You too can become a morning exerciser!
| 2 min read
You don’t have to be a natural early bird to start up a morning exercise routine. But you do have to accept one thing: It’s not necessarily going to be easy to crawl out from under your blanket an hour before you really have to and work up a sweat. That said, once you experience the benefits of an a.m. workout, we think you’ll agree there’s no better way to start the day.
Have you tried to exercise in the morning before but couldn’t keep it up? We’ve been there and learned a few tricks along the way that helped us become regular members of the 6 a.m. club:
Lay out everything the night before. Back in elementary school, your mom probably told you to put everything in your backpack before bed so you wouldn’t forget something important in the morning. The same rule applies here. Pack your gym bag with clothes, shoes, wallet and keys the night before to avoid a sleepy scramble. Or lay out your running outfit so you don’t have to think too much about what to wear when you wake up. You could even sleep in your workout attire if you want to save a step!
Get creative with your alarm. If you’re able to label alarms on your smartphone, you can use this function to encourage yourself to get out of bed. Just name it after something that’s motivating you to exercise. A custom alarm labeled “6 weeks to swimsuit season!” or “10K training: 3 miles” will remind you why you’d ultimately regret skipping the workout. If you need a more forceful push in the morning, check out these alarm clocks that actually require you to get moving to shut them off.
Be obligated to go. Tell a running pal that you’ll meet him at the park at 7 a.m.—you’d never leave him hanging around waiting for you. You can also sign-up in advance for a pre-work yoga session, spinning class or bootcamp. Many specialty fitness classes are pay-as-you-go and the gym will charge you for no-shows, meaning you’re throwing money out the door if you sign up for that pre-dawn class and decide to hit snooze instead.
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Photo credit: Presidio of Monterey
