What get's you up?

What get me up? I won't answer that one for obvious reasons. If you are having problems getting out of bed because you hit the snooze button then you are the problem and you need to train yourself. I have been getting up and out of bed at six every week day morning for as long as I can remember. I used to use alarm clocks and such but for the last twenty years or so I have had my trusty IM watch wake up up with a shrill beep every morning. I don't think of it, I don't shut it off, I just get up, don my cycling outfit and bike to work. I don't start working until eight so that gives me plenty of time to go to the gym and do exercise and/or shower before starting my working day.

One tip I can give you that has worked for me is to prep everything the night before. Lay out your clothes, shoes, or whatever you will need to have prior to work. I seem to do better if I can roll out of bed and jump onto my bike without using my brain! Actually a couple miles into the workout I feel great and I end up even better at work. The motivation of a good workout carries me thru the day.

Adam

That's a good idea...getting everything ready the night before. I am the same way, I feel better throughout the day if I workout, it's just the hard part of getting going. Once I am up I'm good to go. Perhaps, since I found this site, it will be good to have people here holding me accountable. It's tough when none of my friends are really into exercise (they complain about coming to watch my events) because they don't really understand my joys and struggles with the sport. They really aren't interested in hearing about it. Plus, I do this stuff for weight loss as well as enjoyment, something my friends have never had to worry about (I look at cake wrong and it goes straight to my thighs). Thanks for the help; I am determined to make morning workouts a habit.

boy, sleep. what's that anyway?

being a mom of two little ones, i'm usually up a good deal at night anyway. this morning my 11 month old woke up at 6am with teething pain. once i got her back to sleep, i jumped out of bed and headed out for a run. once you get into the habit of getting up earlier, especially for a swim, it just becomes part of how you live. i'm going for my first swim in a couple weeks tomorrow morning and i can't wait. its one of the only chances i get to take a shower by myself!

Wow! Kudos to you for all that you do. I have nothing to complain about. Being a single person, I only have to deal with me, myself, and I. Of course, perhaps it would help to have someone yelling at me early in the morning.

Gina V.

or gnawing on you! hee hee. having kids can make training harder in some ways, but they also provide an amazing amount of inspiration!

Yeah, like I said, that's the problem...I don't have anyone to train with other than the cycling guys from the bike club that I ride with in the evenings. They really aren't into doing anything else. There's also not anyone in the swim club (mainly little kids to really old guys) I have yet to join the running club so perhaps there are some people there. I'm still fairly new to the area, I moved here a little over a year ago after graduation for my job. I'm not giving up hope yet though.

Gina

Hay! I am in the same boat! That is what I found:
Not to be able to get up out of bed is sign of:
- Not enough proteins consumed -> try to have much more proteins, at lest just after the workout and in your last meal of the day, you will be amused what a difference, really!
- Going to sleep to late - isn't it obvious? New day begins with sunset - what we do after the sunset affect tomorrow. Try go to the bed with the chickens for a few evenings in a row - after couple a days, you will wake before alarm sounds; sleep is not a waste of time, it is the most important part of training, yes it is! It is when most of recovery is done (provided that at least the last meal of the day is rich with lean protein)
- Too much workout? Too tired? I don't think it is useful to implement a new habit that includes not listening the needs of the body. (I am not talking about not listening the needs of the lazy butt!! it is a big distinction here.)

What do you do in the evening?

I found this information on Thomas Kurz's site www.stadion.com
There is also additional information available from Ajur Veda: There are 3 4-hrs parts of 12h cycle (with 2, 6 and AM/PM marks approx.), each of them specific on some way and good for something and bad for something else. I will make the long story very, very short (Deepak Chopra writes popular books, somebody mentioned one of them in another thread, about that subject where everything is explained nicely):
1) At 10 PM finishes the slow, relaxing period and starts the very active period that is meant for the various processes within the body, IF we sleep, that is. I call it "the last train". If we don't use the last drop of that relaxing period (it starts at 6PM - it is just an approx. so you need not to wait until 10, of course) to fall asleep, that refreshing wave will catch us, we won't be able to fall asleep and will spent that energy for daily tasks, depriving our body.
2) At 6 AM vigorous time stops and starts more lazy time. So if we wake up early enough to catch that vigorous wave, we will be vigorous all day (Provided we did not stealth form sleeping time ad1). But if we wake up in the midst of lazy time, we will be slow all day.

Bottom line: of all sugestions listed, protein issue is the biggest one! Just drink plain skimmed youghurt or milk before bed! Good luck!


Edited by sanjana 2004-09-09 4:48 AM

Protein? I hadn't thought of that. I am pretty sure that my body could use more protein. I will try to start taking in more. Thanks for all the help everyone!

Gina

I excercize in the morning hours also. If I'm going to wake up at 5 or 5:30am then I have to be to bed at a reasonable hour. It was an adjustment for me to get to bed before midnight, but now that I'm use to it I much prefer the early schedule. I have come to love the tranquility of the early morning hours while I'm out on the bike or runing.

And welcome!

Okay, sorry I had to post this. I told my secretary this morning that she has to start asking me if I got up to workout before work, and that I need to come up with some kind of discipline or punishment if I don't. She told me that if I didn't get up that my punishment should be no Little Mexico on Thursdays (our office eats there every Thursday and I love it. I could eat mexican for every meal). I've gotta get up early now. I can't live without my Little Mexico! LOL

Gina

Today is Thursday. Did you earn your ticket for lunch this morning? :-)

Well, I actually didn't work out this morning on purpose (although, it probably wouldn't have happened anyways). I have a time trial tonight in Tyler and then the tri club over there does a run afterwards. So, trying to save the legs for tonight. It's the last time trial so I would like to complete the series on a good note. I told my secretary that it starts Monday (I know I know, I sound like someone going on a diet, "I'm starting Monday, next month, next year, blah blah"). So on Monday, I expect everyone here to start nagging me.

Gina

I used to be a late riser. But I have been getting out of bed at 5:00am almost everyday for over 3 years. I think you just have to give your body time to adjust to a new schedule. Start by going to bed 15 minutes earlier than normal and getting up 15 minutes earlier than normal. Add another 15 minutes every few weeks. I don;t know if this will work for you, but it did for me, and that's saying a lot.

When I was in college, I was constantly missing 8:00am classes because I couldn't get out of the bed. My girlfriend at the time suggested putting the alarm clock on the other side of the room so that I would have to get out of bed to turn it off. Well, for the first few days, I would get out of bed, turn off the alarm clock, and get back into bed. Now, I couldn't sleep much past 5:00am if my life depended on it. Old habits are hard to break, but you can break them.

Try moving your alarm clock across the room so you will have to get up tro turn it off. Of course you could just junmp back in bed, but then like everyone else said you have to make the choice to go exercise.