Daily exercise is one of the habits I have committed to. It’s the first thing I do upon waking up. There are some real benefits to exercising right away when you get up. First, you are working out in a fasted state, having not eaten since dinner the previous night. Apparently, there are a host of hormonal benefits to working out on an empty stomach. For example, increased insulin sensitivity, and encouraging your body to access fat as fuel. There are many more metabolic and hormonal benefits, but I’ll leave that to the many experts online that you can access and read up on the topic yourself.
Probably the best thing about exercising right away in the morning is the fact that your get it over with quickly. Once you’ve ingrained this habit it just doesn’t take much thought or preparation. My morning workouts are basically body-weight only. So I don’t need a bunch of special equipment or a particular location to succeed. I do either pushups, pull-ups, or squats and sprints on a three day rotation. This only requires rolling out of bed putting on some sweats and running shoes and heading out the door for a run around the block to warm up. Then I do whichever rotation I’m on, push-ups, pull-ups, or sprints and within 30 min or so I’m done. It’s “easy peasy.” No packing for the gym, or driving to the gym. No extra showering or clothes changing. Super-efficient, and a great way to start my morning regimen.
Another great benefit of the early morning workout is the fact that before you even eat breakfast or begin getting ready for work, you’ve already accomplished something that will pay off substantially over time. You’ll notice a feeling of momentum and gratification at knocking out this accomplishment right away each day. The power of incremental improvement is also easily leveraged here, just by simply adding 1 repetition (or whatever works for you) with each outing. Point is to slowly ramp it up. I’m already up to 71 pushups, 22 pull-ups, and 110 squats respectively in 33 days of habit. Not that impressive I know, but, if I keep adding 1 iteration twice a week, by the end of the year I will have transformed my body.
I am not into running long distances. Most distance runners just don’t look all that appealing to me (no offense Guy). I aspire to being a sprinter. Now, I’ll never be considered “fast” in comparison people with a natural gift for sprinting. But, I like the idea of getting better at this type of running. I will simply train to beat my best time; and hopefully, over the year, make some significant gains in speed and improvement in technique. Plus, fast twitch muscle fiber is bigger and heavier than slow-twitch muscle fiber. That’s why sprinters always look so muscular. Anyway, there is a low hill about a ½ block from my house that is perfect for sprinting up. Today, I managed three 150 yard sprints after my warm-up of walking around the neighborhood and doing 11 squats at every street light I walked under, for a total of 110. Timing my sprints and getting a baseline number to improve upon is the next step.
So, if possible, workout right away in the morning – it’s “easy peasy!”
Ben Wagner (33)
Member 365 Commitment
