How to get motivated for morning workouts? That is a question that anyone who has ever tried to get out of bed early in the morning to exercise needs answering. You go to sleep all pumped and ready to wake up early the next day and workout, but when the alarm goes off your body just doesn’t seem to back up your earlier enthusiasm.
While it is a tough one, motivating yourself to wake up and workout, working out in the morning sets your body up for success for the rest of the day. It improves metabolism, energy levels and will brighten your mood. It is well worth your while to do all you can to get up and do it.
Here are some tips on how to get motivated for morning workouts:
- Sleep Well: Make sure you go to bed on time. Switch off your TV or iPad or whatever else could distract you. Keep your cell phone some distance away so that it isn’t within arm’s reach. Try and get the proper amount of sleep every night, so that when it’s time to wake up your body doesn’t fight you as much.
- Get Sunlight Into Your Room: If you live in a place that has exposure to natural light, try and make sure that this light reaches you early morning. Sunlight has a biological effect on the brain that tells it to wake up. It will refresh you and give you the energy to get up and feel motivated enough to go workout.
- Be Prepared: One thing that often feels like a pain early in the morning is the thought of packing and arranging your gear before leaving for the workout. It is best to be prepared beforehand. Pack your things the night before, sleep in your gym clothes if you have to, just save time in the morning.
- Partner Up: One of the reasons that you don’t feel motivated enough to work out in the morning is that you aren’t really answerable to anyone. Involve someone in your workout sessions. This way when you wake up, there will be someone waiting for you to join them. If not for yourself, you will wake up for the other person or risk letting them down.
- Make It Harder For Yourself To Skip: The best way to cut off your escape route is making yourself accountable to more people. Advertise that you are planning to go for a morning workout. Tell your family, tell your friends, put it on your social media accounts. Now that the whole world knows, you have to do it, don’t you?
- Socialize While You Workout: You’re bound to run into people who exercise at your gym at the same time as you on a regular basis. Strike a conversation with them. Make new friends. This will not only make your morning workouts more enjoyable, but it will also give you something to look forward to every morning.
- Set Goals And Award Yourself: The thing about setting goals is that, since they come from you, staying motivated to follow them isn’t really easy. But if you set goals for yourself, and then award yourself when you reach those goals, that right there is a winning strategy. Hit the gym for your morning workout every day and do 5 miles on the treadmill, and you can treat yourself to that nice pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on.
- Remind Yourself Why You Do It: At the end of the day, the reason that you workout in the mornings is to look and feel better. Remind yourself why you do it and what would happen if you don’t. A slip up here and there is excusable, but compare the energy you had during those days to the days when you did go for your morning workout. There is only going to be one winner!
