2816: 5 Tips for Exercising in the Morning by Josie Michelle Davis on Setting Achievable Goals and Healthy Habits

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[00:00:38] This is Optimal Health Daily, 5 Tips for Exercising in the Morning by Josie Michelle Davis of Josiemichelledavis.com and I'm Dr. Neal Malik reading you some of the most popular health and fitness blogs out there, with permission from the websites.

[00:00:53] Alright, and with that, let's get right to the post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:02] 5 Tips for Exercising in the Morning by Josie Michelle Davis of Josiemichelledavis.com

[00:01:10] Confession Time

[00:01:10] I used to truly hate working out in the morning. I used to only run in the afternoons or at night. I was tired, grouchy, and ran about as fast as a baby sloth before 10am.

[00:01:22] On the rare occasion I would attempt a morning workout, I would spend the whole time thinking about how terrible it was.

[00:01:28] When I went back to work full-time and essentially had no choice but to work out in the morning, I knew I would have to suck it up and just do it.

[00:01:36] Can I just be real for a moment? It sucked for a while.

[00:01:40] My body did not acclimate quickly at all.

[00:01:43] I'd say it was almost a full two months of getting up and going to the gym every weekday morning before I finally started to be okay with it.

[00:01:51] It's hard to believe that now, I vastly prefer early AM workouts.

[00:01:56] If you're thinking about switching out your PM workouts for the morning, here's a few tips and tricks I've figured out along the way and hopefully will make your transition a little easier.

[00:02:06] Find your best situation

[00:02:08] So I actually have free access to a gym at work.

[00:02:11] I don't have to pay a cent and I could literally walk from the gym to our photo studio.

[00:02:16] It would save a lot of time and money to just use that gym.

[00:02:20] But I hate it.

[00:02:21] It's small, which means limited machines that people are always fighting over.

[00:02:26] The showers in the locker room are always out of hot water.

[00:02:29] It's at the top of a building, which means it's about a thousand degrees and a million percent humidity.

[00:02:36] And on top of that, you're working out with people you work with, which just feels weird to me.

[00:02:40] But maybe I'm crazy.

[00:02:41] I spend more time and money driving out to my gym, but the experience is so much better, which makes getting up at the crack of dawn just a little easier.

[00:02:50] So don't fight it.

[00:02:51] If your gym situation is truly making you unhappy, try something new until you find a good fit.

[00:02:57] Also, tons of people aren't gym people.

[00:03:00] I actually used to not be, but have since come to love it.

[00:03:04] And that's cool.

[00:03:05] Whether it's working out at home, taking classes, or going for a run outside, figure out what's the best situation for you.

[00:03:12] There is no one size fits all.

[00:03:14] And sometimes it takes a little trial and error to figure out what works for you.

[00:03:20] Don't snooze.

[00:03:21] Seriously, guys, you can't let yourself snooze if you're going to stay on track.

[00:03:25] On days I wake up and truly am just not feeling up to hitting the gym, I reset my alarm and go back to sleep.

[00:03:32] If you're going, you need to just do it.

[00:03:35] Here's the secret trick.

[00:03:36] Don't let yourself think about it.

[00:03:38] Your brain can be a jerk who just wants to complain in the morning.

[00:03:42] So sometimes you just got to get ahead of it.

[00:03:45] Yes, it's borderline painful for about the first five minutes.

[00:03:48] But once you get past that, it usually gets a lot easier.

[00:03:52] And just remember that the sooner you get past those five minutes, the easier it'll get.

[00:03:57] Also, have you ever actually felt better with seven minutes of extra sleep?

[00:04:01] No.

[00:04:01] Typically, I just feel more groggy the more I snooze.

[00:04:05] So forget the snooze button and just go.

[00:04:08] Have a plan.

[00:04:10] There's nothing worse than walking into the gym at 530 in the morning and having no idea what you're doing.

[00:04:15] I originally got started by doing a LSF 30-day challenge.

[00:04:19] So I knew exactly what I was doing.

[00:04:21] Usually a little cardio followed by grabbing a mat and doing that day's challenge.

[00:04:26] I actually didn't have a program for a few months after that.

[00:04:29] And while I still got things done, I still found myself wandering aimlessly on more than one occasion.

[00:04:35] Now, I'm week 10 into the BBG program and I'm so happy I committed to it.

