Have you ever tried to wake up at 5:00 am to go to the gym before work? Not easy, right? Try these 7 tips to help you ease into an early morning workout routine.
Let’s face it, being up and waking up are two different things. For some of you, it may be easy to wake up just before your alarm, get the coffee pot brewing and start your day.
For most, though, you have alarms for our alarms. Hitting the dismiss button and rolling back over is common. You can cover your heads with the sheets and convince yourself that you’ll start the early morning workout—tomorrow.
Doing your workout in the early morning has many benefits: it gets you ready for your day, you have the workout over and done with and still have the rest of your time to focus on work or family or relaxing.
We have compiled seven tips to help you with your early morning workouts, a little push to get going when you might not want to.
Start Slow
Everything looks good on paper. When you decide to start working out, you plan for every day of the week. This may not always be a good thing though.
If you aren’t used to rising with the sun (or before it), it may be difficult to do it every day. Let yourself get used to the idea by doing an early morning workout twice a week instead of five or more.
As you get used to the conditioning, add another day until you work yourself up to the full workout routine you have planned.
Once you get used to it use some caffeine-free pre-workout (or some of the best pre workouts for women) to give you some more energy.
Prepare the Night Before
It’s always a lot easier to get motivated when the only thing you have to do is wake up and get dressed. It becomes even easier when you don’t have to search for all of your workout gear in the dark.
If your spouse is sleeping in, or your roommate is a light sleeper, set your clothes out the night before. Put them in a spot where you can see them right when you sit up. The visual motivation will help get you going.
Have your phone or MP3 player fully charged and ready to go as well. If you have to wait for something simple like that, you will find more and more excuses to go back to bed or skip the workout altogether.
Being up, ready and out the door gives you less time to talk yourself out of it and gets you moving for the rest of the day.
Warm Up
When you first wake up your body is cold. Your heart rate has slowed, your blood pressure has gone down, and your muscles are sluggish.
Before you hit the door for that jog or the gym to lift the barbells, you need to warm up properly.
Not only will this increase the likelihood of you going and doing your workout, but it will prevent injuries as well.
You don’t need to do more than work up a little sweat and stretch out the muscles, so they don’t cramp. Once your body is ready, you will be ready.
Use A Friend
Accountability works for any situation. If you have to meet a deadline, finish prepping for a meeting or waking up an hour earlier to work out, there is no better motivator than letting someone else down.
Invite a friend and get them to join you. Plan on the spot to meet that is outside both of your homes. Having one person meet at another one’s house means less time working out and more time waiting.
When your alarm goes off you will be thinking about making your friend wait, hoping you get there first. Once you both arrive, you will be motivated throughout your workout, and a little friendly competition never hurt.
Sign Up for Classes
Money is the great motivator. If you sign up and pay for an early morning class, you are far more likely to go. You will be thinking about the wasted money as you lay there in bed deciding to either get up or turn the alarm off.
You work too hard just to give your money away, so the motivation to get in gear and get going will be there. Before too long, though, the money won’t matter, you will be looking forward to your sessions.
Small Goals
The most minor action is larger than the greatest plan. Putting everything into bite-sized chunks also helps create a sense of accomplishment.
Setting small goals that are easily obtained give you something to be proud of, a check off your list and extra motivation to reach the next goal and the bigger goals.
Just like with starting one or two days a week and working up to a full schedule, break your goals into manageable chunks.
You will find the smaller ones are easier to obtain, which will, in turn, make it easier to get out of bed in the morning to reach them.
Rewards
Working out and exercising will have their physical and health rewards in due time. But there is nothing wrong with a little reward in the more immediate future. Allow yourself to celebrate the small victories.
Perhaps you can set up a weekly reward for accomplishing a goal every day. Then if you do it for a month, give yourself a larger monthly prize.
Maybe you stop by the coffee shop for the extra-large every Saturday and then a manicure or massage every 1at of the month.
Level your rewards according to the goals met, and you will find it easier to jump up in the early morning and get to work.
30-Day Challenge - Hybrid Athlete
We’ve created this 30-day fitness challenge to remove the mystery and hesitation that comes along with wanting to get in shape.
All you need is your body, a kettlebell, and this 30-day plan.
- 30-day program, 4-5 workouts each week.
- Workouts vary in length, up to 45-minutes, including “test” days that will help you track your progress over the course of the month.
- There are active rest sessions and designated off days.
- Each exercise is linked to a video explanation.
- The program utilizes bodyweight and kettlebell exercises, requiring at least one kettlebell in the range of 15lb to 25lb. A yoga or exercise mat is also recommended.
- Bonus: Includes a free guide on nutrition and healthy eating
- Mobile and Desktop Versions included
- Printable PDF workout calendar
No Rest for the Motivated
Whatever it is that works for you, is what you need to focus on. You know what will get you moving in the morning when your own brain is fighting you.
Whatever you do, don’t give up. If you are not an early riser, to begin with, it will be even more difficult. As they say though, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Find your motivation, stick with it and soon it will become a habit. You won’t need the extra push, and you will find yourself enjoying your early morning sessions more and more.
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Our team at The Fitness Tribe often collaborates together to produce content. Many times the content is not written by a single author, instead it is usually a team effort.