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About a month ago I talked about The Morning Workout. I talked about some of the pros and cons of waking up early, and explained some of my reasonings. To be honest, I am still really struggling with the whole “oh I’ll just get up early and work out before work” thing. I LIKE my sleep. Sometimes I set my alarm early and tell myself that I’ll “just see how I feel and decide if I want to get up early or sleep an extra hour”. What do you think I usually choose? That being said, I’ve still been waking up 1 or 2 days a week to squeeze a work out in before work, and even when I’m grumpy that I’m missing sleep, I enjoy getting my work out done before the start of my day.
That being said, I thought I’d share some of my tips for making my morning workout as painless as possible.
- Make sure to eat a good dinner. Going to bed hungry means that I’ll wake up really hungry, which usually doesn’t lead to a great work out at all. In fact, I feel crummy the entire time.
- Turn off computer and phone by 10 pm the night before. This helps shut my mind off a bit, hopefully ensuring that I can fall asleep at a reasonable hour.
- Have your lunch packed the night before. Would you rather sleep an extra 5 minutes or wake up knowing that you have another extra thing on your “to do list” for the morning?
- If you’re going to the gym, make sure to have your bag packed with all necessary items needed for getting ready in the morning the night before. This includes all items of your work attire (I’ve forgotten things on multiple occasions). Do this the night before, as you won’t be wide awake in the morning to do it (unless you’re a morning person. I’m not. Clearly).
- If you can, have your breakfast pre-made or set out on the counter to shorten your time. Sometimes I even pour my orange juice and keep it in the frig so I can quickly grab it. I usually end up eating 1/2- 3/4 of a bar in the morning before I drive to the gym.
- Make sure to pack a healthy snack to eat once you get to be work. The breakfast you ate before your work out will likely not be enough to hold you over until lunch. Have a snack prepared so you don’t head towards the junk food.
- Sometimes if you haven’t slept well at all, it’s ok to miss your morning work out. I’d much rather work out after work then short change myself on necessary sleep. I also know that I’ll be happier throughout the day if I’m not sleepy.
- Make sure to have your iphone/ipod/Garmin/whatever other piece of equipment that you use charged and ready to go. It’s a pain to have to wait for it to finish charging in the morning.
- Have your work out clothes sitting out and readily available the night before. Again, this helps decrease the amount of time you need to spend getting ready in the morning, therefore giving yourself more time to sleep.
Ok, I think that’s all I have at the moment.
Now it’s your turn to share: Do you have any other tips for working out in the morning?
