Healthy Lives Start Early

Update: I have recently decided that since I touch on more general health topics than just fitness, ‘Health’ is a better working title for this section. You will still find all of the good fitness articles, but now you will also see stories on healthy lifestyles.

Healthy Lives Start Early

Waking up rested and relaxed at 5 am, I head for my morning run. I get back around 6 am, shower, change, and eat a healthy breakfast. I sit and read the news online as well as catch up on any loose ties around the house. By 7 am, I have prepared myself for a healthy and productive day and most people have hit the Snooze button at least once. Which is you?

I became a runner back in 2005 because a friend at the time said he ran this 5k. Being the one-upper I am, I immediately signed up for the 10 kilometer Turkey Trot only 2 weeks away with no running experience other than sports and the occasional drunk race to the bathroom to “relieve” myself. I ran it in 42:39. I was thrilled. I bragged to everyone who would listen and to anyone who didn’t want to.

As running became more a part of my life, I scaled back the power lifting and went towards a balanced fitness regimen. This was only half of my great life decision. To get in both types of workouts I had to implement the ‘Old Man’ habit: waking before the sun rises.

As I have discovered, better balances in my general lifestyle significantly improves my fitness lifestyle. The biggest factor has been getting up early. I try to wake as early as possible while receiving a healthy rest. With getting up early, working out has become a staple to the morning routine. My body awakens physically and mentally. I can feel the air filling my lungs and my muscles, joints, and bones loosening from their slumber. My mind becomes clear as the oxygen and blood flow stimulates brain activity. The overall lifestyle benefits that have come from getting up early have changed my life in more ways than I thought when I first started waking early by choice.

Waking early for me was not easy at first so I am going to provide some great tips that helped me (or would have helped) in changing my lifestyle to appreciating the AM more than the PM…

Ways to Improve Waking Early:

• Go to bed early. There is nothing more detrimental to a habit of rising early than going to bed once the Late Show starts.
• Ease into it. At one point, I tried to copy Dean Karnazes and wake at 3:30 when I was already getting up at 5. Jumping back an hour and a half killed my motivation. If you wake at 7 currently, get up at 6:45 for the first week, then 6:30 the next, and so on.
• Try to prepare things to do the night before. If you need to write a blog post, read a chapter of a book or work on some financial matter, have those items ready to be managed after waking. You will be more motivated to work on them if you are ahead of the game from the night before.
• The second you get up, do 10 push ups. Doing these push ups got the blood flowing. Try it right now no matter what time of the day it is. Bet it will wake you up more RIGHT NOW.
• Cook a healthy and big breakfast. Breakfast is the one meal during the day that will completely digest. Make a smoothie or eat a hearty, low fat breakfast as this stuff will be working through your digestive system all day. French Toast Sticks from Burger King or a Cinnamon Roll, both of which are some of the finest treats I have ever partaken in, are not ideal on a daily breakfast basis for creating a healthy lifestyle.

Just to make myself clear, I will provide a list of the benefits I have received from waking early…

Benefits of Waking Early:

• Higher rate of productivity. I am able to focus and get things done in the morning. I have fewer distractions and better thinking power. Better thinking power? See I am writing this at 11 at night and that is the lame type of thing I come up with at night. In the morning, I actually sound philosophical.
• Peace. That is one powerful word. I enjoy the silence that comes with everyone sleeping in the waking hours of the day. You will quickly appreciate the slow pace of the morning.
• Great workouts. Whether at the gym or on a run, I tend to have impressive workouts in the morning. It took me about a month for my body to adjust to lifting early so don’t be shocked at first.
• Step ahead of your neighbor. I love beating people. It is just my competitive nature. And nothing feels better than getting a jump on the day over the rushed morning society we live in today.
• Organized Day. I used to hate rushing to get ready and get on my way to work and forget something at home. By getting up early I am fully prepared for my day.

I hope these help you start an early morning tradition. If you see a smiling, tall, fit gentleman running around your neighborhood at 6 am, it’s probably me, so say ‘Hi…Good morning” and I will return the gesture.

Click here to leave your thoughts on the early morning rise practice….

Have a good one…

Dave
LifeExcursion

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