Early morning risers q&a and tips.
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I have to go every morning Mon-Sat. I tried to go MWF, but the days off let me get off the schedule and realize how nice it is to sleep in. It never became a habit and was too easy to hit snooze and tell myself I'd go the next day instead.
I prep everything the night before, shower at the gym, and change there before work. I bring my work clothes on a hanger.2 -
Really all you need to do is force yourself to do it for a week or two and it'll become natural. If you're staying up late at night and attempting to get up early to work out it isn't going to work. After a week or two of dragging your butt out of bed, working out, then finishing out your usual day, you'll be tired as hell by 8-9pm at night. Don't fight it, go to bed and get some sleep. Your body will adjust. I used to sleep in on weekends until 10am or so, these days 'sleeping in' for me means 7-8am if I'm lucky. I generally get up at 4:45am on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday get some caffeine or a pre-workout in me, and start my workout by 5:30 at the latest. I'm usually done by 7am and get ready for work and eat a quick breakfast which is usually bran cereal and a protein shake. I purposely schedule my two rest days a week on Mondays and Thursdays so that I don't have to get up that early those days, it helps. Saturday and Sundays a lot of people take off and don't work out.. I don't work those days so I figure those are my best two days to work out longer. I take advantage of it and never schedule a rest day on a weekend unless I'm on vacation.5
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I don't know how other people exercise in the evenings or even at midday. Like who has the energy?? I've always been an early riser even as a kid. So up before the sun to do a run or hit the gym makes me feel alive and rested. Although my gym is packed at 4:30am for spin class. Freaked me out the first time seeing that when i started. Like all 3 carparks full. So you may want to talk to the workers at your gym to find out when there are less people there. Because early mornings can be just as busy.4
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I'm up at 4:45am to get to the gym. I prep everything the night before - gym clothes, work clothes, lunch, snacks, etc. It definitely sucked for the first week or so, but then my body got used to it.1
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I work 40 miles from home so I get up at 3:30am, out the door to run by 3:40. Back home in the shower by 5 and back out the door to work by 5:30am.
Really takes getting used to, but it is the best time for me to run. I am usually too busy or tired after work to run so it makes sense for me.
I do go to bed rather early, usually by 8:00pm, but I can get my miles in every morning and it is to the point that if I don't run in the morning, I am totally off my game for the day.
Discipline & repetition I think is the key to this.3 -
I'm an early-morning exerciser--up at 4:30 am. We are too busy with our kids' activities in the evenings, so there is no other choice for me. Plus, I love how energized and accomplished it makes me feel the rest of the day. I recently switched my Iphone alarm from one of the annoying alarm sounds to a song instead (currently Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling!). It sounds so trivial, but this has made a huge difference. With the annoying alarm, I can't wait to make it stop. With a great song, I let it play and enjoy it while waking up. I know by the end of the second time, I've got to be out of bed. It might be worth a try for you!0
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Nope. Can't do it. I'm LUCKY if I'm up at 7:30 and out the door by 8:00 to get to work on time. I work out at around 9:30 pm.
I just want to SLEEP after I work out, and have fallen asleep at work if I worked out that morning.0 -
I'm an early-morning exerciser--up at 4:30 am. We are too busy with our kids' activities in the evenings, so there is no other choice for me. Plus, I love how energized and accomplished it makes me feel the rest of the day. I recently switched my Iphone alarm from one of the annoying alarm sounds to a song instead (currently Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling!). It sounds so trivial, but this has made a huge difference. With the annoying alarm, I can't wait to make it stop. With a great song, I let it play and enjoy it while waking up. I know by the end of the second time, I've got to be out of bed. It might be worth a try for you!
Play the opening riffs of Stranglehold. You won't hit snooze:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c3d7QgZr7g 3 -
Getting out of bed is the hardest step....when my alarm went off at 4:30 this morning I hit snooze and seriously considered not going to the gym. 2 minutes into my snooze, the guilt hit!
I pack my gym bag the night before and put it in my car, I have my gym clothes laid out and water bottle ready. I splash some water on my face, brush my teeth and drive to the gym with my windows down. By time I get to the gym around 4:50 I'm wide awake. And I really do have more energy throughout the day. I used to practically fall asleep at my desk at work around 3:00 - that is a thing of the past!0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »
Play the opening riffs of Stranglehold. You won't hit snooze:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c3d7QgZr7g
I like 'Bounce' - System of a Down. Definitely wakes me up fully!
