Working out first thing in the morning can be extremely intimidating and challenging especially when you don’t consider yourself a morning person. Quite honestly, I never thought I can pull it off because I never had the discipline and resilience to do anything in the morning. But one thing I’ve realized, as my health and fitness journey continues to progress over the years, is that if you MAKE IT A PRIORITY you will find the strength, discipline and resilience within yourself to reach your goals no matter what!
As a busy mom of 4 boys, my time is very limited. But I don’t believe time is ever an excuse. After all, we are all given the same amount of time every day!
I decided a long time ago that taking care of myself is a priority for me so I’ve learned to MAKE TIME for me … even if I have to wake up at the crack of down. For me, the most uninterrupted time of day is early morning while the boys are still sleeping. I made it a practice to wake up before them, push play on my DVD player while still in my PJs and put in my 30 min workout per the calendar of the program I am using, or just wing it …
And the more I do it, the easer it gets! Of course I didn’t just spring into action and all just fell into place! No! Far from it! What first prompted me to do morning workouts was seeing an amazing mother and very close friend of mine wake up every morning at 4:30 am and put in a 30 min workout before she went off to her nursing job! She is a single mom of two daughters and had 3 nursing jobs to be able to support her girls. She shared her morning workouts in our accountability group daily and I started following her. The fact that she made no excuses inspired me. I looked forward to seeing her posts first thing in the morning. She shared her struggles and her determination daily. So one day, I decided if she can make no excuses and just make it happen, then the least I can do is TRY!
What are the benefits of working out first thing in the morning:
1. You start your day on a positive note
2. You feel energized, invigorated and ready to tackle your day
3. You are more productive
4. You bring more clarity in your mind and more focus in your tasks
5. You have no thoughts and worries about working out the rest of the day and just go about your business
6. You feel more determined and dedicated
7. You show your family by example
8. You make better choices in your nutrition through the day
9. You go to bed earlier because you woke up earlier
10. Sticking to your morning routine brings an overall happiness, balance and fulfillment in your life
11. You start seeing results from your daily workout that just motivates and pushes you to do even more
WHAT TO DO TO MAKE A MORNING ROUTINE A STICK:
#1 – Figure out your PRIORITIES: on a piece of paper, list all of your priorities: kids, house, work, projects, travel, health and fitness. Then score each item listed by giving it 1 through 10 scores with 1 being least important and 10 being most important.
#2 – If your Health and Fitness goal score 8 or higher, then you are ready to remove all excuses and pursue a morning routine.
#3 – Start small! Start with two early morning workouts (before your kids wake up) for the first week! Make sure to write them in your schedule. Ones you stick to those, reflect on how you felt during the day. Draw upon this experience and continue to expend your morning workouts from week to week until you reach 5-6 morning workouts per week.
#4 – Reward yourself for every small battle won: sticking to the plan the first week; then the second and so forth! Then finishing a 30 day program; starting a new program; seeing the rests you’ve been looking for.
#5 – Join a group of like minded people that will keep you inspired and motivated. Gather your friends to join in with you so that you can keep each other accountable and get healthier together. Encourage all those around you to make a plan and stick with it! Put it out in the universe that you are doing this and you are not looking back.
#6 – Workout from home to save time, make it more convent, and make it hard to make excuses as to why you can’t stick to it!
And just like any new habit, you have to devote 21 days to it, to ingrain that new habit in your system and to make it a natural occurrence! Remember that establishing a new, healthy habit is never easy. The more you do it, the more natural it feels.
Note: Do not start a morning routine unless you know that your health and fitness goals are of utmost priority. A lot of people say that they want to be healthier and fit, they want to lose weight and get toner, they want to feel better, but they are not ready or willing to do the work it requires to reach those goals. So if you start before you are ready, then you set yourself up for failure. Rather, take your time to take care of those other priorities on your list first, so that you can get a peace of mine and not feel guilty when you actually start working on YOURSELF!
If you feel READY and DETERMINED! If you know your goals are a PRIORITY to you! Join my next support and accountability group and lets motivate and inspire each other to reach our goals!
Fatima says
Hi, I would love to join your group but can I get more info about what it is and also I’m a nursing mom, my little one is 3 months old, I saw you were drinking a shake, is it safe to drink shakes while you are nursing, thank you for the info!
nstoyanova@live.com says
Hey Fatima, I am a nursing mom too so I understand your dilemma with nutrition. Baby always comes first! Let me email you so that we can connect and I can provide answer to your questions.