Tips For Morning Workouts????

melaniecheeks

I love the kick start that a morning workout gives to my day! I've just started doing the 30 day shred, and I try to get it done before breakfast. This has a lot of advantages:

1. It's done in the house, so I can work out in an old T shirt and a pair of baggy shirts, even in bare feet.
2. No excuse just cos its raining.
3. Dont have to drive to the gym or anything, so it's a real time saver
4. The workout is only 20 minutes long - maybe 27 including warmup and cool down. So by getting up even as little as 15 minutes earlier than normal, I can get this done and still make it to work on time.

Sinisi2012

Its simple get up and go, I'm at the gym when It opens every day at 5am. If I miss my morning workout my whole day feels wrong.

This^^ I have been doing it for the last 4 months 6-7x a week, it was hard at first but now I love it, it makes me feel so much more energized throughout the day. I don't even need an alarm to wake up anymore, my body just naturally wakes up at 4:30 now (but I still go to bed at 11-11:30 so I've gotta work on that lol) .

You can do it if you put your mind to it! Good luck

dkoroschetz

I failed this morning. lol. I set my alarm for 5:15 and ended up resetting it after it went off. I always feel weak and stiff in the mornings. Im so frustrated with myself! grrrr

My back is always so stiff in the mornings, that's the hard part for me! I would love to work out in the mornings. Hope you are able get into it!!

emrod83

I failed this morning. lol. I set my alarm for 5:15 and ended up resetting it after it went off. I always feel weak and stiff in the mornings. Im so frustrated with myself! grrrr

I feel your pain! It's hard to get motivated that early in the morning but I, like you continue to fail after work so I knew early mornings was my only option. I leave everything I need to work out the night before: my clothes, shoes, socks...everything. That way there is no excuses to get dressed. To get me going I put the alarm on the other side of the room so it forces me to get out of bed. At that point the only thing you have to do is just do it! I don’t go to the gym..I go for a run, do workout videos like Zuba or Insanity or do some high intensity workout with various Xbox-Kenect. Even if you start off with walking around the block.....it's something to start with that you can build on. After a few weeks it gets easier to get up, I promise! Once you start getting ready for work you will feel so good that your workout for the day is complete! Good Luck!

hbm616

If you have to wake up earlier than usual to fit in a workout then be sure to go to bed a little earlier too! If I don't get at least 6 hrs of sleep the night before then I'm not going to wake up feeling ready to hit the gym or go for a run. That being said, a little coffee in the morning is a great motivator haha

TRUDIVA88

I just started morning excercises and I love them so far. I get up at 4:30 and go ahead and get it in! My evenings feel so much more longer :-) I definitely feel like i have more time. And you are right, I dont have an excuse that early, my brain is barely functioning :laugh:

allirep

i hear you - most mornings i would donate a kidney for 15 more minutes of sleep. you may not be going to bed early enough. if you are genuinely tired, forcing yourself to get up and exercise is only going to make you more tired and very hungry.

if you absolutely cannot get up in the mornings - don't take that as a failure. don't beat yourself up about it. find another way to get some real exercise in. there are plenty of workouts and plans that involve staggering exercises here and there (here is one: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/10/angry-birds-workout-plan/).

that being said - there are always excuses for skipping exercise no matter how flexible your plan is. if you want to get up in the morning to exercise hard bore - i agree with the earlier posts - go to bed earlier.

jennadiane_

I won't lie, it's hard getting up even earlier to work out. But once you do it a few times, just try doing an evening workout. It sucks. I used to do my workouts in the evenings, after the kids got in bed and I hated every minute of it. Most of my workout routines never lasted. But depending on my schedule, I either work out first thing, or early afternoon... it's great and gives you that boost you need for the day or to keep you going for the day.

I wouldn't try for 4A workouts right away (unless you have to be to work at 6A). But start with baby steps, and get a half hour workout in. Then once it gets easier, set that alarm for a little earlier and and a little earlier. I need wake up time. I need time just to register what day it is, and to get my eyes to stay open. Alarm was set for 630 this morning, was up and working out at 7, done by 8 and now enjoying my bowl of cereal.

rychma

So...I am wanting to start working out in the mornings before work. Whether it be an unexpected invite to dinner somewhere, a horrible headache from work, an unexpected dinner to run, or just being too tired...i always seem to have a "good excuse" to skip my workout in the evenings. Im hoping that if I start working out before work, it will just become part of my normal getting-ready-for-the-day routine. Any tips on helping make this happen?

