Most people don't think about what time of day they train and how that can affect their fitness gains.\u00a0 In fact, a lot of people simply look at their training plan, jump on their bike and go when they have some free time.\u00a0 And that's fine if you're looking to make some improvements from baseline.\u00a0 But what if you're looking for that extra few percentage points to help get you onto the podium?\u00a0 What if you're pushing for that big century goal and you need to shave off a few more minutes?<\/p>\n

If you're a pro, you plan life around training, but if you're a Joe, you plan training around life.\u00a0 When you have to plan training around life, time of day can make a big difference in the fitness gains you see.<\/p>\n

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What is biorhythm?<\/h2>\n
Most people don't think about what time of day they should train.\u00a0 Most people simply think “I've got a workout to do today, I'll get it done.”\u00a0 No consideration is given to what time of day yields the best results.\u00a0 This is the difference between professionals and amateurs: professionals plan their life around training, amateurs plan training around their life.<\/p>\n
There is definitely a lot of science behind determining optimal training time.\u00a0 Circadian rhythm, hormonal rhythm,\u00a0and gene expression cycles can all create peak and off-peak training times.\u00a0 Training during peak times will allow you to recover faster and ultimately be faster, stronger and more injury resistant.<\/p>\n
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$\"Circadian$ <\/a>Circadian rhythm and physiology<\/h3>\n
Circadian rhythm is simply a daily cycle of physiological activity within your body.\u00a0 The most obvious example of this rhythm is your sleep\/wake cycle.\u00a0 Essentially, your brain controls your “internal clock” through a small region called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN).\u00a0 It functions a bit like a pacemaker, acting as an internal clock to manage your body systems.<\/p>\n
The SCN controls all of your body's timing, which includes hormonal balance and core body temperature.\u00a0 Here's a quick rundown of some of the important times in a 24-hour cycle that may apply to your training plans:<\/p>\n
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Maximal cortisol production – 8 AM<\/li>\n
Highest alertness – 10 AM<\/li>\n
Best coordination – 2:30 PM<\/li>\n
Fastest reaction times – 3:30 PM<\/li>\n
Greatest cardiovascular efficiency – 5 PM<\/li>\n
Highest core body temperature – 7 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As you can see, there's not a lot going on in the morning.\u00a0 Keep in mind that these clock times are based on a typical 9 to 5 worker who sleeps from 12 to 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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What does hormonal rhythm have to do with fitness gains?<\/h3>\n
Hormonal rhythm is key to building big fitness gains.\u00a0 If you're training at the right time of day, you're training with your body, not against it.<\/p>\n
The big player here is testosterone to cortisol ratio.\u00a0 T\/C ratio is a measure of training status and a big indicator of overtraining.\u00a0 Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that breaks down tissues and prepares our body to\u00a0run from danger.\u00a0 Or, in the case of training, it liberates energy substrates for use in exercise.\u00a0 Testosterone is an anabolic hormone that helps build muscle and repair the damage done by training stresses.\u00a0 Testosterone production is low during the day and higher at night.\u00a0 Cortisol peaks in the morning and dips as the day goes on.<\/p>\n
Because of this timing, the T\/C ratio is highest in the afternoon\/evening.\u00a0 Training during this time leads to the smallest increase in cortisol and the largest increase in testosterone.\u00a0 Elevation of cortisol is also mitigated quickly during the evening hours.\u00a0 That points to the evening as a prime time to train and excel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
$\"Core$ <\/a>How core body temp dictates fitness gains<\/h3>\n
Core body temperature is the temperature at which your physiological processes occur.\u00a0 Your body temperature range is regulated by an extremely tight range because enzymatic reactions are sensitive to minor changes in temperature.\u00a0 These enzymatic reactions are the ones involved in the citric acid cycle and electron transport change, among others.<\/p>\n
Slight elevations in core body temperature can stimulate increased enzymatic activity.\u00a0 That increase in core temperature typically happens in the evening.\u00a0 It's no secret that most sports records are broken in the early evening for this reason.<\/p>\n
In addition to increased enzymatic activity, nerve conduction velocity, blood flow,\u00a0and mobility are optimized during the evening.\u00a0 That means the body is perfectly primed for optimal performance and increased fitness gains in the evening.<\/p>\n
The best time of day to train for big fitness gains<\/h2>\n
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Based on all the factors affecting body temperature, hormonal rhythm and circadian rhythm, the best time of day to train is in the late afternoon to early evening.\u00a0 Planning your workouts between 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM will lead to optimal fitness gains<\/a>.\u00a0 If your workouts are longer than an hour, consider training earlier during that window.\u00a0 Of course, that time frame assumes you're a typical 9 to 5 worker.\u00a0 If you're a shift worker or keep odd sleeping hours, make sure you have around 6 hours between waking up and training.<\/p>\n
Finding your personal optimal training time<\/h3>\n
