We have all heard the wise men say that “the early bird catches the worm.” Does this apply to working out as well? Many people do believe that working out in the morning is the best. But there is also a sizeable number of people who feel much more energetic in the evenings and are able to achieve more rather than working out in the mornings. Does time really matter? What difference does it make whether you work out in the morning or in the evening?

Experts say that the effects of working out in the morning and evening are different. Here’s a low down on what to expect from your workout depending on the time:

Morning Workout

• If you get into a habit of waking up early and exercising every morning, you will be able to stick to the routine. This makes sure that the other tasks of your life do not come in the way of exercising.

• Morning workouts are believed to kick-start your metabolism and they keep up the metabolic rate high throughout the day. This means you continue to burn calories even after you are done with exercising.

• If you wake up and immediately begin to exercise, you run the risk of losing muscle. During the night, your body has finished up whatever food was supplied to it. Since the body has nothing else to use as fuel for the workout, it will start burning the muscle away. And it’s not the muscle that you want to lose, that is the fat, right?

• During the night, your body rests and is able to repair whatever damage is done to the muscles while working out. So you wake up with a fresh and repaired body that is fit for working out.

Evening Workout

• In the evening, your body is more warmed up. Synovial fluid fills every joint and acts as cushioning and lubrication. First thing in the morning, that stiff feeling in your knees, ankles, hips, or shoulders is caused by synovial fluid that's viscous. Later on in the day, your body is like a well-oiled machine-ready to be used.

• If you exercise too close to your sleeping time, you may find it difficult to fall asleep. Exercising raises the body temperature and alertness, so you should exercise at least 4 hours before your normal sleeping time.

• For people who sleep late, exercising in the morning is not always possible. If you are one of these late sleepers, you may be finding yourself unable to stick to a morning workout routine. Evening is the best time for you to work out!

• In the evening, your body already has enough fuel to burn off in the form of the 4-5 small meals that you may have consumed. Isn’t it great to be able to burn off any “special” item that you may have consumed during the day?

Does It Really Matter?

The time you choose to exercise is not as important as the fact that you “must” exercise. If you are not a morning-person, it is better to accept this and workout in the evening. Because if you set up targets that you are not able to achieve (coz you keep hitting the snooze button on your alarm), it will only give rise to a feeling of guilt.

What matters the most is consistency in your exercise routine. If you take care of a few important things discussed above, it will not really matter much whether you workout in the morning or in the evening.