Those who work out in the morning tend to exercise more regularly, according to a new analysis by fitness tracker manufacturer JawBone.
The company analyzed data from the more than one million users of its devices, and found that when a person works out is a strong predictor of how frequently they work out.
The most popular time of day to work out for regular exercisers is 6 a.m., chosen by nearly 11 percent of those who hit the gym at least three times a week. The second most popular workout time is 5 a.m., chosen by 9.5 percent. Another 22.5 percent workout between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
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Fitness fanatics are much less likely to exercise during after-work hours. Only 6 percent of regular exercisers work out at 5 p.m., and only 5 percent exercise at 6 p.m. Later hours in the evening are even less popular.
But those who work out sporadically are much more likely to exercise at night. In fact, 6 p.m. attracts the biggest number of workouts from the overall population of JawBone users –– 8.5 percent. The next most popular time is 7 p.m., which is when nearly 7 percent of overall exercise sessions take place.
Those of us who work out less than three times a week are less than half as likely to exercise at 5 a.m. than those who work out regularly.
The stats differ when it comes to various types of exercise. While runners and weightlifters favor the early morning hours and the after-work hours, yoga and pilates activity spikes at both 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., no doubt relating to popular class times. And skiing and hiking, in contrast to other forms of exercise, show big spikes in the middle of the day, when ski slopes open and the sun is out.
JawBone data confirmed widely-held suspicions that people are more likely to work out at the beginning of the workweek, although the differences are not as dramatic as you may think. The number of workouts spikes on Monday at 15.2 percent and gradually declines throughout the week to a low of 13.3 percent on Friday, while Saturday is slightly more popular than Sunday.
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