Welcome back to Rise + Thrive, a multi-part series about how to wake up early and build strong morning rituals for daily success. View every installment here.
Some people believe that waking up early and starting their day with a workout robs them of energy and keeps them from getting enough sleep. They’re also afraid that physically exerting themselves so early in the morning will tire them out and mess up their day. These are totally valid concerns.
But the reverse is actually true: exercising in the morning gives us more—not less—energy. In fact, starting your day with a morning workout routine can set a powerful series of events in motion to help you create more productive days, weeks, months, and years for yourself as well. It isn’t for everybody, but if it’s a habit you’ve been wanting to develop, I’ll break the process down for you in this article.
Contents
How to Wake Up Early and Workout
The benefits of waking up early and working out
Remember those silly pharmaceutical ads that harp on about curing one ailment—only to warn you about hundreds of potentially life-threatening side effects in the last five seconds of the commercial? You know what I’m talking about…
The commercials usually kick off with uplifting music and clips of sunshine glimmering over a retired couple holding hands and walking on a sandy beach.
Then, as you watch the couple smile at one another in slow motion, you hear a smooth voice-over, prompting you to, “Ask your doctor about insert catchy drug brand here.” And then finally, as the ad comes to a close, you hear that same voice—except this time it’s sped up—sounding off hundreds of potentially life-threatening side effects of whatever med they’re pushing.
Now, I’m not a doctor, but I do know this: many of the pharmaceuticals being peddled on TV are designed to produce a chemical reaction in your body upon ingestion—which relieves you of pain or makes you feel good.
But here’s the thing: you don’t always need a drug to get your body to produce the chemicals that mask your pain or make you feel good. In many—but obviously not all—cases, all you need to do is exercise more… Because when you do, your body and brain will produce exactly the right doses of exactly the right chemicals to keep you feeling pain-free and healthy—all while avoiding the potential negative side effects of a drug.1
Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself…
Here’s what you can expect to experience if you do:
The endorphin effect.
If you wake up early and work out vigorously for a minimum of 45 minutes or more, a naturally occurring chemical known as endorphin begins to surge through your body, giving you a natural high (also known as “runner’s high). Your body produces this chemical to mask the pain you’re putting your muscles through when you lift weights or do hard-core cardio.
Side note: When you’re lifting weights, you’re basically ripping your muscle fibers apart… The reason muscles grow in size isn’t because of the lifting of weights, it’s because of the eating of foods. When you tear up your muscle fibers in the gym, you need to put nutrient-dense foods in your body to give your muscles a reason to rebuild and come back larger and stronger than before.
The dopamine effect.
Once you’ve completed your workout, yet another naturally occurring chemical, dopamine, begins surging through your brain and body. Dopamine helps you feel great. It’s the chemical of motivation. And your body produces it to reward goal-oriented behavior. This is why it feels so good to physically check off actions on your to-do list. It’s also why you feel phenomenal after you wake up early and exercise—both of which are difficult to do, but highly rewarding to have done.
The “after” effect
Now you’re in your car, headed to work, and feeling like a champion. You also know that almost none of your colleagues or coworkers woke up as early as you did this morning; nor did they exercise. As you think about this, you let out a playful chuckle and continue driving.
Then, as you pull into the parking lot, you realize something: this was the first morning in a while where you didn’t have any road rage. You didn’t have the same usual desire to yell at other cars for cutting you off. You didn’t even give anyone the bird.
You felt calm. Cool. Collected.
The drive itself was no different than usual…
But your morning ritual was.
How to wake up early and work out—8 tips to get it right.
Now that you know the benefits, let’s go over some practical tips to make waking up and working out as smooth and seamless as possible.
1. Plan it out.
Plan all your workouts BEFORE you step foot into the gym.
Write it down, or get an app like Gym Buddy to keep you on track.
Having plans and goals are crucial.
Otherwise, you’ll end up screwing around and leaving early.
