Barre•early morning workouts•Fitness•healthy living•Pure Barre
How To Motivate For Those Early Morning Workouts
August 21, 2014Keeping up with the weekly fitness motivation I wanted to share with y’all how I get up for early morning workouts! I get asked just about every day how I wake up to teach or take 6 am classes. I am not going to lie to you and say that I just naturally wake up without an alarm at 5:30 ready to take on the day.
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Some mornings are struggles but at five or six later that night when everyone is struggling to go to the gym after a long day of work, you can smile and know that you are already done for the day. I find that hour after work where I would have been working out, I can get all my errands done and I’m home eating dinner at a reasonable hour. When I workout after work, go to the grocery store and get around to eating dinner sometimes it is 9 at night. Plus I like taking a small satisfaction in knowing that I am done with my workout when most people’s alarms are going off. It takes me usually 2-3 weeks of doing something routinely and then it works into my habits.
How to Motivate to Get Up for Early Morning Workouts.
#1 Make sure to go to bed at a decent hour.
How to Motivate to Get Up for Early Morning Workouts.
#1 Make sure to go to bed at a decent hour.
If I am waking up for a 6 am class my alarm is usually set at 5:15 if I am teaching or 5:30 if I am taking. Naturally this needs to be adjusted for you depending on how far away your workout place is. My Barre and spin studios are 5 minutes away, well the Barre studio is longer but I go a way that avoids lights in the morning. My goal is to get to bed by 10pm. I have a rule to not check Facebook/Email/Instagram/Twitter/any forms of social media. Lights out by 10 (or at least somewhere close to this).
#2 Lay out your clothes the night before.
When I get up in the morning for class Mark is usually sleeping and I get dressed in the dark (isn’t that so sweet of me????). So to avoid looking like a homeless person I put out exactly down to the socks, shoes and hair ties I will be wearing in the morning. If you have the luxury of turning on the lights….here is my other recommendation. The minute the alarm goes off flip on lights and wake up your body. Some people have told me they sleep in their gym clothes….I don’t know about all of that but hey if it is one less step for you….go for it. Whatever you need to do to get out of the house.
#3 Set two alarms with NO snooze buttons.
I have two alarms, one is my old school alarm clock that is missing the back cover so if I whack it off my nightstand the batteries fall out and it makes the most pathetic powering off noise. I still have the same one from college….it has been through a lot of moves and cities. I also set my IPhone alarm. That way if I
#4 Don’t dilly-dally in the morning.
Honestly I don’t even realize I’m out of the house till I’m in my car. Make it a routine. Alarm goes off, change into clothes on the chair by the bed, brush teeth, grab water, keys and head out the door. I am out of my house sometimes 10 minutes after the alarm goes off.
#5 Sign up for something that costs money if you cancel.
This is one of the biggest motivators for me. If I have signed up for a training session, Barre or Spin Class and there is a greater than one hour no cancellation policy….you know my butt is getting out of bed if I will have to forfeit that class. Money or wasting money is a big motivator to get out of a warm bed.
#6 Have a workout buddy or friend that you are meeting.
I do this with a few of my girlfriends. We sign up for the same class in the morning. When that alarm goes off I think to myself “Kelly is going to kill me if she goes and I flake on her“. Taking it one step further sometimes we will plan something really fun after work like a Happy Hour Drink so if we don’t get in our workout in the morning then we miss out on the fun after work!
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#7 Start out with a small commitment.
I usually look at the schedule for the week and find my favorite teachers. Then I commit to one or two classes max. That way on those morning you can tell yourself when the alarm goes off “only today I have to wake up” or “these are my two early mornings the other ones I can sleep in“. I try to only sign up for two early weekday classes that way I don’t get burnt out and still enjoy going instead of making it a chore.
#8 Splurge on one or two new workout pieces.
After you have stuck it out with a few early morning workouts reward yourself with a few pieces that you have been eyeing. Here are a few of my favorite picks!
#9 Think about that feeling when you are done.
