Each night you set your alarm telling yourself that TOMORROW is the day. Finally, you’ll get up early and make it to the gym. But when morning comes and that alarm goes off, your bed becomes the most comfortable place in the world. At that point, TOMORROW seems like the more appropriate morning to start working out. Don’t worry. You’re not alone. We’ve all been there.
Many of us have busy mornings and often time in the mornings is quite limited. But you can do yourself a favor by peforming the following 5 things each night to set yourself up for making it easier to get to the gym in the morning.
1. Chose your clothes for the next day
Picture it, it’s 4:30 in the morning and your trying to find socks that match and a clean shirt to wear to the gym. With all the fumbling around you’re now running late for that spin class at the Y and decide to just go back to bed. Just save yourself the trouble and set out your gym clothes the night before. Or join the group of folks that sleep in their gym clothes the night before. I mean, you’re going to get those clothes all sweaty at the gym anyways so one less thing to think about in the early morning and save yourself the extra laundry.
2. Prepare everything you’ll take out the door in the morning
There is nothing worse than scrambling to get out the door in the morning only to realize you forgot your headphones. So pull a small gym back together that has essentials like headphones, water bottle, deodorant, iPod, wallet, and your car keys. Leave the bag by the door so that it’s ready to go and you just have to remember to grab the one bag when you head out.
3. Visualize your wake up
Okay, this one is a little bit new-age, hocus-pocus but stay with me here. While laying in bed each night, visualize yourself waking up the next day at the time you want to wake up. For example, if you want to wake up at 6 A.M. you would visualize your clock changing from 5:59 to 6:00, your alarm sounding, and you waking up easily and refreshed. It’s like you are mentally setting a wake up call and oddly enough your brain follows through with the plan you visualized. I mean, you’re still setting your physical alarm but the mental preparation helps prevent the likelihood of snoozing the morning away. I know it may seem a little silly, but it works. And hey, it’s worth a try. I’ll only take a few minutes of your time to do the visualization so what’s there to lose?
4. Go to bed on time
Nothing will make it easier to get to the gym in the morning more than going to bed on time and getting a full night of rest. So put away that video game, turn off the Netflix binge watch, and go to be already.
5. Don’t go it alone
Do you have any friends looking to get fit too? Great! Join together and hold each other accountable. Whether it’s having someone else there to suffer along with you during your morning workout or that you know you’ll get so much flack for missing the work out that motivates you to get up in the morning is irrelevant. So get that work out buddy or join one of my challenge groups so that you can be held accountable to your goals.
Good luck tomorrow! Make the most of your morning. You’ll be glad you did.
(photo cred: David Mao)