I have a doc on my reMarkable paper tablet that has my full 12-week training program on it (pictured below). I bring it with me and check each set off as I go through my workout. After I’ve completed all 12 weeks, I clear the doc and start again.
The tools I use change from time to time, but the process doesn’t.
2. Envision yourself doing tomorrow’s workout today.
Every night before going to bed, I like to whip out my phone or tablet and quickly go over my workout routine for the following morning before calling it a night.
I envision myself CRUSHING it in the gym… Performing every exercise and feeling more and more phenomenal with every repetition.
Yes, it helps. And yes, it makes a difference.
3. The alarm-clock strategy.
Place your alarm clock far enough away from your bed that you must physically get out of bed in order to shut that thing off.
I hear from people all the time how this one simple trick has helped them create a habit of waking up early.
4. Never hit the snooze button.
“Just 5 more minutes” rarely ends up being just 5 minutes…
(Trust me, I know this from personal experience on more than one occasion.)
Do not let your mind trick you into hitting the snooze button.
It’ll result in you waking up two hours later and kicking yourself for missing your workout… For some folks, the guilt can have a negative impact on the rest of their entire day.
It’s not worth it.
💡 Related: The 4 Components of a Healthy Morning Routine »
5. Jump out of bed like a machine.
Sometimes I wake up with such force that I scare my poor wife out of her beauty sleep. You don’t need to jump right out of bed like I do, but you DO need to feel as if you wanted to.
Be robotic with it. Wake up and go.
Don’t think about how little you slept last night. Don’t think about how many things you need to do today.
As soon as your alarm goes off, get your body out of your bed and get moving.
6. Prep your pre-workout supplementation.
I like to have a pre-workout drink before I go to the gym. And because it’s powdered, I put it in an empty shaker and place it next to my bedside table (right next to a bottle of water) so that it’s ready to be consumed with my vitamins as soon as I get up in the morning.
Wondering what I put in my pre-workout drink?
It varies, but it’s usually a powdered mix of caffeine, branch-chain amino acids, buffered creatine, and arginine.
7. Prepare your attire the night before.
I go to sleep with my gym clothes on. But I’m a dude, so that’s usually just a pair of sweats and a tank top.
If you can’t do that, then pick out exactly what you need to wear to the gym the next morning and have it ready to go.
If you go straight to work after your workout, then bring your toiletries and work clothes with you. Most gyms have lockers. Hopefully, yours is clean.
8. Incorporate a wind-down ritual.
This isn’t a requirement to wake up early and exercise – but incorporating a wind-down ritual is a healthy habit that pairs well with a consistent morning workout routine.
A wind-down ritual is the final phase of a routine.
In this case, the purpose would be to bring your morning workout routine to a close as you prepare yourself for the day ahead.
There are several ways you can wind down:
- You can spend a few minutes meditating or breathing slowly.
- You can dedicate a few minutes to visualizing a successful day ahead.
- You can think of three things you’re grateful for.
Find a way to wind down after your early morning workout that works for you – it’ll help you transition smoothly into the day ahead.
Recap: How to wake up early and workout
- Plan it out.
- Envision yourself doing tomorrow’s workout today.
- The alarm-clock strategy.
- Never hit the snooze button.
- Jump out of bed like a machine.
- Prep your pre-workout supplementation.
- Prepare your attire the night before.
- Incorporate a wind-down ritual.
Footnotes
More from the Rise + Thrive series
- Dean Bokhari’s Morning Ritual
- A Motivating Morning Ritual for Productivity
- The 4 Components of a Healthy Morning Routine
- How to Wake Up Early and Work Out—An 8 Step Guide
- A Morning Ritual for Working Moms
- 11 Tips to Wake Up Early + Become a Morning Person
Master the Morning
Get step-by-step guidance on how to wake up early and build a personalized morning ritual that suits your lifestyle with Master the Morning, a research-backed training program by Dean Bokhari.