The feeling you get when you are done with your workout is what drives me to continue with my early morning routines. I feel so energized and awake after a 6am class. I am also up, showered and out the door usually before I am normally waking up so I have a jump start on the day.
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#10 If all else fails teach a class.
There is nothing that motivates you more knowing that 30-40 people will be standing outside in the cold if you don’t get your booty out of bed. That’s what it came down to for me.
That is my list of recommendations that get me out of bed! What are yours? Do you workout before work or after? What workouts have you been committing to lately? All my Barre girls out there are you a 6am girl or catch your classes after work? Check back tomorrow for the Friday Favorites link up! Where did this week go seriously? xoxoxo
p.s Make sure to swing by Helene’s home for the Blog Auction that I’m part of! I’m auctioning off one of my sponsor spots!
So many great ideas! Yes, I don’t know how people can sleep in their gym clothes! Never has worked for me! I know that if I workout in the morning I am more apt to eat well through the day, and if I eat well through the day I want to work out! Its a vicious cycle!
I needed this. I still dont know that I can motivate myself to wake up at such an ungodly hour but its worth a try right?
Oh my gosh I needed this post. Here is my issue, I can’t really work out on an empty stomach, I feel woozy. But I think if I had a hard boiled egg or two on the way to class that would hold me over. I’ve tried to get up early to go to a class but then I just roll over and go back to sleep. Love all your tips, I really want to try get up for an early class.
Oh and that photo in the tulle skirts. Heaven!
So many good tips! I am slowing switching to morning workouts as well, but I know it will be a struggle once the dark winter mornings hit!
Great post! I am definitely a night owl, even when I was a little kid the earliest I would go to bed was 11pm. So I´m in the “work-out after-work” group, but I don´t mind, because it makes me stay away from the computer which is what I would be doing if my afternoons were free. Now I come home, I eat, chill for an hour or so, and then hit my home-gym.
One of these days though I would like to have that feeling of completing something before everyone´s else´s alarm clock buzzes off (keeping this post in handy when the day comes). xoxo!
I can never get moving in the morning so after work is my planned time to workout. New workout clothes always help me get motivated.
Today is the prime example of me not making it to the gym in the morning – although it’s so much easier for me to go when Gary is out of town! But I think some new workout clothes might help do the trick!!
great tips! now i feel lazy! hah but i agree it does help to put out workout clothes so you dont have to think about what to wear that early in the morning. xo jillian – cornflake dreams
These are such great tips! I realllyyy would love to be a morning workout person, but just not there yet. For some reason, Saturday is the only day I do a morning PB class. Come teach in Atlanta and hold me accountable for early classes!
You could not have timed this out more perfectly! I’m taking a 5:30 am spin class with a friend tomorrow and I am NOT looking forward to it at all. I wake up even on the weekends without an alarm at 6 or 6:30 am (if I make it to 7, I slept in!) but getting up at 4:45 is a whole different ballgame! :( Definitely laying EVERYTHING out tonight. Especially since I can’t go back home after going to the gym. Boo.
<3, Pamela
sequinsandseabreezes.blogspot.com
I have never been good at working out in the morning! But I would love to try because the thought of getting home in the evenings after work and being able to relax because I’m already done with my workout for the day is very appealing! Thanks for the tips!
i have to pass this advice along to my husband. every evening he parks behind me in the driveway, and i say NO i’m leaving at X time in the morning. his response is “i’m going to the gym in the morning! no i’m really going!” and then the morning rolls around he snoozes from 430 (waking me up in the process) and never ends up going!!!
These are great tips. Not so sure about sleeping in your gym clothes, then they’d be all wrinkled! Side note, are there really 30-30 ppl in a barre class?! That’s huge!
Life as I know it
*30-40
HELL YES. i love my old lady bedtime (930pm) because if i go to sleep any later than that, ain’t no way i can get my ass up at 5am to work out.
