I wasn’t a morning person until a busy day changed my way of thinking. It was a stressful day, but there was hardly any time to rest or train. The only option left was to do an early morning workout before the whole show started.
I still remember waking up just after 4 p.m., having a quick breakfast half asleep, and getting out in my kayak at dawn for a 1.5 hour session. It was very exciting, but I was still nervous if I would have enough time for everything that day.
From the start of my session, everything started to change. Suddenly all the hurry started to subside and little by little I became very calm.
After 15 or 20 minutes, my mind calmed down and I even stopped thinking about what I had to do throughout the day. It was pure joy.
The best thing was that I was able to carry that feeling with me throughout the day. I maintained peace, a good sense of humor and was generally in a very good mood, despite the stress.
I have come a long way since that day. Although it’s still exciting, waking up early is no longer a problem for me. And training early in the morning has become one of my almost daily practices.
Early morning workout
It turns out that many athletes and personalities plan their training early in the morning.
Some use it as a time management solution, others find they have more energy at the start of the day. There also seems to be a growing number of people (myself included) who view it as a time for meditation and brainstorming.
And that makes so much sense. When you wake up, the brain is less cluttered and the most creative ideas and original solutions arise.
A nice advantage is that early in the morning everyone is asleep and no one can disturb you. It’s like spending time with yourself and accomplishing everything you don’t have time for during the day.
There is always a good chance something will happen in the afternoon and best practices are usually the first to be implemented.
Early morning training eliminates this.
The reason I was able to maintain my energy during this stressful day was because I had nothing else planned for the evening. I didn’t feel bad that I missed something. My evening was free and I was looking forward to relaxing instead of a long workout.
What does the research say?
In fact, even if you’re not pursuing athletic goals, research suggests that morning exercise could reduce the risk of stroke or coronary heart disease. Compared to exercising later in the day.
In the study, those who were most active in the early morning (before 8 a.m.) or late morning (8 a.m.-11 a.m.) had 11 percent and 16 percent (respectively) lower risks of incident coronary heart disease . Those who were most active in the late morning had a 17% reduced risk of stroke.
That’s a good reason to exercise in the morning, isn’t it?
The resilient athlete
A Self-Coaching Guide to Next-Level Performance in Sports and Life
Do you aim to become a resilient athlete, able to withstand any pressure? Being able to seize any opportunity? Face the challenges that life throws at you head on?
Then this book is for you.
My Early Morning Workout Tips
I know, people would say there are morning people and evening people. But I was as far from being a morning person as I could imagine. I would stay up past midnight and only wake up 30 minutes before I had to leave.
As I had more and more commitments, I started trying to wake up earlier – sometimes for a week, sometimes for a month. Over time, I reconsidered my habits and now I can’t wait to jump out of bed before dawn.
I would even go so far as to say that it is the most valuable practice I do to stay productive.
Here are some of the habits that helped me get started.
Create a schedule and stick to it
The first is a big problem.
The most important thing to ensure you wake up early every day is to go to bed early. Sure, you can wake up at 5 a.m. tomorrow and survive on 4 hours of sleep. But 2-3 days like this and you will be stressed, tired and angry.
Instead, subtract 7 to 8 hours of sleep from when you plan to wake up and make falling asleep at that time a priority. For example, if you plan to wake up before 6 p.m., set a goal to go to bed no later than 10 p.m.
It will take some getting used to, so reduce bedtime gradually over several weeks. 10 minutes earlier each day would be perfect.
Get organized
Going for a run or even doing a yoga session is rarely the first thing you think about when you wake up. I went there.
To avoid thoughts that would keep me in bed longer than I’d like, I try to automate the morning. This includes preparing the clothes I will wear the day before and a routine for the first 30 minutes of the day.
It takes time for the brain to kick in, so having a plan helps you stay on track when the brain is still in sleep mode.
Take it easy
While morning is the time when physical energy is at its peak, scheduling an intense session right after waking up is not a good idea. Intense efforts on an empty stomach will only put unnecessary stress on the body.
Instead, it’s best to stick to zones 1 and 2 and treat this as one long warm-up for the day. Or allow at least 1.5 hours to eat a good breakfast and digest the food for a more intense session.
You’ll be surprised how much a regular, easy early morning workout will improve yours. aerobic base over time.
Related: 5 Heart Rate Training Zones – Guide to Maximum Endurance Gains
Remember to drink plenty of water and prepare a nutritious breakfast after you finish training. After 7-8 hours of fasting and a top workout, your body will demand good food.
Did you find this information useful? Share the post with others using the buttons below.
My First Marathon Training Update
Update: I ran my first marathon and it was a rollercoaster of emotions. Read my race report here if you are interested.
A few more weeks of solid training are planned. It’s good to get back into deep training and spend more time outside.
Last week I did a total of 13 hours of training, which I haven’t done in a long time. In addition to running, I did 2 weight training sessions, 3 morning swims and even went kayaking.
It is difficult to say the least to fit so much training into a normal work schedule. As you may have guessed from this article, I do most sessions in the mornings and on weekends to keep my evenings as free as possible.
However, with so much training, there is no other way than to do 2 sessions per day. In such cases, I like to change the intensity between morning and evening sessions. Sometimes I do harder intervals in the morning, but sometimes I use the morning to do some easy exercise.
My training progress
My training is still heavily focused on the aerobic zone with only a small fraction of faster intervals (both long and short). For me, it is more important to have a strong aerobic base and muscles that can withstand prolonged hours of exercise than speed.
After all, long races like marathons should be run at lower intensity, so most of the training should be focused on improving running efficiency and maintaining a consistent pace.
Lately I’ve started to feel like my legs are getting tight from running every day, so I’m adding more swimming and kayaking to reduce lower body stress. I plan to reduce the intensity over the next week to allow the muscles to recover.
In the meantime, happy training!
