Morning training and how to get started
GYM N JAPAN what is happening legends!!!? Today marks a very significant day for GYM N JAPAN and that is: JAKES BIRTHDAY. Happy birthday Jake! Please leave him some nice comments ;) Alright this week we have a tough topic for some (Haydon) to talk about, and that is, HOW TO GET IT UP IN THE MORNING…wait, wrong blog…
Just kidding Haydon doesn’t struggle with that, but he does struggle to wake up early in the morning to go to the gym. Both myself (Jake) and my brother have been getting up recently at 5.30am to go to the gym. The thought of doing that for Haydon makes him feel sleepy thinking about it. He thinks he will fall asleep at the end of the day if he gets up that early. Haydon - I definitely do fall asleep towards the end of the day… Alright we will now be going through the topic of morning training! Including the struggles and benefits of it all!
Before you continue reading, keep an open mind about training in the morning, because it’s honestly not as bad as what it sounds like. Or maybe it is terrible - #biasedopinionofHaydon…
Here's a pic of Haydon sleeping while Jake trains with his birthday hat on! :P
So what is the reasoning behind getting up early to go to the gym in the morning? Firstly, it gets rid of the feeling/need to rush in and out of the gym (this is provided you get up early enough). When you train after work, you try to convince yourself you have less energy from being at work all day and that you need to get in and out to do stuff at home. Which may be true, but why limit your training to that. Training in the morning, when done right, can eliminate those worries. Yes you may feel super tired for the first 1-2 weeks of doing this, but after that your body and mind will adapt to the change in routine. You will not be rushed on time and if anything you’ll be better because there are less people in the gym.
Next, the energy levels. Post training in the morning, you will feel a lot more energised both physically and mentally. This will allow you to start the day well. On top of this, after the gym - as a little bonus point - do all your tough jobs in the morning when you have the most amount of mental clarity. Don’t save the tough stuff for the end of the day. Your energy levels and strength in the morning may feel depleted for a couple of weeks, but this will change and I will explain in a second.
Another massive benefit for training in the morning is that, at around 7-9am, our body will hit its peak levels of testosterone in the body. This makes for the best time for our body to recover and pack on all those juicy gains. However the one trade off is that if you do like to lift heavy and do stupid shit in the gym, then going around 3-5pm where our peak strength and aerobic capacity is at, can be beneficial to you. So, it depends on your goal, but like most of us here, we want to be jacked, and that’s not to say you can’t be strong in the morning as well, because you definitely can be.
Haydon’s opinion - Alright we all know how much I struggle with getting up in the mornings; I am usually grumpy and don’t like existing for the first few hours of the day.. My inner thoughts are thinking: I can’t wait to get back to sleep tonight, but that feeling does get better and I need to accept that for morning training sessions.
I agree with all the points that Jake made here and in an ideal world I would love to get up and train at the crack of dawn, and it will just be over and done with.
You are now probably thinking: Great, I now know the benefits but how do I actually wake up? WELL we have you covered below!
HOW TO ACTUALLY WAKE UP FOR GYM
Alright the hardest part of the morning is actually getting out of bed right? How do we (I mean Jake mostly) do it? Well I am going to give you a few pointers to actually get it up in the morning… Sorry I mean get up in the morning.
3 options for you! (there are more techniques BTW)
1. Have a regular schedule - no more playing Fortnite til all hours of the night… This schedule is VERY important because you want to be well rested if you want to do it consistently everyday. So you need to set yourself a bedtime each night. Whether that is 10PM for a 530AM wakeup. Or 9PM for a 430AM wakeup. This schedule will give you 7.5 hours of sleep which is a good amount of sleep and within the National Sleep Foundation Guidelines (The Guidelines). The Guidelines suggest an average sleep of between 7 and 9 hours per night. This is a range with each person being different, so adjust your schedule to have the desired amount of sleep. I (Haydon) personally think that alot of peoples issues with waking up stem from staying up too late at night. Obviously if you have only had 5-6 hours sleep it will definitely be difficult to get up. I am very much a night owl so going to bed early is one of the hardest bits for me, and a flow on effect to struggle waking up.
2. No more snoozing - alright this is something that I think everyone is guilty of… and that is hitting the snooze button for that extra 10 mins which turns into an hour. Like the sleep is disrupted so why not just get up on the first time? The sooner you wake up the sooner you will feel better and ready to tackle the day. Online there are various techniques to teach yourself how to wake up on the first go:
Put your phone/ alarm on the other side of the room - so it isn’t easy to just click snooze.
Get moving straight away - don’t think about how tired you are, and just get into your morning routine whether it’s going to the toilet or brushing your teeth etc.
3. Prepare the night before - One of the worst things in the morning is getting all of your stuff ready.. SO we recommend doing this the night before! And even prepare your pre workout so you literally just wake up and drink it. That could be a plan in itself? Have it sitting beside your bed then when your alarm goes off BOOM! you start drinking pre workout - goodluck getting back to sleep LOL. But yes prepare your gym clothes, shoes, work clothes and pre workout :D.
THEN YOU HEAD TO THE GYM:
And there you have our story/ review/ some sexy pics of us :P
As always, thank you so much for tuning in! It really does mean a lot to us!
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PPS. HAPPYBIRTHDAYJAKE