How do you get yourself to wake up early?

2

Replies

  • MagicalLeopleurodon
    MagicalLeopleurodon Posts: 623 Member
    I have 53 animals on my property to feed and water. Getting up isnt an option-my dogs alone would mutiny.
  • easto_79
    easto_79 Posts: 102 Member
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    I love this!
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
    I'm just used to getting up between 5-6am and I don't workout right away in the morning (mostly because I have never been able to eat within an hour of waking up and I can't exercise if I haven't had something to eat around at least an hour before). I'm an evening exerciser. Getting up early will really stink for a week or so, but go to bed as early as you can and keep that time consistent. I always go to bed around 10pm and get up around 5:30am and my body is pretty used to it. I will occasionally sleep in until 7am but that really throws me off.
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    I wake at 5am because it's the only time of the day I consistently control. I found consistency helps a lot and after a couple hard weeks, it becomes habit. 10 to 13 weeks for the habits to start setting in and 18 months later, I wake up and workout without any pause or thought. So worth the changing of my sleep pattern
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Define early :p

    I'm up at 6am every day, I go to bed at 10pm at the latest... but I just wake up naturally. I can't remember the last time I slept past 7.30am.
  • dorothytd
    dorothytd Posts: 1,138 Member
    I wish I had a really good solution for you, but many days it is sheer willpower. Even after 7 years of getting up early most days to exercise, there are a lot that I have to push myself. I do give myself time to hit snooze once or twice, though. After a while, whether it gets easier or not, you will love getting it done. Such a good feeling heading into your day!
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    I love this!

    Me too. Haha.


    I decide the night before. It sounds silly, but I tell myself I am getting up, I set the alarm and all my stuff is ready to go. When the alarm goes off, I do not think about it, I get right up. By the time I get up and am moving, its too late to go back to bed. If the alarm goes off and I think about whether or not I am getting up, its over. I pick bed everytime.
  • suzyfj8
    suzyfj8 Posts: 257 Member
    I set many alarms to make sure I don't sleep again, and get all my clothes ready the night before so I have no excuse not to get out of bed :)
  • demidee5
    demidee5 Posts: 3
    Discipline, discipline...and then more discipline! I'm like you and find it difficult to get up early in the morning. I've found a few things that help though, chief among them to be STRICT about going to bed ON TIME. Sleep is an important part of overall health and losing weight (IMO). If I don't set a regular time to go to bed, I always get distracted with other things and then feel yucky in the morning for going to bed too late. There's some amount of sacrifice in this in that you may have to cut out other things (watching TV, reading a book whatever) in order to do this, so just figure out what's the most important and cut out all the extra stuff that steals your time.
    2nd has been to schedule 1-2 early morning fitness classes each week. I go to a small place that's less expensive than a gym, but you have to sign up for each class online and they're max 10 people, so if you don't show up it's really obvious and you still have to pay...so that's a motivator for me to get my butt out of bed.
    Another helpful thing is to make an appointment with a friend - either set up a workout date together, or just call each other in the morning as a motivator. If you're responsible to someone else to get up, you may be more likely to do it.
    Third is to find some 20-30 minute workouts to fit your busy schedule (I think you mentioned the 30-day shred).
    Do you have a lunch break during your day where you can at least go on a walk? That could be a nice supplement...
  • CaptainMilda
    CaptainMilda Posts: 127 Member
    Borrow a toddler. My 2 year old wakes me by 6 am every morning. I keep trying to get him to sleep longer but it doesn't work. I can't sleep with him jabbering and making train noises. I get up and ready and I am able to work out early in the day.

    Hah, gotta be the best comment ever ;-)

    Motivate yourself to get up early, you know that you will feel great afterwards, which usually gets me up and going...
  • Spaghetti_Bender
    Spaghetti_Bender Posts: 509 Member
    I get up at 4am on the days i exercise, and have been doing that for about 7 years. It's not a chore for me to get up.
  • cicisiam
    cicisiam Posts: 491 Member
    I realize the more I delay the harder it will be to pick it up again. Consistency makes the Shred not as hard and I feel successful afterward. I remind myself also, 30 minutes a day of exercise..if I at least get the Shred in everyday I do not feel so bad about missing other exercise till I can fit it in. Just the way it works for me..everyone has different motivations to get going..you just need to find yours :smile:
  • cicisiam
    cicisiam Posts: 491 Member
    SHAPE Magazine
    Up and at 'em! Why you should workout this morning (and every other morning!). http://shpe.co/1di8EPS
  • amberflo143
    amberflo143 Posts: 94 Member
    set your workout clothes the night before so you are ready to go!

    Yes, I set my workout clothes out, untie my shoes and have my head phones untangled ready to go. I make it as easy as possible. I really love to work out in the morning as the energy it provides thoughout the day is great!
  • Juslane
    Juslane Posts: 8 Member
    I work long hrs also with 2 hrs commute so my day=12 hrs. I am not a morning person either. I picked up a few habits to make it easier for me. I wear work out clothes to sleep. When alarm goes off at 5:30, all I have to do is brush hair in ponytail, wash face and brush teeth. I am out the door by 5:45 and back home by 6:45 to get ready for work.

