(Morning) AM workouts. What energizes you? (TELL ME YOUR SECRET)

aevea

Woke up at 5:30am to get ready for my morning run. Its so hard, sleep is so great but morning workouts are a MUST for me. I work full-time at a restaurant 10am-5pm everyday and go to my C.N.A night classes which are 6pm-9pm.
While i do get enough sleep (7 hrs) , i find it so hard to get energy early in the morning. Does it come along the road with the habit of waking up early or is there a special secret nobody is telling me? Im trying a pre workout but i still feel "in a daze"? make sense? Let me know what you do in the morning~ Thanks

H_Ock12

A glass of water and a caffeine pill.

Niki_Fitz

Cup of coffee then throw on a PBS show for the baby and I get on the floor for a half hour of Pilates mat work and some yoga. It's a warmup if I'm fortunate enough to fit in a jog or the gym, otherwise it's my light workout for the day and balances my muscles and joints for tomorrow!

hcolligan

Habit, coffee and knowing that if I don't get up and workout then it won't get done later!

ramskermfc

Mostly just forming the habit of doing it and the energized feeling you get from getting in a workout first thing. That along with the nagging feeling of regret you know you'll have when you skip it and then never end up getting to the gym the rest of that day. I always hate that.

DancingMoosie

Just get started. The activity should wake you up and energize you for the day. I usually do my morning workout with just water, then have coffee and snack after. If I wake up with a bad headache, I'll take an Excedrin migraine. It takes care of the pain and gives me energy, but I don't want to come to rely on it.

not_a_runner

Caffeine pill and good music.

Unknown

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CipherZero

200mg caffeine, 20g BCAA, 20g l-glutamine. Wait 30 minutes. Crank out workout.

edlanglais5

Scoop of pre workout powder in the blender bottle works for me.

threesixten

I drink coffee, and then work out. It's the workout itself that leaves me energized for the rest of the day. But if im really really mot feeling it.. i sleep, then workout after i get home from work.

Not sure what your commute is but is there any way to push back waking up by like, even 30 minutes? Might make a difference.

The other thing is.. do you like running? Or do you dread doing it. Would try to make sure your workout is something you enjoy so getting into it isnt AS difficult. If you do enjoy running, disregard!

bowsontoes

I take a class at 6am (so 5:15 wake up). I get penalized $30 if I skip it. You better believe I always make it!

ldwatene

Are you just not quite awake at that hour of the morning or are you struggling to put in what you would consider a decent workout. If it's the first try a coffee and a shower to wake up. If its the later. Eat something with some good carbs an hour before you workout.

I've always hated mornings so I do both. Wake up. Have a shake (protein powder, rolled oats, fruit) sit there and stare at the wall for a good 10mins then jump in the shower. Drop some caffeine and by the time I hit the gym and hourish after waking up I'm ready to rock out.

icepaw28

I just finished my C.N.A. Class I do yoga for an hour in the morning after getting my kids up and ready for the day.

MarvinsAMartian

If you can I'd try waking up at least a half hour before doing anything + a combination of the suggestions above. I find just being awake a little before getting active helps. Add a coffee 10 minutes before heading out and it's not too bad.

As with a lot of things, it gets easier with time. Just try to be consistent. Everybody seems to have a trick that works for them, experiment a bit and find yours.

Amys712

DancingMoosie wrote: »

Just get started. The activity should wake you up and energize you for the day. I usually do my morning workout with just water, then have coffee and snack after. If I wake up with a bad headache, I'll take an Excedrin migraine. It takes care of the pain and gives me energy, but I don't want to come to rely on it.

What she said.
I usually just drink water before a morning work out, maybe have a piece of fruit. But what gets me going and energized to work out is just getting myself started. It also helps to actually go to the gym to work out. Just having people around pushes me to go harder. Classes are even better for me, but the time doesn't always work out well to be able to do that.

aylajane

MotherOfSharpei wrote: »

A glass of water and a caffeine pill.

This. But I set the alarm 30 min before I need to get up, take the caffeine pill and go back to bed. The second (real) alarm goes off 30 min later and its MUCH easier to get up then

aevea

Thanks everyone! very helpful info and things to try.
Im not sure if i need to eat or not but I'm defidently gonna try it and see if it makes a difference with me eating maybe half a bar or fruit. Perhaps it would help since I'm only eating 1,200-1,300 a day and dinner is my lighest meal.
Im thinking the "in the daze" feeling is me becoming light headed from lack of fuel so ill defidently try it out and update how i feel.

