Saturday, November 3, 2012

Is There an Ideal Time for Working Out?

I was watching the news the other day, and they had a segment talking about the ideal time for exercising. According to their research, the best time to exercise is between 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. since our bodies have maximum lung capacity during these two hours of the day.

I'm no biologist, but personally, I call B.S.. As with most things dealing with fitness, the best time to exercise probably depends on the individual. For me, my energy peaks twice daily; once in the morning at about 10 AM, and once in the afternoon around 1 PM.. I generally hit the gym in the early afternoon to take advantage of my second energy peak and due to the sparse crowds at the gym. The time that works for you will depend on your own body, schedule, and other factors.

If there is any truth at all to what the news report said though, I wonder if this increased lung capacity is hard-wired into our biological clock or if it goes by local time. For example, if I were to move back to Japan, would my peak lung capacity be between the hours of 8 A.M. and 10 A.M.? When we "fall back" an hour for daylight saving's time tomorrow, will our lung capacity fall back an hour with us? Just a curiosity.

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