While my productivity and morning energy levels increased, I made a few mistakes.
Picking my outfit the night before and eating before exercising would have set me up for success.
After challenging myself to exercise before work every day for a week, I learned a lot: that the best way to sleep through the night is to tire myself out every morning; that my productivity in the morning increases after I've broken a sweat; and that, while it's hard, it's worth dragging myself out of bed to get my workout over before the day begins.
However, there were four mistakes I made throughout the week that I plan on addressing as I continue my fitness journey, including both things I forgot to do and things that I would do differently in the future.
Forgetting to pick out my clothes the night before was a bad decision
I learned this tip back in middle school, but somehow I stopped picking out my outfit the night before at the start of the pandemic in 2020 when, like everyone else, I hunkered down in my house and barely went outside. As my job continued to be office-optional, I got into the habit of wearing loungewear all day, which meant I wasn't putting together cute outfits.
But during this exercise challenge, I was waking up around 90 minutes earlier than usual, so it was much easier to pick out an outfit the night before. That way, I could just roll out of bed the next day, put on my clothes, and walk out the door.
It was hard to get out of bed by the end of the week.Gabbi Shaw/Insider
However, there was at least one evening where I was so tired from my longer-than-usual day that I didn't take the time to lay out clothes for the next day. I figured I could just pick them out the following morning.
It turned out that selecting my outfit ate into valuable time, and I left at least 15 minutes later than I wanted to. That meant I was rushing back to my apartment after my workout, leaving me stressed before starting work.
I didn't eat anything before exercising
In general, I'm not a huge breakfast person, but after exercising, I found myself, at best, absolutely famished — at worst, sometimes a little woozy.
According to the Mayo Clinic, eating a healthy breakfast that's full of carbohydrates before working out may improve workout performance by allowing you to exercise longer, and/or harder.
If I had eaten at least a breakfast bar or a protein shake, I perhaps could've had more energy before my workout, and maybe would not have been as exhausted as I was after working out.
Instead, I was left running to the nearest coffee shop to grab an egg sandwich.
I didn't take a change of clothes with me to classes, so I was unable to take advantage of their showers
The bathrooms at Rumble Boxing.Gabbi Shaw/Insider
I usually avoid locker rooms at the gym, but I was pleasantly surprised by the shower at Rumble Boxing, which was one of the exercise classes I took during the week. Even though I had been to this location before, I never needed to use the locker room, so I hadn't seen what the showers were like.
So, when I decided to explore the facilities before my 8 a.m. class and discovered that the showers were clean, the products were high-end, and it was basically empty, I immediately regretted not bringing flip-flops and a change of clothes so I could've just showered there. I was very sweaty after the boxing/mixed cardio class, and it would've been nice to just hop directly in the shower to set me up for the day.
Instead, I got back to my apartment and had to wait until I had a lull in my morning to finally shower, which meant I was pretty uncomfortable for a chunk of the morning.
I also learned I shouldn't be too hard on myself for missing a day now and then
On the last day of the challenge, I was positively dragging myself out of bed. Why? Because it was the first morning where I'd had plans the night before that kept me out until almost midnight.
I was disappointed with myself for not running like I wanted to — instead, I just took a walk. But after some reflection, I realized that it's not fair to myself to expect a perfect workout every morning. Being healthy is about balance, and making time to see friends and have fun is also a huge part of living a fulfilling life.
Overall, these are things I could've done to save myself time, money, and effort
Gabbi Shaw/Insider
Buying cheaper breakfast bars instead of expensive sandwiches at cafes, picking out my outfits beforehand, and bringing a change of clothes and flip-flops to shower at the gym were all things I should've done to streamline my morning routine — and I also learned that sometimes I need to go easy on myself instead of pushing too hard.
Even with these mistakes, though, I found that exercising in the morning was worth it for all the health benefitsand the productivity boost I experienced throughout the week.
In the future, I'll be spending more time at night trying to make life easier in the morning.
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