How to Motivate Yourself to Workout in the Morning

Doing a morning workout is one of the most abandoned resolutions in history. How many times have you tried and failed? That’s why I’m going to share my tried-and-true strategies for working out in the morning.

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It’s almost a cliché to make the resolution to get up early to workout only to fail miserably in the end.

Most of the time, people decide to start working out in the morning with the best of intentions. The first day everything is fine, but enthusiasm usually runs out by the second day and it’s downhill from there.

It seems like the bedcovers possess some kind of evil magic which keeps you glued to them so that when the alarm goes off, you simply press the snooze button and forget all about your workout.

But I’m here to tell you it’s possible to beat those bedcovers.

I get up at 6 in the morning every day to do exercise so I can give you a few useful tips on how to rise and shine and workout. In fact, you’ll see this is not about willpower, but about simple planning and prepping the night before.

Doing a morning workout is one of the healthiest, most powerful habits you can pick up, and the best part is you’ll burn more calories if you exercise in the am. Are you sold on the idea yet?

Let’s get up and let’s get moving!

How to motivate yourself to workout in the morning

1. Find a powerful reason to get up early

First of all, you need a powerful reason to get up with the sun and move your body. Why do you want to do this?

A few years ago, I wanted to have a hot body so I could look great in fashionable clothes. That may sound cool, but honestly, it wasn’t a powerful enough reason to get my butt out of bed in the morning.

One day, it hit me that I’m genetically prone to having diabetes and heart disease (thanks a lot, Dad and grandparents!), and that scared the life out of me. I want to be healthy as long as I can because I want to be there for my kids. I don’t want to be sick and feeble if I can prevent it.

And that’s a powerful enough reason to get my butt out of bed at 6 or even at 5 o’clock in the morning.

2. Plan your workout

You’ve decided to get up early to workout. Great! But what exactly are you going to do?

Plan your workout the night before. Pick a video on YouTube, or plan a running route, or download a routine you can do at the gym.

If you don’t have a plan, you’re going to waste a lot of time thinking about what you can do and that will eventually become an excuse to press the snooze button.

On the other hand, if you have everything prepped and planned, you’ll be ready to go as soon as the alarm goes off. No excuses!

3. Set up a system

You need to set up a system which makes it easier to get up and workout than to stay in bed. Here are a few ideas:

• Program an alarm the night before, but don’t leave your phone right next to your bed. Put it all the way across the room so you’ll necessarily have to get up to turn off the alarm.
• Wear your workout clothes to bed. Go to sleep with you gym top and shorts so you’ll only have to put on your sneakers when you wake up. 
• Obviously, you’ll have to go to bed early. Plan your day accordingly and turn off all screens and devices an hour before bedtime. You could read a little before you go to sleep. Another good habit in the making!
• Make sure you pick a gym or a running track that’s close to home. A long commute is another excuse to give up on working out early. Working out at home is a good option too.

4. Be accountable

Accountability is a powerful motivator. Think about it. You will make more of an effort if you have someone to hold you accountable, but it will be easy to give up if no one cares about what you’re doing.

Here are a few ways to become accountable to someone:

• Get a friend to start working out with you. You’ll feel more pressure to get up if you know there’s someone who’ll be expecting you to show up.
• Have a trusted person ask you about your workout every day. You won’t be so tempted to press the snooze button if you have to report back to someone.
• Get your friends and relatives to reward you for keeping your workout resolution. And they can also assign you a punishment if you fall off the bandwagon.
• Sign up for a 5k or another competition. Having a deadline is the best way to push yourself to meet a goal.

5. Make it enjoyable

One of the things that motivate me to get an early workout is I know I’ll get some “me” time. I’m a mom of three, so a little while to myself is essential to keep my sanity. That’s why I’m more than happy to get up as soon as the alarm goes off!

You can turn your morning workout into an enjoyable activity with a few ideas:

• Prepare a playlist with all your favorite workout songs. Music makes everything more enjoyable!
• Drink a glass of water of a cup of green tea as soon as you get up to feel more energized.
• If you a have a dog, take your best friend out for a run. You’ll both have a great time!
• Give yourself a reward after you do a certain number of morning workouts. It could be mani-pedi, a haircut, or new workout clothes. Who doesn’t look forward to that?

As you can see, getting up early to workout isn’t about having superhuman willpower but about ordinary organization skills. Planning and prepping are the key to any health and fitness program.

Doing morning workouts is a powerful, healthy habit, and you can actually learn to love it. There’s no need to torture yourself.

And perhaps if you pick up the habit of exercising first thing in the morning, you could also inspire other people around you to become healthy and fit. Be the change you want to see in the world.

See you tomorrow at 6 A.M.!

Do you have any other tips that help you get up for an early workout? Share them in the comments!