I’m not a morning person. Never have been. Probably never will be.
1. Same Workout, Burn More Calories
When you workout, your heart rate and metabolism increase to supply your body with the energy required for the increased activity. No matter when you workout, your body’s natural tendency is to keep your heart rate a little higher, and continue that higher rate of metabolism for hours after you’re done working out to facilitate repairing strained muscles and deliver nutrients for growth and recovery.
Experts recommend working out too close to going to sleep because your increased functions will keep you from falling asleep. If you workout in the morning, this can work to your advantage rather than hindering healthy sleep.
When you workout in the morning, your increased heart rate and metabolism continue throughout the day, gobbling up nutrients and energy from the food you eat AND YOUR BODY. Since your body stores energy as FAT, working out in the morning causes you to burn fat all day long. Same workout, burn fat all day long.
2. Reset Emotionally
I believe it was Bill Philips, of Body for Life, who said that raising your heart rate is the number one way to reset your emotions. When you wake up, your body has the highest concentration of cortisol, the stress hormone, than any other time during the day. Exercising in the morning helps you clear out and buffer this cortisol, which helps you start the day relaxed and focused. Working out in the morning also physically ‘warms you up’ to further ‘chill you out’. Ironic, eh?
3. Set the Context for an Exceptional Day
This has never happened to me, but one time this guy I know woke up with only 15 minutes to get ready before heading to work. He rushed to the shower, threw on the first shirt he could find, and blasted out the door in a blur of chaos. Like I said, I would never do something like this, because I know it would throw my whole day into a downward spiral.
Working out in the morning means you make it a priority to get to bed a few minutes early, and wake up a few minutes early. When you take the time to take care of your body, your heart, lungs, muscles, bones, and chemicals/hormones, you build a healthy foundation and set the tone for a great day.
If you workout in the morning, by the time you hit lunch time, in the back of your mind you’ll see your muscles and organs thirsting for vitamins and protein. Think you’ll grab a greasy hamburger and fries? No way. You’ve set the context for a healthy lunch, a healthy dinner, and so on. Your healthy day builds on your healthy foundation - your morning workout.
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The MACC fund is Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, and we support research to prevent childhood cancer and blood disorders. MACC fund donations have “helped yield significant advances in overall cure rates to 80% with some as high as 90% with previously deadly cancers.”
