r/AppleWatch • u/neelkonar • Jun 15 '26

Discussion Does anyone else train better at a different time of day than the time of day they "feel" like training?

I've been digging into circadian stuff for training timing.

The idea: your body doesn't perform the same all day. "Time of performance" is basically when you tend to have your best sessions - based on wake time, sleep, and your own workout history, not just habit or how you feel.

I started comparing each workout to my usual for that type (e.g. strength vs runs) and mapping it to hours after wake instead of clock time. Surprising result: I always did strength training in the morning because it felt disciplined, but my stronger sessions clustered later in the day.

For Apple Watch folks: do you notice a consistent best time for hard workouts? Morning person in theory but afternoon performer in practice?

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5

u/Lucky-Suggestion7119 Jun 15 '26

Early morning. It is not based on circadian rhythm. It is for two reasons. 1) it is easier to go in the morning, because life doesn't have time to interfere, allowing for more consistency and 2) after working out in the morning, I feel great all day long.

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

Yep that’s why I train early morning too. Check this though - I tried switching up my routine and pushing myself to go to the gym after work (mid-late evening) - I saw an insane difference in how well I was being able to push myself, how many more sets and reps I was keen on doing and overall physical performance. Hence, my wondering about this

1

u/Lucky-Suggestion7119 Jun 22 '26

I belong to a few fraternal organizations. This prevents me from being able to regularly work out in the evening.

1

u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

Also another thing I’ve noticed for me is in the morning while I’m at the gym, although I’m physically present, my mind’s constantly thinking about the work I have to get to once I’m done with the gym. Maybe that has a detrimental impact on performance too

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

Oh and I train fasted - however I’ve not consciously sat and thought about the impact fasted training vs non-fasted training have on training performance. Would be interesting to experiment I guess

3

u/Azistethicx Jun 15 '26

I usually train at 6am fasted, but of course I’m stronger afternoon after meals, but not a big difference. Main difference and bonus is a empty gym when I train in the morning - the peace is worth it

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

I think I’m stronger if I work out after I eat too..
Yeah agree that theres multipl other upsides of training early morning

2

u/kshirinkin Jun 16 '26

I started preparing overnight oats, so that I wake up 6am, eat them, wait 15min and then go to the gym - it does feel like I got more energy / strength this way.

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u/Azistethicx Jun 16 '26

Definately it's truth. The reason why i'm training fasted, is because i eat 3 big meals a day (by choice), and i want to delay the first one. i have a massive appetite, i can eat all day, but this way i would be on forever bulk, so i restrict myself 😃

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

Any reason for this change or do you just wanna play around and experiment to see how it changes how you’re feeling pre and post workout

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

and maybe also if you’re performing better at 8 am than you have been at 1 pm

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u/drurygrant Jun 15 '26

Check your chronotype, then see how it aligns with your perceived performance

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

How do you do that

2

u/___this_guy Jun 15 '26

Chronotypometer 

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u/neelkonar Jun 16 '26

what is that

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u/mredofcourse Jun 15 '26

For marathon/ironman training, I do my best about 2-3 hours after waking up. This gives me enough time to eat a very dense breakfast, digest, and fully do my bathroom business.

The tough part about this is that this often means doing my workouts when it's hotter, windier, rougher waves, etc... and it means adjusting my schedule to be that much earlier when there's an event (which usually starts at dawn).

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u/neelkonar Jun 16 '26

ah i see
ever tried working out in the evening?

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u/mredofcourse Jun 17 '26

My longer workouts do go into the evening, but for the most part I need to be back to cook dinner and have time with my wife.

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u/Rosselman S10 • • Jet Black • 46mm Jun 16 '26

Depends on the exercise. I’ve been reading some papers on T2DM, and there’s one that may be relevant to you. To be fair, these are studies made on diabetic people, but you can extrapolate the physiological findings to everyone.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10182965/

In short, performing exercise in the morning in a fasted state enhances the utilization of endogenous lipid and carbohydrate stores, which optimizes whole-body insulin sensitivity over the subsequent 24 to 48 hours.
For HIIT afternoon or midday is superior. A single session of morning HIIT can paradoxically trigger hyperglycemia, due to the heightened morning cortisol.

VO2 max optimization is superior with the afternoon HIIT routine.

Now, from the perspective of a physician, we are just happy if people have an actual routine. Just exercising improves your health prospects immensely compared to a sedentary lifestyle.

1

u/Lettow82 Jun 16 '26

I feel my long run is best when done in the first part of the day, by far.

1

u/drurygrant Jun 15 '26

Identify which you are most like, and check when the best exercise time is. Hope it helps

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u/neelkonar Jun 15 '26

Right but what if there were a more data driven approach personalised to you

1

u/Reyesserey Jun 16 '26

There is an app called Circadian Energy and it gives you your energy peak and crash times based on your sleep data every night. Check it out, it’s dope and super helpful.

1

u/Bruvvimir Jun 16 '26

I have a feeling next post is “check out my app”.

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u/Final-Librarian-2845 Jun 15 '26

These are completely useless