However this got banned shortly after my gf moved in - she was none too appreciative of it and prefers birdsong or gentle music haha
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Waking Up Tired by the Hoodoo Gurus for me!
But mostly a gradual light and a fairly friendly alarm chirp because I think my boyfriend would probably accidentally wallop me in an effort to turn the noise off otherwise. He's *really* not good at mornings!1 -
Always been an early morning person, but started waking up earlier and earlier to avoid traffic and use the gym in the morning. It was less time spent on the road and getting fit, so a win-win for me. When I started working closer to home, it was habit and I prefer getting workouts done first thing in the morning. Sometimes life takes over later in the day and my workout might not get done.0
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I'm truly finding this fascinating.
Obviously there will be exceptions, but I think most Brits would consider anything much before 6:30 or 7am to be early! Something that starts with a 5 is certainly not a normal adulting time here! (Small children aside...)
Maybe it's because our schools start a bit later than US schools, as far as I know - generally registration at around 8:45am for first lesson at 9am, some may be a bit earlier - so the whole day shifts slightly, starting from the age of 4.
Standard office hours are still 9-5, which I guess ties in with the schools. Many exceptions in non-office work, shift based, or even office work linked to industry (who can tend to work factory hours).
Also, our weather's kind of blah year round, so we're not dodging the heat in the mornings.
I'm not sure I know any adults who routinely go to bed much before 11pm.
I'd love to find out if anyone's ever collected the data on nationality v wake up time, but it's be super interesting!
I have two boys 7 & 5...they are early risers and always have been, so getting up at 5:30 has been the norm for years now regardless of working out or not.
Standard office hours in the states are 8-5...I work an alternative schedule 8:30-4:30 with no lunch break at the moment...I have an hour commute each way, so this allows me to not have to be rushing out of the house by 7 AM. I can get in my morning ride and get ready for work and be out the door by 7:30.
I'm typically up at 5:30...sometimes 5:45 and usually on my bike by 6 AM or 6:15 depending on my distance that day. This will switch in September when fall rolls around and I can ride in the evenings after work.
Summer afternoon/evenings here hit around 38*C+ most of the summer and it makes for miserable riding.
I'm usually in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 most nights.0 -
For me, Im up at 4 am, I have to get out of bed immediately, and remember that, ya, I don't want to do it now, but the gym is empty and I don't have to wait for anything. Later, Im certainly NOT going to want to be around all those people battling for equipment, so pick the lesser of two evils.
Im always so happy I went by the time its over lol. And to be honest, its a great way to get fasted cardio done. I always pack EVERYTHING UP the night before so there is no thinking involved in the morning. Just get out of bed, hair in a pony, gym clothes, teeth brush, deodorant, grab the bag, my lunch for later and GO!!! No think, just go.
I decided I would give it 1 week of just doing it, no excuses, now I cant imagine doing it any differently and its been over a month now.3 -
Wake at 4:00am at gym by 4:30am. Pack everything the night before. I shower at gym so work closes and anything needed goes in bag. I could sleep in my gym clothes to save a few minutes but really only takes a couple to put stuff on and run out door. I also meal prep night before and take breakfast and lunch with me.
It's really a habit as everyone has said that you may have to force. I was in military and waking early stuck with me after I went back to civy life. Could try that:) I mean what better way to force yourself to wake up than a mean drill instructor yelling and banging on a trash can.1 -
I suggest you read the book "Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win," by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
Here is a little about the author and his mentality toward waking up early:
Willink led SEAL Team Three Task Unit Bruiser in the 2006 Battle of Ramadi, where Task Unit Bruiser became the most decorated special-operations unit of the Iraq War. He retired after 20 years in the SEALs in 2010, and started the leadership consulting firm Echelon Front with Babin the next year after Babin left active duty.
While waking up before anyone else had an advantage on the battlefield, there's no real need for Willink to get up at 4:30 anymore. But he does so as a matter of principle, and it's why he has three alarms as a safeguard. He explains:
The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win — you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life ...
Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL Teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional.