Not everyone has the same timing of their circadian rhythm.\u00a0 Some people perform better in the mornings compared to the biological peak in the evening.\u00a0 This often comes down to alertness or mental motivation.\u00a0 However well you perform in the mornings, you will still see greater physiological gains by training in the afternoon.\u00a0 But those gains are nothing if you can't motivate yourself to train in the evenings.<\/p>\n
Since peak performance and exercise adaptations are strongly correlated, I'd suggest training when you perform at your best.\u00a0 For racers, you'll know when you race the best and get the best results. If you don't know what your peak performance time may be, you can use resting heart rate to figure it out.<\/p>\n
Because resting heart rate is strongly correlated with core body temperature, measuring heart rate over the course of a week can give you an idea of what your peak training time is.\u00a0 Since you (probably) have a heart rate monitor already, resting heart rate is a perfect way to determine your peak performance time.<\/p>\n
$\"Morning$ <\/a>Kickstart morning training sessions<\/h3>\n
If you absolutely must train in the mornings, one option to help optimize your performance<\/a> is a caffeine-containing pre-workout supplement.\u00a0 This can be a bit of coffee or a dedicated pre-workout supplement.\u00a0 Aim for around 250mg (3 mg\/kg of body weight) for the average 80 kg cyclist.\u00a0 Adjust it as necessary if you're larger or smaller than that.<\/p>\n
Caffeine isn't the cure-all to morning training though.\u00a0 Caffeine actually decreases the testosterone to cortisol ratio and it doesn't boost growth hormone levels to afternoon concentrations.\u00a0 It's also really easy to develop a tolerance to caffeine with just 50 to 100 mg per day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Note that you can still drink something that contains caffeine in the evening to get a further performance boost.\u00a0 However, keep in mind that caffeine can interfere with your sleep, so the benefits may not outweigh the risks.<\/p>\n
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Another option to consider is taking a nice, long, hot shower in the morning.\u00a0 Since performance can be tied to core body temperature, raising that core body temp in the morning has added benefits in mitigating the early morning training deficit.\u00a0 If you have access to a sauna, that's probably better still.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
If you're going to do it “wrong”, always do it “wrong”<\/h3>\n
Should you be forced to train at a suboptimal time, do it at the same time every day.\u00a0 The more frequently you stick to a morning routine, the more your body will adapt its circadian rhythm to that routine.\u00a0 Make sure that you separate your training from “optimal” training time by several hours.\u00a0 The bigger the difference between your optimal training time and the time you actually train, the more pronounced the adaptation.<\/p>\n
You'll never get a complete adaptation, though.\u00a0 The nervous system is very pliable and able to adapt well to changes in circadian rhythm.\u00a0 Hormone cycles and gene expression are not as adaptable, so you'll lose out on something.\u00a0 Still, if you have to do it “wrong” it's best to minimize the damage as much as possible.<\/p>\n
The biggest exception to this rule:<\/h3>\n
For those of you who have mentally stressful or physically taxing jobs, you may want to switch training to the mornings or during lunch.\u00a0 The fatigue from a long day of work can easily override the benefits of training later in the day.\u00a0 So if you're a manual laborer or deal with mentally taxing work all day, consider moving your training to lunchtime or earlier.\u00a0 Keep your workouts on the shorter side too<\/a>, since your body is going to be beaten up from a day at the office (or salt mines, whichever.)<\/p>\n
The take-home message<\/h2>\n
Not many people actually take time of day into account when planning their training programs.\u00a0 By ignoring that simple fact, you could be leaving massive fitness gains on the table.\u00a0 Those fitness gains could even be the difference between winning and slipping off the podium.<\/p>\n
So to double down on things, remember that you're (probably) not a pro.\u00a0 Pros plan their life around training.\u00a0 Joes plan their training around life.\u00a0 If you want to maximize the training time you have, plan the right time to train based on your circadian rhythm which manages your biological processes.<\/p>\n
Remember that your hormonal patterns, core body temperature, and gene expression are all tied to your circadian rhythm.\u00a0 The best time to take advantage of your peak performance time is between 2:30 and 8:30 if you sleep during the night and work during the day.\u00a0 If you're not sure what your optimal training time is, grab your HRM and start charting resting heart rate, which is correlated with core body temperature.\u00a0 Finally, if you can't train when you're on “peak” supplement your body with some caffeine or raise your core body temperature to help offset the poor timing.<\/p>\n
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Now that you've got the tools to perfect your training timing, take a look at when you're riding and how you can squeeze more out of it.<\/p>\n
If you like what you heard, don't forget to rate the podcast on iTunes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did you know the time of day you train can help or hurt your fitness gains? I’ll show you how and tell you the best time of day to jump on your bike!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,64,85,106,38],"tags":[189,175,178,183,206,68],"yst_prominent_words":[427,590,588,591,587,5359,842,626,563,5335,5350,5351,5356,5358,595,4975,268,629,5352,5344],"wppr_data":{"cwp_meta_box_check":"No"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/massivefitnessgains.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12929,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9455\/revisions\/12929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9455"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}