Had the pleasure of doing an interview with Livestrong.com. Here’s the link, but you can read my blurbs below.
18 Tips to Kickstart a Morning Workout Routine | LIVESTRONG.COM#slide=3#slide=3 NoneNoneNoneNone
11. Force Yourself Out of Bed
If your alarm is right by your bed, you’re more likely to reach over and hit snooze repeatedly. “I set my phone’s alarm and put it in the bathroom — not next to my bed,” says personal trainer Shane Allen. “This means I physically have to get up, stumble into the bathroom and turn my alarm off. By then, I’m already up. Might as well stay up!” But don’t be too hard on yourself early in the morning. “Try to use an alarm note that is as un-alarming as possible, but will still wake you,” says Brandon Mancine, Texas-based NASM-certified personal trainer and Level 2 CrossFit coach “You want your movement to wake you, not a sense of emergency. This will spike your stress response and leave you sluggish the rest of the day.” Try an app like Wake Me Up or a device like Philips Wake-Up Light HF3550.
14. Ease Into Your Morning Workout
Your body has just been at rest for seven to eight hours; don’t force it into an intense workout right off the bat. “Don’t start with marathon sessions,” says personal trainer Brandon Mancine. “If you’re strength training, get a few (one to two) major moves in with one to two assistance moves and work your way up. For your cardio, start at about 50 percent. See how you feel the rest of the day. With both, make sure you allot time for warm-up and cooldown.” Or start even simpler from the comfort of your own home. “Start with a 10-minute workout you can do at home before work,” says Santa Barbara-based fitness trainer and motivational speaker Jenny Schatzle. “It’s proven that even 10 minutes a day changes your brain.” Try her 10-minute body-weight workout. Do each move for 45 seconds, write down how many you did, rest for 15 seconds and start the next movement: squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, triceps dips and crunches.
