How do you wake up early for exercise?

jonesin_am

i just do it because I know I have to. I work all day plus have a family to tend to, so early mornings is MY time. I know that I will not want to work out after work or after the kids go to bed PLUS it gives me energy all day and makes me feel great. I never was a morning person but doing the early morning work outs has made me one and i much prefer it. I have been doing them for 14 months now

^^^This! You just have to set your mind to it and make no excuses. If I tell myself I will sleep in and work out later it never happens. I just simply don't have the time or motivation later on in the day. I am NOT a morning person. I set two alarm times. One that goes off to wake me up and another for when I actually NEED to get out of bed. NO EXCUSES! After awhile I just got used to it. Mon-Fri I am up by 4:30, period. Good luck! It's not easy but well worth it!

ldrosophila

You can borrow my cat, Peanut, who is 150% convinced that 4:30 a.m. is an acceptable feeding time.:happy:

Seriously though, I set EVERYTHING out the night before. Even the food I'm going to eat (if I can). I'm also in bed by 9 p.m.. I find since I've started getting up at 4:30, I have no trouble getting to bed early.

I'm not a morning person at all but, my schedule just forces me to be.
I wish I had a magical formula for ya but for me it's all boring pre-planning. :yawn:

This is me up at 4 am so I can get to work at 6am. Not sure I want to get up at 3am. I am defiently not a morning person, but you just have to go with your schedule.

Erica262

Lay all of your clothes out the night before, set your alarm ringtone to the Super Mario running song and set it across the room so you'll have to get up to turn it off, be in bed 8 hours before the alarm is set to go off (read if you have to, but no electronics), and actually get out of bed when the alarm goes off. My dog won't let me go back to bed once I get up to turn it off. She'll lay in my spot and refuse to move. If you don't have a dog, just refuse to get back in bed. Then get to your work out before your brain has a chance to talk you out of it.

dwh77tx

I do lay my clothes out the night before, but a lot of it is just in your mind - you have to decide that you're going to do it, no excuses. If you tend to hit the snooze button on the alarm, move your clock or phone across the room so you have to get out of bed to make it stop. It's rough at first, but it becomes habit eventually.

I get up at 5am & workout at home - if I don't get up and do it before my family is out of bed, it doesn't happen, and I hate that feeling of regret later in the day for having missed the workout. So I suppose that's part of my motivation for getting up early.

pretty much this. I really don't like having to take off all my makeup and workout before dinner!

AllonsYtotheTardis

shot of espresso as soon as you wake up, you arent going back to sleep after that!

I could.



Seriously - kuddos to all you who can get up early to workout. I'm very grateful that 'dark o'clock' is not the only time available to me for exercise.

bcf7683

1. Sleep in my workout pants and sports bra. Everything else I need is on the kitchen table or bathroom counter, ready to go.

2. Set my alarm for 15 minutes before I have to be up (4:15) so I can lay in bed for a few minutes.

3. When I actually pull my butt out of bed, go around the house and turn all the lights on to wake myself up.

4. Have a nice cold dose of Cellucor C4 from some nice, tingly energy.

[Most importantly, go to bed early. I'm usually in sheep land by 9:30]

BeingAwesome247

I usually have to pee when my alarm goes off anyways so I have to get up no matter what lol

caseythirteen

I do it because it's the only acceptable time for me to get my workout in. It's my me time when I don't take time away from anyone else to go and do it. My clothes are set out yes, but that's not what gets me out of bed. Like others have said, what gets me out of bed is knowing how much better I feel for having done it. Knowing that if I don't then it doesn't get done and I will be really pissed at myself. Unless it's a planned rest day, I can get pretty cranky if I don't get my workout in - and that's good for no one. For me, it becomes a habit and just what I'm used to.

No_Finish_Line

dont often exercise in the morning but sometimes its the only time i can

i just try to remember that ten minutes into the work out its not going to matter that its morning and i just got up

kzandarski

In addition to what everyone else said, sometimes I write motivational messages to myself and stick them on the alarm clock. When I am weak and tempted to go back to bed I have my own words staring back at me reminding myself what I really want and that it is not extra sleep.

JustJennie1

It's tough. Really, really tough. Starting next week I am getting back to the gym and it will be early. I will admit that I will set the clock for 5 and hit snooze (or reset the alarm) until 6. :blushing:

For me though if I don't get up early to go to the gym then it doesn't always happen in the afternoon, even if we plan to go at say 1 or 2 p.m. My husband is SO busy with work that he can't afford to be away for a long time so on the off chance that we DO make it in the afternoon its usually a quick workout where as if we can make it there by 5:30/5:45 we can get a good 1.5-2 hour wok out in.

After about a week of waking up early to go it gets easier. It's just the initial few days that suck.

Also, I don't lay out my clothes the night before. They're pretty much piled up in the laundry room for easy access.

ninerbuff

Takes an average of 21 days to make a habit. Be consistent for 21 days (go to be early, get up early).

