9 Great Morning Workouts That Will Kick-Start Your Day
Routines that will wake you
up better than coffee.
Look, not all of
us are morning people. But if you aren’t—or even if you are—one thing that can
really help you feel awake is morning workouts. Yes, it might be hard to get
yourself motivated bright and early, but the endorphins, sweat, and sense of
accomplishment you’ll feel after getting in an early workout will leave you
energized and ready to take on your day. If you’ve decided to give morning
workouts a try, you might be wondering if there are specific activities that
are best for those early hours. Well, the answer depends a bit on your personal
preference and fitness goals.
In general,
anything that gets your heart rate up is a good bet, ACE-certified personal
trainer Sivan Fagan, owner of Strong With Sivan, tells SELF. After all, it’s hard
not to feel awake when you get a little breathless.
If you’re
looking for a real challenge, consider adding a dose of plyometric work too.
Plyometrics include any quick, explosive movements, like box jumps, skips, or
giant skaters, and it’s basically guaranteed to crank up your heart rate. The
intensity of plyo moves can fire up your entire body while also spiking your
energy levels. Another solid option? High-intensity
interval training (HIIT) workouts.
The hallmark of HIIT is repeated, extremely hard bouts of work interspersed
with periods of recovery. Pushing yourself to the max is one surefire way to
shake off a sleepy feeling.
Of course, you
don’t have to do plyo or HIIT to get an effective morning workout. Another
option is to keep things on the gentler side with, say, an energizing yoga
stretch sequence, or a quick low-impact bodyweight cardio routine.
The only thing
you may want to steer clear of is heavy strength work first thing in the a.m.,
says Fagan. That’s because your mobility is more limited right after you wake
up compared to later in the day. Thus, the risk of injuring yourself is higher
when doing heavy lifts first thing in the morning.
No matter what
type of workout you choose for your morning routine, be sure to properly warm
up beforehand so that you’re not jumping into exercise with cold muscles and
stiff joints. You probably need more time to warm up for a morning workout than
an afternoon or evening workout, NASM-certified personal trainer Alicia Jamison, trainer at Bodyspace Fitness in New York City, tells SELF. Jamison recommends taking about 10
minutes to warm up before a morning workout. “You want to start slow and
steady,” she says.
Ready to
kick-start your day with some seriously awesome exercise routines? Here are 12
workouts that will energize your body and mind. Who knows, these at-home
routines may even replace your morning cup
of coffee. (Kidding.)
1
If the thought
of mountain climbers and burpees makes you want to stay in bed, this bodyweight
HIIT workout is for you. Created by certified trainer and Equinox group fitness
instructor Colleen
Conlon, this 20-minute routine will get you sweaty and challenge your
entire body, all without any mountain climbers or burpees (which are all too
often a staple in HIIT workouts).
Instead, you’ll
tackle moves like side kick throughs, lateral shuffles, and transverse lunges
to power skips in a Tabata-style format. That means you’ll do four minutes of
each exercise, broken up into intervals of 20 seconds of all-out intense work
and 10 seconds of rest. The end result? An awesomely intense
cardio-conditioning and strength workout that’ll surely banish your morning fatigue.
2
The perfect
morning workout will fire up your body—and your
brain. This 20-minute bodyweight cardio routine from our Sweat With SELF video series ticks both boxes. With challenging compound movements—such
as half-burpees, mountain climbers, jump lunges, and plank side hops—performed
in a pyramid-style circuit, this routine will seriously challenge your cardio
endurance, fire up major muscle groups, and keep you mentally engaged as you
sweat.
As a bonus,
trainers Astrid Swan and Ridge
Davis lead the video with humor and encouragement—the ultimate
combo for upping morning energy levels.
3
Depending on
your schedule, you may not have a ton of time in the morning to devote to
exercise. That’s okay, though, because you can still get in an intense,
full-body workout in just 10 minutes. Exhibit A: This four-move bodyweight
workout from celebrity trainer Simone De La Rue, founder of the Body by Simone
fitness method.
