Motivation for morning exercise...

jen_lync

Hi all!

I am just getting back into the swing of things here after losing 14 pounds last year (and then just getting lazy over the winter). However, now that it's summer again, I am ready to exercise again.

My question is: does anyone have advice/experience on getting yourself motivated to wake up and do a morning workout?

I have a hard enough time not lying in bed for 30 minutes after my alarm has gone off, and I know that if I make time to do a treadmill jog (or outside jog now that the weather is nice), it will start my day off well, make me energized and make me feel good about myself, not to mention that it will mean I do the workout before anything else, so that it doesn't get bumped by other things that come up. However, it is just SO HARD for me to get out of bed in the morning to do this. Even if I get everything ready before I go to bed, like my workout clothes and water bottle, I still find myself making excuses when the alarm goes off...

Any advice/suggestions?

ninakale

Ha, I just posted the same question. I am trying to drag my butt out of bed at 5, and it is so difficult, but would help so much. I might even be able to get something else in the evening if I made a habit out of it. We should start a challenge for each other!

PeachyPlum

I posted in Nina's thread, but I forgot to mention that I have a friend on MFP who also gets up early. I announced my intention to her, and now I know she'll be looking for my early-morning cardio report on my feed. Just knowing someone will notice helps motivate me.

Feel free to add me as a friend - we can keep each other accountable!

RHSheetz

For me, I must do my work out first thing in the morning, cause my day goes so far off track that if I do not hit the gym first, I will never get there. What I found that works for me, is I gradually worked into it. I would get up and plan to do 30 minutes at the gym, so I got up 30 minutes earlier, as I adjusted and added more, I kept getting up earlier. I used to be a Night Owl, up until Midnight or 1 am, now I am in bed by 9 or 9:30 so I can get up on time. That is the other key, get to bed and give yourself a good 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

taxidermist15

I do morning workouts and i LOVE it.!

I keep my blinds open so the sun wakes me up naturally (rather than getting up to analarm, make sme feel much mroe sleepy). the sun rises at about 6 am here. so wake up at 6, working out by 630. Ive found it much easier, and im in a much better mood during the day, knowing that when i get off work and am all tired and bleh, i dont have to go to the gym afterwards. PLus it helps you know what you can eat, cause youve already logged your exercise cals

butterfli7o

I get up at 5:30 and work out before I get ready for work. It's hard, but once you just MAKE yourself get up and it becomes routine, you'll get used to it and feel like crap if you don't get up. I have my stuff ready to go and give myself about 10-15 to "wake up" with a half-cup of coffee.

rockinright

I need it too, since I'd rather chew on chards of glass than get out of bed any earlier than I already do.

msue482

I'm going to try working out in the morning but that would mean I would have to wake up at 3 am! :frown:

Drastiic

I'm quite dedicated to my workout, in that I won't miss a workout. I work out 3x per week, so if I need to I can shuffle the days around. I am not a morning person, so I usually wake up and eat breakfast, then 2 hours later I'll work out.If I don't start by 9am, then I won't have time to complete it due to the rest of my day's schedule being full. What I find that works for me is going to bed early. Get in the habit of going to sleep at the same time every day. I need about 9 hours of sleep to feel rested, so that means I have to be in bed by 10pm.

9tattoos

I get up at 5:45, leaves me a few minutes to lay in bed and debate with myself. I always win the fight, haha! Get the work out done and over with. If you feel like doing something else later in the day, go for it. I usually do the 30 day shred in the morning, and when my boys take my truck for the evening, I will put the xbox on and do zumba for an hour. This has worked for me, that way the gyms or workouts aren't on the brain, and if you miss an evening, no guilt involved.