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

TheLongRunner

Honestly, I am the farthest from a morning person. I have a HARD time getting up in general....BUT I have literally trained myself to depend upon my morning exercise routine. I think the reason it works for me is I do a short DVD in the morning (ranging from 20-55 minutes)....so it is never a huge commitment. The way I got started was just by doing it on days when I didn't have to get up so early and noticing how much more productive and alive I was throughout the day. Now that it is a routine, I feel dead if I don't do it upon waking. With the DVDs I don't have a big commitment of driving to the gym, being presentable to other people, etc. It is just me and the TV. Plus, I know I get to eat right afterward....and that motivates me. I do a workout at night most days as well....(yes, I am somewhat addicted). Good luck.

TR0berts

You can borrow my cat, Peanut, who is 150% convinced that 4:30 a.m. is an acceptable feeding time.:happy:

Seriously though, I set EVERYTHING out the night before. Even the food I'm going to eat (if I can). I'm also in bed by 9 p.m.. I find since I've started getting up at 4:30, I have no trouble getting to bed early.

I'm not a morning person at all but, my schedule just forces me to be.
I wish I had a magical formula for ya but for me it's all boring pre-planning. :yawn:

Yeah - that's pretty much it, for me. It took a week or so, but I finally got to the point where getting up at 5AM - as opposed to 6AM - is fine.

tobejune

They make an alarm that you have to stand on to turn off. Try that.

I just set about 6 alarms about 2 minutes apart, by the third one I'm usually like eff it, I'm getting up.

doorki

The only morning I wake up early to workout is Monday. I set my alarm early and snooze twice and then get up and go. I remind myself that this is the only time I can get my workout in today so I better get to it. It also helps that my workout is a class so I have to be there on time or I will miss the class and get less of a workout.

playitagainsam

Very simply...I DON'T! I am not a morning person and I cannot get up early enough to get a workout in. I make time immediately after work each day to get my workout in. After I am done, I take care of whatever else needs done, but I'm never able to get in bed before 11pm, so there's no way I can get up early to get in a workout and get to work by 7:30! Weekends; however, are a different story.

DivaMoe40

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

I don't, but I definitely admire those who get up at the crack of dawn to exercise. I only do it, when I am off from work for holidays. I work at a university and we leave for the holidays next week. I have already made my morning workout schedule to make it to the classes that I usually go to after work. Knowing that I don't have to go to work is my motivation to get up early and head out to the gym.

I hope that you are able to work something out, it takes a lot of willpower and motivation to just work out let alone dragging your *kitten* out of bed in the morning and it's still dark out

yoovie

I just had to build up this mindset by proving to myself that it is better to get up early. I had to do this all summer every summer when it's easy to hop out of bed cause it's hot - because by the time winter gets here, man oh man i do NOT want to come out from under the blankets. No. NO NO NO cold hurts!!!!

But I proved to myself these things:

1. waking up early enough that I am mentally alert BEFORE I arrive at work, makes me smarter and quicker and wittier all day. my sense of humor and ability to communicate my thoughts wants and needs also improve.

2. it gives me time to have a workout, even a 20-30 minute one - which will feed my preference for thinking of myself as an active individual - so Im basically working out just to stroke my own ego while my body makes happy drugs.

3. then I can sit down and have breakfast. a beautiful, healthy, tasty breakfast. One I can be proud of. Probably take a picture of.



without technology and tv distracting me, just me and my thoughts, a little reading. It's PEACEFUL.

4. I taught myself that waking up and having a positive peaceful hour, in which I do three things good for me (exercise, stroke my ego and eat a healthy meal without distraction) will lend themselves to me having a productive, happy, emotionally balanced day. I taught myself that getting out of bed is worth it, to have a day that feels strong and I know will have a stronger face to it, that it will be harder to tear me down if I wake up like a boss, like a warrior, like a human to be reckoned with, that has her sht together.

I get out of bed cause I dont want to ruin the reputation I have with myself.

jameseylefebure

I have pretty much the same problem, but I do go the gym most mornings before work, which means i need to be up by 5am at the latest to be at the gym for six. I am most definately NOT a morning person - so to make sure that the whole thing is as easy as possible I started doing the following -

1. Get EVERYTHING ready the night before (gym bag, any work stuffs like lunch box, ironed uniform etc. Even the clothes I will be going to the gym in are laid out ready for me to get up).
2. I set my heating on a timer to come on half an hour before I wake up simply to make sure it's not freeeeeeeeezing when I get up so I'm less likely to stay in bed.
3. I set 4 alarms - the first one goes off when the heating comes on so I can start waking up and have "5 more minutes" then they go off every ten minutes until I'm realy to get up!

that's about it really lol. It's a bit hit and miss if I stay up late the night before, but I find that by starting this early come half 9/10pm I am Sooooo ready for bed!!