“It would be a
10 out of 10,” De La Rue previously told SELF of the workout’s intensity.
That’s because it’s built entirely on plyometric exercises. Plyometrics
are a “really great multitasking exercise,” De La Rue said, as they deliver
both cardio and strength training at the same time. This plyo circuit targets
the lower body muscles, especially your hamstrings, glutes, quads, inner
thighs, core, and back. Slot this into your morning routine and you’ll be
starting your day off on a strong, sweaty note.
4
Sometimes, the
best morning workouts are more gentle than intense. Starting your day with a yoga-inspired
sequence can not only get your mind in the right place, it can also give you
all the advantages of a stronger core, such as better posture, more energy, and
a higher degree of body awareness, Marcia Denis, DPT, a Miami-based physical
therapist, certified yoga teacher, and cohost of the Disabled Girls Who Lift podcast,
previously told SELF.
With that in
mind, try this nine-move sequence that Denis created. It will encourage you to
move your body with intention—focusing on form and breath—and activate your
core muscles, from your abs to your obliques to your lower back.
5
Morning cardio
doesn’t have to mean pounding the pavement for a run or busting out a million
burpees. You can get sweaty with the help of a simple tool you likely have at
home (or in your apartment building): stairs.
A flight of
stairs is a wonderful tool that lets you get in a great workout without
going to the gym, Janet Hamilton, CSCS, exercise
physiologist, and running coach with Running
Strong in Atlanta, previously
told SELF. Hamilton created a 20-minute cardio stair
workout that will seriously challenge your lower body (think glutes,
hamstrings, quads, and calves), which incorporates balance and coordination
work, too, making it a great choice for waking up your body and your brain.
6
You don’t need
any equipment to tackle this routine—all you need is your bodyweight and a
little bit of floor space. That makes this workout, which Conlon also created,
easy to complete in your living room after you’ve just rolled out of bed.
You can expect
moves like skater hops, crab toe touches, and froggers performed with a Tabata
protocol for a fast and efficient full-body workout. Another perk of this
workout? Many of these moves can be easily modified to be gentler on your
joints than many traditional HIIT workouts. “When we typically think of HIIT,
we think of high-impact plyometric moves, a.k.a. lots of jumping,” Conlon
previously told SELF. “However, you can still do many bodyweight plyometrics that
are lower impact and are kinder on your joints.”
7
Not a fan of
high-impact exercise? No problem. There are lots of ways to get a challenging,
heart-pumping, full-body cardio workout that will wake you up without pummeling
your joints. This 20-minute total-body cardio
routine—with absolutely no jumping—is a
prime example.
Created by
Jamison, this workout combines a fast tempo with joint-friendly compound
movements like mountain climbers, lateral shuffles, and bear crawls. The end
result is a dynamic routine that manages to incorporate strength training and
muscular endurance too. Trust us: You’ll be ready to handle whatever the day
has in store after tackling this strength-building, low-impact routine.
8
Resistance
bands are a favorite trainer tool for a reason. They’re
relatively affordable, easy to store in a small apartment (or simple to throw
in a suitcase if you want to work out while traveling), and they provide a wide
variety of movement patterns so you can easily get a full-body workout.
Resistance bands are all you’ll need for this low-impact, 25-minute, upper-body
strength routine from LIT
Method cofounders Justin
and Taylor Norris.
As a bonus, this
workout pays special attention to the back, shoulders, and arms. Building
muscle in these key areas can help improve posture, as SELF previously reported. Add this routine to your morning schedule and then stand a
little taller for the rest of your day.
9
An overly
complicated workout routine can add—rather than subtract—stress in the morning.
Keep things simple and effective with this three-move beginner cardio workout.
Part of SELF’s 28-Day Cardio and
Strength Challenge, this bodyweight routine
will get you breathless while also challenging your legs, butt, and core.
It’s designed
for new exercisers, but you can easily up the intensity by increasing the work
periods and shortening the rest.
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