Tricks for getting exercise in early.

Have you ever thought about doing home workouts instead of going to the gym?

^^^

I'm not sure what type of workouts you favor or how much room you have. Home equipment is likely less expensive than the gym. Unless you are looking for advanced training options you should be able to set yourself up at home and save that prep and commute time. An extra 1/2 hour to sleep can really help your motivation.

Post on MFP or Facebook that you're going to the gym in the morning, or tell somebody that you're going. If you know you can be held accountable, you'll be less likely to back out. I set my gym clothes out ready to go so when 5:45AM hits I have everything ready to get out the door by 6.

And as far as getting out of bed, there's no better tool that "just do it". No excuses, just get out of bed. Simple! You ARE going to work out! So go do it! And if you've been doing it for a while, your results also are your motivation. I've been getting out of bed since November to do Insanity, and I feel my flat abs and say "yep, I'm going to get up!"

I set 10 alarms, they go off 2 minutes apart. My boyfriend really hates me for this but he can suck it.

I started the year off going to the gym early (4:30am)- and the only way I could do it was to shower before bed, put on my gym clothes (minus shoes / hoodie) and when my alarm went off (my dog starts barking and whining to get out of his crate), so I put my shoes by my bed in the path to his crate. It forced me to nearly trip over my shoes, but also to remind me "Hey!!! Wake up!!! Get your @$$ to the gym!!!"

I get up at 4:50 for my workouts. I have all my gym stuff laid out to make it easier. Just have to remind myself this is how it is and it is worth it. I also am asleep by 9:00 at the latest every night. What am I missing out on, watching TV? I'd rather sleep!

I have to be at work some mornings at 430am, so I have a few tricks that help me wake up. Some might be TMI, but here it goes... I'll put my cell phone in my sweat pants pocket and set the alarm for max volume and vibrate. You wake up quick as **** when you think that there are lobsters in your pants trying to take your manhood. Another one is to put the clock on the other side of the room so that you have to get up to turn it off. Also, I find that it helps to have the most epic alarm ringtone possible, think like the song from gladiator or pirates of the caribbean or something like that. I need the soundtrack to get me going. And its kind of mean, but I'll take my dog for a super long run/walk before bed so that she gulps down tons of water when we get back, and then wakes me up at the crack of dawn crossing her legs begging to go pee.

Hope some of these help!

I do work out DVDs at home. I get up at 4:45 in the morning to get my exercise in before work. My alarm is right next to me. It doesn't beep loud. It's a nice rhythm that wakes me up pretty gently. It generally takes me about half an hour from wake up to actually pushing play on the DVD. It was difficult at first. Like many people have already said, you have to do it several days in a row and it becomes habit. I make sure I get at least 6 hours of sleep every night. So I'm generally in bed by 10pm, sometimes 9pm. I was never a morning person, but my fitness is too important to me. If I don't get it done the first thing in the morning, it's hard to get motivated after a long day of work.

Good luck! Decide, commit, succeed!

I had to laugh so hard at the suggestion to sleep in your work out clothes because that was what I was going to say but then reading it made me lol. It might work though. I workout in my jammies because I do my workout at home and I am SO NOT a morning person but if I try and work out during the day when the kids are up, I can kiss my workout goodbye.
If you have multiple alarm clocks, try that and set them about a min apart and away from you so you have to get out of bed.
Also, I hate how I beat myself up if I don't workout. I had to stop making excuses to not work out (i.e. my friends aren't with me, my kids, I'm tired, drive to gym, child care, I'm on vacation.......) and once I changed my thinking about whose responsible for me (ME!) and that no one else has the power to stop me or bring me down, that really helped. I HATE TO BE THE REASON WHY I"M UPSET!!

The quote that really hit me though was along the lines of
"A year from now, you'll wish you had started today"

That was me, day after day, year after year. Only I control what I eat. Only I control when I don't workout.
It was easy to lie to myself when I looked in the mirror. I dreaded clothes shopping because I didn't want to see what size I went up to...again. Even though my size kept going up, I could still lie to myself in the mirror thinking I looked thinner than the size was telling me. There are not very many pictures of me when I was bigger which is a good thing, but also bad because if I had seen how the pictures came out like they did at my sisters wedding, I might not have gotten as big. Hard to say.

The point is, if you know you want to get fit and go to the gym, don't antagonize over it because that will beat your motivation up more than just getting it over with. And if you don't start today, what will you look like in a year from now?

Good luck.

P.S.
I know it sounds a bit anal and OCD but it will save you in the end if you pick up some organizing traits for awhile. Setting out your, and the kids, clothes the night before, making lunches packed and ready to stuff in backpacks or briefcase, grocery and meal planning for a week at a time, consolidating errands, and even a house cleaning schedule. All these are time savers for me so that when I do hit the snooze button, I'm not stressing later in a frantic frenzy to get a lunch or to run to the store for 1 ingredient.

I sleep in my workout shorts, put my gym bag out in the car (so I can't brush my teeth unless I get to the gym), and simply don't let it be a question--when the alarm goes off, I'm tying my sneakers.

I say all that, but take it with a grain of salt...I have NO IDEA how you mothers do it!! I'm 25, no kids, and I'm completely exhausted just from work and the gym!! Props to you!

I've done that. The trick is not to think about it. When the alarm goes off, don't think "ugg, now I have to go to the gym and work out and it's so cold and I'm tired, etc, etc" Just think about the next step.

"Go to the bathroom"
"Now get dressed"
"Now brush your teeth"

And so on until you are at the gym. Or, if that's even too much, force yourself to think about completely unrelated things (what you are doing this weekend or what happened at work yesterday) while you just go through the motions of getting ready and going.