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
Great tips lady. Going to bed early is what does it for me. If I”m in bed after 11pm it’s very rare that I’m up for a workout. My husband knows it’s lock down for bedtime when we work out in the morning. xoxo
I don’t know if I’ll ever be a morning workout person but these are really good tips, I feel like I might be able to handle it one or two days a week! I blame you if I’m tired and grouchy the rest of the day though. haha
I agree with all of these tips! I lay my clothes out the night before so it cuts out that step the next morning. I also know that once my alarm goes off the first time, I won’t really go back to sleep. So I can either lay there and toss and turn for another hour or I can go do something great for my body/mind and be done with it. Plus I really just want to look good in my skinny jeans this fall :)
Awesome post! Thank you for sharing! #9 is so true. When I was working full-time I would go to the gym after work. I would bring my workout clothes to work and change at the office. Now I just wake I leave with Chris and he drops me off. Or I go and take the bus. I go 4 days a week and if I can’t go because of my work schedule, I make it up on one of my days off. Downloading a new song (like that Iggy song haha) or wearing a new workout clothing definitely helps too. :-)
Great tips! The “thinking about the feeling when you’re done” is my fave. Sometimes I really don’t want to workout but I tell myself “You will regret it if you don’t, you won’t regret it if you do” I always go and I’m always so thankful after! I was so bummed this morning, I got a Living Social deal email for 2 weeks unlimited Pure Barre in Tulsa but now that we’ve signed up with our trainer for the next several months there is no way I can fit that in too! :( Maybe another will come along!
I am sooooo not a morning person but you have some really great ideas here in this post! Thanks doll!
When I do before work workouts, preparing is the biggest thing. Laying my clothes out and not giving myself an out to stay in bed.
These are all great ways/tips for making early morning workouts a routine. As of right now I can’t see myself doing this, haha. I have a hard enough time waking up at 7:30 (that feels super late compared to you!)… and I actually don’t hate going after work. I bus there and Joey picks me up usually around 6:15. It does make dinner a little late though. Definitely something to consider!! Maybe once I move (the gym is a bit closer to home) I’ll try going before work and see how I like it. :-) Thanks!
It definitely helps me to have a friend to meet- I don’t want to let them down even if I’m okay letting myself down!
Yes, it is a struggle to get out of bed to workout that early, but I feel so accomplished once I do! Thanks for always motivating me, AP!! : )
I don’t think I will ever be a morning workout person until my kids are grown and gone. Maybe not even then, I can’t ever get myself into bed and/or sleeping early enough! But these are great tips!!! If and when I try to turn over a new leaf!
I wish I could teach a class! I actually have a post scheduled that says something like ‘I’d love to be like Amanda and teach a class’ lol. But really, money + someone waiting for me is a huge motivator. I used to have a gym buddy back home, and I would never bail on her and vice versa. But here, it’s so hard! I agree with you, no dilly dallying, get up and out! unfortunately, I have all of these tips in my head and I know what I need to do, but I just dont.do.it. Why am I so lazy? Help me. Lol
I think I need to start putting one or two mornings in my schedule. Thanks for this post!
girl. this fits hand in hand with my post today. i did my first morning barre class this morning (luckily i got up at 6 and it starts at 6:15 so i just ran downstairs) but it was so worth it. too bad they only do it on tues/thurs but that’s motivation to go at least twice a week! it wasn’t so bad once i was there :) xo
cheshirekatblog.com
I’ve definitely tried sleeping in my sports bra to motivate me to actually go to the gym in the morning- one less step… aka totally lazy and it never really worked for me, haha. but THANK YOU for this! I’ve been thinking about how I need to get into the routine of working out first thing in the morning otherwise it doesn’t happen very often!
Ugh I wish I could get my butt up in the morning for a work out but I can’t function in the morning so my workout would be horrible and I just can’t get myself to go to bed early!! After work will have to do… Great tips though!!
<3 Shannon
Upbeatsoles.blogspot.com
I love getting my work outs done first thing in the morning. Heck, half the time I am working out for 10 minutes before I realize that I am actually awake and working out :)
UGH I need your motivation this month! I work out before work and usually don’t have that hard of a time getting up and doing it, but this month I am strugggglingggg. All I want to do is keep snoozing! I think I need some new workout gear to get me motivated… shopping time!
