RISE & SHINE

For as long as I can remember I have always been a morning person. For me, getting up for an 8am class in college was a breeze. When I went to basic training, 5 am wake up? No problem. Quick 3 mile morning run ummm rewind. It always seems that no matter what type of person you are, morning or night owl, waking up and convincing your body to workout is hard! With that said, some people just don’t lead a life that allows them to be morning people and that’s alright too!

I wanted to share few tips and tricks that help me to get out of bed and moving, now granted I am the opposite of most, I have more energy in the morning and once 5 o clock hits, homework, ruck march, gym…those things just aren’t as appealing to me. I realized that if I didn’t work out in the morning my chances of working out later rapidly decrease with every passing hour.

LAY (IT) DOWN

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the first step to working out in the morning would be to just not and lay back down. *sigh* What I mean by “lay it down” is lay out all your clothes the night prior. That pesky sports bra that you can never seem to find when you need it most, shorts, pants, tank, t-shirt whatever you might need for your 4, 5, or 6 am workout, get it prepped so all you have to do is throw it on. For those who are zombies in the morning this works best because it requires little to no brain power. I like to go as far as even sticking my water bottle, headphones and phone arm band in my shoes.

PLAN YOUR WORKOUT

If you know it’s going to take 10 minutes to get to the gym and only 2 minutes to get to an open space in your home, find the option that works best for you and do that! Not everyone needs a gym membership to workout, there are so many amazing workouts you can do right from the comfort of your very own home. If you have stairs try this stairs workout I filmed for my YouTube channel a few months ago.

If you do plan on going to the gym, create a routine, one where you can get up and go. My go to is a 20 minute HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout on the elliptical followed by 20 minutes of weights with an ab and cool down routine. I was able to drop 7 pounds last month by doing this 5 times a week and making a conscious effort to kick the healthy eating up a notch.  If you want to see my workouts and what I’m doing you can follow me on the pumpupapp @jodikayedwards.

SNAP SOME PICS

Nothing makes you feel more motivated than being able to actually see your own results. They say it takes 4 weeks for you to notice, 8 weeks for your friends and 12 for the rest of the world. In most cases when you start to notice, those around you will notice too. Don’t give up and keep going. Don’t cheat yourself because it shows, too often we complain that we are exercising and eating right and nothing happens, but are you actually engaged during your workout and are you having one too many cheat days? Be honest with yourself so you can reach your goals. Remember there is no such thing as a perfect body. We all come in different shapes and sizes, learn to love and embrace yours.

Week 1


Week 4

SET GOALS

Set some short term realistic goals, tell yourself you will workout in the morning 3-5 times a week for 4 weeks and really clean up your eating habits. Just four short weeks could jump start your fitness journey. If you don’t feel better by the end of 4 weeks, by all means go back to what you were doing before. Just remember change doesn’t happen over night and when you’re tired and not wanting to leave the comfort of your bed try really hard to think of how great you feel after a heart pumping workout. Cling onto that feeling and let it push you out of bed! The best part about morning workouts is after a long day of work your afternoons are freed up. This leaves more time for meal prep, recreational activities and my favorite spending time with friends or family.

There are some amazing perks when you workout, in the morning, there are amazing perks to working out period! My favorite is just being awake when the rest of my neighborhood is still sleeping. The world is just so beautiful at 5 am.

While you’re busy getting into your new fitness routine, don’t forget to fuel your body right! I tried this simple recipe my friend posted on her Facebook page and wanted to share it with you! She posts Fit Tips of the day which are always so motivating.

“Tonight’s dinner was a beauty of a lemon/thyme salmon with steamed green beans. Super simple and honestly took 15 minutes total to prepare. I purchased the salmon from Festival, spritzed some lemon on it and sprinkled some thyme on top. Put it in the oven at 375 for 12-15 minutes. While that was cooking I steamed the green beans during the last 5 min. Easy and healthy!”-Maggie H

Photo credit: Maggie H