[00:04:41] Having a plan laid out for me every day has helped me so much.

[00:04:45] If you prefer classes, then sit down at the beginning of the week and schedule them all out in advance.

[00:04:51] You'll thank yourself later.

[00:04:53] Have everything ready the night before.

[00:04:56] This is a tired tip that everyone will give you, but that's for good reason.

[00:05:00] It really is one of the most important things.

[00:05:03] I don't know about you, but my brain is not functioning at 5am.

[00:05:07] So to expect myself to be able to get everything I need together or even just to pick out clothes would be cruel.

[00:05:13] I lay everything and I mean everything out the night before.

[00:05:17] I even try to put everything in the car.

[00:05:19] This makes it a lot less painful when I'm feeling particularly zombie-esque some mornings.

[00:05:26] Talk positively to yourself.

[00:05:28] I can be mean to myself, like really mean.

[00:05:31] When I switched to morning workouts, I really had to commit myself to stop being negative in my own head.

[00:05:36] Instead of thinking about how much slower I was running in the morning,

[00:05:40] I would congratulate myself for getting through a run, no matter what speed it was at.

[00:05:45] I also had to ditch all negative talk when I was at the gym.

[00:05:48] Instead of getting annoyed when someone was on the machine I wanted,

[00:05:52] I would just turn around and find a different one.

[00:05:54] No grumbling about it to myself.

[00:05:56] This little change in internal attitude can make the biggest difference.

[00:06:01] Ban all negative talk when you're at the gym.

[00:06:03] If you're there, then you're already killing it.

[00:06:06] Getting up early to work out may never be super duper fun,

[00:06:10] but there are a lot of ways to take some of the pain out of it.

[00:06:12] Make the morning as easy as you can for yourself.

[00:06:16] Have everything ready to go.

[00:06:17] Schedule a workout class you love.

[00:06:19] And tell yourself the night before that you're going to have a great morning.

[00:06:27] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:29] 5 Tips for Exercising in the Morning,

[00:06:31] by Josie Michelle Davis of josiemichelledavis.com.

[00:06:35] And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:06:38] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:06:40] Look, I'm not a morning person either.

[00:06:42] I would much rather sleep until 9 or 9.30 or heck,

[00:06:46] even 10 o'clock in the morning before actually getting up.

[00:06:49] And as Josie mentioned, in the beginning,

[00:06:52] those early morning workouts are really rough.

[00:06:55] You think to yourself,

[00:06:56] if I was working out at like 2 in the afternoon,

[00:06:59] I'd be so much stronger or I'd be able to run so much farther.

[00:07:02] But as Josie mentioned, you just got to get over that.

[00:07:05] You've got to give yourself credit for getting up and doing the work that early.

[00:07:09] It's not easy.

[00:07:10] And you deserve credit for doing it.

[00:07:13] I really appreciate her tip about having everything ready the night before.

[00:07:17] And yes, you've probably heard that many times,

[00:07:20] not just from me, but from others as well.

[00:07:22] What makes that habit so super powerful

[00:07:25] is a reason that often we don't really think about.

[00:07:29] You're going to be less likely to forget something.

[00:07:32] But even more than that, you're committing the night before.

[00:07:35] By getting everything ready for the gym the next morning,

[00:07:38] you're mentally committing to going.

[00:07:41] And that is super powerful.

[00:07:44] So not only will you not forget something,

[00:07:46] you're committing to it, which will make it more likely to happen.

[00:07:50] I'm one of those people who likes to leave

[00:07:52] the packed gym bag by the front door in the morning.

[00:07:55] And that way, I can't say that,

[00:07:58] well, I just hopped in my car in the morning

[00:08:00] and my gym bag was in my trunk where I didn't see it,

[00:08:03] so I just forgot.

[00:08:04] And by leaving it by the front door,

[00:08:06] you're reminding yourself,

[00:08:08] oh yeah, I have a little self-care to do this morning.

[00:08:12] And what I have found is when I get that workout in

[00:08:14] first thing in the morning,

[00:08:15] the rest of my day seems so much brighter.

[00:08:18] All right, that'll do it from me for today.

[00:08:20] I hope you have a wonderful start to your week.

[00:08:22] And I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:08:24] after you work out in the morning, right?

[00:08:26] Where your optimal life awaits.