Morning Workouts: Are They Better For Me?

When it comes to breaking in a new habit into your daily routine, we all know that getting it done and dusted in the morning is the most ideal. This way, you won’t constantly be pushing it back when work and family responsibilities start cropping throughout the day; and this couldn’t be truer when it comes to making a habit of working out!

But even though morning workouts are great in theory, they aren’t the easiest for us all to make a habit of. So let’s delve deeper into them. 

The Benefits of Morning Workouts:

During the winter months, when the days are shorter, and the thought of jumping out of bed is more difficult than ever, morning workouts are notoriously more challenging. So to help you stop hitting the snooze button, we’ve compiled a list of a few of the health-boosting benefits that come hand-in-hand with morning exercise:

1. Kickstarts your Metabolism:  We’re not talking about just sipping hot lemon water here. Oh no! By making exercise your first priority in the morning, you’ll naturally kickstart your metabolism for the day ahead.  Cardiovascular exercise is the best choice to speed up your metabolism, so why not consider a quick run or cycle to give your body a greater chance of burning off those calories during the day.

2. Natural Energy Boost: Get ready to say goodbye to your large morning coffee! By exercising in the morning, you won’t be needing that regular dose of caffeine to wake you up. Instead, you’ll be producing your own natural energy from your workout. Studies have indicated that this natural energy boost in the morning will have you functioning at your best with an increase in cognitive attention, making you much more productive during that time of day. 

3. A Morning Rush of Endorphins:  As well as a natural energy boost, your morning workout will have you releasing those all-important feel-good endorphins for a big boost of inner calm and happiness first thing. And there’s no better way to start the day than that!

4. Helps you to Develop Strong Self-discipline: There’s nothing like sticking to a consistent workout schedule, which in turn will help build self-discipline in all areas of your life! Sticking to a regular morning workout routine, particularly in the more challenging winter months is a sure fire-way of not only hitting your fitness goals, but strengthening your self-discipline overall; making it much more likely for you to achieve and work towards whichever goals you set for yourself! 

Tips To Make Morning Workouts Easier:

So you’re sold on the health-boosting qualities of early morning workouts but don’t know where to start? Don’t you worry, as we’ve outlined a few tips below that will help you roll straight out of bed whether the sun has risen or not!

• Find workouts that you actually enjoy. This sounds simple but is really essential to help motivate you to get your workout complete and work it into a habit. So is it running, HIIT, rowing, cycling? It’s your time to workout what works best for you!
• Lay out your workout clothes the night before. It’s all about mentally preparing yourself for getting up and out of bed to actually start the workout. That is the hardest part afterall! Even better is that it gives you precious extra time in bed instead of looking for that specific training top!
• Plan exactly what you are going to eat pre and post workout. This one is particularly great for those who love their breakfast, but being motivated by what you’re going to eat and fuel your body with pre and post workouts is known to be a great workout motivator! Even better if you can prepare your breakfast food the night before! Overnight oats, anyone? 
• Plan out your entire morning. In the same vein as the above, planning out everything you do in the morning, from the time you wake up, to the workout you’re going to do, as well as how long it will take you to etc are all great ways to encourage you to get it done!
• Remember why you are working out. There’s nothing like refreshing your memory with the purpose of your workouts to get you ready and raring to go with your workouts! The more specific the goal, the easier it will be to motivate yourself too.

Morning Lark or Night Owl?

Society makes us feel lazy if we don’t jump out of bed at 5 am and get everything accomplished by early afternoon, but that definitely shouldn’t be the case. As much as early morning workouts can really have an edge compared to workouts which are completed later in the day, some people are just never going to be morning people, and that’s okay! 

For those Night Owls, you may find the benefits of working out later in the day to be:

• Not half-heartedly attempting your morning workout. If as much as you try a morning workout isn’t for you then you shouldn’t worry too much about it! Pushing yourself to workout when you’re not at your best, potentially with not much sleep either, is going to be more detrimental to your morning workouts than anything. Maybe working out mid-morning or at the end of the day for you enables you to fully focus on your exercise, making it all together much more likely that you’ll start hitting those fitness goals.
• Enables you to destress and unwind after a long day. Whether this is a heart-pumping sweaty workout that helps you conquer the day, or a nice yoga or pilates session to unwind. There’s nothing like leaving the day behind and finishing it off with a bit of ‘me-time’.

So there you have it, some great health benefits of incorporating morning workouts into your daily routine as well as some tips on how to do so! However, as much as morning workouts are better for a lot of people, some people are better prepared to workout later in the day. At the end of the day, you do what’s best for you as that way it is more likely that the workout will get done!