Morning Rituals

Angrish101
Angrish101 Posts: 14 Member
edited January 2021 in Motivation and Support
Hi all, I just wanted to share my own morning ritual and ask what yours is, that is if you have one.

I was never a morning person however I've found in the last few years I was waking earlier, but rather than do anything productive I just scrolled social media mindlessly on my phone. I usually fell back into an uneasy sleep and woke shortly after feeling groggy and more tired than when I first woke. Obviously if you wake at 3am, stay off the phone, go to the loo and get back to sleep. However, if you wake a 6am, then don't hang around, get a plan in place to be productive. In order to change my waking routine, I've devised this plan to help me get my day underway:

When I wake:

1. I start with 4 x rounds of Wim Hof breathing. There is a Wim Hof App that has the breathing timed in to help. You can look into why this breathing is beneficial online, there are plenty of resources.

2. Bounce out of bed, butt naked and stretch for a few minutes. Whether you do Sun Salutations and Down Dog or just squat and fold, it's really whatever feels comfortable, just don't over-stretch.

3. 20/30min H.I.T session. I'm in the UK, so I tend to do Joe Wicks. A good Alternative is to get a Kettlebell App for your phone, set a 20/30min routine and use a Kettlebell weight you can manage but gives sufficient resistance.

4. Into the shower, either a warm shower, followed by 1min cold or just slowly immerse myself in a 'cold only' shower for as long as I need to wash, usually pretty quickly. Once you commit to shampoo, you need to stand under to rinse it off, so it has to be done!

5. Breakfast and get to work.

I do this no matter how bad a nights sleep or how late I've gone to bed, because once you stick to a routine you tend to settle better into sleeping and resting. Also, lying in bed once you're awake really doesn't help kick start your metabolism.

Anyway, this is my routine and as time goes on I will try to build on it or develop it. For example, I'd like to bolt on playing the piano for 20mins each morning, but I'm not sure my neighbours would appreciate it.

Also, if you're doing intermittent fasting, this is a great way of distracting you when you wake and marking time until you 'break' fast.

So, what are you're rituals?

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,700 Member
    I've got it down to 35 minutes from crawling out of bed to walking down the driveway to catch the bus. I can do it in 30 minutes if I happen to lie in an extra few minutes, but the extra 5 min makes it slightly less stressful.

    I usually stop eating by about 9 pm, but sometimes it will be as late as 11 pm.

    I start eating at 11:30 am, usually with a tiny 100 calorie snack.

  • Angrish101
    Angrish101 Posts: 14 Member
    If you could move the fast period back to 5 or 6pm, then eating again at 9 or 10am will make a massive difference, especially helping improve sleep. Once the body stops working to digest food, especially at night then it gets to work on repair work. It can be a bit of a battle to stop thinking about food between starting fast and going to sleep, however the more active you are in the evening the less likely you are to think about food. If you really can’t help eating late, get a healthy soup (homemade preferably) in a pot then double it with water. Heat that up and it’ll more than fill you up👍
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,700 Member
    edited January 2021
    I'm not even home from work until after 6 pm! And by the time we get home from our bicycle ride or walk it's somewhere between 7 and 7:30 pm.

    If we don't exercise after I get home from work, dinner is on the table between 6:30 and 7. If we do, and we usually do, it will usually be on the table between 7:30 and 8.

    A quick snack between 8 and 9 pm, and I'm usually done for the evening.

    I'm one of those who is asleep about 5 minutes after my head hits the pillow. :)

    What I do works well for me. :)
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    M-F
    1. Wake up
    2. Nudge hubby
    3. Feed cat, change water and clean litter
    4. Gather my tribe for remote/in person learning.
    5. Shower
    6. Dress
    7. Walk the little one to school
    8. Bus to gym

    Somewhere in there I eat a quick breakfast. Usually a breakfast burrito.

