5:00 AM Rise and Shine!

[macysknits]

So tomorrow I'm going to try and get myself up at 5:00 am to go workout prior to work.  Getting up before the sun has always been really, really hard for me. My body usually just hates to do it. Throughout my Whole30 I've been exercising in the evenings after work.  

 

I really want to be a morning person. Someone who wakes up before the sun and gets her workout done.  I've noticed that with Whole30, I've been sleeping a lot better so I'm hoping getting up earlier will be easier. I've managed to push my wake up time to 6:00 so I'm hoping 5:00 is doable.  

 

I thought I'd stick this here for a little public accountability.  Does anyone else do an early morning work out?  Any tips on getting your butt out of bed when it is pitch dark out?  I'm thinking I might put my alarm clock across the room from me forcing me out of bed, ha ha.

[cayenne]

I get up at 430, get to work by 545 and get a workout in before I start my job- there is a gym here so there is NO excuse. Good luck!

[MTNan]

Before a change in my job schedule (I used to have until almost 8:00 to be out the door, now it's 7:00, and between getting two kids up and fed with backpacks and lunches ready in addition to getting myself showered and fed... well... it just ain't gonna happen!), I used to just use a very cognitive approach.  I would think about how crappy I would feel if I didn't get up and work out.  I would be letting myself down. That feeling all day long wasn't worth the extra few minutes of sleep.  There will be times when you need to be kind to yourself, if you get to bed late for some reason or don't sleep well, for instance.  It worked for me, anyway.

[JenX]

I do, but I've always been an early riser.  my motivation is I cannot trust myself to follow through and workout after work so I have to do it in the morning and get it done. Plus I've found I have a hard time winding down in the evenings if I workout at night. 

 

As for getting up, maybe if you find 5:00 am too hard, try for 5:30 for a week and work your way up to 5am. Alarm across the room is good. And make sure you're going to bed nice and early so you're fully rested when that alarm goes off.

[ThyPeace]

I had to do this when DD started middle school.  We had to be out the door an hour (!) earlier than we had the previous year.  It was awful..... until I actually shifted my bedtime and routine to accomodate the new time.  Then it was just hard.  Sometime in the spring, I tried to start adding a workout in the mornings.  That was pretty hit or miss, but I kept at it -- even if it was just ten minutes of Just Dance on the Wii.  

 

Over the summer, DD went back to a much easier schedule.  Since DH was still getting up early, though, I just kept doing it (I make everyone's breakfast), so have a commitment to keep.  That gave me a bunch of time to work out, and I actually started getting at least 30 minutes in.

 

Now that school has started again, things are harder, but the school schedule has changed again and DD now leaves 20 minutes later than before.  With careful planning, I can get up at the same time, get a 30 minute workout, and still get out the door when we need to leave.  It's tight -- breakfasts have to be ready to cook and clothes have to be laid out the night before -- but it works so far.  And makes me a very happy camper indeed!

 

So what I say is just keep trying!  You'll figure it out.  

 

ThyPeace, the moon and Venus were beautiful this morning.  Soooo worth it! 

 

Edited to add:  There have been a number of other stress-reducing changes in my life that make all of this possible.  I find that if I can't make a change that I know is good for me, often my stress levels are getting in the way.  If I change those, and other things become far easier!