FITTING in a workout can be tricky at the best of times.
But if you knew exactly when to exercise to shed the most pounds, wouldn’t you be more motivated to pull on your trainers?
Researchers have revealed the time you should be working out if you want to lose weightGetty Images – Getty
It turns out getting a sweat on in the evening might not help you reach your weight loss goals as swiftly as you’d like.
Scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found it’s possible to increase fat metabolism – the rate at which you burn fat – by working out earlier in the day.
The researchers, publishing in the journal PNAS, discovered that mice that exercised in their ‘early active phase’ – equivalent to late morning for humans – kickstarted their metabolism more than mice that got a jog on at times they’d usually take a rest.
And that was regardless of what the mice had been eating.
Professor Juleen R. Zierath from the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, said: “Our results suggest that late morning exercise could be more effective than late evening exercise in terms of boosting the metabolism and the burning of fat.
“If this is the case, they could prove of value to people who are overweight.”
Professor Zierath added: “The right timing seems to be important to the body’s energy balance and to improving the health benefits of exercise.
“But more studies are needed to draw any reliable conclusions about the relevance of our findings to humans.”
It’s important to note that the study was carried out on mice and the experts said that while mice and humans share many traits, there are also important differences.
This includes the fact that mice are nocturnal creatures, the experts said.
While the new study pointed to late mornings as the sweet sport for fat busting, medics previously said that exercising in the evening might be more productive.
“It’s quite well known that almost every aspect of our physiology and metabolism is dictated by the circadian clock,” said senior author of one of the studies, Gad Asher of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
“This is true not only in humans but in every organism that is sensitive to light. We decided to ask whether there is a connection between the time of day and exercise performance.”
Doctors in New York previously found that optimal work out times could differ from gender to gender.
Researchers led by Prof Paul J Arciero at Skidmore College, recruited 30 women and 26 men.
They followed a 12-week training and eating plan in which they used various forms of exercise over four days of the week.
Men and women were randomised to train either between 6.30am and 8.30am, or between 6pm and 8pm.
Those who hit the gym in the morning did so without eating first. They ate four meals a day, including one post-exercise.
Evening go-ers also ate four meals a day, of which one had to be after exercise.
Prof Arciero and his team were able to pinpoint the best times to exercise based on fitness goals.
Women who want to lose fat around their belly and hips should exercise in the morning, the study found.
They may also benefit from a rounder bottom and shapely legs, according to the findings published in Frontiers in Physiology.