CandynKS

I do my workout first thing in the morning because if I put it off until evening then I have all day to convince myself that I can skip the gym. I started with 3 days a week and have worked up to 5 days a week. Once it became habit it got easier to get up. Now it is just the thing I do. I plan to get to the gym with enough time for a 60 minute workout but if I don't get there early enough for that, I do 30 minutes of cardio. The thing that helped me the most is that we have shift bids with my job and I took a start time of 9am, so I must say I don't have to get up at 5am but I do try to be out of bed by 6:45. I intentionally took a later start time for work so I would not have any excuse not to make it to the gym in the mornings. My advice is to find what works for you, stick to it and once it becomes a habit, it will get easier.

stephalvarez5

in the words of nike "just do it". stop complaining, stop making excuses. stop being lazy. i'm not trying to be harsh but sometimes some people just need a kick in the butt. be tough. you CAN do it.

.s.

kendradl

I am not a morning person at all, I hate getting up in the mornings and love my sleep but every weekday I am up at 4:30am to be ready to workout for 5am. I find the winter harder than the the summer months, with it being light out now it is much easier.

My motivation, my dog Paden for our running days - he loves it so much and I feel so much better afterwards as well. My motivation for my strength days - the abs, the muscles in general, without the work it will never happen and I want to rock my bikini LOL

If anyone needs an early morning friend for accountability feel free to add me :happy:

edwinamac

Same here...I am in the park every morning, no later than 6am....getting i tout the way is the best thing.....and you are able to judge your intake better.....Sometimes its hard letting that bed go that early, but I continuously tell myself.....you go to keep going, can't stop now....having the sun wake you up in the morning is great....

LishieFruit89

I went from after work workouts to before.
It was tough the first week, *BEEP BEEP BEEP* at 5am made me want to kill myself lol
But I feel so much better the days I do it before work than the days after work.

As Nike says "Just do it", it'll become a habit after a couple of weeks, you get used to waking up earlier.
As someone else said, if you wait til later, you can come up with so many excuses

picassoadagio

I put my workout clothes on 1st thing & don't take them off until I'm done. Then I put music on that I know will get me moving. I eat something with carbs (peanut butter toast & an orange or banana) & have a beverage (coffee & water). On days when I'm not motivated, I tell myself "It's yours for the taking. You might hate it, but do it. You're one step closer to being done" or I read this quote from Howard Truman: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive."

jcpmoore

Here's what I used to do when I managed to do the morning workout thing. For starters, have the water bottle prepped and on the treadmill. Sleep in your workout clothes if you can. It helps. Then follow these steps:

1. Place alarm just far enough out of reach that when you try to hit the snooze you fall on the floor.
2. When you hit the floor, begin to stretch.
3. By the third stretch your eyes should be open.
4. Climb onto treadmill and chant, "It'll be done soon, It'll be done soon, It'll be done soon" or whatever mantra gives you the power to realize that at least you don't have to do it later.

If you can't sleep in workout clothes, then step 3a is to put on the workout clothes.

Seriously, by the end of the first week it started to become routine. By the end of the second week, I wasn't really "falling" out of bed anymore.

Good luck!

katejenkins1

I get up at 530 to do my home workout. I usually hit the alarm (5min delay), and argue with myself about it. I try and keep in the back of my mind a picture of how awesome I'm going to look, but only if I workout. I also have a few motivational posters taped next to the mirror so I see them as I am waking up.
Even though I struggle to get up, still after doing this for a couple of months, I know that my morning is more organized and I feel better after the workout is over.

jfcarlson713

Just make the committment to do it ONE day. Once you go through the day feeling like you have the world by the tail it will be easier to do it the next day and then the next and the next. I get up at 4:30 and take an hour for coffee and "business";-) Out for my run at 5:30. It is such an awesome way to start the day I actually wake up early and anticipate it! Just do it a day or two - you will be hooked.

