5 Ways Morning Workouts Have Improved My Life
I’ve always felt that I was secretly a morning person, but I just couldn’t manage to nail the whole waking up early part that was critical to making that happen. Enter the pandemic and long-term remote work. I continued to wake up at my old time because I couldn’t stand the idea of sleeping in to roll out of bed and straight to my desk.
I wanted to do something that would replace my commute and allow me to have a thoughtful transition between sleep and work, so I turned to exercise. I’ll admit it can be a struggle to motivate myself to do intense movement first thing in the morning when I would honestly rather lie in bed and scroll through social media, but the benefits have far outweighed these daily moments of resistance. Here are 5 ways morning workouts have improved my life and can improve yours too:
Energy for the day
Once I get past the sweaty, exhausting part of actually doing my workout, I feel an incredible burst of energy that continues on through the day.
A sense of accomplishment
It’s a great feeling to start the day off with your first accomplishment. I use a fitness tracker, and it’s nice to know that I have already hit my exercise goal by 8 AM. Mentally, it also sets me up to keep winning, but even if I don’t accomplish anything else for the day, I know that I have accomplished something hugely beneficial for my health.
More free time
I love knowing that as soon as I get off work, I am really done for the day. That gives me more time for fun, family, and working on Dot Cross Co. Morning workouts are also more efficient due to their time constraints. I have to be super focused when working out in the morning because I do need to start working on time. Because I have no additional obligations after work, my evening workouts can drag on or take forever to get started.
No excuses
After a full day of work, it’s very easy to lose your motivation to do anything else including exercise. By working out as soon as I wake up in the morning, I give my brain very little time to wake up and think about how motivated I really am or make excuses.
Big dose of movement
I am moving less than ever during the day now that I work from home and really don’t leave the house much. I don’t get to walk around an office to go to meetings, take breaks, talk to coworkers, or grab lunch. While getting in movement at some point in the day is helpful, I find it extra help to inject a big dose of movement at the beginning of my day when I know I won’t be moving much for the next 8+ hours.
I know not everyone has the ability or even desire to incorporate morning workouts, so don’t feel that if you can’t exercise in the morning, exercise isn’t not worthwhile. Morning workouts are beneficial for specific reasons, but exercise in general is beneficial whether it occurs in the morning, afternoon, or evening, so think about how you can incorporate it into your daily routine.
Need help planning or tracking your movement? Check out our Fitness Planner and Tracker in our Shop.
