Working Out in the A.M. if Not a Morning Person

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UmmaOfThree
UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello everyone. I've been mostly working out in the late evening after the kids are asleep. This is probably not good for me. I have thought about waking up early and doing it in the morning before the kids wake up instead. I did it maybe once and that made me feel great that whole day. The problem is, I'm NOT a morning person. I HATE waking up each morning. I just want to crawl back into bed most mornings. How do I get myself to wake up and actually exercise? I would LOVE any tricks or tips. Thanks!

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  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Working Out in the A.M. if Not a Morning Person...
    ...could be dangerous

    photos.demandstudios.com%2Fgetty%2Farticle%2F81%2F144%2F86493154_XS.jpg?w=400&h=10000&keep_ratio=1
  • mjudd1990
    mjudd1990 Posts: 222 Member
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    One word. Coffee.
  • skittlesnhoney
    skittlesnhoney Posts: 651 Member
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    It will be hard at first but after you have successfully done it several times in a row it gets easier. You are tired earlier from waking up earlier and before you know it, it becomes a habit. Good luck!
  • tammyc226
    tammyc226 Posts: 158 Member
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    Why is it 'probably not good for you to work out in the evening'? If it fits your schedule and lifestyle then just continue I say. I am not a morning person and I know I'd never stick to a routine of morning workouts. I'd much rather try something I'm more likely to stick to then making it harder on myself
  • ALNoog
    ALNoog Posts: 413 Member
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    Is there a rule that says you have to do it in the morning?
    If so I'm screwed... I've been working out in the afternoon and at night for months now....... :ohwell:
  • TheStephil
    TheStephil Posts: 858 Member
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    Why is it 'probably not good for you to work out in the evening'? If it fits your schedule and lifestyle then just continue I say. I am not a morning person and I know I'd never stick to a routine of morning workouts. I'd much rather try something I'm more likely to stick to then making it harder on myself

    You took the words right out of my fingertips...or whatever. I rather work out in the evening. I cherish the relationship I have with my bed too much and I'm always in a worse mood when I workout early. Also my lifts suffer greatly in the morning since I'm not fueled properly or warmed up from a day of activity.
  • UmmaOfThree
    UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
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    It causes me to be so pumped up that I can't sleep at a decent hour. That's why I'm thinking to do it in the morning instead. If I do it "some time during the day," then it's so hard to actually do it since I have a 15 mo old baby and two other kids. So that's why I end up doing it at night but that just screws up my sleep. I'd rather be converted to a morning person and just get it done first thing. Thanks for the suggestion on coffee, but it doesn't work for me. I'm unaffected by caffeine because of the college years where I survived full-time job and full-time student by drinking 4 cups of coffee a day. I would drink the coffee and roll right back into bed.
  • UmmaOfThree
    UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
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    I'm gonna try it out and see what happens. It might be a disaster or it might be awesome.
  • UmmaOfThree
    UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
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    It will be hard at first but after you have successfully done it several times in a row it gets easier. You are tired earlier from waking up earlier and before you know it, it becomes a habit. Good luck!

    This is what I'm aiming to do. I guess I'd better start doing it and stop thinking about it too much.
  • UmmaOfThree
    UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
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    Question: are you supposed to eat something before the a.m. workout or do you just start exercising? I heard that if you workout without food in the morning, your body will burn the fat as fuel. Is this true?
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    Go to bed earlier is a great place to help kick start that habit, especially at first. Then, give yourself a reason to get up when your alarm goes off, like place it by the light switch away from your bed so you MUST get up and you can turn the lgiht on immediately. Start with only a day or 2 a week or you'll get burnt out quick! Keep yourself going to bed earlier though and after like 3 weeks make it to where you're waking up at that time every day.
    Meal is preference. I personally am not a morning person so a "pre workout" drink got me going, my boyfriend is so he sticks to a banana. It's not necessary though, if you aren't hungry and it doesn't affect you to not eat before (eg dont feel sluggish/dizzy) then no reason to. Just be sure to get some water as it will have been several hours without.

