How I Finally Got Myself to Be an Early-Morning Exerciser

I’m not a morning person, and never have been – that is, unless I have to make money. For years, my old job started at 5 a.m. and, against all odds, I made it there every day. Now I teach a 6 a.m. spinning class twice a week after being removed from the more tolerable late morning shift. However, until a few months ago, I slept through all the alarms every other day, even though I knew I would have to get up early and go to the gym to start my day off right. It took me a while, but I managed to force myself to be the kind of person who gets up before the sun and finishes my daily exercise routine before my friends even get out of bed. Here’s exactly what I did.

I concocted financial issues

Since I started teaching 6 a.m. spinning classes, I’ve noticed two undeniable things: I can drag myself out of bed for the promise of money, and my day is significantly better when I start it with a workout. I’m simply more alert, productive, and more enjoyable when the morning begins with exercise than when it begins with sleep. It was obvious that I had to start each day this way, whether or not I got paid to do it, but fooling myself into exercising “for free” was my first challenge.

You may not like the solution: I had to link a financial issue to what I wanted to do. Instead of get money, as I do when I teach, I had to pay money so that I am motivated not to let my investment go to waste. This was a problem because one of the perks of my part-time teaching job is a free membership to a fancy gym here in New York. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but having free, unlimited access to a fancy gym didn’t really motivate me; he would be there every time I wanted to go and if I didn’t want to go at all, it wasn’t like I was wasting money on it. So I started signing up for introductory deals at all the studios in my area. Usually these lasted one to two weeks and cost less than a regular subscription to the studio in question if I hadn’t taken advantage of a trial offer. I had paid, but I had not paid a parent bunchand that was enough to get started. I got up every morning, slowly but surely forming a habit. However, the introductory offers expired and I found myself looking for a new place to go, which threw off my routine and wasn’t conducive to consistency.

Then I downloaded ClassPass and set up an automatic payment for each month, but since my unused credits roll over to the next month, it wasn’t as motivating. I took note of how much more consistent I am in a use it or lose it scenario, I kept ClassPass because it’s still useful, but I looked for more options. Eventually, thanks to ClassPass, I found a studio in my area that offers a Pilates-inspired strength training class. I became obsessed with it, but an unlimited monthly subscription cost a few hundred dollars. I postponed the purchase because it seemed exorbitant, but in the end I realized that perhaps it was the only way to stick to the routine that was slowly forming. Finally, I pulled the trigger. I traded a small fortune for access to a studio full of so-called “megaformers.” I’ve been in this studio every weekday morning at 6:30 a.m. (except on teaching days, when I arrive at 7:30 a.m.) for a month now. Sometimes I go at 5:30 just because I can. Who the hell is she? I’m not only ready, but excited to purchase it again next month.

Do you need to spend hundreds on this? Absolutely not. But for me, linking financial issues to my mission was crucial and, also from my point of view, they had to be intense. A low-cost gym membership in a big box store has never motivated me. What’s $25 coming out of my checking account every month, along with all the other subscriptions I’ve forgotten about? When I paid a little more to go to gyms that offered free classes, even signing up for morning classes wasn’t always enough, because there were no fees associated with missing them. (As a teacher now, I realize how nasty this mindset is, but I’m just being honest.) My subconscious is stubborn, it deeply desires to stay in bed, and I’ve had to take extreme measures to defeat it.

For you, a lower-cost gym membership might work just fine, but I caution you that what must accompany the financial investment is a time-based commitment. It’s not that I have trouble training in general; I do it every day, but I research start doing it in the morning, without putting it on in the evening or whenever I think about it throughout the day. This is why paid courses are so crucial: they are strictly scheduled. I can’t go when I want, or decide that I don’t want to go when time passes. The combination of paying a large amount and having to be there at a set time is essential to what I do.

I reconfigured my schedule

This brings me to the next big thing I did. Buying classes, packages, a gym or app membership, or anything else isn’t enough in itself if you don’t make room in your life to use them. I had to take a hard look at my schedule. I relied on a lot of the planning tips I’ve written about here, like time blocking and time boxing, and also started using prioritization techniques to figure out what could be reorganized. The MIT method – or the most important thing – was useful because it allowed me to calculate the impact of my daily tasks on my larger goals, leaving me room to recognize the positive impact of morning workouts on other parts of my day. With other types of prioritization approaches, the training wasn’t as important because it’s something a little more optional than the work I have to do to keep a roof over my head, you know? But my goal here was to make more room for it and create a lifestyle that specifically positioned it as a morning activity, so the MIT method helped me center it.

Just like the financial investment, it meant something undesirable: I first tried to go to bed earlier more seriously. It doesn’t align with who I am deep down in my soul, and it never has been. To be completely transparent, more often than not, I just didn’t do it. Asleep at 1am and awake at 5am, I’m just really tired. I give myself grace with things like this because if I’m too hard on myself about it, I’ll demoralize myself and it won’t help me achieve my overall goal. Eventually, if fatigue starts to bother me too much, I will course-correct and go to sleep at 10 p.m. like a smarter person. As it stands, I’ve made room in my schedule for a few naps (which I’ve never done much of before). Breaks are an important part of overall productivity, as is giving yourself space to be who you are without trying to make too many drastic changes at once, so the temporary nap allowance system is great. I also try to avoid strenuous activities at night. I can’t force myself to fall asleep early, but I can at least stop starting new projects at 11 p.m., which will make me sleepier the next day than if I were relaxed before bed.

I’ve noticed that I’m making small subconscious changes, even though I haven’t yet become an early-to-bed girl. I call it a night much earlier than usual when I go out with friends, even though I don’t necessarily go home to sleep, but rather to not be. out. I was also struck by the inspiration to paint a piece of furniture last night at 11pm. Normally, adhering to the 10 minutes and one more rules that I follow, I would have jumped and done this as soon as I thought of it. Last night I didn’t, knowing I shouldn’t get too involved in something delicate when I needed to relax before this morning’s Pilates class. These are certainly small steps, but they are much more helpful in developing long-term sustainable habits than are complete personality overhauls. These incremental changes, rarely lasting, but few in number, contribute to long-term success.

I looked for incentives

This part is fun, so there is a reprieve. For me, any significant life change should come with small rewards, and I’m not talking about the mental health benefits of exercise, looking better, or feeling more productive after a workout. I’m talking about little treats. First, committing to my new schedule has opened up the possibility of exceeding my goals through the different apps I use to track my workouts. I’m serious about using my Peloton app to track all of my workouts, even those I don’t do through the app or using my bike, largely because I think it gives me a better spread of data than when I use the native workout tracking feature on my Apple Watch, but also because it contributes to my daily streak (as of today: 274 days). Getting a workout entered into the app first thing in the morning secures my streak, which is literally just a number on a screen, but it motivates me.

I also started using something similar to a SMART goal to track and reward progress. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. So I tell myself things like, “If I go to class at 5:30 tomorrow morning, I’ll stop at Dunkin’ for a donut on the way home” or “If I work out every morning this week, I’ll buy a new workout outfit on Sunday.”

Wearing silly, matching little outfits is also an integral part of my personal process because it puts me in a good mood before I even leave the house and makes me feel more organized and capable at the gym, but that may not be true for you. In fact, none of these things need to be specifically done for you, but they can serve as a guideline. The bottom line here is that I took the time to think about what I wanted (to wake up early and work out); and what I know about myself (I’m motivated by money, my schedule wasn’t conducive to this activity, and I need constant mini-rewards to keep going); then combine these facts into a new progressive strategy that worked for Me. No matter what you want or what motivates you, you can do the same by relying on a few productivity tips and your own self-awareness.