Not a Morning Person - But Worked Out Anyways!

[Uyreeni]

Hello!

I'm posting this because I have often wanted to press my snooze button way too many times and always have an excuse to not exercise. But after creeping up to over 250 (yes, I'm keeping it real) from around 180, I know I need to do something about this.

Does anyone else struggle with getting a workout in? I've tried doing it at the end of the day but boy is that way too hard after a long day of work. Today was my first day at the gym in the AM (went there at 6 am) in years! But I feel great!

Let's make a pact to make no more excuses! 🙂

[MarciM · Accepted solution]

Hi @Uyreeni I think even us morning people struggle from time to time. As the weather turns colder and the sun comes up later I find myself considering the snooze. I have to quickly remind myself that I will feel better all day long if I get up and get moving. Occasionally my inner voice loses to the snooze, but I do end up regretting it later in the day. Positive self talk, practice it, and it will get you up and moving. 

[Joy2019]

Yes I absolutely hate the gym but more than that, I love sleep! I go to bed at 8pm and sleep till around 6am.

I have to be up at 4.30am to be at the gym at 5.50am. Why do I wake at 4.30am? Because I then need to drive to work, bag a parking spce (gold dust here) and then walk to the gym! That way I can get 1 hour 30 minutes of exercise in daily otherwise it will take me years to get to where I want to be and I have only 10 weeks.

So I hear you loud and clear and fist bump to you!

You got this!!!

[emili]

let me give you an example of this very thing, me today: I normally get up at 630 run 4 miles and walk the dog for a little over 1. This sets me up for over 10K steps for the day and my calories out are way up there. I get a shower, I make the pups and me breakfast and get to work. I feel energized and happy. 5 oclock I strap on my sneakers and do another 5 miles at the park or at the gym or I lift, etc. Today, I woke up to 55 degrees and rain. I am going to the gym I tell myself to get my morning miles in. But then, I will be at the gym twice? that won't work. I will skip this morning and go tonight instead. OK deal. I slept to the last possible second and here I am 545 in the afternoon in my pajamas, not going anywhere. I think if you start the day off right and full of energy, it sets you up for success the whole day. keep going in the morning or do some miles outside on nice days.. whatever it works out to, do it. 

[t.parker]

To get up the early morning it's necessary to be good at controlling your sleep routine. I've been doing that for a long time when I was commuting to work. The fact I had to catch the train forced me to get up early. When I was already up, then prepared breakfast to go, got on the train and when I reached my work town, I went straight to the gym (2 minutes walk from my office). Then breakfast (the one I prepared) and coffee in the coffee shop nearby and I was all set for work. It was very easy to maintain that routine. It was a good feeling to kickstart my day this way! Then, 2 years ago, I moved and made my work town to be my home town. Now, the gym is a 6-10min walk from my place. Does this make me get there easy every morning? No chance! I tried but since I moved everything changed. I had to build a totally new routine. I go to the gym during lunchtime. Not every day. Reduced it to 3 times a week and even that sometimes it's hard. In my defense, I do other sports, too and after 4-5 hours long session (Thursdays and Sundays) of doing stuff harder even than my normal gym workouts sometimes I just have to skip the gym. I just don't feel like I'm in the zone, everything hurts, my energy levels are low. Sometimes those 3 days of planned gym workouts are too much and (like Today) I just skip my gym workout. The thing is, the gym itself can be a very boring experience. It may help to sign up for classes to stay on track (I tried that, not for me). It's not something that most people would be striving to go to at 6AM. The thing is, even after a long day of work, I still have plenty of energy to go to one of the climbing gyms with my crew and stay there until it's closed but if I think of going to the regular gym after working hours? Naaah. I'm tired and lazy just thinking of it. Yesterday, I got stuck in the traffic, reached place 7:45pm and still had plenty of fun and great training with friends. Time doesn't matter if you do something that you actually enjoy. So my routine is now a little more flexible, less driven by schedule and more by the way my body feels. Still, on average I get about 10 hours of training each week (actual training, excluding walking, hiking) so it's not too bad. But I guess, days I was able to get up early and do morning workouts are done 😛 Despite I still set my alarm to very early time (6:30am, 7:00am) I press snooze button so many times that it's almost automated 😛

[JuanJoFitbit]

Hi guys, I agree with your advises. Since my doctor told me that I tend to be hypertensive in the future due to family genetic, this is what motivates me to get up early and avoid blood pressure medicine in the future.

I would recommend you to try to go to bed early so you can get a good sleep time and this way you won't have difficulties to go out of bed and once you are at the gym, you'll start to feel better throughout the day.