There are numerous benefits of early morning gym, one of which is that it will invigorate you for hours afterwards. However, if you are looking for other pointers, you have chosen the right article. To be honest, I have never been an early morning fan of the gym, but I remember the times that I did the early morning boot camp after a night of partying, and boy did I feel great afterwards.
You want to know the benefits of early morning gym, and right here we are going to encourage you to turn this into a regular routine. Pack your gym bag ready to set off in the morning, get an early night, set your alarm, and prepare to be filled with a rush of endorphins that will boost your mood for hours.
Working out later in the day does not give as much encouragement, because who knows how a day is going to go. There may be moments of anxiety, stress, or overwork, which may destroy your entire day and then you feel less than enthusiastic to work out. Better to start early and reap the benefits of early morning gym workouts.
1. Benefits of Early Morning Gym – Boost the Metabolism
We all want to achieve benefits from our training routine, so what if I told you that one of the benefits of early morning gym is a boost to your metabolism. The body has already been in a stage of fasting during sleep, so you may not feel very hungry before your workout, so why not have a banana, avocado, or handful of nuts for a healthy source of energy? Alternatively, a pre-workout shake will give your body adequate fuel.
Research has shown that the body burns up to an additional 190 calories during the fourteen hours post-workout, compared to non-exercisers, so it makes sense to do your workout in the morning to turn your body into a fat-burning machine for most of the day.
2. Benefits of Early Morning Gym – Improve Cognitive Abilities
Research has shown that early morning exercise improves cognitive abilities by as much as 12 per cent, compared to an early morning boost of caffeine that provided only 6 per cent of a brain boost. Post-workout you will have an endorphin rush and boost blood flow to the brain, so you will feel confident and positive as you go about your day.
3. Learn Good Discipline
Yes, exercise is not always enjoyable for everyone, but when you incorporate exercise into your early morning routine, you will discover that your self-discipline will grow. However, the more you incorporate exercise into your morning routine the better you will feel overall, and things can only get better.
You may also make healthier disciplined choices in other areas like your diet and opt for healthier food choices, rather than high carbohydrate and high sugary snacks. Choose foods that contain a healthy source of fats, including raw nuts, avocados, and even raw coconut pieces. We should not be afraid of fat, because it is necessary for healthy brain functions, and fat contains nine-kilocalories per gram, so you will generally feel fuller for longer after eating a high fat snack.
4. Get a Calmer Mind and Sleep Better
Have you ever been for a long walk in the day and reap the benefits afterwards with a calm soothed mind that manages to get to sleep quicker and awakes refreshed the next day? Just think what sleep benefits of early morning gym you will get with regular morning gym sessions.
Instead of your body being stimulated into the late evening, the body has received a healthy rush of endorphins during the workout, which will healthily fatigue the brain toward the end of the day, resulting in better sleep.
Research has found that those who exercised at 7 am got a longer dose of a deep sleep, and the more deep sleep we receive the more awake we feel the next morning.
Most activity trackers have a built-in sleep monitor, which you will discover when you sync your device to a mobile app. These activity trackers let you know how much sleep you have had, including the deep sleep and the lighter sleep cycles. The Polar A300 Fitness Tracker is a good investment to support your exercise goals, as you can purchase the H7 heart rate strap separately for an accurate calorie burn during workouts.
5. Higher Testosterone Levels
A study has found that testosterone levels were higher in the morning, making it the most effective time in the day to work out. If you have the time to visit your local gym in the morning, you will reap the benefits of early morning gym and be also able to access the weights areas that are often dominated by bodybuilders toward the end of the day.
Testosterone is the hormone necessary for building lean muscle mass, so when you work out in the morning there is an increased chance of you getting muscle gains quicker than regular gym sessions performed later in the day.
6. Achieve More Each Day
If exercise is a chore to you then try getting it out of the way in the morning. This way you will feel proud of your achievements and likely keep to the routine. You will also have a boost of endorphins, which will improve your mood and help you to focus. You will also be able to get more done in the day, as you will not have to worry about hitting the gym after work. Now you have more time to spend with the family, make delicious healthy meals, and even relax with a bottle of beer, or a generous glass of red wine during your meal.
Even if you only hit the gym for a 20-minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout in the morning, you will boost your metabolism and burn calories for several hours afterwards.
7. Burn 20 Per Cent More Fat Working Out on Empty Stomach
It is actually possible to train your body to fast for longer. For example, regular intermittent fasting has allowed me to skip breakfast without hunger pangs, and even enjoy kettlebell workouts or HIIT bike workouts without a need to eat, and my body has been this way for several years. Fasting is a good discipline that shows that our bodies need very little food for survival, but it is important to refuel the body after a workout to reap the best results.
When the body is in a state of fasting, i.e., during sleep, it is turning to fat reserves as energy, so what if you could boost this fat burning by working out in this fasted state. There is research showing that exercise performed on an empty stomach encourages the body to burn more fat, but some critics believe that the body turns to protein sources and muscle when the body is in a fasted state.
Japanese researchers who conducted a study on the benefits of cardio exercise during a fasted state found that twice as much fat was burnt in 24-hours, compared to the same workout being performed after lunch. Sounds difficult, but once the body has grown used to extended states of fasting, just incorporate exercise into your day for added fat-burning power.
8. Feel Less Self-Conscious
Not everyone has the time to reap the benefits of early morning gym sessions, which is good for those who feel self-conscious. We don’t need to look our best, because a workout will boost blood flow to our skin and give it a healthy glow up to an hour later, so women can look forward to less need for makeup, and instead look forward to compliments on your glowing skin post-workout.
9. Have a Better Social Life
If you start your day early with regular exercise sessions every day or every other day, you will have the time to enjoy a healthy social life without the panic of having to fit in a regular gym session after work.
10. Try Experimenting With Weights
Girls, if you want to a healthy toned figure you must incorporate weight training into your workouts. However, if you have ever hit the gym after work you will notice that huge muscly men often dominate the weights area, and this can be off-putting to even want to approach the weights area.
Instead, hit the gym in the morning to reap the benefits of early morning gym with a kettlebell or rely on dumbbells for an effective muscle-burning workout. To get some ideas of weight training exercises, buy a Men’s Fitness or Women’s Fitness magazine to learn some moves, and practice makes perfect. Alternatively, there are some effective YouTube videos. I recommend BodyFit by Amy. She has some short intensive kettlebell workouts that will make your body ache several days afterwards. When you perform regular weight training you will get a muscle-fatiguing workout that will also provide a cardio boost to burn calories both during the workout and afterwards.
