Time of Day and Workout Quality: Is there a Link?

The alarm clock rings. “Oh God”, you think, “How can I possibly train this early in the morning? I just know this will be a terrible workout, I’ll be so weak”. Ring any bells? Or perhaps you get home from work and think that after all day you can’t possibly perform to your potential during your evening workout. While either of these scenarios may be far too familiar to you, it’s worth considering the science that has been conducted on circadian rhythms (your body’s natural clock) before you put off that New Year’s resolution for another year.

The Science:

In one of only a handful of studies examining the topic, researchers at the University of Rhode Island examined the influence that time of day at which a workout occurred had on the mental readiness, power, and force output (But not swoliness!?) of college aged men. These poor fellows were strength tested at four different times of day, 4:00 (ROUGH!), 10:00, 16:00, and 22:00. Interestingly enough, there were no differences in force output, power, or mental readiness between any of the test times.

The Take Home Message:

So what does this mean for you? Well if you are only able to exercise during the early morning or later in the evening than this research indicates you should achieve the same results as any other point in the day! While lack of a comfortable time to exercise may be a good excuse for many people, don’t let it be yours! This New Year’s, instead of making another excuse, make a commitment to yourself!

References:

Hatfield, D.L, Nicoll, J.X., Kraemer, W.J. (2016). Effects of circadian rhythm on power, force, and hormonal response in young men. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 30(3), 725-732.

Prepared for the JKC blog by Coach Thomas.

Photo credit: JP Mullowney

Craig McIssac

Personal Strength Training by Jon-Erik Kawamoto

I originally chose JKC to help me rehab following back surgery. JKC was the first gym where a trainer took the time to help me identify my goals and tailor my workouts to achieve them in a safe and doable manner. 🏋🏼 Jon & Thomas are both highly professional and knowledgeable. 👨🏼‍🎓 With their guidance and informative explanations 🗣 they have enabled me to reach my ever evolving goals. At JKC I’m guaranteed fun 😆, interesting 🙃 and diverse workouts, with Jon & Thomas forever supportive and encouraging. 👏🙌👍👊

Emily Noble

I recently visited Newfoundland for one month, and was looking for a good place to train while I was there. Jon and the team at JK conditioning really took the time to assess what I already knew, and set achievable goals for the time that I had with them. The gym was such a great place to push yourself. It had everything you needed, but more importantly it had a well organized, very knowledgeable, and really motivating group of trainers to push you at each workout. Not to mention a really nice group of other members who also motivated me to go that little bit further. I would highly recommend the gym to anyone who has a goal and wants to find a place to help them achieve it.

Dane Woodland

I came to JKC through recommendations from my peers from lululemon. As a current ambassador, I’ve been introduced to legacy ambassadors, like Jon, and I knew a bunch of other people from the store were working out here so I wanted to give it a go. I often dread lower body workouts so I started coming here to do legs. I’ve had such great progress that I now come twice a week— and, I no longer hate leg day!

I’ve never experienced this sort of hybrid between group workouts and personalized service. Many group strength training services offer a sort of one-size-fits-all workout for the general population, which has never been of interest to me, because I want my workout tailored to my needs! I LOVE that you can be in a group setting while doing your own personal program; I love the camaraderie and community at JKC, and, I’ve seen incredible results thus far! Jon is always so attuned to what I need.

Norbert Lake

My original reason for joining JKC was to get some sage advice to help with my running. I had been looking for awhile, came across Jon, met for an assessment, and was quite happy with how that all went. Apart from the running specific strengthening and conditioning approaches, JKC is different from other gyms as I am a fan of the small group sessions where everyone has their own goals and individualized programs. As well, the run coaching is super. All the coaches go the extra mile to make sure you get the best out each training session. They are fantastic motivators! My favourite memory is deadlifting 330lbs. Making a lot of great friends and meeting some really cool people is pretty high up on that list, too.

Dave Sullivan

Personal Strength Training by Thomas King

I’ve always struggled with both my weight and anxiety throughout my life. As a writer you live a pretty sedentary lifestyle filled with both realistic and unrealistic deadlines, so I needed something to get me off my butt and to get me moving. JK has been a godsend during this past year and a half in particular. The pandemic has been tough, but workouts with both Thomas and Jon have really helped reduce the stress and strain of a global pandemic, and added an anchor of normalcy back into my life — which has been worth its weight in gold.

JKC has created an incredibly inclusive environment that’s filled with all kinds of supportive folks from all kinds of different backgrounds. For folks like myself, being surrounded by people with such athletic ability can be intimidating in most gyms. It can actually be a deterrent, and it sometimes has been for me. But, at JKC it’s far from that — it’s inspirational. Everyone supports one another. Which is something that’s not easily found in this day and age, inside of a gym or out. Not to sound like a total cheeseball here, but it really feels like a family.

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