What Is the Best Time Of Day To Work Out and Be Productive? The Science Of Peak Performance Timing

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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Monday motivation

• The stress buffer

• Can you time peak performance?

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner
Monday Motivation: It Takes A Village 

This weekend we had a big, big win. We hosted our annual After-School All-Stars charity night at my house.

It’s our biggest fundraising event of the year, and we always raise a lot of money for our kids.

This year, we broke the record.

In one night, we raised $8 million dollars. When the auction ended and we calculated the total, we almost couldn’t believe it.

The night was such a success that it went way beyond my vision, and you know I never have a small vision.

I could use this opportunity to explain to you how that will help After-School All-Stars take care of the 150,000 students we serve across the country every single day, or to tell you how it will help us expand and serve even more students — as most after-school all-stars are shrinking.

But I want to use it as a real-life lesson in something I tell you over and over:

No success is self-made.

Because, when this news gets out, I know what the headlines will say.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger Raises $8 Million For Kids.”

That is the headline that will get the most clicks, but it makes it sound too easy, and it definitely gives me too much credit.

It misses the army of people it took to raise this much money and the hours and hours of work they did. Let me just give you an idea.

Andrea Bazán and Ben Paul are the President and CEO of After-School All-Stars. They’ve both been with us for years. Under their leadership, we’ve raised $1.5 billion since we started After-School All-Stars over 30 years. They start meeting with me the day after we finish this fundraiser every year to plan the next year’s event, and they never stop working. I am not exaggerating when I say we couldn’t do it without Andrea and Ben and their team, Tara Blake, Alicia Rusell, and Jenna O’Dwyer.

John and Greg and Gigi Simonian are my co-hosts of the event and have been since we started it more than 10 years ago. They make the event special every year, and they are involved at every single step of planning. Laura Hughes from their team is impossible to replace.

My girlfriend, Heather Milligan, helps us plan and deal with all of the work it takes to turn my backyard into a giant western fundraiser.

My kids always fill my heart by coming to show their support of my organization.

Paul Wachter, my friend and the Chairman of After-School All-Stars, always shocks everyone with a huge donation.

And then there’s the star power. The power of Hollywood is that people love to come to events when they know they’ll meet celebrities.

Chris Pratt, the world’s best son-in-law and obviously a great action star, was there. So was Dolph Lundgren, my friend and one of the best action stars of all time. And my co-stars Gabriel Luna and Milan Carter.

And, of course, I can’t forget my brother: Danny Devito. It’s enough that he just comes every year and spends the whole party making people feel good while schmoozing with them over stogies. But this year he really went above and beyond, and jumped on stage to announce a million dollar donation from his partnership with Jersey Mike’s, so I also need to thank Peter Cancro!

My celebrity apprentice and the host of American Ninja Warrior, Matt Iseman, is the master of ceremonies and auctioneer who keeps the energy through the roof for 8 hours.

This year, my longtime stunt coordinator and dear friend, Billy Lucas, organized a team of amazing stuntmen and women to stage a fight in the middle of the fundraiser, which really made it feel like the Wild West, and he also donated a military vehicle that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the auction!

Artists like Wes Lang, Damien Hirst, and Gregory Siff donate pieces for our auction, along with my friend Daniel Marshall, who always makes a humidor masterpiece.

Then there are all the donors: 51 people paid to attend the event with a guest (including 2 members of the Pump Club app Ken and Kristin — THANK YOU). That’s over two and a half million dollars right there. And then they all open up their wallets and give even more in the auction and silent auction.

We are barely scratching the surface here.

My house manager, Alexander, works his ass off for months to make this event work. My housekeeper, Aida, never stops running around making things perfect. My security team at my house keep everyone safe. My assistant, Lynn, helps every step of the way.

My old advance team from the Governor’s Office springs into action to set up all the sound and lighting and stages.

A mariachi band and a folk band come to entertain people.

Renee Croce helps us find new donors.

Wolfgang Puck, my Austrian pal, caters the event and has a team of over a hundred people cooking and serving food.

There are bartenders, waiters, photographers, videographers, photo booth operators.

You’ll see the headline about me.

What I want you to see is that behind that headline, there are HUNDREDS of people who make the headline possible.

We raised $8 million for our kids. WE raised it. All of us.

It is a huge, team win.

It literally took a village, and I wanted to spend today reminding all of you that we all need help writing our success stories. I also wanted to thank the army of people who made my latest success story a reality.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Together With Momentous 
The “Stress Buffer” (That Only Works When You Need It)

We all want to think clearly under pressure, whether it’s a big presentation, an overnight shift, or an all-nighter before an exam. But while most supplements promise focus all the time, science suggests one amino acid might only help when your brain is running on empty.

