Morning Gym People

fitblondebaker22

Someone once put it like this; treat your gym session like an appointment that you cannot cancel. (Like those pesky doctor/dentist offices that charge a fee when you cancel on short notice!) Once you have the mindset that it is just something that is apart of your routine, it's easier to get out of bed and just go.

GretchenReine

I just do it! Some days are harder than others...but once I got in the groove...it's pretty much a habit. I don't go to bed until late most nights just because I don't. I get up between 4 and 4:15 in order to be ready and at the gym when it opens at 5.

fp64

what if you eased into it? instead of getting up and going to the gym, just get up early. Next day, get up early, take a 10 minute walk. Day 3, a 20 minute walk, and so on.

TylerJ76

My alarm goes off at 4am every day, even on Saturday/Sunday

I set my gym clothes right next to the bed. I get up, and the first thing I do is put them on.
I pack my clothes for the shower/work the night before as well. Put that bag next to the door or in your car.

It's not easy at first, but it does get easier. Believe me, once you get that workout done in the morning, your day goes so much better!

mscoco10

My alarm is set on high in the bathroom and my gym clothes are already set ready to go. Once you get there you'll be great.

TylerJ76

My alarm is set on high in the bathroom and my gym clothes are already set ready to go. Once you get there you'll be great.

Yep.
The key is getting there.

Rinkydink84

Then don't reply, that's not helpful!

melanielockard

my motivation was someone telling me i couldnt do it, it set a fire under my butt!! good luck to you on your journey!!

agentphantom

My alarm goes off at 4am every day, even on Saturday/Sunday

I set my gym clothes right next to the bed. I get up, and the first thing I do is put them on.
I pack my clothes for the shower/work the night before as well. Put that bag next to the door or in your car.

It's not easy at first, but it does get easier. Believe me, once you get that workout done in the morning, your day goes so much better!

+1

reagentmel

I second the suggestion to find a buddy who will be waiting there for you. I have a very dear friend, who was willing to drag herself out of bed early to meet me at the gym because I knew early was the only time I'd be able to be consistent. There was no way I was going to leave her there waiting on me while I slept! If you don't have a friend currently who will go to the gym early, work on finding someone who wants to go early and needs motivation as well. Whether MFP, or some other forum, or a local group you're part of, there are people all over looking for support in getting healthy. Otherwise, as others have said, make it a mental "have to". There is no option other than going, period!

babyangel6806

For me it was fairly easy to get into this routine (even though I am not a morning person) for two reasons. One, I have to drive my oldest daughter to school in the morning which is half-way between my house and the gym and Two, I literally have to pass the gym every mornining on the way to work so I found it very easy to get into the routine of 2-3 days a week going straight to the gym after dropping my daughter off then going straight to work from there.

cgfol1

It doesn't matter what time I go to bed, I get up at 5am every morning.
I do what other posters do and put my alarm on the other side of my bedroom.

But my best tip is that once my alarm goes off I go straight to the bathroom and have a shower. Guaranteed to wake you up!!!

vaangoin

Get ready for the Practice in Surya Namaskar early in the morning after taking bath. Perform the warming up exercises described in the “A step Ahead to Excellence”.

Watch complete Surya Namaskar moves performed by our own beloved Vaango mascot to make you healthy, fit and fine.

Surya Namaskar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlsk0NsecnM

xSophia19

--- Put your alarm clock on the other side of the bedroom, therefor when it goes off you have no choice but to get out if bed as it gets annoying when its still going!!

--- The night before you go to the gym, get your clothes and trainers all ready, soo it doesnt take you half as long to get them out the wardrobe!

--- Have a drink when you wake up, a glass of water will be fine, just to wake yourself up a bit.

--- brush your teeth, wash your face, and off you go to the gym :bigsmile:

I love going to the gym in the morning! It helps me to stay on track throughout the day, knowing that ive worked hard in the morning! I cant go gym in the evening, as i feel really sluggish after the food ive eaten in the day.

GOOD LUCKKK!

joceemartinez84

If there was a million dollars waiting at the gym for you, but you had to get up at 5am to get it, would you set your alarm clock, wake up and go?

If a loved one was being held for ransom, and to get them back you had to be at the game before 6am, would you be there on time?

If your boss offered you a promotion where you made double the moolah in half the hours and could work from home most days, but you had to show up at the office 3x per week at 5:30am, would you tell him to get stuffed?

These are silly examples, but for each one the gain is important enough that you'd never wake up late, you'd never hit snooze, you'd always get out the door on time. It's your life. You need to decide if it's important enough for you to get up. Just that simple. If it's not, then don't bother looking for tips and tricks. If it is, you will get up, put your shoes on and go.

Everything worth doing is hard and requires sacrifice. We all have a list of excuses as long as our arm. The people that get stuff done are the ones that simply decided it was worth doing. What's your decision?

