10 Tips For Making Early Morning Workouts Work
The thought of waking up any earlier than you already have to for work, just to do more work can be a daunting one. When you decide that yes, in fact, you will plan to working out in the morning, often that plan becomes tomorrow’s plan as you turn that alarm right off that wants to wake you from your warm, cozy bed, telling you it’s time to get your sweat on. How can we make an early morning workout successful?
1. Get a Plan Together – I’ve always found it unsuccessful to schedule in a workout when it’s not physically scheduled into my daily calendar. If there’s a free hour time-slot available that has nothing scheduled in it and the word workout comes to mind, we all know that that hour has better odds of being filled with other priorities such as planning what to make for dinner or scheduling the rest of the week. Whatever it is, extra time is a great excuse to do anything BUT workout so if you actually schedule an exercise time slot into your agenda, it too will become a priority on your To Do list.
2. Prepare – Every night I prepare myself for tomorrow. A big helper is pulling my clothes out for the next day and having them ready to go, already laid out. In the mornings, it takes me a good few minutes to get my mind rolling, so the more prepared I am, the more consistent, calm, and successful my day is.
3. Annoy Yourself To Get Out of Bed – Set your alarm and keep your phone either across your room or even outside of your room. That way, when the alarm goes off, you have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off and less likely to go back to bed.
4. Leave Yourself Notes – Have things you need to remember for the day ahead?? Write them down. It might look like grab lunch out of fridge or Don’t forget??. Better yet, try leaving yourself a motivational note as well to remind you of what you’re trying to accomplish!
5. Get It Out of the Way – How many times have you said to yourself I should go workout now and then made the excuse that you have other things to do and that you don’t have time to workout?? By getting up early in the morning, you potentially get the most dreaded part of your day out of the way. Yes, you may lose sleep, but go to bed a little earlier to prevent your body from feeling fatigued. The best part is that you will feel great when you’re done and you won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day!
6. Find A Friend – Know someone that wants to commit to working out in the morning?? Make a pact and do it together. Having a friend to workout with is not only great for moral support, but makes you more accountable to actually getting your butt to the workout. Usually, when one of you is not feeling up to it, the other will provide that extra push to stop you from taking the day off.
7. Know Your Meals – Have a little something in the morning, pre workout. This might look like a few bites of yogurt. After your workout, know what you’re going to eat and have it ready. This might look like making a protein shake prior to your workout (again, this can be done the night before) and having it ready to go post-workout, or having the ingredients to make a tasty omelette when you get home. Either way, always stay one step ahead of your meals to replenish your body the healthy way!
8. Accomplish a Goal – How great does it feel to set a goal and do it?? You can set short-term goals such as working out x amount of times per week and a long-term goal of how you want to look or feel in x amount of time period. By sticking to your short-term goals, you immediate succeed and build confidence within yourself. Just imagine how great you’ll feel when you’ve reached your long-term goal?? These little rewards snowball into big rewards and the results can be positively infectious!
9. Metabolism – By working out consistently in the morning, you instantly kick start your metabolism for the rest of the day. Eventually, your body burns calories and fat more efficiently, which means that little lunch time treat won’t weigh so heavily on your conscience!
10. Nothing Can Bring You Down! – Exercise increases endorphins (your happy hormones) that will be pretty hard to knock down. You’ll instantly feel rejuvenated, healthy, positive, and overall, happy when you incorporate exercise into your life. Why not start your day off in a great mood and get those endorphins flowing first thing?!
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