Tyrosine helps protect your brain’s performance during short-term stress.

Researchers reviewed 21 studies examining how L-tyrosine — the amino acid your body uses to make dopamine and norepinephrine — affects mental performance under demanding situations. The data revealed a consistent pattern: when people faced intense stress, sleep deprivation, or heavy mental work, tyrosine supplementation helped preserve attention, working memory, and reaction time. But when people weren’t under those stressors, it had no effect.

Think of it as a “reserve tank” for your brain. During stress, your neurotransmitters (dopamine and norepinephrine) can drop, making it harder to think clearly. Tyrosine provides the raw material to replenish your brain’s needs faster, which helps maintain normal function, but it won’t push performance above baseline when you’re already fine.

Timing also matters: taking about 1 to 2 hours before anticipated stress, usually on an empty stomach, led to the best results. 

If you want to increase focus, enhance learning capacity, and give yourself a sharper mental edge during stressful times or when exhausted, Brain Drive is our go-to product. The supplement is backed by seven credible studies that support the ingredients and dose. And as an APC reader, use the code PUMPCLUB for up to 35% OFF your first order subscription (and 14% OFF one-time purchase).

If you’re preparing for a long night, extreme cold, or a cognitively demanding event, tyrosine could act like “stress insurance” for your focus. But for everyday productivity or workouts, your normal brain chemistry already has what it needs.

Start Your Week Right
How To Time Your Day For Peak Performance

Ever feel like your focus and energy fluctuate throughout the day? Sometimes you’re unstoppable, other times you can barely think straight.

It’s not your imagination. Your body operates on its own internal timing system, and understanding your rhythm can make all the difference between average and peak performance.

While everyone is different, research suggests your best mental and physical performance depends on circadian biology. In other words, your “prime time” for peak performance depends on when you get up and whether you are an early bird or a night owl.

Researchers studied athletes with different circadian types —morning larks, intermediates, and night owls — to determine when they performed best on reaction time, grip strength, and endurance tests. 

Morning types peaked roughly 5 hours after waking, intermediates at 6 hours, and night owls hit their stride about 11 hours post-awakening. Across groups, alertness, coordination, and mental focus improved gradually throughout the day before declining again in the evening.

A companion review reinforced these patterns: attention, memory, and executive function ramp up from mid-morning to late afternoon, reflecting rising core body temperature and faster neural transmission. In simple terms, your brain and body warm up together.

The key is your circadian rhythm, a roughly 24-hour cycle driven by light exposure, hormones (like cortisol and melatonin), and internal temperature. After waking, your cortisol levels increase (this is not the disaster many make it seem), which boosts your alertness. Over the next few hours, temperature rises, blood flow improves, and the nervous system becomes more responsive, sharpening both mental clarity and muscular power.

If you want to perform your best, be honest about whether you do best in the morning or at night, and put yourself in a position to succeed. 

If you’re not sure, as a rule of thumb, plan demanding tasks, such as presentations, creative work, or intense workouts, within that 4- to 6-hour window after you wake up. If you’re a night owl, shift accordingly. Instead of forcing yourself into a “morning person” schedule, optimize around your rhythm.

Your best hours aren’t necessarily about when the sun rises; they’re about when you do.

Fitness 
Workout Of The Week

Most people train both sides of their body together, and that’s why this workout will hit differently.

Single-arm and single-leg exercises build strength where you’re weakest, help you focus on a full range of motion, and make it impossible to ignore muscle imbalances.  

This workout pairs upper and lower body unilateral moves into supersets, giving you double the benefit: balanced strength and efficient training. By the end, you’ll feel stronger, steadier, and more in tune with how your body moves.

How To Do It

Perform each pair as a superset, meaning you do them back-to-back with little rest between movements. After you finish the second exercise in the pair, rest for 90 to 120 seconds, and repeat. Perform 2 to 3 rounds per pair before moving to the next superset.

Superset 1
Single-Arm Dumbbell Press: 8-10 reps per arm
Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat (Bulgarian Split Squat): 8-10 reps per leg

Superset 2
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row: 10-12 reps per side
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift: 8-10 reps per leg

Superset 3
Single-Arm Overhead Press: 6-8 reps
Skater Squat or front-foot elevated single-leg squat: 6-8 reps per leg

Give it a try, and start your week strong. 

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell