Working Out at Night: The Pros and Cons

By Susan Dickson

Working Out at Night: The Pros and Cons thegearhunt.com

It’s a proven fact that most people hit the gym, exercise, jog, or even walk in the morning or afternoon hours. However, there are quite a few people that save all of those things for the nighttime hours. Morning workouts are usually between six and eight am, afternoon workouts are usually between two and four pm and afternoon workouts usually hit between five and seven pm when people are getting off work and winding down their day. However, there are some people who feel that working out at night is the best course of action for them. As with anything else in the workout world, exercising at night comes with its own set of pros and cons. We will go into these pros and cons in this blog. Plus, we’ll go into any dangers that could come from working out at night and even a few of the reasons and benefits that most people think working out late at night provides for them, making it a super awesome idea.

In this blog, we will be covering all of that and more, starting with the pros and cons we gathered during our research to help determine if working out at night is indeed the best idea, or not. Ready to get started? Then, let’s do it together.

Pros of Working Out at Night and Before Bed Revealed

There are quite a few advantages to keeping your workouts reserved for the nighttime hours before bed. A few of those pros are listed below.

No Stress or Time Constraints

Let’s face it, working out in the mornings means that you have to be in a hurry to get to work on time. The same holds true for early afternoon and late afternoon workouts. If you exercise at night, then you have less stress and more time to work out the way you want too without having to worry about work, or family and social obligations that you need to get to on time.

It’s a Great Time to Decompress

After a super hard day at the office or dealing with the kids and home, working out at night is the perfect way to let those stresses melt away. We all know that it’s been proven that exercise relieves stress, exercising at night will let all the day’s worries get out and go. You can cycle, lift, or even jog those stresses away in peace in the twilight of the evening. What’s not to love about that?

There’s Less Pressure to Deal with at Night

There is no doubt that working out at night helps you have less outside pressure to deal with. In the mornings and afternoons, you have everything from other people at the gym to kids at home and neighbors that want to talk on your morning run to deal with. At night, everyone else is settled in snug as a bug in a rug doing their own nightly things, giving you the chance you need to exercise away the stresses and distractions of the day that you’re ready to put behind you.

It Offers Better Musculoskeletal Performance

It is said that you are far less likely to sustain an injury during your workout if you work out at night. This is because in the mornings your joints and bones are still a little stiff from inactivity during the night. In the evenings, your joints have been worked out and moved around all day long, making it much easier to work out and leaving you less prone to injury, which of course is a very good thing.

It Keeps Your Mornings Calmer

We all know for a fact that not everyone wakes up bushy tailed and bright eyed early in the morning. If you’re not a morning person, to begin with, then it might be beyond super-tempting for you to hit the snooze button on that alarm clock and go back to sleep, instead of getting up to work out before work. It’s also super stressful to try to get a workout in before work or school as well, so nights are better and that leaves you less stressed first thing in the morning if you’re not a morning person that is.

It can Give You the Energy to Make it Until Bedtime

Many people sit down to watch TV after a long day and find themselves nodding off. Once they wake up, they have a hard time going to sleep at their regular bedtime. Working out at night can give you the energy you need to keep you from nodding off and enough energy to make it until it’s time to go to bed. Nodding off and not being able to sleep later on can become a vicious cycle that no one wants to have to deal with on a regular basis. Working out at night seems to help with that.

The Cons of Working Out at Night and Before Bed Revealed

Now that we know the many pros of working out at night and before bed, it’s time to get into the cons of the same. There are many people, and some experts, who think that working out at night is counterproductive and will disrupt your sleep patterns. Read the disadvantages below and see if you happen to agree with these people.

A Huge Temptation to Bail

The con could be said to exist for both morning and night workouts. In the morning, it’s tempting to bail because you want to sleep that extra thirty minutes, then you don’t have time to work out before work or school. The same can be said for night workouts as well when you’ve had a long, hectic and very stressful day. It’s much easier to leave the gym early or skip the workout entirely and just go home and curl up on the couch, dozing as you watch Netflix on the boob tube, especially if it’s going to cause you to stress more than you already were.

