The advantages of exercising regularly are well documented. Everyone knows how good exercise is for your body, but it’s great for your mind too.
In fact, people who work out frequently are more resilient to stress, anxiety, and depression (1).
They’re also generally healthier, less likely to get sick, and more capable of performing day-to-day activities (2, 3).
So, we know that working out is good for you, and something you should strive to do regularly. Yet for many of us, the challenge is adding regular exercise to our busy schedules.
For that reason, you have to find a time that works best for you.
Personally, I choose to work out in the mornings. While this is just my preference, there can be many benefits of working out in the morning!
If you're curious about what those benefits are, that's what I'm here to discuss with you today! So, let's get into it.
What Are The Benefits of Working Out In The Morning?
Any consistent workout routine can help improve your overall health. There are, however, advantages to getting up and exercising in the morning.
Improved Mood and Focus
Do you often find yourself feeling sluggish in your daily activities or tasks? Morning exercise may be a vital step in increasing your energy and alertness.
Regular exercise not only can improve focus, but can also enhance cognition. Doing this in the morning could benefit you the rest of the day.
Studies show teenagers who eat breakfast and exercise in the morning get higher scores on tests (4). Sure, breakfast helps too, but exercise alone seems to have a noticeable impact.
Exercise can also enhance your mood and decrease perceived stress levels (5).
Sure, you can get these benefits no matter when you exercise, but the timing still matters. I’ll tell you why.
If you work out in the morning, you’re more likely to see these benefits during the productive hours of your day. I don’t know about you, but if I can feel better and more focused at work, I’ll be more effective.
If you’re more effective at work, it could help you advance your career. This is why I like working out in the morning. The rest of my day feels better afterward! I also feel a sense of accomplishment, which gives me confidence.
Yes, you'll still get these same benefits from working out at night. However, you may prefer how you feel when you work out in the morning vs at night.
So, working out in the morning could give you a potential advantage in this area.
Weight Loss
In order to lose body fat, you must be in a calorie deficit. This means you need to burn more calories than you eat.
Outside of what you eat, you control how many calories you burn through exercise and daily movement.
The more consistent you are with your workouts, the more likely you are to lose weight. So, it really comes down to when you can fit exercise into your routine. The time you can be most consistent with will likely be your best bet.
For many people, that’s in the morning before their day officially starts. Why? I'd say it's because we haven't used a lot of energy yet.
I’ve noticed that after a long day when I’m tired, I’ll talk myself into taking another rest day. If you work out first thing in the morning, you can eliminate that excuse!
That can help you to be more consistent with your workouts, which could help you lose weight.
Lower Blood Pressure
Morning exercise could be a great way to maintain healthy blood pressure.
Studies show that exercise helps reduce blood pressure for hours after a workout (6). For anyone dealing with hypertension, this could be very helpful!
In general, people with higher body weight have higher blood pressure (7).
So, if you’re overweight, exercising is more than just helping you lose weight. It could also help with your heart health, and keep your blood pressure under control.
Don’t worry ... If you’re an evening workout person, you can still get these benefits.
However, as I’ve mentioned, it’s easier to maintain a morning routine before the day starts for many people.
Better Sleep
Your body has what's called a circadian rhythm. This is what regulates your waking and sleeping cycle. It just so happens that exercise can impact your circadian rhythm.
Regular workouts can help support better sleep, and lead to less time falling asleep (8). Studies actually show that the timing of your workout may matter too.
A recent systematic review showed that high-intensity workouts in the evening led to more difficulty sleeping (8).
This could be due to increasing stress hormones so close to bedtime. Those hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, are meant to keep you alert.
For that reason, working out in the morning could prevent this issue. At least, that's if your workouts are high-intensity. If your workouts are a lower intensity, they'll help your sleep regardless of the timing.
Tips To Help You Start Working Out In The Morning
While the benefits of working out in the morning may seem obvious, getting into the routine can still be difficult. I'm no stranger to falling into the habit of hitting the snooze button!
So, what can you do to ensure you get out of bed each morning to do your workout? Here are a few tips that have helped me stay consistent long-term...
Make A Promise To Yourself And Commit To It
Making a change to your schedule is no easy task. If you are serious about wanting the benefits of working out in the morning, you need to commit to it.
At first, you may find yourself negotiating in your head on whether or not to get out of bed. Like I said, I have definitely done this too.
In fact, I still do. I just force myself to get up because I know I’ll be upset with myself if I don’t.
In order for the change to be made, you have to keep the promise you made. If you don’t, you’ll lose confidence and belief in yourself to follow through on other things too.
It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other. You aren't going to feel like working out in the morning every day. If you want to be successful though, you have to do it regardless.
In the end, It will be worth it! Before you know it, you’ll be waking up early and knocking out a workout as a regular thing.
Change Your Sleep Schedule
Before you jump into morning workouts, you may need to change your sleep schedule. This could require some planning ahead of time. You definitely don't want to go into your workouts with very little sleep.
Let’s say you normally wake up at 8, but you want to work out at 6. Okay, then you may need to wake up by 5 to give yourself enough time.
In order to get 7-8 hours of sleep, you’ll need to be asleep by 9 or 10 PM. Setting yourself up for success in that way is a preemptive step in the right direction.
If you have 8 hours of sleep by 5 AM, there’s not much reason to go back to bed. It’ll be easier to get yourself out of bed and into your new routine.
