Early Bird Tips

BeccaKay96
BeccaKay96 Posts: 77 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I need help with getting up early enough to get in a run before work! When my fiance works day shifts he has me up at 4:30 so its easy to stay up. But when he is on night shifts or off I have a hard time getting up earlier than I have to for work. Any tips? If I don't workout before work its usually not going to get squeezed in for the afternoons either..

Replies

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    I won't do it if I don't have a good enough reason. I've tried to go lift in the am- but I can just as easily lift at night- so about 99.9 % of the time I never get up. But I added half marathon training into my schedule and all the sudden AM runs meant- I could still do everything I needed at night- AND I wasn't getting burned in the obscenely hot sun. I've only missed 1 day in almost 4 weeks of training- otherwise- trying to get up just to make my life easier for lifting- hasn't' been successful.

    Biggest things for me
    > specific goal
    > getting enough sleep
    > setting an alarm that will actually wake you up
    > reduce the amount of fussing you need in the am (lay out the clothes and socks and bra etc etc)



  • jenmckane86
    jenmckane86 Posts: 50 Member
    I am soooo not a morning person so I've tried tons of "tricks" trying to wake myself up at 5am. There are a couple of things that have worked really well for me.

    - Put your alarm on the other side of the room. This makes you physically get out of bed to turn it off.
    - Put a water bottle next to the alarm and as soon as you get up take a few big gulps of the water.
    - I wear my workout clothes to bed. I literally have to roll out of bed, brush my teeth, put on deodorant and get in the car.
    - I make my lunch the night before.


  • dinsfamily
    dinsfamily Posts: 84 Member
    I am another non-morning person who has to workout early. I find that I have to set a back-up alarm just in case (my body doesn't usually think 4:50 is a great time to wake up) and have my clothes all laid out. Some days, I just have to push myself to get in the car and go. I have finally learned that I will feel great AFTER my workout so that helps a little. I also run/workout with a super fun group of people. Knowing that they will all be there helps me look forward to each morning. Tomorrow I get to pelt them during a game of warmup dodgeball so I won't be missing that!
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    BeccaKay96 wrote: »
    I need help with getting up early enough to get in a run before work! When my fiance works day shifts he has me up at 4:30 so its easy to stay up. But when he is on night shifts or off I have a hard time getting up earlier than I have to for work. Any tips? If I don't workout before work its usually not going to get squeezed in for the afternoons either..

    I train early morning; I'm up by 3:30am at the latest. For me there's a couple things.
    1. Make sure you're eating right so you have the energy.
    2. Adequate sleep. Staying up until 11pm or midnight to watch the Late Show or whatever will not work; I'm typically in bed by 9pm / 9:30pm at the latest
    3. If you're guilty of hitting the snooze until the alarm gives up, put your alarm / phone on the other side of the room so you have to get up.
    4. Buy some kind of green tea or caffeine pill to get you going, keep it next to your nightstand with a bottle of water or something if you must. Alarm goes off, pop the pill and hit the snooze, you'll be awake in a few minutes.

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