I honestly didn't see a difference in strength, nor energy levels based solely on time of day in the gym.
 
i workout in the early evening, sometimes late. i cant workout in the morning, i'll pass out.
 
Disregarding family life the optimal time to train is late evening around 11 o'clock, according to a study conducted on circadian rhythms which found that human performance was at at it's highest at this time. Obviously if human performance is at it's highest this is the optimum time to train. I myself train early evening, and late evening each session takes around 30 minutes. It works well for me, I don't have kids that I might wake up. But as per your question bulldog late evening is the best time, the worst time is early morning for a plethora of reasons, like the spine issue as mentioned before, also unless you sleep eat your energy reserves are going to be pretty low, and it takes a while to replenish your reserves. So the later you train the better provided your well nourished and hydrated, I try to drink a liter or two before bed so I'm not too hypohydrated in the morning. Not everyone can train late evening but as far as human performance goes it is the best time, therefore if you were wanting to lift as much as you can the best time is late evening. I have the study on file somewhere, I will try and find it, and post the author and title sorry but it is a hard-copy.
Hope I've answered your question Bulldog. If you can train late do, but if you cannot, keep training because it still works.

Kind Regards Ryan
 
Rhinosaur: I'd like to see who they used for that study group! It couldn't have been older guys. I feel like a slug in the morning, peak energy rush is at 9:00-10:00 am, start getting sleepy around lunch (often take a 10 min. nap recharge), get a little energy mid afternoon and feel like a flat tire by quitting time if I'm doing a physical day - I may be up enough for a workout after work as long as I don't sit down or stop moving - and need to lay down or sit here and relax for a couple hours before bed.
But energy for a workout at 11:00pm??? No WAY!!!

Aging sux.
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Jul. 22 2007,07:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Aging sux.</div>
Granted, though it surely beats the alternative...
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<div>
(quadancer @ Jul. 22 2007,07:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Rhinosaur: I'd like to see who they used for that study group! It couldn't have been older guys. I feel like a slug in the morning, peak energy rush is at 9:00-10:00 am, start getting sleepy around lunch (often take a 10 min. nap recharge), get a little energy mid afternoon and feel like a flat tire by quitting time if I'm doing a physical day - I may be up enough for a workout after work as long as I don't sit down or stop moving - and need to lay down or sit here and relax for a couple hours before bed.
But energy for a workout at 11:00pm??? No WAY!!!

Aging sux.</div>
come on quad you aint over the hill yet.and power naps are cool if you can fit them in.i try to cat nap when i get home from work,but cant always settle.like me you must graft for a living this does take its toll on workout days,and i often feel sluggish the day after too.

i dont think i could ever have trained at 11pm though,the workout would be tiring but id be hyper after that.
 
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