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Thursday, June 16, 2011

When Do You Work Out?

For the past few days, I've been working out in the morning. Before that, I'd been working out in the mid-afternoon. Back in high school and college, I'd work out in the evenings...but, at least in college, I think that worked best because I needed the day to sleep off the hangover and saw the workouts as a way to make room for more beer.

I have to say that of the three day-parts, morning workouts seem to suit me best. To be fair, I think the reason that working out in the mornings is easier for me than just about everyone else on the planet is because I don't have kids and I'm self-employed. I don't get up before work. I just get up at the same time as I always have, exercise and show up for work afterwards.

Still, I see the point of working out in the am. It clears your head of cobwebs. You have less time to talk yourself out of it or, to do what I do, guilt yourself into it. Neither are fun and boy do they create a cloud that looms over your day.

Working out in the morning kind of breathes a whole air of productivity and accomplishment into your day. Instead of starting with a blank slate, you start with a check in the "win" column.

Regardless of the timing though, I find that consistency is key. It needs to be the same time of day, every day. Like so many of the bad habits I've worked so hard to break, this good habit has to be reinforced in order to stick.

I guess I've replaced my morning cigarette with a balanced breakfast and an hour of cardio.  Geez. Does that make me a grownup or what?

4 comments:

Meghan said...

I totally agree with you about the air of productivity that a morning workout gives you! The sense of accomplishment is great fuel for the rest of the day.

This week I've gotten back on the schedule I had in AZ, that was interrupted by the move, and that's a.m. and p.m. workouts. For the past month-and-a-half I'd just been doing one workout, five times a week and wasn't as careful about my calorie counting. So I stopped losing. But now that life has calmed down, I do the first two workouts between 8:30-10:00, and the second one (sometimes followed by yoga depending on the how the kids are) between 4:00 - 5:00. Love that extra after burn, baby! That way I can indulge in a couple of cocktails at the end of the day, and still lose. :)

I found that when I was doing just the one workout, I would push it to later in the morning, or afternoon, and would not accomplish a lot as I used it as the jumping point for my day.

Now that the two workouts for this morning are done, time to get the rest of the day under way. A nice quite shower when I the baby is a asleep is calling my name!

Shan said...

wow - TWO workouts Meghan? that's ambition, motivation and will power on major display, lady! I bow to you.

Skinnie Minnie said...

When I was in college I did my workouts in the evenings because it was more convenient because of early morning classes but now I find if I don't work out in the morning it won't always happen later in the day. I try to stick to always working out in the morning and then if I have time I sneak in another one later on. That way if my day gets busy I have already had my workout. Also, when I did them in the evening I had a hard time sleeping. I would get this energy rush and be cleaning, cooking, and all kinds of things late into the evening and wake up late and cranky the next day. It just suits me better to do them in the morning but everyone is different. Good luck! I love your posts they always make me smile!

Shan said...

First off, thanks Minnie for the kind words about my blog! Glad my crazyness makes you smile :-) Second, I totally agree about the late night workouts messing up your sleep schedule. I have to say, I am WAY more tired at night than I used to be even working out just a few hours earlier. I rarely worked out late, but it's still a big difference!

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