This is something you'll have to sort out for yourself, by trying different times and seeing how you react.
Is there an ideal time to train? Or is it just preference? I'm thinking about switching to training in the mornings right after I have some coffee for the caffeine affects and so I have more time later in the day to do other stuff and not think about my upcoming training session, I also just feel more focused in the morning. My concern is that I will be weaker having only ate breakfast, breakfast being around 900-1300 cals, as opposed to training later in the day around 2-3 already having about 2500 cals in my system. Is that how that works? Or is it the day before's calories that my body would be using? Sry for long question google gave me 4 different answers.
This is something you'll have to sort out for yourself, by trying different times and seeing how you react.
The calorie thing...just throw that out. You're thinking about that all wrong. You start "using" calories as soon as you eat them. The point of eating breakfast is to do the thing you are going to do immediately after breakfast. If you can't do that, eat a bigger breakfast.
The only concrete consideration about training times is some people find training close to bed time disrupts sleep.
If I had to do a lifting competition, early morning would be a lousy time for me. But in terms of stringing together multiple training sessions consistently it works better as it guarantees the sessions get done.
Absolutely you have to find what works for you.
i have found that training after the work day (±1800) is best for me because it doesn't interfere with being productive in other activities. Traning in the morning takes too much out of me and early afternoon is too disruptive.
In terms of absolute strength - who gives a fuck. Just get stronger at whatever hour you normally train. The small difference in absolute strength won't matter. Those are my 2 cents.
Shocking that Google didn’t have an answer for this question. Hasn’t some graduate student done a peer reviewed paper on it? /sarcasm
I train at 5:30 am on nothing but a few sips of coffee, because I’d rather sleep more than get up in time for breakfast before training.
Does that mean my training is less effective than if I was perfectly fueled (whatever that is)? Probably, but perfect isn’t an option given my commitments and schedule, so I just train imperfectly. It still works.