You Might Have to Deal with Larger Crowds

If you think about it, you’re probably not the only one that thinks working out at night is a good idea. The gym might tend to get a little crowded after five pm. However, if you have a 24-hour membership and a key you can go whenever you feel like it, so it might not be crowded after all. Also, you could be working out at home where it will be all peace and quiet after the kids are in bed, and the spouse is otherwise occupied.

You Might Have Fewer Options

You could end up with fewer options for getting your workout in when you exercise at night. You might not want to cycle, run, or jog after dark or if you live in the city and take public transportation to the gym, it might not still be running when you’re done with your workout. If you have your own car or work out in your own home, that might not be a problem for you, however.

It Could Disrupt Your Sleep Patterns

If you already have a hard time sleeping, then working out at night might not be the best option for you. Exercising revs up your metabolism, meaning that you could have a problem winding down before bedtime. Do a test to determine if you’re going to have problems sleeping at night and then decide if it’s worth it based on how you feel after your workout at night and when you wake up in the morning as well.

It Could Affect Your Social Life

If you’re spending your evenings at the gym or working out at home, it might be hard to add a social life into the mix. This could result in your having no social life at all, which can end up with you being lonely, depressed, and not feeling like working out at all. So, if you do choose to work out at night instead of in the morning or in the afternoon, make sure to try and strike a balance between work, working out, and spending time with friends and family, because all of the above are important to your well-being and your peace of mind.

There is truly no set or perfect time of day that you need to exercise. It’s to each his own and what’s right for someone else might not be right for you. You need to read the pros and cons in this blog and make your decision as to whether morning, afternoon or night workouts are the best to fit your needs. Remember there is no right or wrong, the choice is yours.

There is said to be quite a few benefits to working out at night if you go to the gym. In the next section of our blog, we will go into a few of those benefits for those who are gym rats and don’t like the crowds. Ready to get started on the benefits of night workouts for gym rats? Us too. So, let’s get started.

Top Benefits of Workouts at Night for Gym Rats

For those of us that can’t bear waking up at the crack of dawn to head to the gym, but feel that we must exercise to stay fit and in shape both mentally and physically, there is night working out. If you’ve read the blog up until this point, then you already know it’s a toss-up as to whether working out at night is good or bad for you. Assuming for a second, that you have decided to go with late night workouts, read on below for a few of the top benefits for heading to the gym after the doors are closed for the day to workout in peace and harmony with yourself and possibly a few more late night gym rats such as yourself.

You Avoid the Crowds

Now, I’m not talking about working out a little after five or around nine like a lot of the gym rats do. I’m talking about late night, have to have your key workouts when you and the equipment are possibly the only ones around. An added bonus is that you don’t have to fight for your favorite treadmill, have someone hogging up all the towels, and fight for extra room on the weight workout floor. All of this makes it worth going at night to most of us. How about for you?

There are Fewer Rules to Follow

There are certainly fewer rules to follow when you’re in the gym late at night. You can use the machines for more than the time limit and even try out some of the new machines at your leisure. The rules are quite a bit laxer if you’re one of the only people in the place. No crowds, fewer rules, and more time on the machines. What else could you ask for?

You can be as Social or Antisocial as you want to Be

When you’re in the gym with a bunch of other people you always run the risk of some of them wanting to stop and chat just when you’re getting into the zone. At night, there are very few people around, so it’s possible that you won’t have to be social at all. Also, any other late nighters probably feel the same way you do, so you can be social or antisocial together. It’s your choice!

This concludes our blog on working out at night. We have listed the pros and cons for you and given you some of the benefits of working out late at night at the gym as well. Do your research to determine which time to exercise is the best for you. Until next time, have a happy and healthy workout, everyone!