Thursday, June 21, 2007

Morning Exercisers

Ok... I'd love to hear from all the people who get up early in the morning and exercise.
  • Are you naturally a morning person? Or do you have to force yourself to do it?
  • Do you eat before you exercise? Or do you workout on an empty stomach?
  • Do you exercise every day? If not, what do you do in the morning on the days you don't workout?
I have always wanted to be a morning exerciser. Every once in a while I get a spurt--usually lasts about a month--where I wake up at dawn for my workouts. But then the spurts end and I'm back to hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock.

I prefer morning workouts, though. They seem more peaceful. More meditative. And I skip fewer of them, since I have no other obligations in the morning. (Unlike the afternoon, when Hubby and family and friends vie for my time.)

My afternoon and evening workouts always seemed hurried. And if a friend wants to go to dinner or Hubby wants to run errands, I'll often push my workout off to another day.

So tell me all about it... how do you morning exercise people do it?

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I get up at 4:30. Have a pot of coffee waiting for me with my work clothes, lunch and gym clothes at the table waiting for me. Somehow I make my way to the kitchen....still don't know how I do that....fix my coffee, drink it, and by then I'm awake enough to put my gym clothes on, get to the gym, work out (run or cross train) for 30 minutes, then shower, dress and get to work.
If I'm really tired, I just tell myself that if I still want to go to sleep after the first cuppa joe, then I can, but 99.99% of the time I don't. That's Monday-Friday. Saturday I let my daughter wake us up, spend time with her. Sunday same thing, but I find some time during the day to get to the gym.

ifitistobe said...

I am not a morning person at all. But I recognized that if I didn't get my workouts done first thing in the AM, I would come up with all kinds of excuses not to do it. So I made the effort to do it, started a year and a half ago and have lost 80 lbs in that time. With time, you grow to so appreciate the benefits of early morning workouts that that will motivate you to get up and get it done. Your day then flows a lot smoother, you are calmer, eat better, think well...you start your day with a sense of great purpose and accomplishment and that is priceless. Not to mention the extra calories you'll burn, etc. You just have to make a consitent effort to do it, stick to it, find activities that you love or music that u look forward to listening to while working out, anything to just excite you about working out when you wake up. Lay out your gym clothes the day before, go to bed early enough andf just do it. That being said though what ultimately matters is that you workout no matter what time you do it, so if u really can't do mornings, do evenings. You can do it, if I did it, u certainly can too.

Anonymous said...

I get up at 6 a.m. and go to the gym some days when I know I won't have time in the afternoon. I always have a green tea and large water and sometimes an apple if I feel a little weak. I found that if I do cardio for 30 min and strength training for 15-25 I feel great all day. It really boosts my energy throughout the whole day and leaves me feeling less sleepy. I also found that if I work out before work, I don't get that 3-4 p.m. sleepy feeling at my desk.

Anonymous said...

Like Amethyst, I am up by 4:30 to get my workout in.

I get all my gear ready the night before - clothes, pre-run snack and my lunch made.

I allow myself 1 hit of the snooze button then it's out I go.

The odd day where I would rather stay in bed, I bribe myself with "do 20 mins then you can go back to bed if you want"
I have yet to go back to home to bed!

I use it as my time. There is NO ONE out at 4:45am. I run along the river so I can watch the sun rise, the mist, freighters and enjoy the tranquility.

I am up early at least 6X/week.
Start w/ 2 days a week and slowly work your way up.

** I am a total morning person so it's easy for me.
I rarely see past 9:00pm though.

Give it a try for a few weeks, it may work out.

A Heathier Me said...

I have never been a morning person. I used to workout every morning before I started communting for work.

It all started because there was a 5:45am spin class at the gym. I made myself go. I started going to the gym in the morning two days a week, then three, then four and so on. I got into a habit after the first two weeks of getting up early every day. The only bad thing is that it was very hard for me to sleep in and I was exhausted by 9pm at night.

I never eat before hand because i was still waking up and there was never time to let the food digest before going. On the weekends I may have a half of a banana when I get up and go to the gym 30mins later.

Right now I am trying to get up and do some for of light cardio to break a sweat for 30mins in the morning. It's very rewarding to get that done first thing in the morning.

Let us know how it goes!

Tiffany said...

I always want to be a morning workout person, I just feel great after a good morning workout BUT I can never get out of bed. At least now I have an excuse, I am 8 weeks pregant and morning workouts are not going to happen until I get past the morning sickness!!

Fatinah said...

I used to exercise in the a.m. when I worked. It was then out of the way for the day and I could veg in the evenings. While I am a morning person of sorts, I will admit that the first 10 minutes on the treadmill actually made me feel nauseous. I would keep going though, and then hit my groove and I would be on quite a high when I hit work, which ultimately made it easier to deal with some of the jokers in my group. Eventually, it was just part of my routine. And way harder to have something "conflict" with exercise.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what I'm struggling with lately too.. I really want to get it overwith in the morning so I can get other stuff done at night. But I end up turning my alarm off every morning instead. This week I shall try harder! :)

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Anonymous said...

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times - it's better to exercise in the morning, bla bla bla... Not for me! Exercise actually relaxes me, even aerobics, and helps me sleep better. I don't know why I'm opposite of so many other people, but I am and always have been. It's like when some couples have a nooner and one is pumped but the other needs a nap afterwards. I'm the napper and I'm the evening exerciser.