AndreaL0918

Get a neighbor to walk/jog with you at a certain time. I go at 6am. It makes you get up and you have no other choice because you don't want to disappoint yourself or your neighbor! I've been doing this for the last three weeks and it is WONDERFUL!!! Once you get the first few days into it, you'll keep going! Add MFP friends, thoughts of summer clothes (because you can't hide in them!) and swim suits = motto! Good Luck!

trenai77

I think its a mind thing. I did my work out this morning because I thought that if I'm up might as well get it done, because Lord only knows what will happen later in the day. Plus it just jump starts your day knowing that you are doing some thing just for you first thing in the morning, besides brushing your teeth, lol. And finding some thing you look forward to doing, is also a plus. I do Zumba at home, so that motivates me.

pastryari

I am not a morning person and I want to start working out before work, too.But that means getting up at 5AM, which is SO not appealing. I always end up snoozing the alarm & then saying screw it. But I know it would make my days so much easier if I worked out in the morning instead of after work. It would leave me with so much more time to get things done after work and sometimes I'm so tired after work, working out is the last thing I want to do.
So I'm going to attempt it and see how it goes.

Feel free to add me and we can help keep each other accountable.

lauralizzy829

I need it too, since I'd rather chew on chards of glass than get out of bed any earlier than I already do.

^^^^^^THIS

MaryinBflo

You have to determine your WHY!! And then whe you are lying in bed at 5am thinking of going back to sleep think of it and then get up! I actually used to have a hard time getting up early but now it's just part of my routine. I also know that there is no other time of the day that I can workout so if it doesn't get done first thing it won't get done and I have made that unacceptable for me!

kenny7734

After 4 months of waking up at 5AM, I still hate it but I force myself up. However, I have started packing my gym bag, along with the clothes I will be wearing for work, the night before and putting it in my truck. That way it forces me to go outside and either retrieve my bag or just start up the truck and go to the gym. I have, so far, just gone to gym complaining the entire drive there.Then after my workout, I was glad I went.

xcrunnergirl13

Personally I love mornings and working out early, but after a long day I find later workouts less appealing. Maybe if you can find someone else who works out in the morning too and be workout buddies. You will have to drag your butt out of bed because someone will be waiting for you, and having the social aspect will make things more fun and energizing.

Bxrlvr73

I recorded my own "alarm" on my phone. Probably kind of silly, but hearing my own voice say "Get out of bed fatty it's time to move that a@@" seems to be helping me actually get up.

bilzprincess

I love the recording the personal alarm idea. I wonder if my phone cando that?

jen_lync

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! And all of the positive stories are super helpful as well.

I think my plan of attack is going to be multi-pronged (honestly, I am at war with myself so clearly need to attack this from all sides):

1 - Open my blinds so I wake up with the sun (this will be tough - I am totally used to sleeping in a room with black-out curtains)

2 - Move my alarm/phone across my room so I have to get up to turn it off AND I will definitely take the suggestion of recording my own voice message as an alarm. GREAT idea.

3 - Immediately go make coffee (this is one thing that will actually motivate me to get out of bed).

4 - Immediately put music on, and then clothes

5 - Proceed to treadmill or outside

And I will totally take up everyone's offers to be 'friends'. I need serious motivation and I am happy to help motivate others as well!

Edwin_S

Hi All,

Just wanted to pass along a "Thank You" for sharing so many great ideas and to jennierlynch for starting this thread. I've been trying to get up in the morning also to squeeze a workout in... since as you all say, the evenings can just be so crazy. Morning is the only ME time. It's been a struggle, but I'm up for the challange!.

I'm getting up at 4:30am to get everything in, so all these ideas are excellent! The one that i think will help most is wearing my workout clothes to bed, hahaha! That's a funny picture in my mind. I'll try the personal message also. I'm not very intimitating though so i may have to get someone else to make it for me.

Are all of you working out on an empty stomach then? I try to have an preworkout drink for the boost and then also an Aminomax during my workout.

I dont know how much support i will be since im in the early stages of being an official morning workout person, but feel free to add me as a friend, and just mention Early Morning Workout Crew

Edwin

bilzprincess

Thanks for this thread. I did it this morning--5am gym appt

And today after a long day in the pouring, cold rain, in and out of my car, getting wetter and wetter--guess what I thought? "it's just too cold out. I need to go home and just get dry. I can't do the gym tonight..."

HA! I'd forgotten I'd already BEEN to the gym this morning!! I got a glimpse of what kind of habit I've made these last few months...Excuse-making. I think it's time to choose a different habit for awhile.