GETTING UP EARLY

I just do it. I don't know that there's any secret to it other than sitting up and putting my feet on the floor. That's the main thing - get your feet on the floor.

It happens around 4:45 AM at my house.

You truly just made me spit up my coffee I was laughing so hard! Got it! Feet on the FLOOR :laugh:

I'm also in bed 10ish as I'm up at 5:40 Am for a 6:30 am gym class. Some of the women get up at 5 or 5:30 though.

I think it's easier as we age and require less sleep.

2. When I felt like hitting "snooze" or resetting my alarm, I would say, literally out loud "I have never regretted a workout. I will regret it if I don't go to the gym this morning."

Love this!

I was never a morning person either because I used to stay up late. Now I go to bed earlier because I'd rather have more time to myself in the mornings before work. The second thing you need to do is follow your sleep cycles. Humans sleep in sleep cycles of 90 minutes. If you wake up at the wrong part of the sleep cycle you'll feel groggy; if you wake up at the end of your sleep cycle, you'll feel rested.

So to combine going to bed early with sleep cycles, if you go to bed at 8 pm, you could get five sleep cycles (1.5 hrs x 5 cycles for 7.5 hrs) and get up at 3:30 am, leaving you plenty of time to do what you want and wake up slowly, eat, exercise, get ready for work, etc. Or if 8 is too early, go to bed at 9:30 pm and get up at 5 am. For someone who starts work at 9, that's still a decent amount of time.

The old school thought of "we need 8 hrs of sleep" is wrong; we are better off getting either 7.5 hrs or 9 hrs so we wake up at the end of a sleep cycle, well-rested. I hope this helps!

I have to get up between 5 and 5:30 am. To be to work at 6AM. I am usually in bed by 9pm every night. It is all in routine. The more you do it The more you get use to it. It was easier on me I have never been a night owl. Lived on a small farm growing up. Up with the roosters and to bed with the sun.

I agree with previous posts, you just do it, it becomes a habit and you feel so much better for it. I suggest, if you use your cell phone alarm clock, use something motivational... I've got Eye of the Tiger as my alarm. Until the habit is formed, have it a little further away from you so you actually have to sit up to reach it.

ETA: I'm in bed around 10pm and I am up at 5:15, in my workout room by 5:30 and go for 60 minutes. I work at 8:30.

My secret is I go to bed early! That way I wake up about 20-30 minutes before my alarm, and depending on the day, I lay in bed, or get up early and don't have to listen to the alarm clock.

I workout most mornings, so I get ready for that, eat my half banana, and get going.

A week or so ago i downloaded the "sleep cycle" app which monitors how deep your sleep is and wakes you up gently when it's at it's lightest. It's really helped me so far! I would definitely recommend it if you have a smart phone

very cool. totally going to try that.

I get up at 6am and do a cardio routine for 30 minutes; then take a quick shower and head out. Of course, I do not have to be to work by 8:30, but my commute is about 75 minutes. Luckily, the last 45 of that is on a train and I get to read.

That's my typical work-day morning.

My fiance' and I are morning people. However, as morning people, we are also "early to bed" kind of people!! LOL
M-F our alarm goes off at 4am.
Up by 4:10 (after the first snooze).
We drink coffee while I make everyone's lunch for the day (we have 3 boys and ourselves).
Out the door by 4:50 (the gym is only 5-10 min away).
Back home by 6:10 about the time our middle son leaves for the bus stop.
Breakfast for the rest of us and get the 7 yr old ready for school.
Shower and out the door by 7:20 to take the 7 yr old to school.
At work by 8am.
Home again around 5:30pm.

We are usually in bed no later than 8:30 or 9pm. I guess you can see why.

But, doing the same thing for so long, it is just routine. Even on the weekends we can't sleep past 6am.

It gets easier every day!!

I've been working early so long (draw blood so i get the early am fasting folks) that I'm used to being up! I get up at 5am, in work for about 7am. I always get woken up by my cat as my alarm goes off (he knows its always bfast time!), take a shower then take a little while to actually wake up, watch the news, plan my meals for breakfast and lunch, get dressed and I'm out the door!

I get up between 4:30 and 4:45am M-F. Get up, pet the dogs, brush my teeth/hair, etc and get on the gym clothes, eat breakfast, walk the dogs and head to the gym by 6. 15 min drive there, workout for an hour or so, back home, protein shake, shower and dress for work, make coffee, feed the dogs nab my lunch from the fridge and head to the office around 8:15! No time to be tired!

Oh and I hit the hay around 10ish every night before waking up early. I function pretty magically well off of a smaller amount of sleep than a lot of people though

Wow, I'm the opposite...go to bed around 12 midnight most days. Then again, I'm usually out at a restaurant or bar with friends. I get to work about 9am...they don't care what time I come in as long as I put in my 8 hrs

I always work out after work....I run 3-4 times a week, long runs of 8-10 miles on the weekends. Jillian's DVDs before dinner (mostly)...weights upstairs some nights...I also have a pull up bar.

I've never belonged to a gym....I train for 3-4 half-marathons a year and pretty much watch what I eat. Other than the occasional night out.

ETA: Some lunches I meet friends for a run, shower, and head back to work. But hardly ever run in the morning unless I'm training for a marathon (because it gets hot in NC in the afternoons).

I hate mornings. NOT a morning person...

That being said, I have no drive whatsoever to work out in the evenings. After work, I'm tired, hungry, and I want to go home. Or I have something going on with friends. Either way, evening workouts have never lasted long with me...

So my alarm goes off at 4:30 am. I am usually out the door by 5-5:10, and I try to get at least an hour in at the gym. Still have time to get home and not rush around to get ready for work. I have to be out the door by 8, to be at work by 8:30 am.

I leave the house at 7 am and have to get myself and a toddler ready (husband leaves for work before toddler gets up). I wake up at 3:40 and work out. There's no such thing as findign time, you ahve to make time. If you want it badly enough, you'll just do it.

I thought I was the only 3am'er we are rare I think.. I have 3 alarms that go off at 3:35, 3:40, and 3:45...Sometimes my internal alarm will wake me as early as 2:30. I'm a morning person though, so I get so much done this way! I recently started using the sleep cycle app as well it really does work I have it go off a little before these alarms. It helps me wake up so much more refreshed..when I remember to turn it on. I try to be in bed by 8 no later than 9 to make this work. I have to be to work by 7 too.