So many great tips! I’ve never gotten into the working out before work thing but now I’m starting to think it’s genius. And I second that cute workout clothes always help!!!
it really is help ful if I have everything laid out from the night before!
I love this! I’m reading and agreeing with everything, yet, for some reason, I have yet to make it happen.
if I were to work out before work, I’d have to get up at 4am… that’s why I stick to night time workouts :)
I wish I could run in the morning. The idea of waking up and hitting the pavement sounds so nice! But I have a hard time running on an empty stomach, and because of my situation–I can’t exactly eat and then run–not even a banana. I might punch the theory in the face and try it for a week, but we’ll see. I kind of enjoy doing my run in the evening because it closes out my day (which is important when you work from home, having that clarification that the work day is over), but we’ll see! haha <3
great tips!! I have been trying so hard to get on to the morning exercise wagon but when that alarm goes off I just don’t care anymore haha! I’m going to try setting out my clothes, no snooze button and 2-3 alarms!
No snooze button??? Aah that would kill me. And also make me get up hah. Good points!
These are great tips!! I just started working out in the morning and it’s hard to get out of bed but once I’m out I’m ready to go. I definitely feel like I have more time for other things throughout the day if I work out in the morning. By the way, I just found your blog and consider me a follower. I love reading about anything motivational.
These are absolutely the best tips. I used to hit the gym in the morning before work and get it over with and it was AMAZING having my whole day ahead of me :) I’m gonna take this as a challenge to get back into that a couple times a week. Woo! Great post girlfriend.
I am so much better about morning workouts…I have the most energy then. Imagine what I used to do…I was my gym’s opener so I could make some side money…I had to be there by 4:30, open it up at 5 and then work til 8 and head to my real job after that. So because I felt I could only get a workout in the morning, I would wake up at 3AM!! I would get to the gym around 3:45 and workout until I had to clock in at 4:30. I did this gig for 5 months. And with having two kids…lol. DEDICATION. Ha! Now I have to get up at 5 to get everyone ready and take my oldest to school, so I workout after I drop him off since the gym is right across the street. So nice to have it out of the way. :-)
-Morgan
California To Carolina
The Gym Bunny
I love this post. I used to workout in the AM and was always glad at the end of the day when it was over and you are right, I didn’t even wake up til I was in the car!
I work out in the evening (I’m not working out at all right now due to an injury) but that is because I like to have food in my belly for muscle purposes.
Love this!! I am at the studio all day so I take class during work.. Spoiled!! I do set my alarm to run before work though… Also I have been known to teach a few 6am classes with my pants on inside out..
I’m pretty sure I’ve done that before too oops!
These are great tips! I’ve tried working out in the morning, but it doesn’t usually work for me. I really enjoy running outside in the evening, as the sun goes down. It’s my quiet time, but it also means my evenings are kind of full. Maybe one day I’ll be a morning person:)
I am so not a morning person. I’ve tried to get up early to work out and it just never works. I stick to working out at home after work. I’m a night person anyway so I’d rather stay up late doing stuff and get up early to do anything.
I’m a morning person, so I prefer to work out in the morning. It’s been a bit of a struggle this week with getting the back to school routine down, but I’m like you. If I don’t work out in the morning, life gets in the way of working out in the afternoon most times.
I just switched my workouts to 6 am and honestly, it’s hard but so worth it. It makes my days so much better and I feel like I have a lot more energy throughout the day.
Great advice. I am NOT a morning person, never have been, but I do like being up early and starting my day before the very last minute possible like I used to. I run after work and do yoga in the mornings before work, but I have a home practice rather than going to a studio. Even still it was not easy to start at first! But just like anything if you commit and find ways to make it easier on yourself it happens naturally with time :)
These are all such awesome tips! I need to start getting my butt out of bed earlier and working out. During the day I just can’t seem to find the time to do so. I am probably going to have to put all of these tips to use to get myself to get out of bed at a decent time.
Useful tips! I don’t lay out my clothes, I wear them to bed. Can’t say it’s very comfortable though..but it works ha.
XO Chloe
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