When is the best time to hit the gym?

If you can swing it, morning is best. You have to understand that your hormones aren't just at a constant level all through the day--- they have peaks and troughs that follow your circadian rhythms. Growth hormone and free test levels are highest in the morning and lessen as the day goes by. For men, GH spikes and drops several times throughout the day, strongest in the morning and progressively weaker as the day goes on. Women have a more continuous GH release. The best way to make use of these morning hormone levels is to exercise fasted as early after waking up as possible (eating causes insulin release which craters/counteracts GH levels). It helps to have some caffeine or preworkout, along with citrulline and Alpha-GPC which further increase GH spikes

The best time to go to the gym is when you have time to go, whether it's in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!

Also to follow this up, this is another reason to adopt intermittent fasting and to abandon all-day-long feeding with small meals. When you are eating all the time, you are basically causing a continuous release of insulin which will do two things. First, it will progressively blow out your insulin sensitivity, which can contribute to diabetes, make muscle tissue less responsive to feeding/nutrients, contribute to fat gain, and worst of all cause chronic high blood sugar levels which is generally terrible for longevity and is one major cause of age-related diseases. Secondly, constant feeding will nullify the natural rhythm of GH release (the spikes throughout the day) and you'll only have peaks at night while you sleep. The real magic of IF is the reverse of these things; it maximizes your insulin sensitivity which is a really great thing, and it allows your GH levels to be as high as possible as long as possible throughout the day.

So train fasted in the mornings before you have lunch?

If I go in the evening my preworkout stops me from falling asleep. Preworkout is also a waste of money that I should stop using so hey

Yes, that's what I do. It's up to you about whether to break the fast for your "anabolic window" immediately following the conclusion of your workout (I do that), however it's hard to say how much whey alone spike insulin, so it might not be disrupting GH release. I'm not sure

Just make it yourself, much cheaper and you actually get to decide what goes in. It might be more expensive as a purchase but you'll get like a 4 month supply with the amounts you get rather than a 30 day supply that you get buying it premade

would highly not recommend, not a single body builder aiming for maximum muscle and leanness would ever do this. while it’s true GH spikes are inverse to insulin spikes, you aren’t growing while you’re training so the GH being high while training is irrelevant. The only thing some people may do is fasted cardio first thing in the morning, but this is generally more to do with curbing hunger/appetite and often still involves a protein shake prior.

Makes sense. Thanks for your insight

BRRAAAAAAAAAPPPPP…*sniff sniff* oh my my darling you seem to have leaked some stinky anus juices into your shorts

No one is relying on GH for its anabolic properties, for "growing" while you exercise. It's significance is in preventing muscle catabolism when you are in a fasted state or (dieting) and encouraging the use of fat for energy. If you are clever and include in your preworkout GH secretagogues like alpha GPC and Citrulline, and then ALCAR and caffeine for enabling use of fat for energy, you don't have to worry much about muscle catabolism when you exercise

With and without preworkout or those ingredients, I have managed to maintain a ton of lean mass and strength over the years while consistently exercising fasted first thing in the morning. if you're a hard gainer ectomorph it probably makes sense to eat as much as you can all the time, but for many people there's no point blowing out your insulin sensitivity