Working Out At Night?

Is it bad to work out at night? I read that it might lead to poor sleep patterns. Any other negative side effects? If the choice is between working out at night and not working out at all till the next day, what should I do?

[quote]Hawkson101 wrote:
Is it bad to work out at night? I read that it might lead to poor sleep patterns. [/quote]

So you’ve never had an evening workout? I take it you have just begun training. You just need to worry about working out, not whether you’re working out at the right time.

Try a p.m. workout and find out. I have no problem sleeping after training. You might be different.

I work out at night often and have no problems with it. I don’t see a real problem with it unless it seriously disrupts your sleep. In fact, I’m headed out shortly to go workout and it’s currently 11:00 pm. Just go do it and see how it feels. I would much rather work out at night and get an hour or two less of sleep than get up and workout before noon.

I had a friend who joined an all hours gym so he could train at odd times. We’re talking like 2 am. He didn’t seem to have any troubles (just gotta sleep during the day more I guess).

I generally don’t like to lift unless I have at least 3 meals in me, which depending on when I wake up can be as late as 9 at night. I’ve had no problems.

I used to work-out at night, after work. I had a couple of problems with it:

It was during peak hours at a small gym, and the overcrowding made for a high level of frustration on my part, which I think detracted a good bit from the quality of my training.
In a similar vein, since it was at the end of the day, I was usually fried, mentally; just about all semblance of patience used up (both with others, as well as myself), which only added to the negative effect on my training.

Trouble sleeping afterwards was rarely a problem, unless it was so crowded I had trouble getting to any of the equipment, and left, in which case I was too frustrated to sleep. But that only happened three times over the two years that gym was open.

But overall, at least in my case, I’d say it helped to improve my quality of sleep, rather than interfere with it. The negative aspects I experienced were mainly psychological.

It doesn’t work for me. I end up staying awake until 3:00 or 4:00. Thats if I finish up at around 10:00.

i used to be able for it back in the day when i was 15, i’d do it around 11-12 after work, but i’m an old man now at 21…

but seriously if your able for it why not.

I start my workout anytime between 5 and 7pm and haven’t had any problems. Sleep has gotten even better after beginning to take ZMA.

I haven’t worked out in the evening there’s been yrs. However I take a nap after every workout.It leaves me drained enough to sleep if anything.
And then again I don’t sleep @ Night, maybe I should switch over to evening workouts, see if it helps my sleep patterns.

My understanding is that the morning is the time we are most succeptible to injury.

I personally prefer to work out at night. I always have. I am more awake= more energy, and there are less people there than there are at around 6:00-7:00’ish.

Never interfered with my sleep.

Some people have issues with any form of exercise keeping them up. I’ve had problems, but found that if you do it for a week or so you’re body will adapt and you’ll be able to fall asleep as soon as you hit the bed. A warm shower before bed might help.

[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
It doesn’t work for me. I end up staying awake until 3:00 or 4:00. Thats if I finish up at around 10:00.

[/quote]

I’m the same. It takes about 6 hours for me to be able to sleep properly after workout or even an intense cardio session.

And you should know that testosterone levels are highest early in the morning; estrogen is highest in the evening.
Hence why I moved to 5am workouts. Got a lot better results out of it.