When to workout?

If you've ever pondered whether to do your workout in the morning or evening, The New York Times ran an interesting, albeit meandering, article yesterday pondering prime workout times.

As it turns out, nobody's sure.

The whole article centers around the writer's discovery that her heart beats slower when she works out in the morning than it does in the afternoon. She asked a bunch of world-renown experts (it's handy working for one of the world's most prominent newspapers, I guess) and discovered:

If you exercise later in the day, your muscles are more flexible and stronger and your heart and lungs are more efficient, said Michael H. Smolensky, an expert in chronobiology, the study of the body clock.

So does that mean you should work out in the evening?

“My personal approach is to train when your biological efficiency is greatest, which means late afternoon or early evening for most people,” (Dr. Smolensky) said. “Others say if you train when your biological efficiency is least you will get a harder workout.”

Another take away from the article worth noting is that out of shape people should definitely work out later in the day.

People who are not regular exercisers, Dr. Smolensky said, put much more strain on their hearts in the morning, making their heart rates higher then.

In fact, Dr. Smolensky added, people at risk for a heart attack should plan their workouts for late afternoon or early evening.

If you want my opinion, and I know you do or you wouldn't be reading this, I think the whole thing is a little silly. For .00006% of the exercising population, sure, you're a professional, you need that .000134 second faster speed, so plan accordingly. But the rest of us should just stop being weird and exercise when we feel like it.

Except the giant crowd of surfers out at Malaga Cove this morning. You guys should ABSOLUTELY exercise in the afternoon. Especially on Thursdays when my mornings are free.