The fitness industry, TikTok, and your gym buddies are full of ideas about when the best time to weight train is, when to eat, and which days to skip. Some of it might be solid advice, but wading through the misinformation and speculation can be more exhausting than bench press drop sets after a hard day in the office.

Michael Betts, director TRAINFITNESS, knows this all too well. “Whether you’re a beginner or a gym veteran, you’ve probably heard one or more of the following:” he says.“‘Training in the morning is better for fat loss; training in the evening builds muscle; you should skip Fridays and train on Mondays.”

It’s kind of confusing. But, as Betts explains “Our bodies don’t operate on a stopwatch, and while some timing strategies can have an impact, they aren’t anywhere near the most important factors for driving results.”

Here, then, is a guide to how and when you should train, backed by actual experts with decades of expertise in getting people absolutely ripped.

The best time to weight train: morning vs. evening

When you can train depends largely on your schedule, but a post-lunch sesh might yield the best results. Both Betts and Adam Enaz, founder of Enaz Fitness, are big proponents of a mid-afternoon weights session.

“Performance does actually vary across the day,” says Betts. This meta-analysis, published in Chronobiology International in 2019 shows that our strength and power output will generally peak in the late afternoon or early evening, largely because our body temperature is higher, the nervous system is firing more effectively, and we’ve been awake long enough for the muscles to properly activate.

“The strongest window for the average person is roughly 14:30 to 20:30,” adds Enaz. (So, in America that’s 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) In fact, one 24-week study published in the peer-reviews journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, found strength improvements at any time of day, but a greater muscle gain in the evening.

“That said, the advantage is usually small,” Enaz clarifies. “You shouldn’t underestimate going by feel; if you train far more consistently in the morning, you should get better results despite not training in the ‘biologically optimal’ window.” And if training in the evening makes it harder for you to sleep, you should take into account what’s best for your recovery plan as well.

“What matters most is what happens over weeks and months,” says Betts. “When a person trains consistently at the same time, their body adapts to perform at that time.”

Fasted training vs. fed training

The fastest vs. fed debate tends to apply more to cardio workouts than weight sessions for one good reason: if you’re hefting your own bodyweight, you need energy to be able to do it. That said, for lighter weights sessions like a HIIT circuit, or even a calisthenics workout, a fasted session could help you tone up while you work.

In actuality, when it comes to muscle and strength gains, the evidence shows no real advantage either way. A 2025 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies studied fast vs. fed resistance training and found that the results—barring fat loss— were more or less the same.

But what about eating post gym to lock in those gains? To what degree does the anabolic window apply? “The idea that protein must be consumed within 30 to 60 minutes of training to maximize muscle protein synthesis has been repeated so often it’s treated as fact,” says Betts. “But, a meta-analysis of 23 studies involving over 500 participants found that timing protein around workouts added no meaningful benefit for muscle growth or strength.”