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.!
Preparation is HUGE! I find I really need to get myself prepared and ready to go the night before. But also preparing myself mentally. Mentally committing to it and telling myself I WILL DO THIS.
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Yes! Mental preparation is also essential. Great comment!
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These are excellent tips..Honestly, i prefer to work out late evenings. My mornings can’t accommodate a workout session because work starts at 7am. Once I wake up, I just do a few stretches and start to prep for work. I guess I still need to plan though and first on my list would be going to bed early
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I know what you mean. Morning workouts can be difficult if you have a job that starts early. There was a time in my life when I used to get up at 5:00 am to workout so I could be at work by 8:00. But it’s more important to fit in exercise every day, no matter what the time.
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Yes I agree..I have my green tea during work hours and try to eat healthy….then workout in the evening…that’s my routine for week days
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Sounds great!
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Morning workouts are great! They get your day going and set you up for success! I have tried all the different times of day for working out…it wasn’t until I changed my work schedule to come in at 9am (before I finally retired) that I was able to do so. When the kids were little, I worked out during my lunch hour. Luckily I I operated a jogging center and pool where I could go any time of year. I also tried working out in the evenings after 5pm when I would get home. I fed my kids, turned on my soap then hopped on my home stair-stepper. I got really tired though in the evenings, and once the kids started playing sports, that stopped. Great post, Fabi! Full of good reasons to get up and go!
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Thanks, Terri! I’ve also experimented with working out at different times during the day, but I definitely love working out in the morning the most.
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I am in a constant battle with myself to get up in the morning. I wake up with intentions of working out, but then I give in to call of morning coffee and it’s downhill from there. Great motivation!
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Try having a glass of water as soon as you wake up. It wakes you up just like coffee and hydrates you so that you don’t feel the urgent need for a cup of java.
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Good suggestion!
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Make Mornings without a workout seem like a day not lived…… Try n feel this…. N I swear u will never miss an early morning workout…..
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Amazing writeup Fabi…..
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Thanks
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In a post I recently wrote, I also commented that aesthetics is NOT ENOUGH motivation to keep a person exercising for the long haul. We need to find reasons that remain in place a LIFETIME. For you, a family history of disease offered that motivation.
These are all really good tips. Getting up in the morning isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it guarantees that “life” will not get in the way of remaining committed to exercising over a lifetime..
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Yes, I read your post. I agree aesthetics will never be enough motivation to change a lifestyle.
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These are all useful tips. I recently got in the habit of waking at 5 am and working out. I’ve met two fitness goals already and am moving toward 2 more. It was rough in the beginning. Waking up is hard to do. I used the five-second rule by Mel Robbins to train myself to not give in to excuses.
These tips actually work well for work as well. 😉
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Great ideas! 🙂
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Thanks for the tips. I need all the motivation I can get. Working out is not one of my favorite things to do. I will push it off until I eat a slice of cake due to utter shame that I fell off the healthy band wagon. Living healthy and exercise is a lifestyle change for sure and not without daily struggle.
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It’s a daily struggle for sure, but remember the key to overcoming the struggle is planning and prepping. Make it so that working out is easy and eating cake is hard.
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Love these tips Fabi. The alarm one is my secret weapon to waking up at 5AM. I place the phone clear across the room and program it for 5 minute intervals so that no matter how much I want to snooze, the phone will just keep going off. I’ve trained myself so that I know it will happen, so I just cave in and wake up at the first ring lol. I also agree with making it enjoyable. I subscribe to a ton of podcasts that I like so I always have something interesting to listen to.
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Making your morning routine enjoyable is a huge motivation. I wouldn’t trade my morning workout-alone time for anything in the world!
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Thanks for the tips!! I’m writing them down to start that tomorrow! For me is very difficult to wake up so early, but the motivation is key and I love how you propose to make it enjoyable!
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Many people forget that getting up early to workout can actually be enjoyable. 🙂
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A morning workout, even just a small one, makes a great start to the day! Thanks for the post!
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Very true! It’s what they call a “keystone” habit.
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Hey! Shoot me an email at ian.michael.etzwiler@gmail.com, I have an idea! 🙂
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Oops, I just realized I actually posted a new comment instead of replying to your keystone habit reply to my comment! So, thanks for the knowledge, I never heard of a keystone habit before, we learn something new everyday 🙂
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I read about keystone habits in an article on Medium
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Thank you so much for these tips! I really need this motivation, especially with a free gym in the building.