I used to workout at night but for the same reasons as you, I needed to start doing it in the mornings. I also have kids so I felt like I was cutting into the few hours I had with them! It was tough in the beginning but now I am just used to it. My alarm is set for 4:22, which allows me time to hit the snooze, check out FB, grab a couple sips of coffee and be in my running clothes, etc by 5:00 am. I don't run on Monday or Friday mornings and my body knows that. It would take a bulldozer to get me out of bed at 4:22 on those days!

ChristyRunStarr

Do you have an iphone or smartphone? I have my morning workouts programmed into my google calendar so I feel like I have to do it cause it's there...at least that's how I started getting my butt out of bed. Now, my body is so used to waking up at 4:45am I don't even need an alarm lol

Stepmom1

Make a part of your morning and don't even think about it. Put your workout gear on, and either do an outdoor cardio like jogging/power walking, running or an indoor workout. It will soon become part of your routine and you will do it without even thinking about it.

Good luck!!
☺

mamarazorback

I find it much easier to workout in the morning's rather than at night. It is hard to come home from work, eat dinner with family and run to sporting events. Just not enough time for me to workout at night. In the morning it is my time. Good luck.

kaubin97

Put your alarm clock across the room so you have to get out of bed in order to turn it off. Once you are up get dressed and get going. Your body will adjust but it'll take some time. Go to bed an hour or two earlier to make up for getting up earlier.

^^^ This is totally it. I got in to a routine of getting up early in the morning to exercise for 4 weeks then I went on vacation for 2 weeks and now it's so hard to get back into exercising that early. It's now dark and I don't want to get up. I hit snooze to many times, but last week we got a crazy phone call at 4:30am so there I was up with the phone in my hand so I just put on my clothes & went at it. Move the clock and you'll have to get out of bed. That's half the battle.
YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

tlonie

i have 1/2 can of Rockstar 0 calories/...... and hit the pavement running, with my 2 dogs a good 45-60 mins run give you a great morning burn..

What is Rockstar?

muddyventures

Get up and put your workout clothes on asap, then put your workout playlist on... being ready to go is most of it I think. Don't get on MFP first thing either, I'm sitting here right now delaying my morning workout...lol

herillusion

I'm struggling with the same thing. I'm really NOT a morning person. Even as a kid I slept in. And now more than ever I enjoy my sleep as a single mom who has a 5 year old who never knew how to sleep past 7am. So as I was saying -- I struggle.

I have tried the alarm clock across the room -- I would just get up and push snooze while I was half asleep.
I have tried the "I HAVE TO DO THIS" -- and my warm bed sounded better than getting up.

So far though -- I had been doing afternoon & evening exercises. I really want to begin the morning routine so instead of shocking my body with getting up an hour earlier than normal -- I've been setting my alarm clock 5 minutes earlier each morning. Today was day 4 and it was 20 minutes earlier than my normal time.

Oh -- I started using my phone alarm clock and I disabled the Snooze feature. I turn it off immediately when it goes off and I sit up to prevent myself from falling asleep again.

Good Luck!!!

annoz

Yuck- the morning workout...but I am switching to it as well. I teach and I've had the summer off so I sleep in a workout whenever I feel like it. I LOVE it! Last year I would work out after school but I was always too tired and often blew it off so this year I HAVE to work out before school which means getting to the gym by 5:15. I am not excited about it at all, but I know I will feel great knowing I don't have to work out after school.

MyM0wM0w

I changed my perspective on it. I go to bed a little earlier and get up a little earlier and I keep telling myself that I'm JUST as tired @ 5:30 when the alarm goes off as I used to be @ 6 when the alarm went off. Tired is tired.

It's only been a week and a half for me but I'm really starting to look forward to that morning yoga to get me loosened up and prepare me for my day at work.

NiagaraCheryl

As someone who loves their bed in the morning, I didn't like the idea of getting up early. However, I have meetings at least one night a week, sometimes twice a week. So going to the gym another two nights a week left little time to spend with my family. So I started going in the morning.

It wasn't easy. I put all my clothes out the night before. I get up at 6:30 and I am at the gym by 7:00. My husband knows he can't cuddle me once the alarm goes off or I'm not getting up What I found was that in the morning you can set off a canon at the gym and not hit anyone. It's way different from how busy it is after work. I actually get my choice of treadmill/machine that early. So that I found was a big plus.

I live about a 5minute drive from the gym so I'm able to come back home to shower and dress for work. I find it makes it quicker to shower at home since I have everything handy and I'm not sorting through a gym bag.

Another plus is that I have energy all day now. It's an incredible feeling.

annoz

I have thought about sleeping in my gym clothes.