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Early Morning Workouts: A Routine You Cannot Live Without
By Joe Fier | November 1, 2007
“If finding time to workout seemed difficult enough throughout the day, how could I ever think working out in the morning would be easy?!”
This was the thought that ran through my head over and over after I had many of my athletic friends hound me to workout with them in the morning. As being a person that never preferred waking up early unnecessarily (and thinking that exercising could take a back seat until later in the day), this wasn’t an idea that I really wanted to wrap myself around. I could sure wrap myself around pillows and a nice large bed at an early hour, but hitting the asphalt outside didn’t sound quite appealing.
For years I have told myself I would never be the type to wait for the crack of sunlight so I could rush outside and take in the sweet smell of the morning dew. Sure I loved the smell and weather of the morning out here in San Diego, I didn’t want to experience the turmoil that came along with it. When waking early in the morning, the only thing that I could dream for was a steaming brew of coffee; how would I be able to replace this with a love to run and exercise? After a seemingly endless amount of attempts by my buddies to get me out in the morning, I did it.
After dragging my feet as my friends, almost forcefully, pulled me from my warm house and out onto the cold streets, I felt very relieved, but I just didn’t want to admit it. Fessing up and telling them that this workout thing actually felt refreshing would feel like defeat for me! Sure, the workouts in the morning felt pretty sluggish for the first few minutes, but my body eventually came around and everything started functioning normally, and almost better at times. As I continued with these morning routines, I stumbled upon various benefits that came along with it. Check out my 10 top reasons why I continue to join those early birds almost each and every morning…
- Spend some energy in the morning, but gain a whole bunch throughout the day. I feel a major drop in energy during the days that I don’t workout in the morning. I know it sounds crazy to think that using the little amount of energy you have in the morning will pay you back in ten-fold later in the day, but believe it!
- You’ll eat less and lose more. Early working out will help keep your appetite down while your body also speeds its metabolism rate. Once again, it sounds like this idea wouldn’t work, but it does. You’ll definitely want to refuel after a workout, but you won’t get the urges to snack like you once had.
- The body keeps working after you’ve stopped. Long after you’ve taken your shower and started the next part of your day, your body keeps on burning calories. Depending on the intensity of your workout, the body could keep working calories off for 24 hours! This is definitely a sweet deal anyone can’t afford to pass up.
- Better sleep with less hours. Before, I felt that when I would get less than seven hours of sleep, my body would stay groggy from the beginning of the day and throughout. As I began routinely exercising, I began sacrificing an extra hour of sleep, but it wouldn’t affect me. In fact, the mixture of losing a bit of sleep in exchange for a good workout only made those hours of sleep that much better and beneficial.
- No more being cranky! Exercising is notorious for clearing the mind and setting yourself in the right direction. Why not start each and every day this way?? With a good run or workout in the morning, everything else in the day will becoming much easier to deal with. Whatever you’ve dreaded at work or in school will become almost meaningless because you can see through it to much better things. You’ll now wonder why that cranky lady at work (we’ll just call her Karen) has never picked up morning exercising!
- It gives me a normal routine. I set my time to just about the same time each and every day. With this method I have given myself something to look forward to and another accomplishment to defeat. This makes getting out of the house so much easier, almost to the point of not even thinking what you’re doing. It’s been scary at times when I wake up a minute before my alarm clock. It almost seems like my body and mind are just waiting to jump out of bed, dying to hit the road!
- Set those clothes out. Before any morning workout, I set what I’ll need out before I go to bed. I believe this instills in your mind a commitment to yourself that you will head out and exercise. At times this has been the only thing that kept me from hitting the snooze button. I almost feel guilty knowing that I’ve taken the effort to gather my clothes if they are not going to be used.
- The commitment will spread. If you have trouble making deadlines at work or in your personal life, a simple daily morning exercise might be a good trainer for you. Since you’ll be sticking to roughly the same time each morning (and not hitting the snooze button for extra time), you’ll see that making those once dreadful appointments and meeting times won’t be so bad.
- No one’s on your case in the morning! At this early time you better not be getting calls left and right from people that want to take up your time. The early morning time is one of the fews parts of the days that I feel free from distractions of others. Many times, escaping the pressures of work for an hour at lunch feels nearly impossible. If it’s not work, it is the ranting of the kids or other people wanting to hang out with you. Get it done in the morning and feel free for the rest of the day!
- It just feels great! This might not be simple to say when first starting out, but once in the routine, you’ll love it. The weather is awesome in the morning, there always seems to be a fresh scent in the air, the birds are normally the only sound around, and you’ll be the only one out there! There’s not much more to love other than that.
Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think!
Topics: Exercises | 11 Comments »
November 6th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
[...] at Be Healthy and Relax, Joe wrote a great post about Early Morning Workouts that I highly [...]
July 20th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I have been an early risers since my twenties and teach outdoor boot camps, also in the early morning. It is so true, the ones who don’t initally like the idea of rising early after a month find it a very pleasnt and worthwhile habit.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
This book is true to its title, I bought this book about 2 weeks ago ,read it , followed the advise, and my experience was just as the title states .. I lost weight , I have lot’s of energy and I was happier in 8 days not 10.. This is a must get
December 12th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
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February 6th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I don’t sometimes comment on blog posts but I had to stop in and tell you thank you for writing this, I totally agree and hopefully folks will see your point.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
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May 3rd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
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June 3rd, 2010 at 10:38 pm
I have morning woods, therefore that makes it hard, because I am a early riser as well… GET IT?
June 20th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Just wondering – what time did you wake up every morning to do this exercise ? I’m just seeing what you would reccomend as all the feedback seems very positive and I would like to be start my morning this way (: