Walking Early

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joannehornik7727
joannehornik7727 Posts: 30 Member
in Motivation and Support
How do you motivate yourselves to get up early in the morning to walk? What motivates you?

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  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    I wouldn't necessarily call it motivation, but I set up everything like clothes and shoes the night before. I also pick out a good podcast that I'm looking forward to listening to. I enjoy walking outside so it wasn't huge for me to just get up and go, although now I'm using the stationary bike because the sidewalk is too icy right now.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited December 2020
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    Sometimes it is just the logic/knowledge that I KNOW I like the feeling of having a chunk of my activity/steps/calorie burn DONE when the day is still young. And because it gives me my evenings 'free'.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    joannehornik7727 wrote: »
    How do you motivate yourselves to get up early in the morning to walk? What motivates you?

    My morning walk has been my "wake up" routine for awhile now. I fill my travel mug with coffee and head out for 2.5-3 miles pretty much every morning. I don't really know about "motivation"...it's just how I like to start my day and just don't feel right all day if I don't get my morning ritual in. It allows me to collect my thoughts for the day and go over my work plan and priorities for the day while I watch the sun rise and sip on my coffee. I'm not up super early or anything...I'm usually heading out the door around 6:30 or 6:45...so early would be relative...I don't think I could make myself do it at 5:30 AM or something when it's still pitch black outside.

    I'm a desk jockey, and if I don't get my morning walk in I easily end up with a mere 3K steps or so by the time I clock off. I do more strenuous exercise throughout the week as well, but IMO, that alone doesn't really make up for being otherwise sedentary at my desk most of the day without walking regularly.
  • joannehornik7727
    joannehornik7727 Posts: 30 Member
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    Wow thank you for all the responses and ideas
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    joannehornik7727 wrote: »
    Wow thank you for all the responses and ideas

    I guess from a "motivational" standpoint, it's nice for me to see that usually by 9 or 10 in the morning I have 8K+ steps and am easily over the 10K mark by the end of the day...I'm not a huge stickler on steps or anything, but for myself, 10K steps is a good baseline of general activity...and then adding on more deliberately strenuous exercise throughout the week is a nice gravy for building and maintaining my overall health and fitness.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
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    On the other hand: walking early in the morning is NOT for everyone. Here is my weekday routine:

    5am Wakup, let the dogs out & feed them. Then treadmill for 30-60 minutes. (Recently cut back, was doing 60-70 minutes.) Shower, get ready for work.

    Somewhere between 6:45-7, leave for work. Gives me time in case I need to stop for gas or stop at the grocery store for lunch/food for the office.

    Leave work at 5pm, home between 6-6:30. Dinner, misc house stuff & down time. Typically in bed/going to sleep by 10pm.

    I do have a lunch hour that I can use for errands, or to get in a strength or cardio workout. I'm fortunate and have access to a small, basic fitness center at work. And recently I've added an under-desk treadmill & have a desk riser so that I can walk (SLOWLY, I'm finding 1.5 mph to be my sweet spot) while working on spreadsheets and such. This is to increase my general daily movement, boost my calorie burn a little. It is NOT a cardio level burn. Walking at a speed enough to get my heart rate up: I would not be able to get much computer work done!

    Weekends are different. I tend to sleep in til at least 7/8am. Breakfast, errands. I may get in an afternoon walk/run or I may not. It just depends on what all is going on that day. I LIKE that my weekdays are structured and on a routine. It often bugs me that my weekends are not.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,550 Member
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    I like to "close a ring" early in the day. My Pavlov (aka Apple Watch) and I are codependent.
  • Mom2annika
    Mom2annika Posts: 11 Member
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    I'm glad I found this thread! Something that seems so simple but really isn't... For me it's motivating to know I'm not a big slug sitting at my desk for 8 hours having done NOTHING all day. With never leaving my house I'm thankful I have my treadmill I can walk on for 2 miles in the morning, then 2 more at lunch. Otherwise I might go batty...

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