Motivation to get up earlier and exercise!

mrswiggum

Echoing a few others. If morning workouts are difficult, then do them in the evening, or whenever is most convenient for you.

I will say, I love getting a workout done early. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something right away, it wakes me up for the day, makes me feel great and invigorated, and once I'm done, I don't have to worry about doing it anymore.

And like somebody else said, when you make something into a routine or a habit, it's just something you do, and something you will hopefully ENJOY doing.

Good luck!

VeryKatie

The only thing I can think of is to go to bed earlier. And it might take more than the equivalent amount of time. If I wanted to get up at 5:00 instead of 6:00, I'd probably have to go to bed at 8:30 instead of 10:00 if that makes sense. And I would probably have to go to bed earlier for a month or so before it actually started helping me feel awake enough in the morning to exercise.

But I am a sleepy morning person... and I yawn so much if I exercise in the morning that I feel like I can't breathe and will pass out hahaha. So my personal preference would be not to exercise in the morning (aka before work) no matter how well rested. But that's just me. I also find exercising in the AM tires my brain out for work. Not sure why. It does the opposite for so many people.

Other tips you can try:
- Set up your exercise clothes the night before - you could even wear them to bed if they're comfy enough.
- Have your exercise plan set up (dvd in the player, weights on the bar, whatever if you do it at home)
- Put your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you have to get up to turn it off.
- Drink too much water before bed? Lol

KatieBaack

I want to start doing this as well! Could definitely use some accountability friends there! It's hard for me to workout in the evenings because I teach karate 2 nights/week so I don't get home until 9pm and the nights that I don't my 14month old goes to bed within an hour of me getting home, by the time she's in bed dinner's ready and I'm really not a fan of working out right after dinner (I'm not up long enough after dinner to give a decent digestion break between eating & working out). But half the time I wake up to my hubby getting up (almost an hour before I need to) & I just lay in bed and try to get a few minutes more sleep (which pretty much never happens).

hapa11

Seeing the sunrise and already being done with your workout--best feeling in the world.

mom22dogs

I am a night owl and I need more than 7 hours of sleep, so 4 or 5 in the morning would never happen for me. I tried getting up early to go walk with a friend who wanted to walk in the mornings last summer. She felt if she walked in the evenings she wouldn't be able to sleep. I did the morning thing for about 3 weeks, and finally had to quit. I was so tired I couldn't hardly walk that early. It takes me at least an hour to wake up fully. I work out in the middle of the day and if the weather is nice, I walk in the evenings.

Packerjohn

I got started getting up at 4:15 to hit the gym before work when my kids were little. After work was reserved for being with the family, school, sports and other activities. My kids are in their 20's now and my job has been eliminated due to corporate restructuring, but I still get up early to workout. I am however now sleeping in to 5:00 AM since I'm not working.

Very few things interrupt your workout when most of your time zone is still sleeping.

Hiker_Rob

I am not a morning person by any means and if I there is any reason to not workout in the morning I will find it lol. Having said that, I will say that I go through phases, I do it for a while then I stop for a short bit. I am a runner, and do races up to half marathons from spring to fall, in the late spring through to early fall i force myself to get up at 5am to run for an hour because the heat of the afternoon is too warm, and particularly tiring after a long day at work - this is just discipline for the sport i love. During the winter, when I can run outdoors I do, but it is in the afternoons or my best time is on weekends around mid morning as that is my peak running time of the day.

If you don't like working out in the mornings and have no drivers (like my need to run early to avoid heat) then it is tough to keep with it. If you can develop the discipline for it then great, go for it! I just tell my self now that it is a bonus on the days I manage it but I have stopped beating myself up about it if I don't get it done. My afternoon workouts however (P90X or Bike or Weights), it gets done without question, 6 days a week.