    **note** My working out early helped to have my boyfriend there... now that I'm on night shifts I work out in the afternoon as I tend to view waking up early daily in a very negative light - he does it rather he goes to the gym or not that day... BUT night workouts don't keep me up either so it might be different if they did.
  • newgmartin
    newgmartin Posts: 6 Member
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    I'm not an AM person either, but found that late exercise also kept me too awake, and I already have enough challenges sleeping. So, morning exercise it is. I just trick myself. I'm really into being online, reading news, Facebook, Twitter, and usually my AM routine would have me doing this in my chair, with a cup of coffee and breakfast. Now, I take my tablet on the elliptical and do my stuff while I'm exercising. It gets me out of bed, and I also don't feel deprived of internet time, which would definitely impact my ability to sustain any exercise plan, LOL. So, if there's something you like to do in the AM, maybe try using that as the reward - do it only after you exercise, or, like me, work out a way to do it at the same time so it's not so odious an idea to exercise first thing. I HATE exercising, but this has worked well for sustainability.
  • doodlecakes_07
    doodlecakes_07 Posts: 69 Member
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    I'm not a morning workout person at all, but when I get crunched for time, I have to change my schedule to fit in exercise. The best way to do morning workouts is to do them consistently. Once you get into a routine of starting your day off with exercise, your body will adapt, leading to you to feel more energetic throughout the day.

    The hardest part is getting in a routine.

    Some tips:
    -lay out EVERYTHING at night, your top, bottoms, bra, socks, shoes, headphones, charged phone/ipod, water bottle, etc
    -set multiple alarms (and if it's on your phone, title the alarm something motivational)
    -make a daily commitment to workout in the morning
    -put motivational sticky notes on everything
    -keep a physical exercise journal, one that you can right in and make notes on, writing all of your workouts down can inspire you to push through future workouts, even though you're tired and it's early
    -have a good breakfast prepared for when you're done working out (overnight oats, smoothies, etc) I'm always motivated by food
  • BRA_S
    BRA_S Posts: 111 Member
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    6great tips!

    I'm definitely gonna start working out in the am. I really think for me personally it will lead to better workouts.
  • robinerikson
    robinerikson Posts: 60
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    I was never a morning person but with my determination and motivation to lose weight and feel great the rest of the day, I became a morning person. If I did it, you can do it too!
  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
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    You don't need to force yourself into morning workouts. I work out Saturday morning only because I have to, the rest of the week is 8pm. My body is so used to this that my evening workouts I totally kill and the Saturday one kills me and is half assed because I have no energy. Your system adapts to what works for you and makes all that crap about working out in the morning not apply to you. Keep going with it.
  • MintTea13
    MintTea13 Posts: 4
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    I'm 22 and I have recently graduated from college. I was a night owl and used to sleep throughout the afternoon. I was always tired in the morning when I had early classes and I had 3-4 cups of coffee a day. To my surprise I lost all of my weight during those stressful semesters. I lost 5 lbs per semester without eating right or exercising.... I figured I was not coping well with all the stresses.

    Until now I'm still not a morning person and I still have to get up early each morning. I'm very much like you in the morning. I hate getting up and love to snuggle up with my pillows and warm blankets. But when I'm actually up and in 5 minutes once I start moving around I feel more awake. Here are some tricks that work for me when getting up. I know getting up is the hardest part, especially when I had a long hard day or went to bed super late.

    1. Trick yourself to waking up on time:
    - Set your alarm clock to go off 30 minutes earlier than the actual time that you're getting up. This way your brain is waking up to the sound of your alarm and start thinking even when you still feeling sleeping. You're likely to lie there and still have your eyes closed. When the second alarm goes off you'll be able to wake up easier.
    - For examples, let's say I have to get at 8:00 am I would set my alarm at 7:30 AM and then 8:00 Am. I wont have to leave work until 9:30, so I would have just enough time to hit the gym and do a fast and hardcore workout for short amount of time. I rather doing all the hard workout for 30 minutes than staying at the gym for an hour to burn the same amount of calories.


    Hope that helps!

    Cheers!

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