Intense Morning Workouts – Start Your Day The Right Way With Morning Rise
It’s 4:45 a.m. You wake up to the static white noise of your alarm clock between two radio stations (seems more effective than standard beeps to me). Your gym clothes are on the floor next to the bed for quick access. You have a pre-workout drink, brush your teeth, grab your gym bag, and you’ll be out the door five minutes after waking up.
On the way to the gym, you prepare yourself mentally and do your training mentally. You get to the gym around 5 in the morning, do a couple of warm-up sets, and start to feel the rush of the pre-workout drink you drank. Now is the time to tackle the heavy hitters. You pulp through reps and massive sets for about an hour and a half and then finish off with a short interval cardio session while taking in some branched-chain amino acids. At home, you drink your shake after training and then take a shower. By the time you get to work, you’ve already worked a day and a bit more. In fact, you’ve already tried harder than most people in a month, if not more.
I have been doing morning workouts for many years and I can attest that once you get used to exercising early in the morning, there is no turning back. There are too many benefits to exercising right now. Of course, I’m talking to most of those with 9-5 jobs, but I know people with weird scheduled jobs that still show up first thing in the morning. People will think you’re crazy for getting up so early to go lift weights, but once I go over some of the benefits of exercising right now, you’ll see that it might not be that crazy after all.
I’ve heard some complain that their strength isn’t up to scratch in the morning, but I think a lot of that is mental. For starters, your testosterone levels are at their peak when you wake up. The excuse is usually a lack of quality sleep the night before. I must admit that getting up this early takes some getting used to. But think about it; What is the difference between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., or between 7 p.m. or any other time? It’s just a moment. You have to have that in your head. Also, your mind is fresh first thing in the morning. You haven’t been through any stresses of the day; everything is new, so you can focus 100% on your training.
Some other advantages are that there is no traffic or distractions on the way to the gym and the gym is certainly not crowded at the moment. The people who are there are serious (you have to be dedicated to getting up to do weights while the rest of the world is still sleeping) and you can feed on their energy and sense of commitment. How many times have you been to the gym after 5pm only to get frustrated by the masses of people around you? Most of your time is spent waiting for people to stop socializing and “looking good” so you can access your machine. So the potential for better quality workouts is in the mornings rather than prime time. Let’s not forget to mention that when you are done, you will have a better sense of general well-being and you will be ready to face whatever comes your way for the rest of the day because your big battle, pushing the iron, is over and over.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s easy. Is it worth having something easy? I will tell you that making your training the first task of the day is extremely rewarding in many ways. So go to bed a little earlier tonight and set your alarm. It will take a week or so to get used to it, but once you do, I seriously doubt that you want to change it. There is simply no other feeling like this.
