Get Up and Go

Ironically I am posting this on the morning I slept in and missed my 6am Circuit session……..

If you struggle with finding time to train in the evenings then making time in the mornings to train maybe the solution.

I get it, not everyone is a morning person and you may already hate the sound of the alarm without setting it even earlier.

I hear it all the time with clients who train in the evenings……..

“I need to stay on late at work”, “I need to take the kids somewhere”, “My wife has made plans” often disrupt your best intended plans of hitting the gym.

It is also common for people to go home, get dinner then the couch literally swallows them up and they sack the gym for the evening.

There’s a lot of studies out there that believe that will power depleted over the course of the day. Making it more difficult to make better decisions in the evening after a stressful, decision making day at work.

This is part of the thought process behind Steve Jobs and the fact he wore the same polo knack every day, he obviously had numerous items of the same clothing but it meant he wasn’t using up his decision making resources in trivial things like deciding on what clothes to wear, thus leaving him mentally fresh for more important tasks throughout the day.

Our gym opens at 6am and we run group sessions at this time (when I don’t sleep in). At 6am you have no distractions, work won’t bother you, the kids and your partner will be sleeping. The rest of the world is asleep, this is the perfect opportunity to get your workout done. If you can’t leave the house, you can still put together. Home workout using bodyweight exercises such as Press Ups, Burpees, Squats etc or better yet invest in a Kettlebell and you have numerous possibilities.

At 6am there really are no excuses and you can get your workout done before the rest of the world wakes up meaning you have a workout banked before life gets in the way.

I work with many clients who train before their work and they all mention how it “sets them up for the day” – they are in a better mood, they are more productive at work and they make better food choices for the rest of the day. When you have a workout in the bag you will be more inclined to want to eat nutritious foods instead of the mid morning office cookies and cake. You won’t want to waste all that hard work from the early session.

For those that “are not a morning person” try and get to bed earlier. You can get up at 5.30am and still get 7-8 hours sleep. If you genuinely can’t find time to train but you spend all evening watching Friends on Netflix then maybe it isn’t a lack of time, more that it’s not important to you, which is absolutely fine. This article is for those who want to train and improve their health but struggle with time.

The first time maybe a challenge – If you can’t get to sleep early, organise your gym kit for the morning, set the alarm and get up anyway. You will be tired but force yourself to get up and train. When you get home that day, you will be shattered but this will encourage you to get to sleep earlier and you will get into the routine of getting up earlier.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it soon becomes part of your morning routine. Those that train with me at 6am are extremely consistent and with that achieve fantastic results.

There is not a ‘best’ time to train, there’s no optimal training window. The best time to train is the time that works best for you and your lifestyle, if you really hate early morning sessions don’t do them, stick to when suits you. This is just an option for those who struggle later in the day to explore.

There are no obstacles at 6am just get up and go………..