Besides being disciplined enough to wake up, I suggest a good stimulant/supplement to get you mentally focused and ready for your training. I have found this to be very beneficial as well.2 -
I pop caffeine pills. I don't drink coffee and the liquid would take longer for me to keep down anyway. Pills are quick, efficient, and have the same effect.1
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The key to getting up early to workout is to get to bed early. As long as I get my 7 hours of sleep, I feel the same when I get up @ 3:45AM as I do when I get up @ 4:45AM (my normal wake-up time).
As far as how do I do it - I'm very motivated and love lifting so I WANT to get my workouts in! My preference is to workout @ night after work, but sometimes life gets in the way, so I'll do the early AM workout if needed.
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I signed up for group fitness, if we don't show up we have to do 50 burpees next time we are in so that's motivation enough lol. Also found when I had a PT I knew I couldn't just hit the snooze button and forget about it. The longer you do it the easier it'll get. I used to wake up at 4am to workout at 4:30 before, but I wasn't going to bed early so I wasn't getting enough sleep. Make sure you go to bed early as sleep is also key (at least for me)1
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Up early exercise done. The reason I do it early is because I will make EVERY excuse if I don't. I am out the door by 615AM for my 3 mile 45 min walk. Done.1
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Monday - Thursday I ensure my gym kit is laid out and work clothes are packed the night before. Set the phone alarm for 4:10am and leave the phone by the bedroom door, this forces me to get out of bed to switch it off when it goes off. Brush teeth, get dressed and get the night bus to the gym. I arrive at 5am, have a great training session, shower at work then I'm set for the day. Having said all that I am generally in bed by 9pm.
I work out in the mornings because I know I'd never get round to it after work. The fact it would be far too busy in the afternoons and I'd have to wait to use equipment is a good incentive for morning workouts. I hope that helps.1 -
Wear your workout clothes to bed! Minus the shoes of course
That's really all I have to offer since I'm an evening exerciser myself2 -
The night before, I drink a big glass of water and put in my gym clothes and an in bed between 8pm and 9pm. When my alarm goes off at 430, I usually have to use the facilities, so I do that, have another glass of water and a banana, then hit the home gym for an hour.
One protien shake and a shower later I an in work for 7am and I don't have any guilt or excuses to have gotten in the way of my workout for the rest of the day.2 -
I too get up early to take my dogs out, especially in the hot summer, I go to gym before or after I take them out depending what time I wake up1
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Try getting into a habit. Its tough at first, but your body gets used to it after a week or 2. I do it since I have 12-16 hours shifts at work starting at 7am. Try and prepare your food for the day the night before so you can just pack it and go. I love working out early since there is no wait for equipment and not many people at the gym. Also, like other people said, it gives you some extra pep-in-your-step for the rest of the day.1
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After awhile it becomes second nature but it was hard at first. The trick is to have everything ready the night before. Gym clothes ready, lunch packed, work clothes ready. The alarm goes off and I am dressed and out the door before my mind wakes up. Like someone else said, no hitting the snooze, no checking your phone, do not stop for anything but the essentials. Going early actually keeps me awake throughout the day. I'm more alert and ready to tackle my work. I feel I'm more sluggish on the days I don't go.1
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I am not a morning person, but I wanted to have enough time at the gym before work. So I set my alarm for 5:00 am, when it goes off, I shoot up, feet to the ground. I don't allow even a minute to pass before I'm up. You'll always find an excuse to not get up, so don't give yourself the opportunity. Just do it. And yes, prepping the night before helps1
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Pray before bedtime that God gives you peaceful sleep , set your alarm , make coffee and tell yourself , I can do this. Trust me once you start it will get easier1
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I set my alarms. My wife and the dogs take care of the rest lol Usually the dogs jump on me as soon as the alarm goes off and then my wife kicks me out of bed.
I really dont like going in the evening because I have zero energy and end up wasting my time.1 -
my alarm literally says GET UP FATTY lol and I wake up at 4am.the first few days were hard but im way too tired when I get off, I work 12 hr shifts. I sleep in my gym clothes, literally roll out of bed and go to the gym lol. but I have my best, most productive days when I work out in the am. Its still a stuggle every day, but I think about the feeling I have when I work out early and that's mainly my motivation!0
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