How To Get In Those Early Morning Work Outs

I've had a hard time getting in my work outs lately… Even to the point where I would let a few WEEKS go by without getting in my work outs. "It's too hot", "It's too cold", "I'm too tired", "I don't have any clean work out clothes", "I don't have anyone to watch baby while I work out"… yadda yadda yadda. I've been making excuse after excuse and it's unacceptable! Sometimes you just have to roll your butt out of bed at 5 AM, tie up your tennis shoes, and get that work out in.

Part of the problem is that my husband works long hours every day… and I was saying that I would just work out when he gets home, but lez-be-honest that rarely happened! When he gets home after a long day at work I just want to spend time together with our little family, not leave for the gym.

The past few weeks a lightbulb has finally gone off in my head and I realized if I don't get my work outs done in the morning, they're not going to happen! And now that I've been going to the gym in the early morning, I love it!

I love going to the gym early for a few reasons

• You feel amazing the rest of the day!
• You're body releases the "happy" hormone serotonin while working out--and you get to benefit from it the whole day.
• It's a great way to start the day… nothing better than getting in a great work out, coming home, showering and getting ready for the day.
• I dont miss out any time with my baby or husband because they're both sleeping.
• You end up being that "happy" mom ;)
• Did I mention you feel great the rest of the day?

Seriously, don't hate on those early morning work outs until you try them. There is something about getting to the gym at 6 AM and having the parking lot already FULL with other motivated gym goers. What's your excuse?

I've found a few techniques that make that 5:30 AM alarm a little bit more bearable. Here they are!

1. Pack your gym bag the night before. Pack everything so you don't forget the next morning when you're head is still groggy.

• Water bottles
• Running shoes
• Socks
• Headphones
• Ipod
• Chapstick
• Contacts/Glasses (I tend to forget to put my contacts in before I got work out… so I put them in my bag so it's not a problem!)
• Jacket
• Car Keys (how annoying is it when you get up that early and you can't figure out where the car keys are?!)

2. Sleep in your work out clothes. 

• Yes, really. I swear this makes all of the difference! I just throw on some leggings and a t-shirt so I can roll out of bed the next morning.

3. Do your hair the night before.

• I throw my hair up in a top bun before I go to sleep and some how it miraculously stays in all the way through my work out the next day!

4. Go to bed early!

• We all know that we should strive for at least 8 hours of sleep a night. According to my calculations… if you're getting up at 5:30 AM you need to be asleep by 9:30 PM. That's hard! I'm happy if I'm asleep by 11 PM! If I know I'm going to have trouble getting to sleep early sometimes I'll take a melatonin. Melatonin is a natural substance you can get in most health stores--it helps you fall asleep and stay asleep! I love melatonin because it tends to not make me groggy the next day like other over the counter sleeping aids. Melatonin is produced by your pineal gland in your very own body and helps regulate your sleep-wake cycles. I try not to take it every night, maybe once or twice a week. I never want to feel like I need it to fall asleep, ya know?

5. Tell your spouse your plan and ask for their support

• It used to be that when my alarm would go off in the morning by husband used to make it even harder to get out of bed by saying, "Don't leave, just stay and cuddle with me…" A lot of times he won me over, who wants to get out that warm bed to go freeze their buns off in below freezing temperatures? I spoke to him about how I needed him to encourage me to work out in the morning and sure enough, as that alarm went off the next morning, the first thing he says is, "Go get 'em cowboy". Lol.

6. Work out with a friend.

• Having a friend count on you makes it a little harder to flake out on those early morning work outs!

7. V8 Energy

• Has anyone else discovered these little gems? Almost double the amount of caffeine from a can of soda; plus the caffeine is derived from natural sources! Did I mention it has one serving of fruits and vegetables? If I need a little energy I'll sip on this on the way to the gym.

8. Pandora

• If you haven't downloaded Pandora on your Ipod or smart phone you need to drop everything you're doing and do it right now! It's amazing for work out songs. My favorite stations are "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, "Dirrty" by Christina Augelara, and "Nelly" radio. What?? I'm from the hood. ;)

9. Audible

• After seeing some ads for audible I decided to download it on my smartphone and give it a try. Audible is pretty much the Itunes of books, download whatever you want and it will read it to you! So much easier than trying to read a book while running on the treadmill…..... *face plant*. Seriously though, I'm listening to Tina Fey's Bossy Pants book right now and I'm in love. She's hil-ar-i-ous. Hilarious. It makes those hour long cardio sessions go by like nothing!

When it comes down to getting in those early morning work outs, it's just about preparing ahead of time and being bigger than the voices telling you not to do it. Some mornings I literally have to recognize the voice telling me to stay in bed and power through it. It's so rewarding when you do! Do you have any other tips that get you to the gym in the morning? Let me know!

P.S. What pandora station gets you motivated while working out? Comment below or send me an e-mail with your go to work out pandora station!


UPDATE: I lost the baby weight, and I'm pregnant again! And guess what? I'm going to keep working out, lifting weights, and eating healthy THIS WHOLE PREGNANCY.  Because PREGNANCY IS NOT AN ILLNESS. We should strive to be our healthiest when we are growing another human? Don't you agree? Baby doesn't need in n out and nutella to grow strong, baby needs a mama who is eating a healthy diet and maintaining her health. Ya know?! So now, my blog will be focused on keeping that motivation through your pregnancies so you're not stuck with SO MUCH UNNECESSARY BABY WEIGHT at the end of them. No more of that "I'm eating for two" so you grab another big mac... you only need an additional 300 calories a day during your pregnancy... not 1,000. I learned that the hard way! My goal is to have a healthy weight gain of 25 to 35 pounds, if I gain more than that I won't be disappointed because I will have known that I've been staying healthy. At the end of the day that's all that matters. So follow me by subscribing to my blog on bloglovin, by entering your e-mail on the right side of my blog, or on instagram at @britneymunday. Let's do this!