When is the best time for aerobic exercise

In fact, there is no "best exercise time" that applies to everyone. For ordinary sports enthusiasts, the best solution is the time when you can persist for a long time and adapt to your physical condition.

Brother Zhang, a marathon enthusiast who has been running around me for 8 years, is a staunch "morning exerciser". He always goes out at 5 o'clock to run 10 kilometers around Binjiang Road. He said that there is less traffic in the morning and the air is better, and the energy supply of fat can account for more than 60% on an empty stomach. The fat-burning efficiency is nearly 20% higher than running after a meal. After running and taking a shower before going to work, the whole person feels clear throughout the day. The only thing he has to pay attention to is that he has to carry a fruit candy in his pocket. He had no experience when he first started running in the morning. He squatted on the roadside and fainted for two minutes due to low blood sugar.

But if you ask my friends in the gym who often take spinning classes together, most of them will say that the golden period is around 6 pm. Existing exercise physiology research has indeed proved that in the period from 2 to 6 pm, human muscle activity, joint flexibility, and cardiopulmonary function are all at their peak throughout the day. Exercise performance is better, and the risk of injury is about 30% lower than morning exercise. When I tried to run in the morning, I always felt that my knees were stiff and hurt after running 3 kilometers. Now I go straight to the gym after get off work and ride a spinning bike for 45 minutes. I can even keep up with the highest intensity intervals. After two months of training, I have lost 2.3% of my body fat and I have not suffered any sports injuries.

As for the common saying that "you can't fall asleep after exercising at night", it is not absolute. My mother goes to the community square to dance for 40 minutes every day after dinner. She used to toss and turn until 12 o'clock and couldn't fall asleep. Now after dancing, she goes home and takes a shower, and she can snore in just ten minutes in bed. On the contrary, if she doesn't dance on any day, she will have insomnia until midnight. Of course, some friends say that if they run after 8 pm, they can keep their eyes open until 2 am. This is actually related to the threshold of personal nerve excitement and cannot be generalized.

There is actually no unified conclusion in the academic circles. Some studies say that morning exercise on an empty stomach will consume muscles, while others say that as long as the daily protein intake is sufficient, this consumption is almost negligible. Some say that exercise in the afternoon is the most efficient at burning fat, and there is also data to prove that as long as the exercise duration and intensity are up to standard, the difference in calorie consumption in different periods is less than 5%.

If you really struggle with the "best time", it will easily make excuses for laziness - skip the morning exercise if you can't get up today, and give up the night run if you have a dinner party after get off work tomorrow. It is better to pick a fixed time that you can spare and there will be no interference, even if it is a 20-minute walk around the downstairs of the company during lunch break, if you persist in the long term, the effect will be much better than catching the so-called "golden time" once in a while.