I am putting this in writing for one reason: it becomes more official. If even one person reads this and asks me how it went, I would be embarrassed to say that I didn't in fact achieve what I set out to do. So what is it? Read on.
Most of you know that I would generally not be classified as a “morning person”. If given the opportunity to sleep in past 10 every day, I would. Hell I even chose a political science major over business because it meant I could sleep in an hour later every morning (okay, that wasn’t the official reason, but it was definitely a consideration). My regular morning routine consists of me hitting snooze at least twice, then still dozing for an extra 5 minutes after I turned the alarm off all together. And there is coffee. Until recently, a lot of it. I don’t generally consider myself fully functional until at least 2 cups of java, a shower, and the clock reading at least 10a.m.-ish.
That is what is going to make this all the more difficult.
After a lot of research during my various hours of downtime at work recently, I have decided, for many reasons, that I am going to become a morning exerciser. This might not seem worthy of a whole blog post and hours of research to you, but to me it is a life-changing decision. To me it means getting up between 5:45 and 6 a.m. Monday through Friday to workout before work, when I would normally sleep until 7. It means getting up before the sun and sweating out a few hundred calories before my normal day would even begin.
Now this isn’t the first time I’ve ever worked out before showering and starting my day, but those runs or gym sessions were planned at around 9 or 10a.m. (8 at the earliest) once my sleep had run its full course and I had woken up naturally. In Costa Rica during the last semester of my thesis seminar, I would set the alarm to wake up at 7:30, drink my coffee, check my emails and only THEN work out at around 8:30 when the sun was high. For a semester actually, freshman year, I would get up with Char’Lee and Travis for a work out before any normal person would. I only managed that though because I had two other people to motivate me, and, well, it only lasted a semester, if not less.
I have gotten into the rhythm of working out after work. For the 6 months I lived in California after graduation, I would head to the gym on my way home, be there an hour or so, and get home around 6:30. The nice thing there though was that Mom would cook dinner. All I had to do was get home and relax.
Now is a different story. Since I moved into my new apartment in Greensboro my workouts have been sporadic at best. I come up with every reason in the book not to workout after work: it was a long day, my head hurts from the computer, I won’t have time to cook and eat dinner at a decent time (this is a valid excuse), I won’t get to talk to my boyfriend (also a valid excuse). Anyway, what it leads to is me not working out, feeling like a bum, becoming depressed from lack of exercise, overeating… the list goes on. So here are my reasons for becoming a morning exerciser:
1. There will be no time constraints. When I work out in the evening, I very often cut my workout short because of everything I feel I need to get done before bed. I cut it short (or put on hold all together) if I want to cook a meal that will take longer than usual, if I have a freelance project to work on, if I have a Skype date with my novio, if I go to the grocery store, or if I go out with co-workers after work. I tend to go to bed early too, so my evenings at home aren’t long enough to accomplish everything I feel I need to. These might all sound like excuses, and they are I know, but they work, because for almost three weeks I didn’t make it to the gym once.
2. Research shows that morning exercisers are, among other things, 1. More consistent in going, 2. Sleep better than evening exercisers, 3. Get a boost of energy that lasts through the morning, stimulating brainpower and function, and 4. Jump-start their metabolisms. I read many articles on this subject (here is my favorite: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=468) and it seems there is a consensus that, although our body is in optimal form for exercise in the evening, morning exercisers reap more benefits.
3. I can have my cake and eat it to. I love my boyfriend. And I love exercising. Generally exercising takes back seat to chatting with my honey in Costa Rica. But if I wake up at 6a.m. (4a.m. his time) there is no reason why I can’t workout given that there is no way we will be talking at that God-forsaken-hour of the morning.
4. My evenings will be free. There is nothing better than getting home from work, putting my feet up, and relaxing all night. My brain and body are tired from sitting in front of a computer all day and the last thing on my mind is working out. This way, I get a great workout, which always makes me feel energized and improves my mood 100 times over, and I get to go home, sit down and just veg out in front of the TV all evening (or to play tennis or go out with coworkers, etc.)
5. I won't have to shower twice. I'm not sure when or why, but at some point I started really not liking getting wet. When I was a kid I took swimming lessons and I loved to swim, up until a few years ago. Then one day, out of the blue, I hated getting wet. This includes showers (don't worry, I still shower every morning). So the thought of having to shower twice is a big determent of evening workouts for me.
This goal isn’t without its obstacles. Here are some:
1. We’re going into winter. If I hate getting up early in the summer, I will hate it even more in the winter, when all I’ll want to do is stay in a warm bed. Plus, in summer by 6a.m. there might be a glimpse of a sunrise. 6a.m. in winter may as well be midnight.
2. The snooze button. I somehow manage sometimes to hit snooze over and over again without realizing it or without getting annoyed by the constant noise trying to wake me up. I envision myself doing just that. I’ll say in my sleep, just 10 more minutes and then I’ll get up, and then next thing I know its time to get ready for work. My solution? Zero snooze. The minute that alarms goes off, I’m jumping out of bed without thinking twice. All I need to do it get there on day one. After that, I’ll just remind myself how I did it once, I can do it again.
So starting tomorrow, Wednesday, at 6a.m. I will be conditioning my body to wake up early and exercise. Let’s see how it goes.