Angela_does_zumba

I can't drink coffee since my stomach aches so badly from it (any kind of coffee, sadly). I drink my homemade fruit smoothies though! I did that today, and had just enough energy to teach my zumba class. I also have to drink plenty of water too. If I need an extra filler, probably a handful of cashew nuts.

Gallowmere1984

I go to sleep between 5:00 and 6:00 pm. That way, by the time my training session rolls around at 4:00 am, I've already been awake for at least a couple of hours. Trying to train immediately after waking sucks.

yoherbs421

You sound taxed from your day. Do you feel you get enough from eating and get enough rest periods during the day? Like other posters above I take a caffeine pill as well. First thing when I wake. I was a huge coffee drinker before and I know these caffeine pills are quicker acting and more efficient. Its alot better than sipping on a coffee watching the sun rise. After I take my caffeine pill the sun watches ME rise lol!
Are you getting a deep enough sleep? Do wake up constantly to check your phone?

LivingtheLeanDream

I have breakfast then I work out. Eggs always give me the get up and go I need.

aevea

yoherbs421 wrote: »

You sound taxed from your day. Do you feel you get enough from eating and get enough rest periods during the day? Like other posters above I take a caffeine pill as well. First thing when I wake. I was a huge coffee drinker before and I know these caffeine pills are quicker acting and more efficient. Its alot better than sipping on a coffee watching the sun rise. After I take my caffeine pill the sun watches ME rise lol!
Are you getting a deep enough sleep? Do wake up constantly to check your phone?

Normally i wake up around 7-8am and i feel well rested. Im not a coffee drinker but i love tea. Im trying out a pre workout called "C4 Ripped". Even though i drink a lot of tea (mostly green) I'm not used to so much caffeine i guess. I took an energy pill a couple of times, and it made me so jittery and light headed and i thought i was going to die lol, so I'm trying to get used to it. I used to be a night owl(sleep 4am or worse) so I'm also trying to learn how to sleep/wakeup earlier. Bedtime is 9-10pm but 5am is a struggle to wake up for now.

mazdauk

Cup of tea and knowing "whatever else happens at least I've done x minutes of exercise. I've also found that once I've done that morning workout (and I only do a short 20-25 mins aerobics to a DVD unless its a day off) I have more energy and my old knees and back don't ache so much through the day.

stanmann571

CipherZero wrote: »

200mg caffeine, 20g BCAA, 20g l-glutamine. Wait 30 minutes. Crank out workout.

If you need help, Pretty much that. Caffeine, BCAA, Glutamine, Beta Alanine. 15-30 minutes you'll be ready to go.

yoherbs421

aevea wrote: »

yoherbs421 wrote: »

You sound taxed from your day. Do you feel you get enough from eating and get enough rest periods during the day? Like other posters above I take a caffeine pill as well. First thing when I wake. I was a huge coffee drinker before and I know these caffeine pills are quicker acting and more efficient. Its alot better than sipping on a coffee watching the sun rise. After I take my caffeine pill the sun watches ME rise lol!
Are you getting a deep enough sleep? Do wake up constantly to check your phone?

Normally i wake up around 7-8am and i feel well rested. Im not a coffee drinker but i love tea. Im trying out a pre workout called "C4 Ripped". Even though i drink a lot of tea (mostly green) I'm not used to so much caffeine i guess. I took an energy pill a couple of times, and it made me so jittery and light headed and i thought i was going to die lol, so I'm trying to get used to it. I used to be a night owl(sleep 4am or worse) so I'm also trying to learn how to sleep/wakeup earlier. Bedtime is 9-10pm but 5am is a struggle to wake up for now.

Me too! I used to work nights for two years and it was difficult to reverse the circadian rhythm. And I would have to get my routine in 3-4AM BEFORE bed, that sucked but I was dedicated!
The energy pills/drinks, coffee etc will help during the day and beware ingesting anything caffeine related at least 6 hours before bedtime. I'm gonna look into this C4 Ripped I think even I was scared to take that, and I'll try anything once! My morning stack is caffeine pill, BCAA's, then gym.