Good morning!
I’m gearing up for my first CrossFit class in 4 whole days. I haven’t taken one since Thursday. I know, I’m as surprised as you are! I’m definitely excited to get back, especially since today’s WOD involves running! Yay!
This morning, I was thinking about how I’ve switched back and forth between morning and evening workouts. Post-college until I started CrossFit last December, I was a die-hard morning exerciser. (Morning Workouts: Tips for Getting Your Butt Out of Bed!) For me, it was the only way I could stick with a regular exercise routine. If I planned an evening workout, something (an important errand, drinks with friends, etc.) would inevitably pop up, and I’d skip my workout, so exercising first thing in the morning really worked for me. At first, it was tough to wake up at the butt crack of dawn, but, eventually, I got into a groove and it became part of my routine. If I didn’t exercise in the morning, I actually felt like my whole day was “off,” so it was easy to stick with it.
When I first joined CrossFit, I started exercising in the evenings with Mal. He planned to go after work, so I hitched a ride with him and it was fun working out together. Now that he’s off for the summer and teaching morning classes, I’m back to my old schedule. I really love starting my day off on the right foot with a workout. Plus, it frees up the rest of my day, so I don’t have a workout hanging over my head (or getting in the way of evening plans).
Clearly, I’m all about exercising in the morning, but I recently stumbled upon an interesting piece about evening exercisers in Health (July/August 2012):
A recent study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness found that women who walked four times a week lost more fat mass when they hoofed it at 6PM compared with those who walked at 8AM. (Evening exercisers also ended up consuming more protein and eating fewer of their daily calories in the evening.) And multiple studies have found that early evening may be the best time to improve your performance and build muscle, whether you’re doing cardio or strength training. One possible reason: The body releases higher levels of muscle-building growth hormone in the early evening than in the morning, and exercise also boots levels of that hormone, so timing the two events to coincide may yield the best results.
Early evening workouts improve your performance and build muscle? Hmm… maybe I should mix up my exercise routine with some evening workouts? I do sometimes feel stronger in the evening””or maybe I’m just not totally awake for my morning workouts?
The Health piece definitely has some valid points for evening workouts, but I think as long as you’re consistent with your exercise routine, it still benefits your health and well-being””and isn’t that what’s most important?
Dinner
Last night’s dinner was “leftover tacos” since everything inside them came from random leftovers from our “tiny HUGE” party. I made the taco seasoning from scratch (using this recipe), but the ground beef was broken up meat from the giant hamburger and the veggies inside were either leftover from the mini pizzas or picked out of the pasta salad, which is why you might see some little pieces of feta mixed in. Random, but delicious.
For dessert, I whipped up a batch of Banana Soft Serve and added some chocolate sprinkles to it. Mmm”¦ love.
Breakfast
This morning, I woke up craving nut butter, so I whipped up My Favorite Breakfast Pancake. There was a new jar of Maranatha almond butter in the cabinet, so I was excited to break it open. I thought I liked the Maranatha brand, but, eww, it tasted like plastic. I definitely need to pick up a jar of Archer Farms from Target ASAP””that stuff tastes amazing and doesn’t cost a fortune.
Question of the Day
Are you a morning, afternoon, or evening exerciser? Do you think what time you exercise matters? What time of day are your workouts most consistent?
P.S. My friend Patricia is giving away a slow cooker on her blog! Check it out!
