Gym in the AM - how do you do it?

Probably three times a week I set my alarm early to attempt to get to the gym before work (for me, this means setting my alarm for 6:15am). Every time I do this, I immidiately turn the alarm off - it never fails. I go into panic mode and even though I'm awake, I do not get up. Then I feel guilty for not getting up.

For all you morning gym rats - how do you motivate yourself to get up extra early and work out???

Hi! I workout first thing a few days a week when I know I won't have time in the afternoon. I NEVER feel like it when I wake up, but once you are exercising it is nice b/c you are still kind of "spaced out" which I actually enjoy. 

Try having everything ready to go next to the bed.  I even put my shoes right next to the bed so within 5 minutes of waking up I can be out the door.  I drink a big glass of water, but I don't eat anything before b/c I get cramps. I keep the workout on the short side and make sure to eat a good breakfast right after.

It ALWAYS makes my day so much better, and I find it is easier to eat well on those days because I feel positive and I am more in touch with what my body needs.  The main motivation is just that it is great to get it over with!

Hi! I workout in the morning 3 times a week and I find it easier because the gym is almost empty at 7:30 AM and I have all the weights and machines for myself. It's just too packed if I go at 6 PM. Also, I realized that I have much more energy during my workday if I workout in the morning.

I make sure I have everything ready to go next to the bed, and my lunch is in a bag in the fridge.

I enjoy working out but it's still not natural for me (i.e. I still have to kick myself in the butt to do it), so I find that if I work out in the morning, I don't have to think about it anymore during the day, I don't obsess over it, I don't try to make excuses not to go.

Sometimes though if it's too dark or if I know it's -30 outside, I just stay in bed. :)

It really helps to go to sleep early. Most days, I wake up before the alarm even goes off.

When you exercise in the morning, you tend to feel very tired and sleepy by the time evening rolls around, so the 'early sleep' thing is easy to kick in to.

There have been those other good points brought up too:

-more energy throughout the day

-empty gym

-have your exercise gear ready in advance

How about having someone meet you there?  Or find a class you want to take early... 

The only thing that gets me there early is I have to take my daughter to school early and then I go right to the gym.  That is what works for me.

Treat yourself to a tea or something nice after???

i'm jealous that's even an option for you guys. i work at 7:30 am and i take the bus everywhere. the gym is about a 45 minute ride from home and an hour from work, so i would have to leave my house around 4:45 to workout before work. i wish i could.

I don't go to a gym to workout, but I do get up every morning 5 days a week to head to my basement workout room to get my time in.  I work full time, have 3 kids and I'm married so there's just no other time to do it.  In my head, it's get up at 5:30 to work out, or it won't get done that day.  After a few days, it gets easier, and after a few weeks, it's habit.  I actually get to where I miss it on my off days.

The only way I can motivate myself to work out is to do it right when I get up, when my brain isn't working well enough to talk me out of it. I wear my workout clothes to bed as PJs, have my breakfast made and ready to go, and my gym bag packed.

Move the alarm to somewhere that you can't reach it without getting out of bed. Getting out of bed is the hardest part. If you have to get up to hit the alarm, you're already up, probably need to go to the bathroom. By the time you get done with that there's not really any reason not to go.

I'm a morning person by nature, I swam for most of my life which meant in the water by 5:30 or 6:00 am before class. The best way to do it is to force yourself out of bed first thing, because if you have the chance to lay in bed and think about going, chances are you have time to talk yourself out of it.

I pay someone who takes my money if I don't show.  The only thing worse than getting up in the morning IMHO is losing my hard earned money. 

i also get up to go to the gym at 6:00..i put my alarm where i cant just hit it off, so i have to get up...plus, the plus of going to the gym in the morning is you never have to wait to use any thing, there are far less people there, so getting up early actually helps you get your work out done in less time...

Original Post by obrules15:

I pay someone who takes my money if I don't show.  The only thing worse than getting up in the morning IMHO is losing my hard earned money. 

Ditto.  For years and YEARS I would set the alarm for 5:30, trying to get some morning exercise in.  I ALWAYS hit the snooze, and slept an extra hour instead.

Then I started doing private Pilates lessons at 7AM (an hour drive away) at $70 a pop.  You pay even if you are a no-show.

So that $70 potential loss MOTIVATED me to get my butt out of bed.  Once I got used to doing that 2 days a week, it was pretty easy to just start getting up that early every day.

Edit:  I also heard that you can train your body's response to the alarm.  When you are awake, lie in bed, and set the alarm.  Practice popping straight up out of bed, and getting all the way up and out of the room.  Do this repeatedly.  Over time, your body will get used to popping up out of bed the moment the alarm sounds.  Once you're up, you're free to hit the gym!

A lot of awesome tips in this thread. One that has not been mentioned is to drink plenty of fluids before going to bed at night. Chances are, with a full bladder, your brain will have a pretty good reason to work against you going back to sleep. Works like a charm for me. ;)

I am at the gym by 6:15 at least 4 days a week. All the previous posters are dead on:

• EVERYTHING must be ready to go the night before. What your wearing to work, toiletries must be packed in bag, lunch must be in fridge waiting for you to grab
• I have 2 AM buddies and we rag on each other pretty bad if one of doeesn't show...
• It needs to be a personal decision for you. The same way people can lose weight or not, you can go to the gym in the AM or not.

I'm not going to lie, it's not easy. It took me TWO months of saying I wanted to work out in the morning to actually get into the routine of going. Something that I HAVE discovered is that if you get a GOOD workout in the morning you go througuh the rest of your day with a slilghtly superiour smirk on your face because you know you've already kicked butt and it's not even 9am...

 Quoted from kaffwynn-- Edit:  I also heard that you can train your body's response to the alarm.  When you are awake, lie in bed, and set the alarm.  Practice popping straight up out of bed, and getting all the way up and out of the room.  Do this repeatedly.  Over time, your body will get used to popping up out of bed the moment the alarm sounds.  Once you're up, you're free to hit the gym!

LOL, I use this in reverse when I have insomnia.  I set the alarm for 15 minutes out and then hit snooze.  I go right to sleep!!!  I never thought about trying it the other way around.  THANKS!  (I guess I'll have to resort to meditation/self hypnosis techniques for insomnia.)

For years I was out of bed at 4 or 4:30am and at the gym, for some reason it's not working for me any more, but now that I think about it, I probably 'trained my brain' to the snooze cycle....  

Original Post by emilyd22222:

The only way I can motivate myself to work out is to do it right when I get up, when my brain isn't working well enough to talk me out of it. I wear my workout clothes to bed as PJs, have my breakfast made and ready to go, and my gym bag packed.

Haha my roomate does the same thing, as in wearing her workout clothes in bed. Its actually quite effective.

The following things have helped me get to the gym by 6am:

Keeping my alarm clock across the room so I must get up and out of bed inorder to turn it off

Sleeping in my workout clothes

And I tore a picture out of one of my Oxygen magazines of a girl with the PERFECT body and I placed it on the dresser next to my bed. So in the morning if I roll over in bed and look at the picture it makes me wanna go because i want to look like her someday!