I bet that the last thing on your mind at the end of a long day is – “I can’t wait to workout!” Any spare time at the end of your day is probably spent catching up on bills, cleaning the house, watching a few DVR shows, perhaps a glass of wine and an early bedtime. I know that’s what my night usually looks like. As moms, most of our energy everyday is spent on other people and we often don’t take time to spend on our health and fitness.
I usually work out 6 mornings a week and give myself Sundays off to sleep in. Did I always do this? Absolutely not! I had to train myself to become a morning person. Rewind to less than a year ago, I didn’t work out. At all. Each morning, I usually snoozed my alarm to the last possible minute until I had to get up, rolled out of bed and drove to work. With an infant and a full-time job, I felt that there wasn’t time in the day to workout and I definitely didn’t have energy leftover at night to spend 2 hours in the gym to get back into shape.
Last July, I discovered that I could workout in my living room with DVDs {thank you T25 and 21 Day Fix} and that really helped to give me the motivation to start a workout program. However, I tried doing the workouts at night after my daughter went to bed and I still felt like it was hard to get motivated to workout at night because I was exhausted! I knew that I had to get healthy and working out was a necessary part of that, so I had to become a morning workout person. Working out in the morning sets you up to feel amazing for the rest of the day…once you do it, you will know what I’m talking about. I think it makes your entire day more productive. It’s the time that I reserve to focus on myself before anyone wakes up. It’s my “me time.” I have been a morning workout person since August – so I’ve been going strong for 7 months now.
Here are 7 tips that have helped me to learn to love {tolerate} being a morning workout person:
1. Start slowly. Start with one day a week at first and slowly add days each week.
2. Get ready the night before. If you do workouts at home, sleep in your workout clothes and get your equipment set out. If you go to the gym, pack your bag and have it ready by the door. If you are already dressed, it’s harder to talk yourself out of it.
3. Create a Pinterest inspiration board. When your alarm goes off and you are tempted to hit the snooze button, open up your inspiration board to help you remember your “why” for morning workouts. You could even set one of the quotes as the background on your phone so that you see it as soon as you wake up. If you need some inspiration, here is my board.
4. Go to sleep early. I know that if I go to bed later than 10pm, I am going to have a hard time getting up in the morning. Set your bedtime and stick to it.
5. Get a support system. Find a friend who gets up at the same time to
workout and text each other in the morning to stay accountable. Better yet, grab a friend and workout together. You are less likely to tell someone else excuses than you are just yourself.
6. Have a workout plan and routine. Whether you create one for the week or one for the month, make a schedule of what workouts you will do each day. It will help you get into a routine. This has two benefits. One, you don’t have to waste anytime crafting your workout for the day. Two, you are less likely to skip a day if you have a routine.
7. Reward yourself. If all else fails, bribe yourself into getting up. For example, promise yourself that if you get up and workout, you can stop on the way into work at your favorite coffee shop or if you finish a week of morning workouts, you will go to the store and buy those pair of jeans that you’ve been eyeing all month!
I’m not going to lie that everyday is a breeze for me to wake up because I sometimes struggle too. My husband would be the first one to tell you how many times I hit the snooze button last week. Some days are going to be easier to get up than others, but you just have to push yourself and know that it is worth it. And sometimes you also just need a little extra sleep and that is okay too!
Are you a morning workout person? If you are, what has worked for you?
