Getting up at 5 or 5:30 to exercise - HOW?

I don't know if it's possible for you, but our local rec center has a lot of 5:30AM classes that make it a lot easier to get up for. It helps to have someone else come up with the exercise routine and friends to look forward to. If not, good music helps get me going and planning what I am going to do the night before helps.
Hope you can get it to work for you. It is a time that very little tends to interfere with!

I started out with shorter workouts, like the 30 Day Shred (only 27 1/2 minutes from beginning to end). Then once I got into a routine added longer workouts. Also is it sooooo much cooler in the morning. And the big benefit is how much energy it gives you for the rest of the day. Someone once told me it takes 6 weeks to form a habit, so you have to force yourself, even when you dont want to, and once it becomes routine you will wonder why you didnt workout in the morning sooner.

Well honestly, I used to get up at 6 for my previous job so my body will get up no later than 7 on its own. Totally different story for you if you arent getting up anywhere near that time. This week I started getting up at 6 to exercise.. I work from home so I could do it any time during the day but I find I wont do it unless it is in the morning. I walk outside and it gets too hot in the afternoon.

I get up at 4:30 am to hit the insanity workouts...but in order to actually get up...I put my alarm in the other room. This way I have to get out of bed to turn it off, get the blood circulating from walking around and start waking up.

I also leave a very large glass of water next to the bed and guzzle the entire thing immediately after turning off the alarm.

This has worked very well for me for several months.

Yeah, I'd rather sleep than EAT so I don't get up. Tried it for awhile, but I keep oversleeping and leaving my friend hanging. Plus I was always starving and ate a HUGE breakfast which undo the workout...

I've always been a night owl also, but I started taking Melatonin (a natural sleep aid found in any store) at 8pm every night until I my body got used to the new sleep pattern Although I do miss staying up late and just vegging out.......

I think it boils down to how bad you want it. Really, how bad? Bad enough to sacrifice that pillow, the extra hour of sleep, going to bed an hour earlier? When I first started working out I had to do this because I worked outside the home. 5:30 every morning. I hated it. But my first thought every morning was...."I"LL SLEEP WHEN I"M SKINNY" That has since changed to "FIT", because I want to be strong, healthy, vibrant, way more than thin. I am a tough love kinda girl, but I know you can do this is if you REALLY want it! MUAH!

I've been waking at 5am since April 4( bad that i can remember)! Some days it's easy and others I can fall asleep during a superman stretch or ab workout. All I know is I feel great all day when I exercise in the morning, (don't get tired in the afternoon). Plus if I don't get it in early it won't happen with the little ones!!!Good luck finding your 5am motivation. It's so worth it!

I would second the advice that says to start off with easier, shorter workouts--one less excuse.

We have to cover all of our open hours and there are only 4 of us in my job position, so we split up the "bad" times--opening the fitness center at 5am or closing at 10pm, plus sharing the weekends. Because of the varied hours, I have had to learn to fit in workouts at different times during the week--sometimes at 5 am, sometimes 8pm and everything in between.

For the early days, I find that it helps to have all my stuff laid out--shorts, shoes, ipod, anything else--the night before. Not only is everything ready to go in the morning, but it also represents a commitment to get up and do the workout.

Doesn't always work, but it helps.

I'm not a morning person - just ask my hubby! I've been getting up at about 5:40am to work out for a few weeks now, and I have to say I love it! I'm a working mom with three pretty young kids (under age six), so I generally don't get tons of rest. I realized that working out in the evening doesn't work for me. I'm tired, something else comes up, I work late...or, I'd rather see my hubs and my kids! If I leave it ' til evening or night, it won't happen. Some ideas:

Meet a friend! I pick a friend up for a four mile walk at 6am three mornings a week. I know she's sitting on her front porch waiting for me. And, I get an hour to chat with a friend! I signed up for a fitness boot camp with another friend; it stars at 6am. If she's there and I'm not, I better have a really good excuse!

Think about how good you'll feel. I can't tell you how much better I feel. I sleep better, I don't crave caffeine as much, I get the bonus of seeing a friend in the morning, and I know by 7am what my exercise calorie burn is.

Wake up even on the days you could sleep in. Sounds crazy, but I find that it's worse and harder the next day if I've slept in the day before.

Set everything out the night before. I fill up my water bottle with ice water and leave it next to my keys.

Hope this helps?

Prioritize going to bed early enough to get enough sleep. Right now,there's tons of laundry to fold, the house is a wreck, and I have phone calls and e-mails to return. But I'm going to bed because my friend will be waiting for me at 5:45am!

It takes a lot of motivation and once you find a routine you enjoy, the dedication makes it easier. I struggled for years with trying to wake up early to fit in exercise. I would get all ready the night before, alarm set and everything but when it went off the next morning at 5am I couldn't do it. What changed for me was this year I decided I was going to train for and run a marathon. Since my son is less than a year old, I knew the only way I was going to fit in my training runs was if I did them early in the morning before everyone got up. Those first few runs were pretty rough. But once I got into a training groove, it became easier. Some days I was too tired to get up. But I knew if I was going to complete my training runs, I needed to get up anyway. I rescheduled a few of my runs but for the most part I got up when I was supposed to and did them. Now fast forward 5 months to now. With the sun coming up earlier, I have to get up an hour earlier than I did back in January to fit in my runs before my son wakes up with the sun (Not training at the moment, but just love running!). So alarm is set for 4am instead of 5 on my running days. Then 2 days a week I go to the gym and lift weights and run which has me waking up at 3:30am. I actually really love those workouts so much that I am amped the night before thinking about it when I set my alarm. On days when I'm not exercising, I sleep in until 6:30 or whenever my son wakes up. And I don't get to bed too early. I'm in bed at 10pm most nights.

Find something that you are passionate about and the motivation to do it becomes greater. The greater the motivation, the easier it is to wake up early for it.

I am signing up for the Susan G Komen Walk For the Cure and fitness walking with some other ladies where I live. I am finding that being accountable not only to the other walkers but also to the training for a charity walk is a great motivator.

Thanks for this post. Because of reading it last night it I set my alarm to 6am today . Then when I rolled over and read the clock at 5:30 I got up early and went running! Weee...

I wish I had some advice but I dont. I have the same problem. I wish more than anything I could get up in the mornings but I just cant seem too. I'm gonna keep trying of course cuz I always end up doing my workouts before bed..and I dont like that.