Thank you for this. This was the motivation I personally needed to get my *kitten* outta bed this morning. I had started my gym membership back up last Monday and this morning was my first morning back. Luckily, my BF wakes up at 5:30am so it was easy for me to ask him to bug me until I got out of bed haha. Here's what I did to help make the morning easier....

1) piled my gym clothes and shoes on my dresser so everything was ready for me in the morning
2) packed my gym bag (towel, toiletries, etc) and work clothing as well - put this by my dresser where my gym clothes were
3) prepared my meals and waterbottles the night before and premeasured supplements in order to avoid having to measure at the buttcrack of dawn. All I had to do was pack meals and bottles into cooler and out the door I went.

For me, the less I have to do in the morning the better or else I'm going to make excuses to not go to the gym. Also, I've realized that if I do not go in the morning, I'm not going to go at all (have pretty mentally exhausting days where I'd rather go home and relax after work). These are the things that have helped me conquer morning 1 (I have not gone to the gym in the morning for at least 2 years). I think to be successful you have to plan. There are no real tips and tricks...we basically need to find a routine that works for us individually.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

heatherdawn007

#2 motivation... The gym is practically deserted at 7:30am. It's awesome. If I want to just lay in bed in the morning, I remind myself that in the evening I'm going to have to share with a bunch of other sweaty people and possibly wait my turn to use equipment. Plus I want the fewest people possible staring at my jiggly butt in sweatpants.

THIS! For years, I tried to have a morning workout and it just never worked. I would plan to be there by 5 or 5:30, and would go for a couple days and then miss. I was hungry and grouchy all day, and it just didn't work. When I joined my current gym, I was going every day after work, but other appointments and responsibilities kept adding up in the evenings, meaning that my gym time was the first thing to go, or get cut short. If I DID make it there, the place was packed. My workout buddy mentioned doing morning workouts because we knew we'd both be more consistent. I realized that I had to be out of bed by 7am, no matter whether I went to the gym first or not. Why not get up at 6, eat breakfast, pack my workout clothes, and get my workout in before the day begins? My gym is across the street from my office. I get there between 6:45 and 7 every morning, workout for an hour, shower, and head to work by 8:30 or 8:45. The gym is practically empty, and I can do a circuit, use any cardio machine I want, and lift weights with no creepers in the way. (AND I don't have to wait 30 minutes for the squat rack!)

Set a time and goal that is realistic, have someone to keep you accountable, and just do it. After a couple of weeks, you won't even think about it.

Lisah8969

I work four 10 hour days, so on work days I am already getting up at 4:45 so no going to the gym early on those days, but I have to go after work on at least two of them. Now on my three days off a week...yep, I am at the gym by 7 or 8 (which is still sleeping in compared to the days I work). I am not sure when it happened, but at some point, I stopped waking up on my days off and thinking "do I want to go to work today" and now I just get up, put on my gym clothes and go.

mirthfuldragon

Morning workouts require establishing a habit. The classic rule is that it takes 30 days to establish or break a habit, so focus on that.

Morning workouts are great, for a lot of reasons. My favorite is that, because I get up at 4:45 Monday through Friday, I am usually awake and moving at 7am on Sunday, which means my house is clean and the laundry done by 10:30, groceries are done by 1pm, and I have the rest of the day to play video games and loaf around. Sure, I'm in bed at 9pm, but that's the cost.

tangopapa422

I go with a friend! We both know that, if left on our own, we'd just hit the snooze button and go back to sleep! Since we know the other is going to be there at 5am, we HAVE to get up. We've been doing this for a couple weeks now on Mon, Wed & Fri. We've not skipped out even once. (and we did that frequently when "planning" to meet after work) And we both find that we feel much better throughout the day. It also helps me stay on track with calories. There's no way I'm going to get up that early to work out, and then blow it during the day with food! Good luck!

joanie152

My alarm rings at 4.22am - I snooze twice till 4.45

I sleep in my gym clothes - this way there are no delays in the morning. To be quite honest, the hardest part of the workout is getting out of bed. Once that is done, everything else is pretty standard. I treat working out like a shower - you do it virtually every day (except for the odd lazy days). It becomes a habit after 28 days and you feel more energetic and eat better throughout the day. Try it...

csi4us

No tips, I just get up....

Yep.....just have to make yourself do it! It gets easier once your body is used to that schedule, at least it did for me & trust me I have never been a morning person...before anyways

I agree you just have to get up and do it, even if you don't want to. Once I am at the gym my body warms up and I am glad I made the choice to go. I feel much better. Just do it! One morning at a time, til it becomes a habit! if you want change bad enough you will just do it , even when your body wants to stay under the warm blankets. It's Mind over Matress.

csi4us

Well said.

carolacep

I used to put my alarm on the other side of the room so I had to get out of bed to shut it off.

I think this is a good idea because the hardest part is getting out of bed. Once your up to turn off the annoying alarm your good to go!