It may be tough at first, but if you commit to the change, you can do it!
Drink Water (And Lots Of It)
People don’t realize it, but we lose water even when we sleep. Hydration is very important, and especially when you’re about to work out.
Drinking a large glass of water after you wake up will help you go into your workout more hydrated. Plus, hydration can affect your performance.
In fact, being just 2% dehydrated can have negative impacts on exercise performance (9). It could also increase your risk of injury (10).
So, do yourself a favor and drink water after you wake up. I personally drink about 16 oz right after I get up.
I throw in a pinch of sea salt for some extra electrolytes too. It’s a good practice when you know you’re about to sweat in your workout!
Prepare In Advance
If getting up and starting your workout routine is difficult ... Just make the process easier on yourself! You can do this by preparing your water, breakfast, and even workout clothes ahead of time.
The less stress you face in the morning means greater ease of starting your workout. This can make it a lot easier to follow through on your commitment.
Make Morning Exercise Work for You
Ultimately, the key to exercise success is finding a time that works for you. If working out in the morning isn’t for you, that’s okay.
All of the benefits of working out in the morning can also apply to working out any other time. There are just certain advantages to getting it done in the morning.
At the end of the day, though, you just need to work out. Everyone’s schedule is different, and we all need to find the time that fits our schedule best.
I personally love morning workouts. They start my day off on the right foot, and I seem to make better decisions afterward.
By that I mean I’m more likely to choose healthy foods and pay closer attention to my choices. If that’s not you, that’s okay.
Go through your schedule, and find what time works best for you to work out.
Workouts are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to earning results anyway. If you want to get results in muscle building, or in fat loss, your nutrition needs to be on point as well.
Yes, your workouts need to be effective too. Following a program that continues to challenge you more over time is important.
Don’t worry if you’re not 100% sure of exactly what to do. This is exactly where we can help out!
In fact, it's the entire reason we developed the 1st Phorm App. It’s the ultimate all-in-one lifestyle fitness app designed to help you reach your goals. In the app, you'll get access to every tool you could ever need:
• A certified personal trainer and nutrition coach (sometimes a dietitian) to coach you every day in the app
• A full library of workout programs catered to your goals
• A custom nutrition plan and an easy way to log your food to stay on track
• 5x per week live streams about nutrition, training, and supplementation
• Activity and step-counting software
• The ability to enter and compete in our $25,000 transformation challenges
At 1st Phorm, our mission is to help real people like you and me earn real and long-term results. We've already been able to help tens of thousands of people do exactly that.
We can help you do the same!
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References:
(1) Nowacka-Chmielewska M, Grabowska K, Grabowski M, Meybohm P, Burek M, Małecki A. Running from Stress: Neurobiological Mechanisms of Exercise-Induced Stress Resilience. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 1;23(21):13348. doi: 10.3390/ijms232113348. PMID: 36362131; PMCID: PMC9654650.
(2) Nieman DC, Wentz LM. The compelling link between physical activity and the body's defense system. J Sport Health Sci. 2019 May;8(3):201-217. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2018.09.009. Epub 2018 Nov 16. PMID: 31193280; PMCID: PMC6523821.
(3) Kapoor G, Chauhan P, Singh G, Malhotra N, Chahal A. Physical Activity for Health and Fitness: Past, Present and Future. J Lifestyle Med. 2022 Jan 31;12(1):9-14. doi: 10.15280/jlm.2022.12.1.9. PMID: 35300039; PMCID: PMC8918377.
(4) Kawabata M, Lee K, Choo HC, Burns SF. Breakfast and Exercise Improve Academic and Cognitive Performance in Adolescents. Nutrients. 2021 Apr 13;13(4):1278. doi: 10.3390/nu13041278. PMID: 33924598; PMCID: PMC8068805.
(5) Basso JC, Suzuki WA. The Effects of Acute Exercise on Mood, Cognition, Neurophysiology, and Neurochemical Pathways: A Review. Brain Plast. 2017 Mar 28;2(2):127-152. doi: 10.3233/BPL-160040. PMID: 29765853; PMCID: PMC5928534.
(6) Carpio-Rivera E, Moncada-Jiménez J, Salazar-Rojas W, Solera-Herrera A. Acute Effects of Exercise on Blood Pressure: A Meta-Analytic Investigation. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2016 May;106(5):422-33. doi: 10.5935/abc.20160064. Epub 2016 May 6. PMID: 27168471; PMCID: PMC4914008.
(7) McCarron DA, Reusser ME. Body weight and blood pressure regulation. Am J Clin Nutr. 1996 Mar;63(3 Suppl):423S-425S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/63.3.423. PMID: 8615333.
(8) Alnawwar MA, Alraddadi MI, Algethmi RA, Salem GA, Salem MA, Alharbi AA. The Effect of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality and Sleep Disorder: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2023 Aug 16;15(8):e43595. doi: 10.7759/cureus.43595. PMID: 37719583; PMCID: PMC10503965.
(9) Barr SI. Effects of dehydration on exercise performance. Can J Appl Physiol. 1999 Apr;24(2):164-72. doi: 10.1139/h99-014. PMID: 10198142.
(10) Cleary MA, Sitler MR, Kendrick ZV. Dehydration and symptoms of delayed-onset muscle soreness in normothermic men. J Athl Train. 2006 Jan-Mar;41(1):36-45. PMID: 16619093; PMCID: PMC1421497.
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