Seeking advice - can I make myself a morning person so I can exercise before work?

[Anonymous]

I wish my husband would jump on this bandwagon. He need to lose 75 lbs and refuses to make time to exercise. I'm up at 6 and he's just rolling out of bed at 8:00 as I'm rushing out the door with kid in tow. I so wish he would get up at 6:00 and exercise.

[Anonymous]

I am the same, and something that helps me to get up earlier consistently is our alarm clark that has a light that slowly increases in brightness for half an hour before your alarm time.

Also, I've done the thing of going to bed in workout clothes and putting socks and running shoes next to my side of the bed, and that has also helped.

[Anonymous]

You need to go to bed earlier. I used to be a snooze button hitter, but that was because I wasn't getting enough sleep. When getting in shape is important enough to you, you will shift your schedule. Go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 (lights out) and set the alarm for 5:30. It won't be terribly hard to get up because you will have had 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep.

[Anonymous]

i am the same as you - i can get up easily for a 6am meeting, but never to exercise - and my conclusion to your question is : no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i am the same as you - i can get up easily for a 6am meeting, but never to exercise - and my conclusion to your question is : no.

I disagree. I used to be a total night owl and never dreamed I could be a morning work out person. For the past 2 1/2 years, though, I have been getting up at 5am a few times a week for a 530 boot camp. The keys: 1) Going to bed early (in bed by 930 on those nights, lights out by 10), 2) Commitment. "I'm getting up at 5am to work out" vs "I'm going to try to get up at 5am to work out". Don't let the "try" or "maybe" even enter your thought process.

Oh, and definitely set your clothes etc. out the night before. I keep mine in the living room so I can just quietly exit the bedroom.

Good luck OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to go to bed earlier. I used to be a snooze button hitter, but that was because I wasn't getting enough sleep. When getting in shape is important enough to you, you will shift your schedule. Go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 (lights out) and set the alarm for 5:30. It won't be terribly hard to get up because you will have had 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep.

+1

[Anonymous]

Agree you need to get to bed earlier. Which I understand is hard because the only time you have to yourself is after the kids go to sleep. But you will be surprised with how much energy you have after a morning workout and how much of a positive effect it has on your mood.

[Anonymous]

Yes, going to bed early is the answer. I started falling asleep around 9:00 pm and can easily get up at 5-5:30, energized and ready to tackle the day.

[Anonymous]

Question for those that say go to bed earlier. How do you see your spouse? My husband gets so cranky with me when I go to bed at 10. He wants to hang out until at least 11. Plus I think it would kill our sex life.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. This is OP again - I'm encouraged that other people have made the switch and there are lots of good ideas here. I know part of it is going to bed earlier, so am going to try, try try...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for those that say go to bed earlier. How do you see your spouse? My husband gets so cranky with me when I go to bed at 10. He wants to hang out until at least 11. Plus I think it would kill our sex life.

You stay up later one weeknight. You have sex that night and once on the weekend. Do you normally have sex more than twice a week?

[Anonymous]

I'm a mom of three and I exercise at night, right before bed. I am not a morning person -- never have been -- so I couldn't imagine that exercising in the morning would be a successful effort for me. Exercising at night has not affected my sleep in any way (i.e. it doesn't keep me up.) To encourage myself, I made a rule that I can only watch my favorite shows if I'm exercising, so I record them and watch them then; since I always want to know what happens in the next episode, it keeps me exercising. lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for those that say go to bed earlier. How do you see your spouse? My husband gets so cranky with me when I go to bed at 10. He wants to hang out until at least 11. Plus I think it would kill our sex life.

This is nuts to me. Maybe DH should get up and hang out in the morning, and you should be cranky that h'es not willing to?

[Anonymous]

The only thing that ever worked for me was paying for an early morning class or boot camp. I hate to waste money, so once i have paid $100 month to be somewhere at 6am, i will get my moneys worth.

hire a personal trainer go to bed earlier.

If you force yourself to do this for a month, it will become a habit.

[Anonymous]

OP, the thing is, circadian rhythms are real. I'm in a field where fatigue is studied carefully and being a "morning person" (or not!) is a real thing, and there is science behind it. It's not laziness and, while getting more sleep will definitely help you, you may find that you always perform better when you listen to your body's natural circadian rhythms and try to accommodate them. Not always possible, I know. So if nothing else, do what you can to make your bedtime earlier. Many people find melatonin helpful in getting to sleep earlier, used for a short period of time at a very low dose (1mg works for me). Do you know, by the way, that a lack of sleep, even a small one, inhibits your performance all day and also makes you crave carbs? (body trying to make up for that energy deficit). The best thing you can do for your health is at least eight hours of sleep. There are a few people who are genetically disposed to be short sleepers (that is to say, that do best on 6-7 hours of sleep) but it's something like 2 percent of the population. Most of us need 8-9. And most of us get less than 7. So there's that!

Good luck!