Exercise is an important part of my life. It makes me feel good, both physically and mentally. When I know I’ve got a stressful day ahead, starting it with exercise makes me feel like I’ll get through it successfully. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Because of my schedule, mornings are almost always when I need to work out. If I don’t do it before my kids get up and the day gets going, I’m much less likely to do it- or, I stress about it all day, wondering if my husband will be home on time or the kids will take a nap so that I can exercise later on. I stress out about enough silly things throughout the day that I don’t need to add squeezing in a workout to the list. So most mornings (somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.), you’ll find me exercising. Even though it’s a habit and I’ve been doing it for a long time, the choice is never simple. This is kind of how it usually goes: Alarm goes off and I roll over in disbelief that it’s already 5:00 a.m. and time to get up. I lay there for a few minutes thinking about the workout I’ve planned for the morning and whether or not I have the energy to do it. Then the internal conversation with myself begins. “Maybe my husband can give the kids dinner while I run on the treadmill. But if I do that, then I miss a family dinner which I don’t like to do. And if I spend that time exercising, I’ll have less time to do work or read with the kids later on.” “Maybe I can run while the kids take a nap. But there’s never a guarantee that all three of them will sleep at the same time (they usually don’t), so if I get all ready to run and can’t, I’m going to be annoyed.” “Maybe I can just skip my workout today. But if I do that, I’m going to be mad at myself later on.” "Oh geez, just get up and do it already." Nine times out of ten, I end up doing the workout anyway. Even though sleep or quiet time sounds better in the moment, I’m ALWAYS glad after it’s over that I decided to exercise. I try to remember how I feel after I decide to postpone my morning workout, and it’s never very good. That’s what keeps me motivated to get out of bed and get moving. As you can see, it’s never an easy decision. The same thing goes for making healthy food choices, heading to the gym after a long day of work, or getting an extra hour of much needed sleep instead of staying up to watch your favorite TV show. You know what you should do, and to help make that decision less complicated, think about how you’ll feel afterward. If you know that you’ll feel fine about finishing that bag of M&M’s or skipping your workout, then go for it. But if you know you’ll be disappointed, maybe it’s time to rethink that choice. What do you think? Are there tough decisions you make every day that you never regret?  You will earn 5 SparkPoints
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My solution: I prepay my trainer at the beginning of each month...so if I miss one of my 3 scheduled workouts each week, I lose money. The cost is minimal ($10 per session) but still, how many of us will throw away $10 just to stay in bed for a half hour longer - and like you wrote, it feels SO amazing once the workout is over. You get an entire day of feeling accomplished, not to mention the added benefit of continued calorie burning turned up on high when you start your day with cardio/strength combo workouts.
Great Blog and excellent reminder to anyone - especially during these cold winter months when staying in bed always sounds like the best choice. Report
I don't think I'll ever get to that point, I definitely let these type of arguments from my non-exerciser-self win and then my good habits slip. I LOVE when I don't let this argument win and I love knowing that even when the habit is formed I am not the only one fighting myself to just get out and do it. I, too, always feel better afterwards and that is what you have to keep in mind!!!
Thanks for the honesty of this post...it is good to know that there are committed exercisers who still struggle with making it happen :) Report
Great article! Report
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I like group exercise classes because they're at a set time and place and people will notice if I don't show up. It makes the internal dialog pretty minimal, because there's no question of not going. I just go, because that's what I do on that day at that time. My car drives there automatically.
Of course it helps that I don't have kids or other unpredictable and competing necessities demanding my attention. Report
I am a stay at home mom and I kind of revolve around my kids' schedules, we also homeschool our oldest.
Some nights are better than others in regards to the kids' sleeping habits. Even though I've had them on a sleeping schedule since practically day 1, lately, they've been a little off balance. Some nights, my 22 month old will fight sleep until 11:30 at night. When that happens, I am just way too tired to get up at 5 in the morning to exercise.
So, I just try to fit it in whenever I can throughout the day. Report