Exercising any time of the day is already a chore for some people. Imagine if you have to wake up early to do exactly that. It can easily be considered a drag and somehow it is understandable. People love tucking in for more sleep in the morning and using that time for some workouts feels impossible.
Whether you do it for some stretching, yoga, or early morning jog, many people will agree that staying in bed in the morning is more enjoyable than engaging in some physical activities. But an early morning exercise routine is one of the healthiest habits you can have for yourself.
So, the key to encouraging yourself to exercise during the early part of the day is to concentrate on making physical activity more appealing and enjoyable. Here are 5 tips you can do to motivate yourself into working out in the morning:
1. Have an exercise partner
It can be a family member or friend, having a workout buddy in the morning can boost your motivation to wake up early knowing someone will do the same. It’s better if your partner is the kind of person that’s full of energy and joy in the early hours of the day, not someone who’s always whining about waking up early. The last you need is a fitness cohort who drains whatever positive energy you have left in you. To make it work, plan an early morning, pre-workout phone call between the two of you. This is to motivate the both of you to get up instead of falling back asleep.
2. Gear up by laying out your exercise items
Get ready by preparing your workout things before you go to sleep the night before your early morning activity. Whatever you need the following day, set them up and put everything that you’ll use in your gym bag. Place your workout clothes on your dresser, so it’s easier to get dressed the next day. Seeing everything you need is already in place will motivate you to get up and get moving.
3. Find an item that can remind you of your goals
For instance, you can find a bikini or a tight dress that you can display somewhere in your room to remind you why you’re working out persistently in the first place. These items symbolize your fitness or weight loss objectives so that when you see them in the morning you won’t be as lazy as usual. This is because there’s this tangible goal you’re looking to achieve. The idea of a better, healthier physique will energize you and help you get up regardless of how early it is.
4. Set your alarm clock for some motivational words
You can set your alarm clock so that when it goes off you’ll hear some motivational message instead of just pure noise, which actually gives you a headache since your consciousness feels ambushed into starting to function. With this, you can be reminded of your goals. In the case that your alarm clock doesn’t have this option, you can use your smartphone instead.
Surely, a lot of models of phones today enable you to pre-record a message for an alarm. You can just say anything when you’re recording as long as you know it’s effective enough to get you up in the morning. It can be an inspirational message from a well-liked fitness book or video or it can be your specific fitness goal. It can be the very reason why you’re working out where you can emphasize why it needs to happen.
5. Sleep early the night before
It will be less challenging to get up early in the morning when you’ve slept enough and well the night before. If you’re really keen on starting a routine where you work out in the morning, that means you also have to make changes with regards your sleeping schedule. If it means sacrificing your late night Netflix indulgences, then so be it. Remember, you have to focus on your fitness or weight loss goals. If something gets in the way of that, especially unhealthy habits you have to get rid of them.
Hence, make the necessary changes to make sure that you’ll get 7-8 hours of sleep. You’re likely to wake up feeling energized and perky for your morning activity if you’re not sleep deprived. Plus, sleeping well and enough also means you’re preventing your body from generating extreme amounts of ghrelin, a hormone that drives your appetite crazy leading you to binge eat which is triggered by inadequate sleep.
