Twenty plus years ago I decided to become an early morning
exerciser. It’s not an easy decision
to make but as my life got busier it became harder and harder to exercise in
the evening. So I took the leap one morning. It was a difficult transition at first. You are a little sleepy in the morning and by
10:00AM you are usually starving. But for me the rewards to this schedule far
outweigh the hurdles (no pun intended) adopting this strategy. There
are many epiphanies I have experienced while working out during this time
period. First, I am not the only crazy
person that does this. There are many
people out on the road during this hour.
I am not the only one at the gym.
It’s not the chaotic mess at 5:30PM.
It’s very laid back but be warned you still have to get there early for
a bike in a spinning class most of the time these classes are full.
I start my day the night before. I put together everything I will be wearing
to work the next day. I also pack my
lunch. I have it all packed and ready to go.
Why do I do this? Because at
4:30AM I do not think clearly and inevitably I will leave something out. There is nothing more frustrating than
driving to the gym and realizing you left your pants at home. I am usually in bed by 10:00 but sometimes I
can stretch that to 10:30. Anything
after that and the likelihood of me getting up at 4:30AM diminishes. The first alarm goes off at 4:10. I hit the snooze bar and go to sleep for
another 10 minutes, I do that one more
time before the dreaded 4:30 time is upon me.
The hardest part is getting out of bed.
Once I make that “commitment” it’s a good sign I will make it to the
gym. I put my gym clothes on and grab a
light breakfast. I also get in a few
minutes of the local news and weather.
Yes, the local news starts at 4:30AM on three of the local
channels. This lets me know what the
weather’s going to be like for the day. I
have had a few mornings where I made the call of not working out due to the
weather. On April 27th 2011,
watching the weather stopped me from going to work out. That morning a tornado crossed one of the
roads I take to the gym.
I head out around
5:00-5:10 and I am usually at the gym by 5:30.
I either take a class as part of my cross training regimen or run. This time of year is great due to the long
days. By 5:30AM it is daylight enough to
run outside. I run through the
neighborhoods around the gym. During the winter months I usually run on the gym’s
indoor track. It takes nine laps to make
a mile. Some people find this to be
tedious but for me I prefer it over running on a treadmill. In addition to using my Nike Sports Watch I
bought a clicker counter at Office Depot that helps me keep track of how many
laps I have ran. I can’t mentally keep
track of this on my own ESPECIALLY at 5:30AM in the morning. I usually work out between 1-1/2 hours. When I am through I shower at the gym and
head directly to work. I always have a
morning snack when I get to work. By
this item it has been over three hours since I have eaten and I am hungry!
There are some drawbacks to this workout strategy. Things that are not so great include the winter
time. 22 degrees, wind blowing and the
darkness at 4:30 in the morning is not fun.
I mentioned this earlier but have to bring it up again. Forgetting an article of clothing is
frustrating. The items I have forgotten
the most are socks, t-shirts and underwear.
I keep a backup pair of socks and underwear in my gym bag. I have been known to stop by Wal-Mart on the
way to work if I have forgotten a belt. Dress
shirts, pants and shoes are a deal breaker.
I usually have to head back home if I forget one of these. That throws the whole morning off.
These drawbacks do not outweigh the positives for me. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I
am through working out. It makes the
rest of the day more enjoyable. I love
the people that work out at this time in the morning. They are all there to do one thing, exercise (a
novel concept for the gym…right?). It’s
a close group of people that will usually give you a hard time if you miss a morning.
I love the calmness of the
morning. Whether I am running or just
working out it seems less hectic.
Lastly, depending on the time of the year you get to experience amazing
sun rises.
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