Exercising in the morning is recommended for two reasons. First, it gets exercise out of the way before a million excuses start to form. Once you shower and start your day you will not be working up a sweat. Regardless, Then 5:00pm would hit and you would be too tired to even think about getting in a workout. Not to mention, you needed to get home and feed your family. By the time all the nightly activities were done it was time to pass out. Therefore, if you don’t exercise in the morning it won’t happen at all.
The second reason is to exercise in the morning allows you to start your day on a positive note. You can use that time to think about life, solve problems, and just be in solitude. That one-hour of exercise helps you stay focused and energized throughout the entire day. Feeling productive and accomplished is a great feeling. When you start your day with exercise you feel productive, accomplished, and ready to take on the world – all by 7:00am!
If you think exercising in the morning could benefit you then here are 7 tips that can help you start a morning exercise routine.
#1 Pick a realistic time
It is often tempting to set your alarm clock for 4:30am so you can have a workout and shower done by 6:00am. However, that is often not realistic or sustainable. A time I can stick with is 5:30am. This allows you to get the proper amount of sleep and still enough time for a solid workout. If you pick a time that you can never stick with then you will find it very difficult to create a routine and habit around that. Once you pick a early morning time to exercise then protect that time. It is easy to get off track doing other things. However, if you decide 6:30am – 7:30am is exercise time then make sure nothing else takes priority.
#2 Get a good night sleep
This goes along with the first tip. If you go to bed at midnight not only will it be difficult to wake up at 5:30am it will be even harder to find the energy for a quality workout. We need at least 7-9 hours of sleep to function at our best. I know we all think we are superhuman and can survive on much less. However, we are looking to thrive, not just survive, so we need our sleep. An ideal goal bedtime is 10:30pm. Any later and you might struggle waking up in the morning.
#3 Put out clothes, sneakers, and earbuds the night before
This is huge! Having your workout gear ready the night before will put you 10 steps ahead come the morning.
Also, plan to get into your workout clothes and put your sneakers on as soon as you wake up. This lets your mind know you are getting ready for a solid sweaty workout!
#4 Plan out your exercise routine ahead of time
Wake up each morning with an exercise plan. What exercises are you going to do? How long? Are you going to switch up exercises on certain days? Having an exercise plan helps you getting started and stay focused on your workout. However, don’t feel like you need to do an iron man workout every day. Even a little exercise is better than no exercise so do what can. The point is know what those exercises are going to be. Not having a plan will just waste the precious time you have in the morning.
#5 Give yourself a few minutes to wake up
You could wake up and immediately drag yourself out of bed to exercise, but this often causes workouts to be mediocre. Give yourself 10 minutes to wake up. You become more alert and ready to exercise. During that 10 minutes you can drink water, stretch, and start listening to music.
#6 Put together a motivating play list
The right music is essential to staying motivated during a workout. When you have high energy motivating music playing you can run 30 minutes without thinking twice about.
#7 Exercise often
Whenever you are forming a new exercise habit the key is to do it often (at least 4-5 days) and for a long period of time (3-4 weeks). If you exercise sporadically it will always feel like you are starting from the beginning. Challenge yourself to stick with it.
When you begin waking up early to exercise it will be hard – very hard. You won’t want to do it and will probably have to push yourself a bit. However, after a few days it will get easier. Then after a week or so you will wake up before the alarm goes off and look forward to exercising. After a few weeks it will become second nature – exercising in the morning will become a habit. Once you form the habit you don’t need to be as strict. Keeping exercising consistent will help sustain your exercise habit.
IT NEVER GETS EASIER YOU ONLY GET BETTER! Keep that in mind when things feel impossible or out of reach. You can do this!
Source: Organize Yourself Skinny
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