Sport in the morning, the benefits and motivation!

[ad_1]

It’s a question I get often: when is the best time to exercise? When you find the motivation and want to get into sport, it’s completely legitimate to ask yourself this question.

Even if it depends a lot on the person and their rhythm of life, I have a particular affection for the morning sports practice. It wakes up, motivates and gives the body a feeling of well-being before starting the day. If you are also interested in a morning exercise routinethis article is made for you !

What are the benefits of exercise in the morning?

It might not look like that, but exercise in the morning has many advantages:

Enjoy a moment of calm : whether you are a fan of gyms, parks or even your living room, you will generally find few people during the morning hours. You can then enjoy in peace this moment just for you.
Wake up your body : I grant you, it can be difficult to wake up in the morning. That said, isn’t that always the case? The benefit of getting up for a morning workout is that you’ll allow the muscles and the whole body to get in good shape for the rest of the day.
Awaken your mind : it’s not just the body that benefits from physical activity in the morning, the mind too. After a good training, you will be proud of yourself and secrete endorphins. You’ll have the boost you need to stay focused and productive throughout the day.
Improve your performance : when you wake up, it certainly takes time to warm up, but you are normally well rested and fully available to exert yourself. Thus, during your morning sports sessions, the body and the mind are focused and in better conditions to exceed your limits. An energy at the top when you have sporting goals.
Take time for yourself : you can’t always have a moment for yourself after work or in the evening. For anyone with a hectic schedule, training early in the morning is a great alternative.
Promote sleep : when you exercise at the end of the day, you excite the body. If you tend to train late at night, you may have trouble falling asleep and therefore disrupt your sleep.

Attention ! Many people start exercising on an empty stomach to burn more calories. I do not recommend this practice at all for beginners, because you risk hypoglycemia.

Test the sport on an empty stomach if you are used to doing sport in the morning, and compare with your performance and your sensations but not to “burn more fat”.

Otherwise, without going so far as to make a feast at breakfast, having a small snack can be enough to be successful in your activity. Only by combining sport and good nutrition over time can you lose weight permanently.

How to motivate yourself to exercise in the morning?

It’s hard to find your sport motivation, especially when you do it in the morning. The worst is the winter mornings. It’s dark, it’s cold and the duvet is shouting at us to stay in bed. Don’t feel guilty if you experience this feeling. It’s happened to all of us at least once.

To help you stay motivated in the morningI will give you my few tips:

Release the pressure

When you get into sport, it’s super important to set goals. On the other hand, it is much less beneficial when you put pressure on yourself to achieve them in record time.

See it as a way to take care of yourself, to relax. Enjoy this moment and focus on yourself, without the fuss. The results will come with time and rigor.

challenge yourself

To stay motivated, nothing better than doing things while having fun. For that, you can challenge yourself. There are plenty of ways to do this, it can be a sports program for a limited time or registering for an official race for example.

Having a specific goal (short and long term) will allow you to gain confidence and hold on, whatever the time or the season.

Challenge yourself in 20 minutes a day

For 4 weeks, challenge yourself and improve your physical and mental health. 20 minutes of ultra-effective sport to start the day off on the right foot!

Change training

There is nothing worse than weariness. Impossible to stay motivated when you no longer enjoy what you do. To avoid an overly repetitive routine, there are plenty of different ways to train and plenty of sports to discover.

Do not hesitate to vary your training, your practices and innovate to motivate yourself.

Don’t exercise every day

Exercising every day is not necessarily bad for your health. On the other hand, you can quickly become disgusted if you force yourself to do it early every morning.

Learn to listen to your body and your desires from time to time. There is no secret, the time and the quality of your training are the two factors that will make you progress.

Sport in the morning by practices

In theory, all sports can be done in the morningwhether it’s a 10 or 20 minute session at home, a running outing, a strengthening session, etc.

In practice, some will be more suitable than others and above all, the precautions to be taken will not be the same. Depending on the level and the objective, taking these parameters into account will allow you to serenely apprehend your morning workout.

Cardio sport (running, swimming, hiit)

Cardio can be intense exercise for the muscles, especially in the morning. In order not to rush them too much and avoid any injury, a few precautions should be taken:

Don’t leave on an empty stomach if you’re not used to

There has been a huge trend of running on an empty stomach. A real miracle recipe for losing fat mass it seems. I’ll stop you there, the answer is no.

I’ve already talked about it above, but the practice can be dangerous and counterproductive, especially when you’re a beginner. But controlled it can also be beneficial for the body and digestive comfort. So be careful if you go for a run on an empty stomach in the morning, read this information carefully before!

Feel free to eat something light before cardio. You will have much better performance and you will avoid throwing yourself on the first package of cakes that comes at the end of the morning training.

Warm up properly

The power of warming up is too often underestimated. However, it allows you to wake up gently and protect yourself from any injuries before starting a cardio session.

You will have better sensations, but also much better performance.

Adapt the intensity of the session to your level

If you have just resumed or you are not particularly accustomed to physical activity, go slowly and gradually.

You will have more fun and you will be better able to hold on to the length.

Vary the pleasures

Do not hesitate to change activity. Whatever the goal you have set for yourself, varying your activity will allow you to work your heart differently.

If you like cardio, you can very well go cycling, swimming or even brisk walking, for example.

Morning gym (yoga, pilates, stretching)

Soft gym is a great activity to do in morning workout. There’s nothing better to wake up your muscles, joints and mind. For all those who are not early risers, the gym remains the ideal activity.

Different variants are possible:

Yoga : it is a very complete discipline that relaxes and softens the muscles, while strengthening the joints. It’s very interesting when you want to improve your posture and relieve some pain while decompressing.
Pilates : the pilates method plays a lot on voluntary contraction and full body awareness. It is an ideal activity when you want to tone up deeply and be more concentrated during the day.
Stretching : just like yoga, stretching is a very good way to soften your muscles and tendons while reducing daily pain.

Strengthening and muscle building

It is entirely possible to make early morning muscle building. However, if your goal is to perform and lift heavy loads, pay attention to:

Take a small snack before the session;
Warm up well;
Focus on your feelings.

Following these three rules is super important to perform well and safely.

How to set up a morning exercise routine

All that is fine, but when it’s hard to wake up, it’s not easy to make a routine. So here are a few tips that might help:

Stay regular in the effort : getting up is just a matter of habit. While it may seem hard at first, over time your biological clock will adjust itself.
Make your preparations the day before : prepare everything you need the day before to focus more on the session. You can prepare your training spot if you are doing a session at home, or prepare your bag if you are going outside. You can also prepare your breakfast that we are often lazy to do when we wake up.
Motivate yourself with your alarm clocks : Choose a favorite uplifting music or fun sound to wake you up gently and in a good mood. It will be much nicer than a classic alarm clock, believe me. And change it regularly so you don’t get used to it.

Our sports programs for your goals

[ad_2]