5am workout, how do you do it??

I wake up every morning between 3:30 and 4am without an alarm. Have done so for about 25 years now. Started doing 5am workout a few months ago. It is great to be doing something fun and beneficial with my time before work rather than just sitting in my recliner surfing the net.

Set your alarm (obviously). Make sure you go to bed a little earlier. Lay out your kit before you go to bed. When the alarm goes, don't hit snooze, just get straight up. Loo. Dress. Quick drink. And out the door. Don't stop to check mail, read stuff, or in any other way dilly dally. Just tell yourself you mean business, and act as if you do. You'll be fine.

You get used to it. I'll be honest, it takes me two different alarm clocks plus a sunrise simulator to wake my butt up, but I have my workout gear all set out so I just blast motivating music and crawl my butt out of bed.
It took me about two weeks to start getting used to the schedule change, and I'm in bed by 8:30 most nights so I can be asleep by 9!

Hang in there! My hubby and I get up at 3:30 and hit the gym by 4:30am. We have been for 1-1/2 years. Once you've been doing it a while it will become second nature and you'll miss it if you don't get up and go. We both feel we feel better have more energy all day long.

I don't.

I agree with going to bed earlier until you get used to it - and when the alarm goes off, just GET UP before you can convince yourself not to!!

If you want it you'll do it, if you don't you'll make excuses. I get up absurdly early on Saturdays, 4:45am. I go to bed early, set my phone alarm next to the bed and another across the room. I get up immediately, turn off the second alarm, turn on all the lights and start moving!

If you can do it for a few weeks you'll reset your internal clock and it will be a habit.

I already have to be up at 4:45am to get ready for work - I can't imagine getting up earlier! But when I didn't have to be at work so early, I would sleep in my workout clothes so I could roll out of bed, put shoes on and go. It helped, especially on cold mornings. :-)

I learned of a couple apps for smartphones. One called sleep cycler for iOS and Android Cycle for Android. Both apps work in similar ways for people who typically sleep alone. Just tell the app what time you want to go to bed(they remind you) and what time you want to wake up. Plug the phone in and lay it on the bed next to you. It will monitor your sleep sounds and movements and will adjust the alarm depending on how restless of a nights sleep you had. It worked great for me so far trying to get up at 5.

I found a quote that said, "I exercise in the morning before my brain knows what I'm doing." That's what I do...I get up, get dressed and out the door to the gym I go. Don't give myself any time to think about it, am fine once I get there and ALWAYS glad I went.

A decent bedtime helps and you just have to commit to it. Eventually you will find how good you feel on days you work out in the AM vs. the days you don't. Its nice to get it done early so you can enjoy the rest of your day without wondering when you are going to fit in a workout.

Good luck!

You get used to it. I'll be honest, it takes me two different alarm clocks plus a sunrise simulator to wake my butt up, but I have my workout gear all set out so I just blast motivating music and crawl my butt out of bed.
It took me about two weeks to start getting used to the schedule change, and I'm in bed by 8:30 most nights so I can be asleep by 9!

Peachy- does the sunrise simulator really make a difference in you being able to get up?? Worth the investment??

It's HARD...especially since I tend to not get to bed until at least 10 or 10:30...BUT when I do, it's a relief- then I don't have to worry about how to fit it in later in the day. Plus, it feels good to do something good for myself in the mornings, rather than getting up just to go to work, then going to work, then getting home to do house-work...sometimes the AM workouts are the only me-time I get...I pretty much have a love-hate relationship with them, lol!

Also, if you have a smartphone, there's an app called "I Can't Wake Up!" You can set an alarm (a normal alarm or a song, etc.) and it will NOT shut off until you follow certain steps...you can choose for those steps to be something like solving a math problem OR (and this is what I do) you have to go scan something (you pick what it is) using the barcode feature on the app. So the alarm goes off, and I HAVE to get up, walk to the kitchen, and scan the coffee can to make the alarm shut up- and since I get the coffee ready the night before, once I scan the barcode, I can pour myself some coffee!

you really have to go to bed early... that can be very hard esp. if you have kids. Another option could be taking a power nap?? I cant do those because it takes me days to just fall asleep.

I used to do 5am workouts but that was because I had no other choice if I wanted to work out. What if you signed up for a spin class or something? Maybe a commitment might get you up!?

I do it because I know that if I don't get up at 5, then the workout won't happen. This doesn't make waking up less painful (winter sucks so hard) but it does help drive me slinking out of bed and heading out to the gym.

I also really look forward to my Saturday workouts that I can go to any old time. I look forward to those a lot!