    Also, I get at least 7 hrs of sleep everyday. Good luck! :-)

    Took me 2 weeks to adapt.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    If I had my alarm on the other side of the room, I'd just turn it off and go back to bed. Thankfully I don't exercise on a work day (running around a ward is enough) so don't need to get up too early.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
    Coffee... lots of coffee....
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    I need this.... but for me it would start at 5:00 and say, "Go workout".
  • edwardrz
    edwardrz Posts: 7
    Try an alarm clock that uses light to wake you up. Search "light alarm clock" on Amazon.
  • janicebinva
    janicebinva Posts: 99 Member
    Ditto on the alarm on the other side of the room. Maybe have your exercise clothes laid out right next to the alarm, to make it more natural to go over there, turn off the alarm, and put on your workout clothes.

    Also there was a suggestion for going to a gym close to work. If you normally commute during rush hour, that might make your drive home better too, since you'd be doing it later.

    Or find a buddy who also gets up early. They don't have to live with you or work out with you. You just have to call each other to make sure they're up. My ex and I used to wake up early to work out together. That was the only time I was ever consistent about exercising before work. Other than that time period, it's been after work or on the weekends.
  • cursiny
    cursiny Posts: 907 Member
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    THIS
  • Humbugsftw
    Humbugsftw Posts: 202 Member
    Go to bed early, set an alarm for the time you want to wake up at (for me, 6am). I tell myself I have no reason to need any more sleep and progress won't be made if I'm not in the gym! It's become a habit for me though now.
  • Jerrypeoples
    Jerrypeoples Posts: 1,541 Member
    first find out what your ideal sleep time is. if i get more than 6 hours im very lethargic throughout the day. I had a home gym and found myself waking up in the morning determined to work out which would then turn into another 45 minutes of sleep vowing to workout when i got home.

    get home and one thing leads to another and its time for bed. the cycle just repeated itself. got rid of the home gym and signed up at the local one. while $43 isnt that much its enough to prod me to go to the gym instead of just wasting the money.

    also i make it a point to only sit on my bed while i change into my gym clothes (or i leave my car running) otherwise the sleep gas my bed emits will overcome me and i will take a hour or two nap and i cant have that.
  • Bama56
    Bama56 Posts: 101 Member
    my favorite meal of the day gets me out of bed fairly well.
  • kborton1122
    kborton1122 Posts: 914 Member
    Go to bed earlier. When that alarm clock goes off in the morning, you have to think about how bad you want to drop the pounds. Tell yourself you will feel better if you just get up and get it done.

    For me, I get up at 4:30 every other day and go the gym before I go to work. My motivator is my boyfriend. This is the time that he gets up to go to work, so he holds me accountable.
  • lydiaannepage
    lydiaannepage Posts: 172 Member
    Yeah soooo if you aren't a morning person first off you just need to accept that it's going to suck. I wake up at 04:00 every morning now so that I can do my 30 min workout before my commute because I know I just won't have the energy by the time I get home.

    I put my workout gear in the bathroom, leave my shoes, full water bottle, hand weights and yoga matt out in front of the TV the night before and make myself get up on the first alarm, as soon as I get up - the clothes are waiting, so I get dressed, and then it is too late - it's not like I'm going to get undressed and go back to bed 'cuz that is just suuuper lazy. I've done 5 weeks now of a 10 week program and haven't missed a morning workout yet (it is a 5 day per week program).

    Good luck! YOU CAN DO IT!!!! :bigsmile:
  • lydiaannepage
    lydiaannepage Posts: 172 Member
    P.S. If my fat *kitten* can do it - you should be able to do it with no problems!!! LOL
  • scottyg70
    scottyg70 Posts: 388 Member
    I think it's been mentioned more than once, but go to bed earlier AND at the same time. Get your body in a rhythm. I have never been a morning person but I get up at 4:30 three times a week to run now. One thing that helps me, is as soon as I get up, I drink a bottle of water. That seems to knock the cobwebs out of my head and perk me up. The bottom line is: you just have to do it! After two or three times it becomes routine.
  • cookiealbright
    cookiealbright Posts: 605 Member
    I sleep in my workout clothes too, if I'm going to work out in the morning. Normally I go to the gym after work though. Good luck to ya!
  • powerman617
    powerman617 Posts: 13
    hahaha!!! There is a lot of funny, cool, and great ideas here. Of course I didn't read them all, I just skipped to the end to put in my two cents worth. Getting up early is a habit, like a lot of things if you do it for a week or so you will find that your eyes open automatically at whatever time it is you get up. I get up every day a 4:15 AM. If it's my day off I try to go back to sleep and sometimes I do for another hour. Now I'm an old guy so I've been doing this for nearly 40 years, but I got in habit at a young age. Like I tell everyone that asks me about my weight loss... the first thing is you have to really want to do it and no excuses will stop you. I don't have the same busy schedule as you, but by the time I get home it is 6:00 and I used to just flop into the recliner and watch TV, eat, and go to bed. It took a couple of weeks to get into the routine, but I now go to a fitness club at least 3 times a week and I find that has become a habit now and I really miss it if I don't go. The other great thing is I am now physically in shape also.
    Commit to a schedule that works for you and stick with it until it becomes your new habit. :bigsmile:
    I use a fitbit flex fitness tracking wrist band that I set to 4:15 AM and it vibrates and flashes at that time to wake me up if I'm still sleeping.

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