Early Mornings

I'm not one for sleeping in, but getting up early to exercise has been difficult for me to do. I've been trying so hard to make morning exercise a part of my daily routine but it's taken me a long time to finally get into it.

Lately I seem to be falling into a groove and about half of my workouts are getting accomplished in the morning. From yoga at home to weights sessions in the gym, it's slowly getting easier for me to crawl out of bed and start my day a little earlier.

Things I'm loving about becoming an early exerciser:

1) It makes me feel super productive. After fitting in an hour at the gym and then getting ready for work I end up with an extra 30 minutes of time for catching up on emails and blogs. If I don't get up to workout I end up leaving myself with just the right amount of time to be ready before work.

2) It gives me more time in the evening. I can run errands, eat dinner, do half an hour of stretching and foam rolling, read, write a blog post, snuggle my dog, and not feel rushed before going to bed.

3) The gym is so quiet and I have access to anything I want. I don't have to fight for a treadmill and I can do a full circuit with weights and machines completely uninterrupted. Also, almost none of the personal trainers are in the gym that early trying to intimidate me into paying for sessions. I even took a mirror selfie because no one was around to make me feel judged.

4) Improvement in sleep. By 6AM I'm already at the gym, dressed, and have eaten a small breakfast, by 7:30AM I'm home and showered, and by 9:30AM I'm at work. 12 hours later I'm curled up in bed and although I'm not completely exhausted, I do feel like I need to sleep. Also, my endorphin rush is long gone so I'm not tossing and turning, struggling to fall asleep.