I’m officially breaking from my internship for Christmas. And boy does it feel extra Christmas-like here in South Carolina. We had a winter “storm” yesterday that consisted of a lot of sleet and snow. There was no accumulation, but the fact that there was visible snow is fairly rare for this area.
The arrival of Christmas break means that the A.M. Exercise Challenge has drawn to a close. For this post, I’ve compiled a list of pro and cons related to a.m. exercise. Will I continue the early morning workouts when my internship resumes? Read on to find out!
Cons
1) Safety
I’ve mentioned this before, but it is dark at 5 a.m. Especially for the first couple mornings, it was kinda freaky. Be careful if you are walking to your car in the morning darkness, particularly if you are living in an apartment complex. Make sure that you are aware of your surroundings at all times.
2) Inability to Run Outside
I would never run outside when it is dark. So, for now when the days are short, my workouts do lack a bit of variety. I’m forced to fit running in on the weekends. This is not so much a problem now, but if I were training for a race, morning exercise would probably not be an option.
3) No group exercise classes.
Many gyms do offer early morning group fitness classes. Of course, my current gym doesn’t. Group Centurgy and Group Power are only offered in the afternoons. The most sensible plan would be to go to the gym in the evening on days I want to attend group exercise classes. But I just don’t think that would work for me. If I’m going to get up at 5, I need to do it every day or my sleep schedule will become out of synch.
Pros
1) Gym temperature
This is a big one for me! The gym is a much cooler temperature because less people have had a chance generate heat from exercise. My body is very sensitive to temperature and my workout performance significantly declines as temperature increases. I’ve read that 55 degrees is the best temperature for outdoor runners. (I totally agree with that!) I honestly think that my elliptical workouts would significantly improve if the temperature in the gym were lowered a good 10 degrees.
2) Availability of machines and weights
Hardly anyone is there, which means no fighting for equipment!
3) Efficient workouts
Because I have to make it to work on time, I need to be quick and efficient with my workouts. I have started incorporating more interval training and high intensity interval training (which I first learned about from reading How Sweet it Is.) When I worked out in the evening, I often chose to do a longer and slower elliptical workout because I had unlimited time to spend at the gym.
4) Getting it Over With!
Now when I come home from work, I have my whole evening to myself. I can go home, cook, bake, blog, clean, grocery shop, watch movies. It is also easier to incorporate social events into my life. If a friend gives me an impromptu call asking me to go out to eat or watch a movie, my evening is free. When I’ve already exercised in the morning, I don’t have to skip a workout in order to have some fun!
5) Improved sleep
Let me tell you, getting up at 5 am will make you sleep like a baby! When I was working out in the evenings, I had a lot of difficulty falling asleep. My p.m. workouts were revving me up and keeping me awake late into the night.
I must add that although I feel great now, the first week was pretty rough. As my body was adjusting its sleeping schedule, I felt pretty groggy during the day. I definitely wouldn’t choose the week of a huge presentation to change your sleeping habits!
6) No excuses
When you decide to dedicate early mornings to workouts, nothing stands in your way. You have no excuses! The office is not able to interfere by keeping you at work late. The kids aren’t going to need to take a trip to Wal-mart for school supplies. A friend’s invitation to go out for drinks isn’t going to change your exercise plans. Early morning is your time, and if you decide to skip a workout, it’s your decision rather than someone else’s.
So there you have it. The pros and cons of a.m. exercise.
I’ve decided that when my internship resumes, I’m going to continue to be an a.m. exerciser. The improved sleep and the afternoon free time were enough to keep me hooked!
Coming soon- a post containing tips on how to drag yourself out of bed in the early morning hours!
Today’s agenda includes wrapping presents, lounging in front of the tv, and completing my first run with my Garmin 305! Happy Christmas break!
Note: a.m. exercise will rarely occur during weekends or time off!
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Do you squeeze in workouts on the weekends? Or is exercise limited to the week days?
This is a very helpful post, thank you. I’ve been debating whether I think I can wake up for AM workouts or not. I hate spending my evenings at the gym.
You have greta pros and cons here girl! I agree about not being able to workout outside when it gets dark/cold. But I need to get my workout in first thing or else it usually doesn’t happen.
I’m thinking of (as in planning on it, just have to implement it) changing to two mornings per week after the New Year in order to fit in exercise with my study plans. I do enjoy all of your pros! Make me feel more motivated to do it!
I love am workouts b/c you can get them out of the way. I used to run with a neighbor at 5:30 in the morning, maybe you can find someone to do that with?
*check out my raw revolution bar giveaway over tomorrow*
I normally utilize the weekends for ‘activity-based workouts’ — like walking in the park, going for a bike ride, etc.
Lucky…no accumulations? The snow is more than a couple feet deep in my area!
I’m verrry lucky in that my gym offers a 6am spin class. I’d be lost without it!! More gyms should do it, but sometimes they aren’t all that popular. My old university gym tried to do a 6:30 am spin class and no one ever showed up. I don’t think many students are out of bed that early
I prefer to do my hardest/longest workouts on my days off work, then taking my rest days on particularly long or busy days work days. There’s more of a balance that way for me. But I know some people like using their days off work as days off the gym too.
I just stumbled across this post looking for tips about becoming a morning exercising, as I have a feeling a change in schedules is going to make this necessary for me soon. This just convinces me even more and definitely is an encouragement!