Productive instead of "exercised": How to plan workouts based on your chronotype

According to Harvard paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman, we never evolved to exercise. During Paleolithic times, humans needed to be highly active to survive. With all that hunting and gathering requiring their energy, voluntary physical activity for the sake of health (i.e., exercise) was not a thing for our ancestors.

So, we evolved to avoid physical activity whenever feasible. That notion resonates with many busy knowledge workers. To them, exercise appears to be yet another demand that takes away scarce time from their private and professional lives.

Accordingly, Lieberman aptly named his latest book “Exercised” – a term that means being harassed, vexed, or worried about something. In this book, he summarizes his advice on that contested topic: “Make exercise necessary and fun. Do mostly cardio, but also some weights. Some is better than none. Keep it up as you age.”

Over the next two weeks, I will offer some insights and perspectives that enable knowledge workers to make cardio and weight training – the two major categories of exercise – feel more necessary and fun.

A helpful first step towards that goal is timing your exercise bout based on your chronotype. While we should plan our focused bouts when we are most alert, exercise is a great way to re-energize at times when we’re not alert at all.

If you’re an evening owl, the sluggish morning hence offers an ideal opportunity for exercise. As a bonus, exercising in the morning will shift your sleep-wake cycle forward, which will make you wake up earlier naturally. If you’re a morning lark or intermediate third bird that wears out by the afternoon, scheduling your exercise later in the day will not only help you re-energize. It will also save your most productive hours early in the day for your most important work.