Time-of-Day Effects on Short-Duration Maximal Exercise Performance

Abstract

Time-of-day dependent fluctuations in exercise performance have been documented across different sports and seem to affect both endurance and resistance modes of exercise. Most of the studies published to date have shown that the performance in short-duration maximal exercises (i.e. less than 1 min - e.g. sprints, jumps, isometric contractions) exhibits diurnal fluctuations, peaking between 16:00 and 20:00 h. However, the time-of-day effects on short duration exercise performance may be minimized by the following factors: (1) short exposures to moderately warm and humid environments; (2) active warm-up protocols; (3) intermittent fasting conditions; (4) warming-up while listening to music; or (5) prolonged periods of training at a specific time of day. This suggests that short-duration maximal exercise performance throughout the day is controlled not only by body temperature, hormone levels, motivation and mood state but also by a versatile circadian system within skeletal muscle. The time of day at which short-duration maximal exercise is conducted represents an important variable for training prescription. However, the literature available to date lacks a specific review on this subject. Therefore, the present review aims to (1) elucidate time-of-day specific effects on short-duration maximal exercise performance and (2) discuss strategies to promote better performance in short-duration maximal exercises at different times of the day.

Transcriptomic, proteomic and phosphoproteomic underpinnings of daily exercise performance and Zeitgeber activity of endurance training

“…Moreover, insulin sensitivity, mitochondrial respiration, glucose, and lipid-related metabolites likewise follow similar patterns in muscle tissue (Dyar et al, 2018;Loizides-Mangold et al, 2017;Sato et al, 2018). In line with this, daily variations in resistance and endurance exercise peak performance have been reported during the normal active phase in humans (Mirizio et al, 2020) and rodents (Ezagouri et al, 2019) in some, but not all trials (Knaier et al, 2019;Mirizio et al, 2020). The robustness and timing of such performance peaks seems highly variable, depending on a multitude of parameters including chronotype, time from awakening, muscle and liver glycogen levels, nutritional status, and temperature (Facer-Childs 5 and Brandstaetter, 2015; Hearris et al, 2018).…”

Transcriptomic, proteomic and phosphoproteomic underpinnings of daily exercise performance and zeitgeber activity of training in mouse muscle

“…Moreover, insulin sensitivity, mitochondrial respiration, glucose and lipid-related metabolites likewise follow similar patterns in muscle tissue (Loizides-Mangold et al 2017;Dyar et al 2018;Sato et al 2018). In line with this, daily variations in resistance and endurance exercise peak performance have been reported during the normal active phase in humans (Mirizio et al 2020) and rodents (Ezagouri et al 2019) in most, but not all (Knaier et al 2019;Mirizio et al 2020) trials. The robustness and timing of such performance peaks seem highly variable, depending on a multitude of parameters including chronotype, time from awakening, muscle and liver glycogen levels, nutritional status, and temperature (Facer-Childs & Brandstaetter, 2015;Hearris et al 2018).…”

Weekly Variations of Short-Duration Maximal Jumping Performance in Soccer Players: Exploring Relationships With Accumulated Training Load and Match Demands

“…All measurements were conducted during the morning and before practice sessions. Although better jump performance was previously documented during the late afternoon, it seems that similar performance might be observed during the morning if certain criteria are met (Mirizio et al, 2020 ).…”