Performance and the Time of Day: Chronotype and Training
In this article
Your best training time involves more than checking the clock. Your sleep pattern, the activity and the demands of your day all enter the picture. Studies of basketball, soccer and cycling give coaches useful reasons to pay attention to when their athletes train.
How can time of day influence performance?
Training and athletic performance can be influenced by a number of factors. The time of day is one factor in athletic performance. There are many physical and mental processes that change throughout the day. Two examples are the circadian and diurnal rhythms. Circadian rhythms are behavioral, physical, and mental changes according to a 24-hour cycle. These rhythms have performance related highs and lows at specific times of day. Studies have found a connection between athletic performance and the time-of-day.
What other factors affect daily performance rhythms?
The time of day may have an effect on anaerobic power and capacity, blood pressure, stroke volume, exercise response, metabolic rate, isotonic and isokinetic strength measures. A 1985 review explained “Circadian rhythmicity in components of athletic performance can be modulated by workload, psychological stressors, motivation, “morningness/eveningness” differences, social interaction, lighting, sleep disturbances, the “postlunch dip” phenomenon, altitude, dietary constituents, gender, and age.”
How do early and late chronotypes compare?
A 2018 study looked into “The effects of time of day and chronotype on cognitive and physical performance in healthy volunteers.” This study tried to determine if early or late chronotypes were affected when performing athletic activities at a specific time. Fifty-six healthy subjects were gathered, 25 “early birds” and 31 “night owls”. They used circadian phase markers, Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, and objective actigraphy to measure physical and psychological performance. They also used a self-reported daytime sleepiness scale, recording three separate hours of the day.
The early and late groups showed different daily patterns in sleepiness, attention, executive function and grip strength. At the morning assessment, the late chronotypes performed worse than the early group across the measures studied. The pattern makes habitual sleep timing relevant to planning demanding tasks.
Coaches should incorporate this information into their training regimens by assessing their athletes and their sleeping schedules. The results of this study suggest that, if a coach typically schedules training in the morning, and most team players are late chronotypes, this could ultimately affect performance.
What did the basketball study measure?
Another study from 2017, compared athletic performance of morning vs. afternoon training sessions in intercollegiate basketball players. They recorded player readiness (Omegawave) and self-reported sleep quantity. Countermovement jump height (CMJ) was a performance measure. Ten Division-1 basketball players participated in the trial during preseason. All strength and conditioning activities were performed in the morning or afternoon. They found that “When player load and duration were matched, CMJ (58.8 ± 1.3 vs. 61.9 ± 1.6 cm, p = 0.009), Power (6,378.0 ± 131.2 vs. 6,622.1 ± 172.0 W, p = 0.009), and self-reported sleep duration (6.6 ± 0.4 vs. 7.4 ± 0.25 p = 0.016) were significantly higher with afternoon strength and conditioning training, with no differences observed in player readiness values.”
For these ten players during preseason, afternoon strength and conditioning sessions went along with higher jump and power measures and more reported sleep. A coach considering an early session has a practical reason to ask how much sleep the players are getting.
What did young soccer players show?
Aerobic and anaerobic tests offer another way to look at daily performance. Testing the same athletes in the morning and evening can show when they perform a task better; training adaptations develop across a program. In a 2012 study published in the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers examined morning and evening aerobic and anaerobic test performance in young soccer players. In a randomized and counterbalanced repeated measures design, 20 junior male soccer players completed the Repeated Sprint Test (RSA), the Yo-Yo, and the Wingate tests at two different times of day (0700 and 1700) with a 36-hour recovery period. The participants were asked to maintain a consistent sleeping schedule, stay physically active, and arrive at the lab in a fasted state. Also, the site was kept at a stable temperature for both morning and afternoon sessions.
The performance results from the Wingate test, peak power and mean power were significantly higher in the evening than the morning. During the RSA test, peak power was higher during the 1700 sessions. Finally, during the Yo-Yo test, the total distance and maximal aerobic velocity was higher in the afternoon. Overall, young soccer players seemed to have a higher performance rate in the evenings.
How did cycling efficiency vary?
Circadian variations in blood pressure, skin temperature, heart rate, cardiac output, blood, and metabolic variables fluctuate during different times of the day. In a 2007 study, 14 physically active male participants volunteered to help the researchers determine if time of day affected gross efficiency, VO2kinetics, and net efficiency. The participants were physically active but not specifically trained in cycling.
The participants completed familiarization and threshold testing before the morning and evening cycling trials, which were performed in a randomized order.
The morning testing window was 0700–0830 and the evening window was 1900–2030. An electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer was used to perform the cycling exercise. In the study’s protocol, participants cycled for five minutes at 45 W, rested for five minutes, then cycled for ten minutes at 80% of the power output associated with their ventilatory threshold. During their resting state, the subjects sat on the cycle ergometer for 3 minutes while their respiratory data was recorded.
The researchers found higher net efficiency and faster oxygen-uptake kinetics in the evening. These findings concern the response to the cycling task. Coaches working towards a particular goal might consider alternate training times to see which works best.
How can coaches apply the evidence thoughtfully?
The useful starting point is the athlete’s actual schedule: when they sleep, when they feel alert and when they need to compete. Environment, motivation and the task can change performance alongside the hour. A coach can follow the same measures over comparable sessions, discuss how the athlete feels and look for a schedule that supports consistent training and sufficient sleep.
References
Facer-Childs, E. R., Boiling, S., & Balanos, G. M. (2018). The effects of time of day and chronotype on cognitive and physical performance in healthy volunteers. Sports medicine – open, 4(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0162-z
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Circadian rhythms. National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/fact-sheets/Pages/circadian-rhythms.aspx.
Heishman, A. D., Curtis, M. A., Saliba, E. N., Hornett, R. J., Malin, S. K., & Weltman, A. L. (2017). Comparing Performance During Morning vs. Afternoon Training Sessions in Intercollegiate Basketball Players. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(6), 1557–1562. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001882
Chtourou H, Hammouda O, Souissi H, et al. Diurnal variations in physical performances related to football in young soccer players. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. 2012 Sep;3(3):139-144. DOI: 10.5812/asjsm.34604. PMID: 23012632; PMCID: PMC3445640
Brisswalter, J., Bieuzen, F., Giacomoni, M., Tricot, V., & Falgairette, G. (2007). Morning-to-evening differences in oxygen uptake kinetics in short-duration cycling exercise. Chronobiology international, 24(3), 495–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/07420520701420691
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