I know, you totally just rolled your eyes at the mere title, but bear with me, because I used to roll my eyes at the idea of a predawn workout session too. That was until 3 years ago when I
realized that my workout routine had fallen off to the pressures of a demanding job with long hours and daily scheduling challenges. My routine (or lack thereof) vacillated between spotty and nonexistent. It wasn't that I didn't WANT to workout, I did, I just truly could not for the life of me figure out how to fit it into my life. I would get to the gym about twice on weekdays after work and maybe get a run in on the weekend if I was lucky. I was inconsistent, doing sub-par workouts, wasn't getting the results I wanted and didn't feel good about my body. Once I realized my own frustration about my own inconsistencies and took ownership of those inconsistencies, I found that the only time that I could find in my life that could be completely uninterrupted were early mornings. After a bit of trial and error I now workout consistently 5 days a week with 5 am wake ups and I have been at it over 2 years.
Here are some tips that helped turn me into a Morning Workout Addict & Love it -
1. Re-frame it - change your focus. Working out is more than half mental and if your mind is focused on how much a morning workout is going to suck, how exhausting it's going to be and how little sleep you got - guess what? Your workout is going to suck. So change your focus and spend your mental energy focused on how good you're going to feel when you're done, how empowering it is to make your physical health a priority.
2. Make a workout plan. You should be doing this no matter what time of day you get your workout in, but it's especially important to be doing this when you're doing a morning workout. Having a plan in mind helps to set your mind-frame of what you want to accomplish that morning and keeps to motivated to power through and crush your workout.
3. Go to bed earlier. I know it's nice to relax and decompress in the evenings, catch up on Netflix or read a book but getting enough sleep is vital not only to feeling energized when you wake up in the morning but also to weight loss. Truthfully, even if you don't start out going to bed earlier it will probably happen naturally if you're consistent with your wake up times, because you'll be tired earlier, but it will be a bit harder to keep waking for those workouts, so make your life easier and just go to bed earlier. If you find it really hard to turn off your phone and turn out the light much earlier, start out slowly by going to to bed just 15 mins earlier each night until you're getting enough sleep (somewhere between 7-9 hours a night, or whatever amount allows you to wake up feeling energized).
4. Preparation, preparation, preparation! Get everything ready the night before and I mean EVERYTHING. Workout clothes with socks, sneakers and even hair elastics laid out, (I've heard of some people taking it as far as sleeping in their workout clothes, personally I don't, a sports bra is too constricting for me to sleep in). Put out your music/headphones out if you use them. If you're going to shower and dress for work at the gym all that stuff should be packed up and ready either by the door or already out in the car. Fill your water bottle and keep it in the fridge. If you're a coffee addict, program your coffee maker so that all you have to do it pour it into a mug before you fly out the door. Bonus - if you live where it gets super cold in the winter - get a remote car starter - trust me it'll be worth it on those dark cold January mornings.
5. Think about breakfast. Breakfast is also about preparation but for me it falls into it's own category. Breakfast is tricky for a lot of people, personally I find that morning fasted morning workouts powered by just some black coffee works great for me. If you've never done a fasted a workout I would encourage you to think about trying one, you may find that you actually feel better and have a better workout without having food in your belly. However if you must have food before you workout, plan ahead and make something that's easily digestible like a shake the night before, or all prepped so you just have to throw it in a blender. Also, if you're like me and prefer to eat afterwards, prep your breakfast the night before things like, chia seed pudding made with coconut milk, nuts, green smoothies, fruit and protein shakes all work great for an easy post workout breakfast.
6. Make yourself accountable. Signup for an early am class, plan to meet a friend, or even just tell people your plan. It's a lot harder to hit the snooze button when you know that you'll be letting down a friend you were supposed to meet, losing the money you paid for a class or knowing that when you get to work your colleagues will be asking you about your workout.
7. Don't forget to make time for stretching/foam rolling. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), ie next day muscle soreness, will make it super tough to get out of bed the following morning when you feel like you got hit by a truck. One way to prevent DOMS is to make sure that you plan your workout session to include time for a cool down, stretching and foam rolling- this is crucial because when your'e crunched for time this is often the first thing that gets left out but then you find yourself sore with tight muscles leaving you uninterested in working out again the next day.
8. Be proud! Getting up for an early morning workout isn't always easy and it requires true commitment, so be proud of your hard work and dedication. Feeling that sense of pride and accomplishment will be your greatest internal motivation to keep you going.
