Morning Gym Tips for a Total Sleepyhead

cvstokke

Hi everyone - as a New Years Resolution (I like them, okay?), I want to start working to become a morning gym person. I fluctuate widely with my evening gym habits. I have all the best intentions, but plans come up and I miss my goals. Becoming a morning gym person would ensure I've already done my workout in case things come up.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM - I am THE WORST at waking up in the morning. I've missed flights. I've been late to work. I can talk myself into ANYTHING at 6:30 AM (yeah, take an Uber this morning, $22 is totally reasonable, you deserve it). What are your best tips for waking up early in general and for becoming a morning gym person specifically?

Thanks in advance!

Tacklewasher

Get dogs. Damn things won't let you sleep in. Mine were whining before 5 this morning.

trigden1991

If you have missed flights because you "can't" get up, trying to persuade yourself to go to the gym is not going to happen.

cvstokke

@trigden1991 sweet, thanks for the awesome tip!

.... if you don't have anything helpful to say, don't bother posting.

TavistockToad

Work out in the evening... You're not a morning person.

cvstokke

@Tacklewasher god, I wish! unfortunately, I can't with my roommate situation. maybe I wake myself up with puppy videos? haha

Carlos_421

You're not the worst. I am.
I've tried the morning workout thing and not only did my workouts suffer from my lack of energy but it was impossible for me to stick with.
I think a more realistic resolution would be developing habits for your evening routine so the "stuff that comes up" isn't as likely to get in the way and, if it does from time to time, you get right back on track the next day.
Maybe start some things like packing a gym bag to work with you so you can go to the gym right after work before you go home.

emdeesea

I wouldn't.

Look, I'm pragmatic. I am not a morning person and I'm old enough now to know that will never change. So there's no point in me making some lofty resolution that I know I won't maintain.

If you want change to stick you need to be realistic with yourself. And if that means admitting that you really just aren't into the morning thing, that's perfectly okay. Just make a commitment to something you have a better chance of actually doing.

cvstokke

@Carlos_421 thanks for the idea. I do actually bring a gym bag to work and am pretty good about going on my way home (gym is between my metro stop and home). However, things will come up like dinner with a family member or a work event. I want to find a balance in having a life and being healthy. Even if I could just gym in the morning once or twice a week, I think it would help.

Jules_farmgirl

Have kids... lol! Ok but in all seriousness, I actually had this issue too. I would get home and by the time I had everything done and kids to bed I would be falling asleep standing up and never got to the workout. I found out that my one friend gets up at 4:15am every morning to do her workout. So I have her call me when she finishes to make sure I get out of bed at 5am to start my workout!

cvstokke

@Jules_farmgirl that's a good idea. I have a coworker friend that morning gyms so I'm thinking about asking her to do something like that.

Carlos_421

cvstokke wrote: »

@trigden1991 sweet, thanks for the awesome tip!

.... if you don't have anything helpful to say, don't bother posting.

I think his point was that if a flight is not enough motivation to get you up in the morning, a resolution won't be either and you'll likely be more successful by finding other solutions that don't involve early mornings.
Some people just aren't wired to function well in the morning. Others aren't wired to function well late at night.
In my experience, it's better to figure out how to work with how you're set up rather than constantly struggle to do things in ways that work fine for other people but not for you.

Ben_there_done_that

Hmm. Maybe go to bed much earlier than you currently are and sleep in your workout clothes. Or keep an energy drink on your nightstand for when you wake up. Then there's no chance for you go to back to sleep even if you wanted. I think you just have to do it enough times for it to be a habit and then it'll be no problem. Good luck!

Carlos_421

cvstokke wrote: »

@Tacklewasher god, I wish! unfortunately, I can't with my roommate situation. maybe I wake myself up with puppy videos? haha

How does a roommate have power over your schedule?

cvstokke

@Carlos_421 I was replying to a post about getting a dog

TrueBeautyDanielle

@cvstokke I am right there with you. Too bad you can't get a dog. That was great advice. My advice is to prepare for the day the night before. Going to bed earlier, preparing lunch, and attire ready. (hypocritical, cause I need to get better at this ) My husband has his phone away from the bed so he has to get up to turn off the alarm and once he is up he is up......maybe I should do this too???? lol Anyways, you are not alone.

Carlos_421

cvstokke wrote: »

@Carlos_421 thanks for the idea. I do actually bring a gym bag to work and am pretty good about going on my way home (gym is between my metro stop and home). However, things will come up like dinner with a family member or a work event. I want to find a balance in having a life and being healthy. Even if I could just gym in the morning once or twice a week, I think it would help.

I think hitting the gym on the regular while making exceptions for things like family dinners and events is the definition of balance.
If you know in advance about the events or dinners and want to hit the gym early that day that's great but I don't think you need to change the way you live your "every day" in order to accommodate the "now and then."

Carlos_421

cvstokke wrote: »

@Carlos_421 I was replying to a post about getting a dog

Oh well that makes more sense. Lol

cvstokke

@Carlos_421 yeah agreed, i don't need to do it every day. but i would like to be able to motivate myself to morning gym when I know I have an evening activity and I really struggle with that. which was the whole point of this thread, not 12 people telling me to not bother.

sorry, this isn't to hate on you as I appreciate your suggestions. it's just frustrating when you post on MFP and a bunch of people jump down your throat about your idea being stupid.

cvstokke

@TrueBeautyDanielle the phone idea is good. My issue with it is always not wanting my roommate to hear it and wake her up, but I guess that gives me even more incentive to not hit snooze. I like the idea of laying out my workout clothes. I'm sure that would help a little. Thanks!

janejellyroll

I thought for years that I wanted to work out in the AM and I wasn't able to do it. It turns out I didn't *really* want to because once I really wanted to do it, it became relatively easy. Once I realized how much more I enjoyed my day when I didn't have to squeeze in a workout between work and dinner, it was easy to find the motivation to work out early.

My suggestion: begin waking up earlier to do something that you enjoy without reservation (favorite website, read a novel, make an incredible breakfast, watch a TV show, whatever). It may feel weird to do something fun right after waking up, but go with it. Get into the habit of waking up earlier without tying it to something that you might need to motivate yourself to do even if you were awake. Once you have the habit of waking up earlier, it will be much easier to get right to the workout. This is what I did to become an early riser -- I wake up with something fun and then I exercise. Once I got in the habit of exercising, I was able to just do the fun thing for a few minutes.

cwolfman13

cvstokke wrote: »

@Carlos_421 yeah agreed, i don't need to do it every day. but i would like to be able to motivate myself to morning gym when I know I have an evening activity and I really struggle with that. which was the whole point of this thread, not 12 people telling me to not bother.

sorry, this isn't to hate on you as I appreciate your suggestions. it's just frustrating when you post on MFP and a bunch of people jump down your throat about your idea being stupid.

I think you're taking things way out of context...it's not that your idea is stupid and nobody is jumping down your throat...some people are looking at this pragmatically...I'm most certainly not a morning person and while I've tried to exercise in the early AM, it just doesn't work..because I'm not a morning person and thus my workouts totally suck or I just skip them altogether...

cvstokke wrote: »

@Carlos_421 thanks for the idea. I do actually bring a gym bag to work and am pretty good about going on my way home (gym is between my metro stop and home). However, things will come up like dinner with a family member or a work event. I want to find a balance in having a life and being healthy. Even if I could just gym in the morning once or twice a week, I think it would help.

I think what you're describing is balance...I schedule most of my workouts in the evening or at lunch...sometimes things come up and I miss workouts...I'm still pretty healthy and fit.

Carlos_421

cvstokke wrote: »

@Carlos_421 yeah agreed, i don't need to do it every day. but i would like to be able to motivate myself to morning gym when I know I have an evening activity and I really struggle with that. which was the whole point of this thread, not 12 people telling me to not bother.

sorry, this isn't to hate on you as I appreciate your suggestions. it's just frustrating when you post on MFP and a bunch of people jump down your throat about your idea being stupid.

I don't think anyone jumped down your throat so much as they (we) tried to redirect your aim towards solutions that would likely be more effective.
I also don't think you'd have gotten the same responses if your initial post had explained that you want tips on how to get up for the gym on an infrequent basis. The reason people replied with "uh, that's probably not going to be successful" is because your initial post was that you wanted to "become a morning workout person" which sounds like it being your new normal.
Whether or not you're a morning person is very much an individual thing and pretty well ingrained in our nature if not our biology so when it looked like you wanted tips on how to overcome that nature people wanted to let you know that there is likely a better approach because we don't want to see you crash and burn (like I've done every time I've tried to become a morning person).

cvstokke

@janejellyroll wow I love this idea and it's one I haven't heard before! I think I'll try this for the remaining 11 days of the month and then try to kick off 2017 by trying to hit the AM gym. Thanks!