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We learn something new everyday, thanks for the knowledge!
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Great article!
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#3 was most helpful for me! It wasn’t until I laid my workout clothes next to my bed and packed my gym bag did I start going to the gym in the AM. I like to make it as easy as possible to make the right decision! Great post 🙂
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Exactly! You have to make it easy for you. Congrats on sticking to your goals.
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This is so helpful. Once I decided to sit down and plan a workout it was such a game changer in motivating me
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It was a game changer for me too. Now, I plan an entire week of workouts and this keeps me on track. Logging workouts is also very helpful, my next goal is to start doing that.
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A little trick I use is to tell myself before falling asleep, I will wake up alert and ready to workout! Surprisingly, this works more often than not.
Loved your tips too. I can see you are a really motivator!
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Such good tips, fantastic blog 😁
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Great read! I def. needed some of these tips to get going!
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Great post! Genetics can be a HUGE motivator. I started working out a year ago in part to combat my family’s history of osteoporosis (thanks, mom!).
On days when I don’t feel like getting out of bed, I just imagine how much harder that would be to do later in life if I don’t work at it now. BOOM, instant motivation.
https://musclesorbust.wordpress.com
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That’s exactly my motivation! And osteoporosis runs in my mom’s side of the family too. Ugh 😖
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Working out is really a big deal without motivation. Its even harder when you have to leave the house everyday before 7a.m. Thanks for the tips fabi.
Get inspired on http://www.kingdien.com
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Thanks, King! Great blog, I’ll be following.
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Thanks Fabi. Keep the good work going.
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Thanks Fabi. Keep on with the good work. Hope to connect more with you though.
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Thanks for sharing, this is a great post! I much prefer to workout in the mornings vs. the afternoon. Mainly because by the end of the day I am so tired, I just want to watch some tv and relax. But I have also found that working out first thing gives me energy for the day, and not to mention the gym is FAR less crowded. My biggest reason, however, is that I have 2 young kids and want to spend time with them. So by working out before they wake up, it gives me more time with them when they are awake!
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I know exactly what you mean. That’s also the reason I like to work out in the morning.
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Great read, the steps you’ve suggested help create a habit. That is important in beginning a solid morning routine.
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This is the post i’ve been needing to read..i loveeeee it, definitely inspired me to prepare mentally and eat healthy the day before. I just really struggle to sleep early sometimes!;/
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Ugh, me too. This summer, my goal was to go to bed by 11pm at most, but I don’t always accomplish this!
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Planning your workouts, especially for the morning, is such a big part in staying motivated for morning workouts! It’s so effective. Awesome post 👊
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Very true. Thanks, Lizette!
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Great post! Morning workouts can really drag sometimes! Something that motivates me for early morning workouts are my BCAAs with energy! They taste so delicious and give me that push I need to get through my morning lift. I review BCAAs in my blog if you’re interested ! 🙂
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Thanks for the tip!
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Great post. I am a morning workout person. I sometimes dread it, but afterwards I feel great. Thanks for sharing.
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Awesome! I regret doing that workout said no one ever.
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I’m so thankful that I came across your blog through Blogger’s Pit Stop; this post was so timely for me. I have been off the wagon for a while now with both healthy eating as well as exercise, and Ive been really feeling lately that its time to start taking care of me! I too have certain diseases that run in my fam (diabetes and heart) and its time to stop putting it off until tomorrow—-tomorrow never comes!! Your post was the kick in the bum that I needed! Thank you!
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Those same diseases run in my family. In fact, my dad recently passed away due to diabetes-induced kidney failure. Being a healthy mom to my kids is my ultimate motivation. Congrats on your decision to stop putting off fitness. It’s never too late to start taking care of yourself!
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An excellent post Fabi. I so agree with your motivation to be healthy and mornings are best for sure. This popular post will be featured on our next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Congratulations on a great post.
Kathleen
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Awesome! Thanks a lot 😀
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Fabi, these are great tips. You’ve covered all the “excuses” anyone might have! I’ve been a morning workout person for decades and highly recommend it. My husband and I call it “fighting decrepitude,” a real motivator for us! I’m not vain enough to have ever been motivated by a desire to be a certain size, but improving and maintaining my health is something I can work for. Maintaining the same size and weight is just a side benefit! (PS You might be interested in my current post.)
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Health is also a huge motivation for me. I’ll be sure to check out your post!
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