Best time to work out?

[psisar]

What's the best time to work out where you would bur the most calories? Or does it make a difference? Say for example I decide to DDR as soon as I wake up, does it make a difference as opposed to if I were to in the aftetnoon?

[abrannan]

Really, the best time to work out is whenever you'll stick to a workout. If you do best working out in the afternoon, then that's when you should do it. If you like the feel of working out first thing in the morning, great. Now, it does tend to get your heart rate up and your body energized, so you may find that the morning works, as it gets you up and moving like a cup of coffee. And you may want to stay away from working out right before bed, as you may have trouble falling alseep. But there's really not going to be a significant difference in calories burned.

[ravevampyre]

well, I was thinking from what I've read, and then wouldn't it be a better idea to DDR in the morning? Seeing as after you exercise your metabolism burns more? I have no idea ><. But I do know the best time to exercise is when you have the time, but besides that, wouldnt morning be best?

[abrannan]

That's jsut it, your metabolism burns more, regardless of the time of day. If (made up numbers) I burn 300 calories in a workout, and my body will continue to burn another 150 calories over the next 6 hours due to an increased metabolism, that will happen whether I'm sleeping or doing anything else over that time period.

[agent709]

Whoa, how does that work? Explain please

[abrannan]

Okay, since I'm on a kick of explaiing things using a stimulus-response model, I'll try to explain it that way. Remember that your body is not a thinking system (aside from your brain). It doesn't know that you're just working out, or that you're trying to lose weight. It just responds to stimulii that are applied to it, responses that are honed through ages of natural selection in the wild.

So when you workout, your body is suddenly thrown into a state where your muscles are being taxed, your heart is racing, etc. To your body, this could mean some outside threat, like a predator or wildfire, so it kicks in the extra energy and high metabolism (fat burning time, since it's trying to make sure you have enough energy to get away to llive another day. It'd be shame to die because you didn't have enough fat already converted). Once you stop working out, your body continues in this "high-metabolism" mode for a while, in the event that the predator should re-appear, or the winds shift the direction of the wildfire. It takes a little bit to get the engine primed, and it's more likely that you'll need another burst of energy right after escaping a bad situation, and if you're truly safe, you'll have enough of an opportunity to re-fuel later, so it's better to "leave the enigne running a bit" so to speak. The net result is that your body will continue in a "high metabolism" mode for several hours after a workout.

Make sense?

[ravevampyre]

ah, that makes sense ^^.

[agent709]

That;s nifty! Thanks

[psisar]

Awesome, thanks.

You're always such a wealth of information abrannan