Why Being A Night Owl Could Get You Better Results At The Gym

If you struggle to wake up, let alone workout in the morning, it may not be such a bad thing. Turns out working out late at night has its benefits also. 

1.Being a night owl means you will work harder. Research conducted by the University of Birmingham has found that we are likely to work as much as 20% harder during the night as our performance peaks around 11 hours after we wake up. This means you are going to go longer, faster and harder at night regardless of whether you are a morning person or not. 

2. Believe it or not, your body is programmed to tone better late at night. Our muscle function peaks later in the day as high levels of cortisol present in the morning prevent our muscles from growing as quickly. However in the evenings, increased levels of testosterone lead to a more effective exercise. 

3. Contrary to popular belief, late night workouts do not hamper but rather promote better sleep. A Sleep Study conducted by Swiss found that participants who had a vigorous exercise routine 90 minutes before heading to bed recorder 30% better sleep than those who didn’t. 

4. Beating the crowds by signing up to an evening session. When it comes to gym devotees, you are more likely to find early risers than late night owls lurking around the gym equipment. So beat the traffic and gym rush and enjoy an express pass to all your favourite machines in the evening. 

5. Partner up and be social. We all know that no one likes to be disturbed when they are in the zone. However, some of us like to kill two birds with one stone and use a gym visit as an opportunity to catch up with a friend or even to run a work meeting. A late night session will facilitate some extra socializing and talking sans the side-glances and stares from other visitors. 

6. Exercising after work means you can run-off or punch out a bad day. Exercising is one of the most effective ways to relieve stress and an evening session can ensure you deal with stress in a constructive way. It will also mean you don’t go to bed angry and stressed.