How to become a morning exerciser?!?

You can do it. Just go to bed early. The first couple weeks are hard but you'll adjust. And you'll have your workout over & better equipped to deal with the day!

My son and I are both up at 4 am. He goes to swim team practice and I head to gym after dropping him off. It's hard but you feel really good after getting it done!

Thanks for this post! As a teacher, this is our first teacher work day, and I'm worried about "losing" the exercise progress I've made... I have NEVER been a morning person, I've thought to myself if I just "pop" out of bed at 5, I'll be able to be done with a 45 min workout by 6, out of the shower by 6:20, and on the road at 6:30... I just HATE mornings. I usually hit snooze 3-4 times every morning... this is kind of inspiring me. I KNOW it's just a 'practice' thing, but it's SO hard the times I've tried

As I am getting older I have notticed that sleeping in is really not an issue anymore. No matter what day it is I am always up at 5:30 and now that I dont have to be at work until 8:30 that means I have a lot of time to kill. I know that if I dont hit my treadmill in the morning it wont happen after I get home from work that's a given. I know me better then that. Now as for getting in the spirit of it - there is really no happy go lucky - YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT :-)
I have fallen of the wagon recently and I am having to start allover again. Gained 20 of my almost 35 pounds back - every day is a challenge. :-) We can do it together.

Get a dog. They like waking up early. At least mine does.

I prefer to get up and have a cup of coffee, watch the morning news, and then get ready for work. Then I hit the gym on the way home in the evening. So I do that during the week.

My weekends on the other hand are for riding the Harley, getting the chores done around the house, and the occassional picnic or dinner out with friends. So Saturday and Sunday mornings at 5:30 or 6:00 I drag my sorry butt out of bed, get dressed in my running gear, grab my music, headphones, and a stick of chewing gum, and turn on the coffee maker as I head out the door for a run. When I get back I toss down a couple of cups of coffee, grab some breakfast and/or a protein shake, shower, and off I go to get the most out of my day. I have to admit that I feel totally energized after these morning runs, and the rest of the day is generally pretty awesome!

It's all a matter of wanting to do it bad enough that you get over the "don't feel like it" mindset and just do it!

Good luck!

started it few months ago love it....i lift every morning then by the time i get done sitting at work all day i feel the need to move and go home and get a good run in....where if i didnt lift in morning id just be lifting after work...seems to net good results and get a good morning burn and evening burn before bed

I consider myself lucky as I'm able to power walk the 4 miles to work every morning, I HAVE to get to work otherwise I'd probably lig in bed then have to catch the bus <<<<<<<<<<shudder>>>>>>>>
I can shower at work which is a blessing and a real motivator. On a beautiful morning, whatever the season it really sets me up for the day and if I don't walk I feel minging.

I set my alarm really loud and put it on the other side of my bedroom. You have no choice but to get up to turn it off.
I always make sure my clothes and shoes are out the night before. I put my water bottle, towel and keys right by door so I can get up, get dressed and go!

First, while I had babies (and I mean BABIES- waking up every 2 hours), I was NOT a morning person. Now, however, I am up at 4:30 am each day except for Sunday. Do I choose this out of necessity? Yes. Not only because several of the days I have to leave for work at 6:30, but the other days I LOVE being finished by 6. My BIGGEST piece of advice is: Go with someone! I didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to want to run in the pitch black with me. Guess what.... after talking to friends etc, there are 3 others who wanted to also! I know that my friend(s) will be waiting for me, so I get out of bed no matter what, because I will not "stand them up". I lay out my running clothes the night before, get out my headlamp, GPS and HRM, and I am running by 5. I have been doing this for about a year, and it is a total habit now. Like other posts, I am in bed no later than 10 on most nights. I find that I have less food cravings, more energy and a much better attitude when I get up and get it done. Amazingly, my body wakes up now minutes before my alarm sounds. I will never go back. I tried exercising in the evenings, and it didn't work for me. Too much time during the day for either something "more important" to come up, or too many excuses why I shouldn't do it. I don't have time to make an excuse in the morning- I have to go meet my friends!!

Great tips here! Saving for that extra push

Just a quote I once read and fits perfectly to this topic, " You'll get a lot more compliments for working out than for sleeping in"

I have no choice but to get up early as my 3 year old doesn't take naps during the day. Im a stay at home mom so I made myself get up at 4 for a 5 am workout. I've been going back to sleep though so I'm not dead tired in the afternoon. It was rough at first because I was used to sleeping in with the kids. But anymore, the alarm goes off, I get up. No snooze button for me. Takes me about 19 minutes to fully function but I'm up the first alarm! Your body gets used to it just like it gets used to eating healthy, drinking water and anything else you want to change. Make yourself do it for a week and you should be good! :-)

I DID IT TOO! I got up at 5:30 this morning to work out! I didn't even want to bang my head against the wall when I got up. I think I had told myself so many times last night at I was going to do it, that it just happened. Now, to see what time I'll start crashing this afternoon or this evening! LOL!

Two days in a row. I could have gone back to sleep. But then I thought about how great it was to have my evening (that ended up being packed with activities from work up until bedtime) free. I got right out of bed.

Is it OK if we use this thread as a daily update/motivational thread too?

I am a naturally a morning person, I'm usually up by 8 without an alarm but I wanted to start getting up at 5:45 to go to the gym. One of the biggest things that helped me was going to bed earlier the first couple weeks. I was in bed by 9:30 some nights and it really helps to feel rested when getting up early. I'm use to it now so I usually go to bed around 11 or 11:30.

Good Luck