Time to go for the burn

Decca Aitkenhead canvasses experts on when you should work that body

Y ou're motivated. You've made your mind up. Tomorrow morning you're Getting Fit. You set your alarm clock for an ungodly hour, feel pleased with yourself ... and then it goes off. As you heave yourself into the gym, reluctant muscles protesting, you ask yourself: can anything that feels this bad actually be having any beneficial effect?

It's a good question. It is also, unfortunately, one that fitness experts and aficionados are unable to agree upon. Choosing the best time of day for exercise, both physiologically and psychologically, is a critical part of any exercise programme, butguidance on the matter is confusing.

Advisers in the Jane Fonda days of the Eighties were big on high-impact, go-for-the-burn exercise. They subscribed to the dawn drill school of exercise. A good yuppie, they said, started each day in the gym. A more flexible approach to exercise in the Nineties has led to contradictory advice. From early-morning to late-evening, every hour of the day now has its advocates.

In a bid to clarify what has become a mess, we canvassed opinion from teachers and punters alike. The message that emerges below is one echoed by Fiona Hayes, of the Exercise Association's Council. "Any exercise programme has got to fit in with your lifestyle. It really is just a personal thing. There's no golden time." Or is there?

TEACHERS

Steve Smallwood, general manager, Living Well club, Leeds:

"If you are looking to burn up calories and lose weight, it's best to do it in the morning. When you exercise, you speed up your metabolism for a period afterwards, so if you do it first thing, that faster metabolism takes effect all day. Do it last thing at night, just before bed when your metabolism slows down, and you lose the benefit.

"But if you are exercising to increase muscle mass, its better to get some form of energy inside you first, and you need to put some carbohydrate inside you afterwards. So first thing in the morning and last thing at night aren't good. Some people get up at 4.30am to eat and train a couple of hours later, but that's not everyone's cup of tea."

Sandie Munro, deputy manager, "Y" club, Manchester:

"I would say that around four or five o'clock in the afternoon seems to be when people feel at their best. It's past that two to three o'clock slump you get after lunch, and it's when people feel at their brightest. I couldn't say if that was physiological or psychological - it just seems to feel right.

"But I certainly don't recommend a time. We are open from 6.30am to 10pm. I want people to come all day."

Terry Williams, managing director, Bromley Health Lido, Bromley, Kent:

"I've taught fitness all my life, and I've never ever seen any physiological reason for one time being any better than another. Exercise when you are most enthusiastic.

"Certainly, it's not great to train at 11 at night if you want to get a good sleep. But that's about it. Anybody who tells you this or that time is the time to train, doesn't know what they are talking about."

Paul Kyte, personal trainer, Chelsea Harbour club, London:

"People think it's best to exercise first thing. In the morning, they like to run around and, psychologically, it's quite good. But physiologically, it's not the best. Your capillaries are closed down, and your blood supply is shut down."

"It's really down to the individual. Do what makes you feel good."

PUNTERS

Jacinta Mills, teacher, Manchester:

"I exercise first thing in the morning, before breakfast. If you eat something first, you don't feel like doing anything. Doing it before breakfast makes you go faster because you're looking forward to food. It gets it over and done with and you can spend the rest of the day stuffing yourself with cream cakes because you feel so pleased with yourself."

Andy James, designer, London:

"The best time is about eight o'clock in the evening. That's when I get in from work. I do it before I have anything to eat. Afterwards, I'm on a natural high for about an hour, but it wears off before I have to sleep. It does me in too much if I do it first thing in the morning. I can't cope with the rest of the day."

Charles de Lanoy Meyer, commodities trader,London:

"I exercise at about 5 or 6pm. It has to be the early evening because of the working day. If I had all day to choose from, I'd still pick that time, because that's when I get hyped up. Your body becomes accustomed to it after a while. By six o'clock, it's expecting it."

Susie Marsh, sales consultant, Bristol:

"My favourite time is last thing at night, really late, any time between 10pm and midnight. It's nice to go running then - you have time to go over all the things that happened that day in your head. Your body's completely limbered up, because it's been active all day, and you don't have to do anything afterwards. You can just collapse into the bath and go to bed. And you feel so virtuous when you wake up the next morning."