Do you have ALL the excuses for why you “can’t” workout in the morning? Trust me, I’ve heard them all because I had those same excuses.

• I HAVE to eat before I workout and I don’t have time to cook in the morning.

• I’m not as energetic in the morning. I won’t get a good workout.

• I need the extra sleep.

• It’s HARDER in the morning!

I know! All of these may be applicable to you and maybe you’re thinking that it’s just not worth it. I’d like to offer you my experience and let you know that it is ABSOLUTELY worth it if you’ve been considering it for a while. There’s a reason you keep considering it!

I spent the first 22 years of my life repeatedly telling myself that I just wasn’t a morning workout person. No matter how bad I wanted to be, I just wasn’t made that way. Here’s the thing… I didn’t actually KNOW that I couldn’t work out in the morning. It’s just what I was assuming based on the fact that waking up early is hard and takes commitment. This was a narrative that I told others and myself all the time. “That’s a no from me, dog. I “CAN’T work out in the morning”. What happens when you’re told something over and over and over again? You start truly believing the things you’re hearing. These were MY personal excuses for why I “couldn’t” workout in the mornings.

• I get lightheaded if I workout in the morning.

• My muscles feel fatigued in the morning.

• I had asthma growing up and can’t breathe as well when I do cardio in the morning.

• I don’t have time.

• It’s hard and uncomfortable and I just don’t want to do it.

I want you to take a second real quick and WRITE DOWN 5 of your personal reasons for not working out in the morning. You can physically write them down or you can type them in the comments if that’s convenient. Take a moment and look at what you are telling yourself. Read your reasons over multiple times. Got it? That was easy, right? Now read them as if they are someone else’s reasons. What would you think if someone was giving you these excuses? Would you wholeheartedly agree and tell them they definitely couldn’t handle that, or would you tell that person that they are so much stronger than they’re giving themselves credit for? We are our harshest critics! How crazy is it when you look at your excuses through a different lens?

Now try something different. Something that may make you roll your eyes. I want you to write down 5 reasons that you WANT to workout in the morning. What will this do for your daily routine? What will it do for your mentality? What will it do for your body? It can simply be because you need a change. (Enter the Jeopardy theme song). Did you do this exercise? I really hope you did because I’ve learned over the past few months that writing things down and reading them over has a huge effect on how you see what’s going on in your head.

To put it simply: if you want to make a change in your life, the first step is to START. Stop telling yourself no. Stop making up excuses. Stop accepting that “this is just how I am”. That’s not good enough. Do. The. Work.

Here is exactly what I did when I got tired of assuming I couldn’t get up early to workout when I hadn’t actually tried it yet.

• I changed my narrative. I went from “I don’t workout in the mornings” do “I’m going to work out in the mornings for one week”.

• I committed to a set amount of time that I was going to give this my best shot.

• I chose exactly what activities I was going to do in the morning BEFORE the morning of. (Y’all this is the big one)

• I stuck to my commitment EVERY morning no matter how bad it felt in the moment.

• I started with a short 30 minute workout. (surprise, it was PIIT28)

• I watched highly addictive CW shows while working out to have something to look forward to.

What is most important about deciding to make a change in your life is that when you START and make that commitment for whatever amount of time you and your brain have agreed to, YOU STICK TO IT UNTIL YOU ARE DONE. Point blank, it’s not going to be helpful and you are not likely to see a change if you do not see your timeline through. I picked 1 week to try morning workouts. I got up 6 mornings in a row, turned on my drama on the TV and did my 30 minute workouts in a space that I had set up for myself at the same time every morning. I started with 7am. Do you want to guess what happened after that week? I didn’t WANT to stop. Once you are able to see that you ARE capable of the change, it shifts the way you see the excuses. The positives outweigh the negatives and it becomes less of a chore that you’re making yourself do and more of a thing that you GET to do everyday because you are strong enough and you CAN do it. Don’t think of your set timeline as an end goal. Once you finish, KEEP GOING! After my weeklong commitment. I said “okay, let’s go for a month!”.

Here are some positive changes that I experienced when I started regularly working out in the morning.

• I have less brain fog throughout the day.

• I am more productive.

• I don’t have to dread my workout all day because I get it done before I have time to talk myself out of it.

• I am more likely to actually workout consistently because it’s the first thing I do everyday.

• My cardio stamina has improved and I breathe deeply throughout the day.

• I’ve started waking up earlier on rest days and find that I have more time to do the things I love.

• My evenings are free for social activity, resting or getting a little extra work done.

• I go to bed READY and I fall asleep much quicker.

• I am happier. I am less rushed during the day and I start every day with a WIN.

Ready to change your life? Tell me your goals below. Are you ready to commit to trying something new? LET”S GO!