Hi Francois

You are right, each has advantages and disadvantages, but depending on the person, one option's advantage is another one's disadvantage. The main advantage is simply practical - if training in the morning means having to wake up at 5am, and spend the rest of the day forcing yourself to stay awake, then it doesn't matter what the advantages are, because the disadvantage outweighs it. Similarly, if you are the type of person who finds it difficult to train at the end of a work day, then training in the morning is the only option, regardless of the disadvantages.

Other reasons for training in either the morning or afternoon include diet and fat burning. Some people suggest that training in the morning, before eating breakfast is good, because it forces you to exercise on 'an empty stomach' which basically means that your body has no glucose to burn. Therefore, it is thought that the body will use more fat, and weight loss would be greater. However, the principle may be true, but there are certain other considerations that you must take into account:

• The intensity of the training: if the intensity is too high, you have the risk of becoming hypoglycaemic.
• The duration of the training: if you exercise too long, you also have a risk of becoming hypoglycaemic.
• If you are glycogen depleted when you begin, you will become hypoglycaemic quicker.
• The meal that you ate the previous evening.
• It also dependent on your previous training and your dietary intake over the one or two days prior to the session.

In otherwords, exercising without giving your body any energy can cause you to become hypoglycaemic. It may be safe if you train at a low intensity and for less than an hour. you may wish to try this out and experiment, and see what works best for you, and then choose the most convenient time of day, as mentioned.

Good luck