10 benefits for working out training or doing yoga in the morning

Maybe you are not an early riser, but the benefits you will get working out in the morning will make your life and health better. When you check out the exercise task first thing in the morning you will feel relaxed that you have the day ahead to complete the rest of the tasks and if you want you can exercise again in the afternoon and focus on this session on more specific workout.

I have to be at work at 07:00 every day and I finish work normally at 15:00, so I wake up at 04:45 every day and follow my morning rituals before going to work, and one of the rituals is doing yoga or training with freeletic exercises (exercises that no equipment needed). There are several reasons why getting up and moving your body first thing in the morning is a must. If you’re not a morning person then I just ask that you read this with an open mind. Maybe it sounds impossible for you to actually enjoy a wake-up-workout-out start to your day, but I once thought that too and now I can’t imagine life any other way. Robin Sharma says: “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end”

Why morning exercise/yoga is an extraordinary ritual?

Early morning workout routine offers numerous benefits that exercising at any other time of the day won’t be provided.

The ingredients you need to have an effective workout are discipline and consistent action. Focus on achieving good technique and pace during the workout so you get the ultimate benefits as soon as possible. If you do this daily at the same time you will reach automaticity after 66 days.

 1. Morning Workouts Enhance Your Metabolism

Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumptions (EPOC) or otherwise “afterburn effect” is a buzz word in the fitness industry. Basically it means that your body burns more calories after your intense workout (HIIT), even when you’re sitting at a desk or driving in your car. One study showed that participants burned an extra 190 calories in the 14 hours after exercise when compared to those who didn’t exercise at all!

The purple section of the graph shows how oxygen consumption (and calorie-burning) takes time to return to normal after your workout.

This works perfectly with a morning exercise routine. Get up, get moving, pump up your metabolism and then start eating. Whenever you eat your body can do 3 things with the calories you take in. It can use it as a source of energy or replenish your body or store it for later (i.e. fat!)

What do you think happens when you eat after exercise? Yup – you are replenishing your body. What happens when you eat later in the day while your metabolism is still rocking from your morning workout? You guessed it – you are replenishing your body and providing calories to meet your higher metabolic needs. You do not get this benefit when you exercise later in the day.

A study showed that your afterburn will increase significantly with duration (i.e. the longer and more intense your workout, the more you’ll burn), you don’t necessarily have to work out for a long time to stimulate the effect.

That’s where short, high-intensity workouts come in to play. Training protocols like Tabata, where 20 seconds of all-out effort is followed by 10 seconds of rest, are one way to trigger the afterburn; other high-intensity interval workouts (or HIIT routines), such as density set training, the Little Method, or 10-20-30 training, can also get you there. The key with any of these programs is that you need to be working hard. We’re talking exercise performed at 70 to 85 percent of an individual’s max heart rate.

 2. Morning Workout helps you cultivate consistency

You set your morning workout as apriority and your first task of the day. When accomplished you feel better and by doing your workout in the morning you don’t have an excuse like you can do later on in the day not to do your exercise because you feel tired. In the morning there is nothing to distract you from getting down to business.

3.Morning Exercise Improves Your Physical and Mental Energy

Morning workout can replace coffee because it will wake you up naturally, gives you natural energy. Wake up and stretch your body and improve your mind. When you move your body energy is created inside your body. Morning exercise has been shown to improve focus and mental abilities all day long. Not only will you feel awake and have more energy after your workout, but your mind will be ready to take on whatever tasks you have lined up that day.

4. Early Morning Workouts Help You Develop Strong Self-Discipline

With the cultivation of consistency through morning workout comes in pair self-discipline. It will be hard at first but with the time passing it be automatically established in the daily habits and reach automaticity. Developing strong self-discipline in this area it will be propagated as well in all areas of your life such as healthier eating habits.

5. A Morning Exercise Routine Will Help You Get Better Sleep

Waking up early in the morning to exercise will in turn help you sleep better. Your body will enjoy a healthy sense of fatigue at the end of the day and will be ready to sleep. Say goodbye to the tossing and turning that comes when your body is restless! I’m not making this up either. A recent study had participants exercise at 7am, 1pm, or 7pm 3 days per week. Guess who got the deepest, longest sleeps? Yeah – it was those who were doing the 7am workout sessions! Morning exercise not only improves the length of sleep you will enjoy, but also your quality of sleep by promoting deeper sleep cycles. Evening exercise can actually have the opposite effect. Exercise is a form of stress, and your body reacts to stress by releasing hormones including adrenaline. Would you take a shot of adrenaline and then expect to fall asleep soon after? (I didn’t think so)

6. Morning Exercise Allows You to Reach Your Fitness Goals Faster

As mentioned earlier, waking up early in the morning to exercise places a high priority on physical fitness. Whether you are aware of it or not, committing to something (in this case morning exercise) that requires sacrifice (in this case sleeping in) creates a compelling argument in your mind that says, “It better be worth it!” Nobody wants to wake up early every morning to exercise if they aren’t going to see results. The sacrifice required will subconsciously prompt you to work harder, look for other ways to support your exercise results, and help you commit to the process over a longer period of time (hopefully for life!). A goal-oriented mindset is fostered by the sacrificial habit of morning exercise.

7. You’ll be more active all day long.

Getting that morning workout in also inspires you to keep moving throughout the rest of the day. The Bringham Young University researchers also found in the same study that people who work out in the morning end up being more active in general.

8. You’ll build muscle more efficiently.

When you wake up in the morning, your testosterone levels are at their peak, according to the National Institute for Fitness & Sport. That makes morning the ideal time to knock out your strength-training workouts since your body is in prime muscle-building mode.

9. You’ll lower your blood pressure.

In a study out of Appalachian State University, researchers asked study participants to hit the treadmills for 30 minutes at three different times of day: 7 a.m., 1 p.m., and 7 p.m. Those who worked out in the morning reduced their blood pressure by 10 percent, a dip that continued all day and lowered even more (to 25 percent) at night. Most heart attacks occur in the early morning, so the researchers speculated a.m. exercise may serve as a preventative measure.

10. You’ll Be More Focused When You Reach The Office Or School

A bout of exercise increases your focus on the next activity, because your body is aroused. What follows a morning workout? For most people, it’s the office or school. Hence, one of the advantages of working out in the morning is that you’re more alert during those later hours.

And don’t forget it… this is a journey and not a onetime action.  KEEP MOVING FORWARD!