Should You Work Out In the Morning?

Do you feel groggy in the morning, does it take you half the morning to wake up enough to get any productive work done? Are you inconsistent in going to the gym? Do you hate crowded afternoon gyms?

If any of these apply to you, then you should consider trying morning workouts.

I moved my workouts to the morning about two years ago and have found it extremely beneficial. I want to outline some of the benefits I have found from this move and give you some tips that helped me to be consistent.

Increased productivity

As a result of waking up and immediately going to the gym for my workout, I am wide awake by the time I finish and start doing the day’s work. I don’t have to waste time ramping up for the day, as soon as I sit at my desk, I am ready to go.

This has helped me to become significantly more productive at work, and be able to finish my work in less time.

I also find that I have an easier time sustaining my energy during the day whenever I get my morning workout in.

A Sense of Accomplishment

When you begin your day by doing something hard, something that requires mental toughness, you begin your day with momentum.

By accomplishing something difficult first thing in the morning you have started your day with discipline, and it is easier to carry that discipline for the rest of the day than it is to try and start being disciplined part way through.

Whenever you accomplish anything difficult in a day, everything else you face afterwards will seem easier and more manageable. So, by completing your workout, somehow your work seems more manageable and you have more confidence that you can handle it.

Also, if you can sustain consistent morning workouts when you are tired, its cold, and you don’t want to, you will build your mental toughness and you will significantly increase your ability to command your body to do something, and it do it automatically. The ability to do this is a skill not many people have, and is extremely valuable in any walk of life.

Workout consistency

Another bonus of working out in the morning is that it helps you with your workout consistency.

Think about how often something comes up during your day that gets in the way of you doing your workout in the afternoon, or causes you to cut your workout short.

By doing workouts in the morning you don’t allow the distractions in your life to come in a stop you from doing your workouts.

Now I’m not implying that your workouts are the most important part of your day, but I am a believer in Parkinson’s Law which states that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”.

What this means is that if you complete your workout in the morning, and something comes up during the day that you have to address, you will be able to finish your work faster than your would have otherwise, and then be able to address whatever came up.

This way your work doesn’t suffer, you can attend to the crisis, and you still got your full workout in.

Disclaimer

Working out in the morning will be extremely hard at first. It will likely take a month or more for your body to adjust, but it is for this same reason that working out in the morning is so great, as I discussed above.

However, some people are able to perform work efficiently and effectively first thing in the morning, and find that having their workout in the late morning or early afternoon is a much better time for a break.

They use their workout to recharge their mental battery part way through the day, and if this is you then great. The idea is to place your workout where you get the most benefit from it, and odds are that 5 or 6pm is not going to be that time.

Tips to help you begin workouts in the morning

My first tip to help you begin working out in the morning is to not think about the workout when you first wake up. You have to take everything one step at a time. When you wake up just think about getting out of bed, once you are up then think about brushing your teeth, then putting on your workout cloths, etc. I try not to think about the workout itself until I am at the gym walking in.

If you think about how hard the workout will be when you are lying in bed you likely won’t be able to muster the strength to get up, but everyone has the strength to simply stand up if that’s all they are thinking about.

My next tip is to drink a large glass of water as soon as possible after you wake up. This will help wake you up so that its easier to continue the push to get to the gym, it will also rehydrate you so you don’t feel awful while you work out.

My final tip is that when you get to the gym, you have to spend more time warming up than you normally would in the afternoon. Your body is cold and will not be sufficiently warmed up with your standard routine. Add in and extra 5 minutes on the elliptical or jogging to increase your core temperature.

Without a proper warm up you won’t have as enjoyable of a workout, and you will also increase your risk of injury which will make it even harder for you to continue your habit of morning workouts.

I hope this information serves you. Go out and make the most of this day that you have been blessed with. Good luck.