OhMsDiva

trigden1991 wrote: »

If you have missed flights because you "can't" get up, trying to persuade yourself to go to the gym is not going to happen.

That part..

Arapacana1

I am a morning exerciser myself, and I do find that very few things interfere with my early morning schedule. Habit is key I think. Going to the gym in the morning is hard for the first few weeks, but after that you just rollout of bed and don't think about it. I used to go to the gym/ride my exercise bike at 5 am, but now I've got a dog and walk her for an hour instead. Sure it's cold out, and sure my bed is warm. But getting out of bed is so much of a habit at this point that I don't even think about it till I'm out walking.

zyxst

Don't workout in the mornings. I might seem like a morning person - up at 5.30, functioning at work an hour later - but I'm not getting up to workout at 5.30. Only reason I do workout "early" in the day is because that's when people are not roaming about the house wondering what I'm doing.

Tacklewasher

Arapacana1 wrote: »

I am a morning exerciser myself, and I do find that very few things interfere with my early morning schedule. Habit is key I think. Going to the gym in the morning is hard for the first few weeks, but after that you just rollout of bed and don't think about it. I used to go to the gym/ride my exercise bike at 5 am, but now I've got a dog and walk her for an hour instead. Sure it's cold out, and sure my bed is warm. But getting out of bed is so much of a habit at this point that I don't even think about it till I'm out walking.

I also think you need to make this a habit. I don't think it will work going in the morning some days but not others. I'm up at 5:15 for ~30 mins on the treadmill in front of the tv. I do that every weekday and change it up on weekends, but it has become my habit. It is also a short trip to the basement for me, so a lot easier than going to the gym.

Even if you don't go every morning, I'd try to go the same days every week.

cvstokke

@Tacklewasher same days every week might help. Like maybe I should be realistic and say Fridays / Mondays won't happen as often so I start with Tuesday and Thursday or something. My gym isn't FAR, but I certainly wish it were in the basement

girlinahat

janejellyroll wrote: »

My suggestion: begin waking up earlier to do something that you enjoy without reservation (favorite website, read a novel, make an incredible breakfast, watch a TV show, whatever). It may feel weird to do something fun right after waking up, but go with it. Get into the habit of waking up earlier without tying it to something that you might need to motivate yourself to do even if you were awake. Once you have the habit of waking up earlier, it will be much easier to get right to the workout. This is what I did to become an early riser -- I wake up with something fun and then I exercise. Once I got in the habit of exercising, I was able to just do the fun thing for a few minutes.

^^^ this is a great way to start. I realised I was waking and hitting snooze, or looking at social media or MFP in the mornings, when instead I could be getting up and DOING something. So I gradually started getting up earlier to go for a walk or now run. Tips include:

Having everything ready the night before. For me this includes my lunch for work, my workout gear and a smoothie or similar to grab before I run.

DO NOT HIT SNOOZE. Alarm goes off and you need to be in your gym clothes and OUT OF THAT DOOR before your brain has figured out what’s happening. The minute you start debating should I?/shan’t I/ you are doomed. A quick glass of water and get going.

Have a plan. Have a running target, have a gym routine, have a class. I don’t want to have to negotiate people first thing, so a gym class isn’t an option. By the time my brain has figured it out I’m twenty minutes down the street and the only way back is to run back. Then the sound of nature distracts me and all is well.

Keep a daily routine. I wake up early most weekdays, except for one day where I have a ‘lie-in’, and earlier at weekends. Over time you will start getting tired and start going to bed earlier. It won’t be easy but it will happen if you make it happen. Doing one or two mornings a week won’t be enough to stop the excuses such as ‘there’s always tomorrow’, so make a morning workout the normal thing.

However, as other’s have said, if you have missed flights and been late to work then chances of you getting into a morning routine through choice rather than as something you HAVE to do is unlikely to happen.

Alternatively, go easy on yourself. Say no to family dinners. Adjust your life to take into account your working out. Be flexible with social events but still aim for regular workouts. There may be times you can fit a short workout in and still do the social stuff.

kgirlhart

trigden1991 wrote: »

If you have missed flights because you "can't" get up, trying to persuade yourself to go to the gym is not going to happen.

I agree. If mornings are that bad for you I would work harder to get my gym time in during the evenings or maybe at lunch time. I am not a morning person. And there is no way I would get up at 4 am (which I have seen people on here say they do) ore even 5 to go to the gym. I do get up early to do 30 minutes of yoga. But by early I mean I set my alarm for 6:10 and do my yoga at 7 am because it takes me that long to drag myself out of bed. lol