    Weekends are not as structured but I usually walk a lot every day.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,030 Member
    Up at 4:15am, brush teeth, get on computer and do my daily check in on MFP, then either walk or run intervals for 90 minutes. Haven't missed since June of last year. If I'm working, I'll workout before my shift at the gym starts.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Wake up whenever. Make coffee. Take cup of coffee to the hot tub, and soak for 20ish minutes. Get out of hot tub, jump on the computer and look for jobs. Then get ready/dressed and go to the gym.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,700 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    I've got it down to 35 minutes from crawling out of bed to walking down the driveway to catch the bus. I can do it in 30 minutes if I happen to lie in an extra few minutes, but the extra 5 min makes it slightly less stressful.

    I usually stop eating by about 9 pm, but sometimes it will be as late as 11 pm.

    I start eating at 11:30 am, usually with a tiny 100 calorie snack.

    The 11:30 am snack is just enough to take the edge off my hunger so I can go for a brisk lunch walk.

    Then lunch is at 2pm.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    I've likely posted this maybe 3x by now. The first time was last year, around this time.

    "My morning routine is...
    * be legit surprised I was given another day of life
    * thank the Lord, read a daily Bible verse, listen to another Bible verse, then pray
    * listen to the radio (for weather) or watch YouTube (for giggles)
    * snuggle in the covers and mountain of pillows for another 10 - 100 minutes
    * think about making coffee
    * consider exercising (also for giggles)
    * do the morning's biological necessities
    * make my coffee
    * get dressed (perhaps to exercise after all)
    * head to my home office and start the day

    NOTE: if I do exercise before work, I sit in my own filth and grime until I break for lunch. Then I'll shower in lieu of eating."

    So - true to form - I'm a creature of habit and still pretty much the same, save for the strike throughs. I guess made some progress on reducing my procrastination tendancies.

    Some 😅
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Most mornings, get up...poor coffee into my travel mug...grab the dog and go for a walk. Get home, make breakfast and get the kids going on their online learning and go to my desk to work. Mondays and Wednesdays I pretty much just have to get up and shower and get dressed and get out the door since those are my in person days at work and I have an hour commute to get there.

    My actual workouts are in the late afternoon or early evening...performance is way better than doing it in the morning.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Wake up
    Let dogs out
    Mouthwash, pee, weigh, log weight
    Let dogs in, grab water
    Put hair up and go to my room for a workout
    If a work day: shower, coffee, feed dogs(put them out and in again) eat, dress
    If not: coffee, feed dogs(out and in) go back to room for another workout or eat and get ready for a run
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    Well, you asked, so I'm not gonna lie. Here's how my mornings go:
    - Wake up.
    - Hit the snooze button. Repeat as many times as necessary.
    - Get out of bed.
    - Undress my PJ and stumble into the bathroom.
    - Pee.
    - Weigh myself.
    - Drink water.

    Now I'm ready to start my day: shower, get dressed, work, and so on and so forth. ;)
  • Jennliftsandspins
    Jennliftsandspins Posts: 151 Member
    edited March 2021
    Wake up between 6:30-7:30 (alarm goes at 7:30 but I’m usually up by then)
    Weigh myself
    Put on work out clothes
    Have a lemon water
    Do chores (throw in a load of laundry, unload dishwasher, take out trash, clean cat litter)
    Have a coffee and browse phone, plan my day
    Have a cuddle with my youngest and help him get breakfast
    Another coffee
    Workout
    Breakfast/brunch maybe one more coffee.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Weekday mornings:
    * Exit bed.
    * Feed cats.
    * Pee.
    * (Fridays only) Weigh self.
    * Put on workout clothes.
    * Set up whatever I need to do my workout. Right now, 4 mornings a week, that means turning on the TV and the Switch and getting Ring Fit Adventure up and running. On Thursdays I go walking at a local park, so that setup involves applying sunscreen and driving over to said park.
    * Complete workout, 15-60 minutes depending on the day.
    * Shower.
    * Breakfast.
    * Dress for work, if I'm going into work that day.
    * Leave for work, or log on if I'm WFH.

    Weekend mornings:
    * Exit bed.
    * Feed cats.
    * Pee.
    * Either go for breakfast or go back to bed for 2 hours, depending.

    I'm more flexible with when I do my workouts on the weekends, but for weekdays I know I won't do it in the evening after I'm home from work, so first thing in the mornings it is.

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