6 Ways to Stay Motivated for Early Morning Workouts
Early morning workouts are a great time to exercise before the stressors of the day start to take effect. But after doing it a while, you might lose some of your motivation to get up and get going on your workout.
When that happens, use these 6 tips to get your engine going again:
Put Your Alarm Away From Your Bed
If your alarm is within arm’s reach, it is easier to turn it off and sleep in. However if it is elsewhere in your bedroom and you have to get up to shut it off, you are more likely to stay up. Another motivation trick is to load your favorite workout song on your alarm clock (if it is capable to do so) and set it to play it as a wakeup song.
Exercise With A Buddy
Accountability is a big motivator. Nobody wants to be the one to not show up for a scheduled workout. If the truth be known, your workout partner may not have wanted to get up and exercise either, but because s/he did not want to disappoint you (and vice versa) both of you did the workout and are happier for it.
Set Goals
Having something to work toward is always motivating; it is the carrot on the end of the string. Getting the reward is worth the journey getting there which in this case is getting up to exercise.
Use Social Media
Having goals and being accountable to a workout partner is one thing, but think on a more global basis and publish your goals to the world. Posting your fitness efforts and goals on social media sites (and the backlash if you slack off) is motivation enough to get up in the morning and do your workout.
Prepare the Night Before
If you have a hard time getting started in the morning, you can end up wasting a lot of time trying to get organized and ready for your workout. But by laying out your workout clothes and equipment the night before, you can save precious time and devote it to your workout.
Reward Yourself With Breakfast
Part of your goal setting should be giving yourself a reward upon reaching different milestones of your program. One short-term milestone can be breakfast upon completion of your workout. You might want to eat something before exercising such as a banana or a handful of almonds, but the real prize comes at the end of your workout with a bowl of oatmeal with fruit or nuts or scrambled eggs with spinach.
A long-term goal can be a new outfit (in a smaller size) or a new set of workout clothes. Don’t sabotage your efforts by rewarding yourself with unhealthy food.