How I Get Up in the Morning

As you know, I've been trying to get up earlier in the mornings to work out before going to work. I am NOT a morning person AND work begins at 6:30 most mornings, so already odds are that I WILL NOT get up at all.

I have, however, been getting up about 3 times a week. I would like to move my average up to 5 rather than 3, so I am obviously still working on it. Here is what has motivated me so far:

Clothes. I pack my WORK clothes into my gym bag the night before, even the shoes and makeup. This way, I know that if I don't get up early, I still have to go to the trouble of unpacking before I can get ready. I also either wear my workout shorts or have them close by (read: can't get out of bed without stumbling on them) so that I put them on as soon as I wake up.

Co-Workers. Since my gym (Maryland Farms YMCA) is about 5 minutes from work (okay-exactly 3 minutes), I am usually still red-faced and sweaty when I get to work in the morning. Even though I've showered and gotten ready, I don't allow my body enough time to completely cool down before I arrive at work. My co-workers have begun noticing when I'm NOT red-faced, so that helps keep my accountable. It also helps keep me accountable because I talk about working out with them.

Joe's Goals. This isn't really too motivating, but a little. I put the widget up on my blog so everyone can see if I've worked out or not. Honestly, this isn't much of a help at 4:00 in the morning. I don't care if ya'll think I'm a failure for not getting up at fucking four o'clock in the fucking morning! Those are my thoughts in the morning. I'm a bit disappointed in the afternoon when I look at it, though...

Metabolism. Whenever the thought crosses my mind that I should keep sleeping and just wait until afternoon to workout, I think about how much better my metabolism will work if I workout in the morning. Honestly, I've done no research on the subject and don't know if it is true, but it helps motivate me, so please don't tell me otherwise.

Morning Self-Talk. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I consider that even if I don't get up right then to go work out, I still only have about an hour (actually closer to an hour and a half, but I've convinced myself otherwise) before I HAVE to get up to get ready for work. I consider this: an hour of sleep won't make much difference; however, an hour at the gym will.

Self-righteousness. There is a bit of pride knowing that I worked off 1,000 calories before most people even rolled out of bed that morning (OK-1,000 is the most, usually it is around 700, but 700 still rocks!) I feel self-righteous when people are all bleary-eyed and grumpy when they walk into work and I'm energetic from working out. I also love it when people ask how many calories I've burned and I don't have to say, "Well, I didn't get up early this morning."


So far, these are the answers to my question from before, "How do I make myself go to the gym in the morning?" I'll let you know if I come up with any more.