Why Exercising Before Work Gives You the Productivity Boost You’ve Been Looking For
Struggling to find time to work out? Make time by getting up early and hitting the gym before work.
Full disclosure, I am not a morning person. I have to set multiple alarms and hit snooze every morning. In college, I never signed up for morning classes and slept in all the time. It wasn’t until I started working full-time that I thought I’d give an early morning workout a try. Now every day I look forward to my early morning trip to the weight room.
Here are four reasons why you should consider giving it a shot as well:
1. Working out gives you energy
The biggest and most obvious reason to work out in the morning is simple: exercise gives you energy. Exercise improves circulation and unleashes endorphins that leave you feeling energized and ready to start your day. The energy you receive from working out beats having to drink multiple cups of coffee or energy drinks.
2. A morning workout reduces stress later in the day
A big source of stress for me during the day was figuring out how to make time for a workout. What if I had a project that made me stay late and miss my planned workout? How would I deal with the massive rush of people getting to the gym at the end of the day? Making time to exercise first thing in the morning eliminates those stresses and gives you more flexibility throughout your day.
3. Decision-making improves after an early workout
Research shows early morning exercise helps regulate your appetite for the remainder of your day while also improving your concentration. Making good decisions gets easier because you start each day making a good choice: to get up and get active!
4. Exercise clears your mind
Physical activity, whether it’s lifting weights or a morning run, has been shown to help you think more clearly. Got a big project coming up? Have a problem in your personal life you can’t figure out? A morning workout can give you a chance to clear your mind and remove stress that slows you down throughout the day.
Thinking this sounds great but you still don’t want to get up early? In the words of my former baseball coach, “To get where you want, you can’t only do what you like.” If you want to increase your productivity, give an early bird workout a try. You might wind up looking forward to getting up for your morning exercise.
Do you feel better prepared for the day ahead after an early morning workout? Let me know in the comments below.
Get out of bed!
Check out these hands-on tips on how to challenge yourself to be the early bird.
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thanks for sharing your personal experience. As a next step, do you consider early workouts more often in the week?
All the best,
Nina
Happy to inform that this post has been mentioned in the recent part of our "Productivity Articles" roundup!
You can find the entire post on our blog: https://www.timecamp.com/blog under the "Productivity Articles: Habits and Myths! 26/11/17" title.
Thank you so much for sharing these perfect tips!
Ola at TimeCamp
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