By Mónica Fosado and Tom McMillan
It’s 9 p.m. Their hearts beat fast. She’s panting. He’s sweating. For both of them, the night is the best time to work out.
With increasingly busy schedules, many Centretown residents are choosing to exercise late at night. According to Brian Fleming, general manager of Elgin Fitness, many people are beginning workouts after 9 p.m., long after the sun has set.
Fleming says late-night exercisers differ from other visitors to the Cooper Street gym only in their start time. All users do the same types of exercises, he explains, no matter what time they come in. Fleming says most of his gym’s late night visitors are young, and usually show up two or three times a week.
“They seem to enjoy doing this a little later in the day, their energy levels perk up a bit more,” he says.
According to Shaunna Taylor, a sport psychologist at the Ottawa High Performance Centre, late night workouts are often an issue of time. Because of busy schedules, Taylor says, people have to “get creative” in squishing exercise into their days.
“It’s part of a trend that’s infiltrating all of us, in all walks of life,” she says. “We’re just so busy and overscheduled.”
The exercisers at Elgin Fitness agree. With a busy schedule, there is no way to fit physical activity into the day, says Isabel Vermette. Working as a marketing assistant, Vermette says her mornings are too busy to visit the gym. Nights are her only chance to exercise.
Indeed, a recent study from the University of Minnesota found people are increasingly turning to leisure time in order to exercise. The study, published in the September issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found people are getting less exercise from work and compensating by spending 60-70 per cent of their day’s energy in leisure-time physical activities.
While the study did not look into working out specifically, lead researcher Dr. Lyn Steffen said that going to the gym would definitely qualify as leisure-time physical activity.
“My study did not ask where people were physically active,” she says. “But if the only time to work out is late at night, then working out at the gym is a safe place to be physically active.”
According to the study, people get less exercise from work than 20 years ago. Over 70 per cent of workers surveyed spent the majority of their workday sitting –an almost 15 per cent increase from 1980.
One thing late-night workouts are good for, Fleming says, is countering the daily grind.
“When you’re sitting all day you tend to get tired and it makes you more alert, it wakes you up,” he says. “It’s a boost.”
For Ben Macpherson, a restaurant kitchen manager, late night workouts help release any anxiety or frustration from the day’s work.
“It allows me to feel more energized which is nice when I’m working six days a week, sometimes seven,” he says.
Taylor says the one downside to evening workouts is they can make falling asleep afterwards difficult. Exercising causes heart rate and adrenaline levels to rise, she says, while keeping the mind and body alert.
Taylor says she could never work out late at night, but admits not everyone reacts this way.
“Some people can go home, have a cup of tea, be fine,” she says. “It really comes down to personal preference.”
For Macpherson, there is nothing else like it. When followed by a little music and a hot shower, he says the benefit of a late-night workout is simple: it just “provides a better night’s sleep.”