Morning exercisers..how do you do it?

cindyperry7

Don't overthink it, just do it.

Love this advice! I have the same trouble getting up to get my workout done before a twelve hour day at work. But if I don't do it in the morning I know it will not get done at all. Going to adopt this philosophy!

Rosebudevol

I get up every morning at 5 am and swim for an hour and half. There are some mornings that I want to hit the snooze button and I just talk to myself and tell myself I need to do it and remind myself how great I feel after the swim.

the feeling i get all day long after working out opposed to sleeping in is what makes me get up to do it. Days I skip I feel lazy and sluggish at work. 12 hours of sluggish stinks!

thektturner

I agree with most: there is no magic trick. My boyfriend gets up with me and we work out together, so that helps. There are days I motivate him and days he has to basically push / pull me out of bed. Very ocassionally, there will be a day where neither of us have it in us to motivate ourselves, much less the other. On those days, we end up spend most of our evening just on the workout, shower, making and eating dinner. Eating dinner at 9pm usually helps motivate us the next day. No fun taking up your whole evening. Best to just do it before you take your daily shower anyway. I always feel more awake at work when I do this, too.

johnnys30

To me it is knowing that if I don't get up and go I won't do anything that day. It also helps having a pet that also got on that schedule and pokes me in the face if I turn the alarm off and lay there.

One morning I just did not want to get up because I could have slept another 2 hours if I didn't go to the gym. I said to myself I didn't get where I was by taking days off and I wouldn't get to where I want to ultimately be by starting to take days off now.

That being said there have been times that I chose more rest over going to the gym, but that was in cases of being sick or having tendonitis in my shoulder flare up and decided to let it rest rather than injure it and not be able to work out.

Texas501

I don't even give myself time to think. I slap the snooze button and my other had is instantly holding my tennis shoe ready to put it on. If I hesitate for one second, I already have five excuses in my head as to why I should stay in bed under the covers..... Like it was stated earlier (and it is cliche) JUST DO IT.

p21usa

I walk, first thing in the morning, with a few friends and our dogs...built-in accountability. We do a fitness tape 3x a week right after that...none of us wants to be the one to say "no". Buddy system has worked for me for five years now!

lenniebus

I get up at 5:00 every morning during the week. I do this even if it's a "rest" day. I find that helpful. I do allow myself to sleep in a bit on the weekend, but still do my exercise first thing. So, it's just become habit. It is harder on some mornings than others, but it's just what I do now. My husband hates exercising in the morning, so he does it in the evening while I hang with the kiddos. It works for us. I'd actually be kinda mad if he ever wanted to switch times .

liswal

I'm in the same situation and it DOES SUCK!!! However, when you start seeing the results of your efforts, it DOES get easier.....never easy, but EASIER :-)

Tropical_Turtle

Sometimes like previously said, you just have to DO IT! Every Wednesday, I get up at 3a to be out the door to be at the gym by 4a to swim for an hour, shower and get ready for work to meet my vanpool by 6a.

You have to do what you have to do.....

aStrongerSteph

I do it for myself, I need that alone time so makes it worth the early rise. I get up at 4:30 so I can just have peace while I workout. If my kids are awake, they drive me bananas asking for things or asking questions. I love my family but, that is my alone time

claritarejoice

I got an elliptical ($450) for myself along with a door pulley system for strength training, free weights, and exercise ball. Then I decorated a special room just for exercising. I keep my laptop in there and watch my favorite shows that my husband doesn't like while I exercise. It's easier to wake up when I get to go into my Zen Den, warm-up with stretches, get going on the elliptical and enjoy some trashy TV like Grey's Anatomy. I love my routine and after about 2 months of doing this every work-day I got to the point where if I don't exercise I feel awful. It's the first time in my life I've stayed with an exercise and weight-loss program for over a year and I think the hour of exercise in the morning makes all the difference.

Love this! I can't wait til I have a house with enough room for an exercise room and an elliptical - I dream of the day. Right now we're in a 1-bedroom apartment. This thread is full of great ideas - thanks.

Hollycat

:flowerforyou: Lay out clothes the night before. When the alarm clock goes off, don't think about it. Just throw back the covers and stand up. Hobble to the bathroom, get dressed and get out the door [if you're working out somewhere else]. By the time you get there, you'll be more or less awake and ready to work out. If you're not, do it anyway. I usually wake up about 5 minutes into my workout...

Hollycat

HypersonicFitNess

One - Just do it!
Two - either lay out your clothes the night before or go to bed wearing your workout clothes, so you only have to get up and "do"
Three - Have a workout plan ready ...if your weight training or circuit training have your printed and ready to go
Four - Go to bed with the intention of you are getting up to do it

Unfortunately, I can't help beyond that. I have a gym in my house, but even before I did; I would be out the door at a specific time and the neighbor kid wanted to go with me and he learned the first day...I meant business; if he wasn't there on the dot...he walked

UhOhItsKylie

I just switched to morning workouts a few weeks ago, and every day is still a struggle - but I'm doing it! I do all of the things others have mentioned: set my alarm 10 minutes before I actually have to be up, set out all my clothes, ect. However, something that has helped me in the mornings when I inevitably start talking myself out of going is thinking, "Is an extra hour of sleep going to make or break my day?" The answer is always no, so I get up...and so far I haven't regretted it!

gimpygramma

Hi all..
I want to exercise first thing in the morning. I work all day. At night I have kids and a man underfoot.
First thing in the morning is the best time for me. Everyone is still sleeping and I get it done for the day.

Once I get out of bed and get started I feel awesome. But I have a get out of bed problem.
Does anyone else have this problem? and what motivates you to do it?

In one word...company.
When I was young and had small children, a friend and I used to meet each morning and go for a run. Because we both had little kids we could not phone to cancel without waking up the whole household on the other end. (worth more than your life.) It also helped that our meeting spot was a lamp post midway between our houses and that we live in the Pacific northwest where it rains a lot. Leaving a friend standing alone in the rain under a street lamp at 6:00 AM was just not an option.

My situation is different now but I still do my morning walk with a group and it always includes a stop for coffee. It keeps us all on target.

BigMech

I get up at 4:30am, 5 days a week to hit the gym.

Here is my list of things I do:

1.) Remember why I'm doing this, for my kids/family and my health. Those things aren't worth trading for a little more sleep
2.) Put out my gym clothes the night before.
3.) Get my lunch ready for work the night before.
4.) Put my workouts on the calendar, so I have to remove them if I skip it, which I hate to do.
5.) You have to go bed earlier. You won't be able to maintain the early morning schedule if you aren't getting enough sleep.

Some good things about morning workouts are:
1.) Nothing can interrupt them, you get up and go straight to the gym, no phone, no email.
2.) The other people in gym at 5:00am are there to workout, not chat and sit around.
3.) I always leave the gym feeling so much better, with so much more energy for the day.

scribb

It takes a while, but the best thing to do is to gut out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off. If I lay in bed after the alarm goes off, I will tend to fall asleep and miss the daily workout.

I can get out the door rather quickly in the morning when I am using the gym. and I pack the car with my clothes to change into the night before.

Mama_Jag

Also, I find it easier to tell when I need rest days. I workout four days a week, and my body has fallen into a routine on it's own. Some days it is just not happening, and I can tell I need the break. Other days, I spring out of bed, ready to go.

I could not read my body nearly as well when I exercised late in the day.

emzilee

To the people getting up at 4, 5 and 6am, what time do you go to bed?

Mama_Jag

To the people getting up at 4, 5 and 6am, what time do you go to bed?

By 9:30, up at 4:15. If I go to bed at 10, then it's 4:45.