For weeks like this one, I have created a new series called my less serious tips to substitute for my photograph-heavy my less serious day posts. Tips that provide slightly sarcastic and slightly thoughtful ideas on (you guessed it): fashion, fitness, or food.
Today's tips: how to exercise in the morning.
Figure 1. My alarm clock in the dark 5:00 AM hour.
Tip #1. Sleep in your workout clothes (I'm serious). Wash them first, of course. When you wake up after a (albeit slightly uncomfortable) night of rest already in your workout gear - what excuse do you have? Are you really doing to take them off without working out? (The answer is no).
Tip #2. Set your coffee pot on auto-brew. This is a new habit for me, but the sound and smell of my coffee pot at work in the morning is (sometimes) enough to lure me out of bed (Figure 2).
Figure 2. My morning arsenal: coffee (auto-brewed), water, banana. Tip #3. Peruse Pinterest fitness boards. This tip is mildly pathetic, but surprisingly effective. If I'm not in the mood to workout, I'll spend a few minutes perusing the fitness boards on Pinterest. Seeing rock hard bodies and motivational quotations usually gets my adrenaline going (Figure 3).
Tip #4. Remember it doesn't have to be your best. You don't have to have the best workout of your life. You just have to move. Maybe you'll silently curse the entire time and stop a bit earlier than you intended - but you will have worked out. Sometimes telling yourself this is enough to get you out of your early-morning haze.
Figure 3. A little early-morning fitness Pinterest inspiration and coffee.
Tip #5. Reincarnate as a morning person. Try these tips, do. But, just like I'll never be a night owl, I'm convinced some people just aren't meant to workout in the morning. And that's okay. Just workout.
Now...I should get back to not photographing myself eating cheeseburgers in my sweats.
I love this! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you about your facebook message. I don't eat anything before I go out to run. I do drink coffee and have some time in the morning - so I get up at 5 and out the door by 5:30ish. well, except mornings like this morning - when I have a cold - and i'm sitting here in my robe. ha!
ReplyDeleteyou always were the early bird... <3
DeleteUgh - morning workouts are so difficult! I can handle yoga in the morning but a run is out of the question - I don't have enough energy to get through it!
ReplyDeletei've never been able to workout early. if I didn't have to be to work until 10 or so I could swing it but I already get up early enough to get ready that an extra hour would just be crazy!!! i like to head to the gym around 9 or 10 at night. it works for me.
ReplyDeletewell...like i say morning exercise certainly isn't for everyone. and yeah....i'm totally in bed at 10 at night so i have no idea how you do that end of things either. :)
DeleteHaha I would LOVE to get my workouts done in the morning because then I feel great all day long, but with work it's just too early. I cannot, for whatever reason, get myself to wake up and work out when it's dark outside.
ReplyDeleteLast May I came back from a trip to England. I was super jetlagged so I was up at like, 3 or 4 am every morning. And because it was moving into summer, it would be light outside by 5am. As soon as the sun came up I was sitting in my lounge with my sneakers on ITCHING to get out there. It was so quiet and peaceful, I loved it! Then my jet lag wore off...and tiredness won out. Gosh darn it! xx
I am a morning exerciser through and through! If I don't work out in the morning, its not happening....I don't understand how people can workout at night, by that time, I am totally wiped and the gym is the last place I want to be! I have definitely done #1 more than once to make it easier to get myself up and moving! Great tips :)
ReplyDeleteDude, these tips are fantastic! I really do love them - while I am definitely a morning workout person, we all need a bit of a push out of bed sometimes, and your tips are rad for exactly that! I will definitely be reminding myself of number 4 every single day - that is so so true <3 Also, the Pinterest tip rocks. Genius idea! ;-) Thank you for sharing! :-) xyx
ReplyDeletewaddup, yolie! always great to hear from you. glad you liked the tips!
DeleteI'm such a morning person. I always have been. People are always shocked that I willingly get up before 6 AM every day to work out but it doesn't bother me at all. I love getting my day going! And getting my body moving is the perfect way to wake up my mind. (:
ReplyDeleteThese tips are awesome, by the way! I'm guilty of sleeping in my workout clothes on a number of occasions...
Wow, that pic of the female football/rugby player is enough to motivate me to workout in the mornings! My best friend from work at DISH is always sharing about how productive she is before she gets to work simply because she gets up early to workout. I’ve since taken her advice and started slow with free Gaiam Pilates and Yoga videos on DISHonline.com. So far, it’s been tough to even do these in the morning, but I’ve noticed that the days that I do get up early, I get a lot done and I feel good throughout the day. Thanks for the Pinterest idea
ReplyDeleteI have my own routine. I do it regularly.
ReplyDeleteI like this post. As for me, I remind myself everyday that if I work out before my day distracts me, my chances of exercising regularly go way up.
ReplyDelete