Rise and shine! It’s already 6AM, and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of a bed. You are debating whether to hit the snooze button, to get just a few more minutes of sleep.
We all know you can’t always wake up on the right side of the bed all the time, but you can try. Starting your morning the right way will influence your entire day. Morning exercises are an excellent way to kickstart your morning and keep you motivated the rest of the day. Here are some morning exercises you can try.
Energizing breathing: To conquer your day
Taking deep breaths may save you from insanity. All the stress you fell asleep thinking about may bombard you in the morning, making you dread the day ahead just as it begins. Doing some breathing exercises may be what you need. Controlling your breathing helps you control your mind.
We may think that breathing is an easy task and take it for granted. However, when done the right way deep breaths can stimulate your Parasympathetic Nervous System(PNS) which controls your rest, calm as well as digest response making your body relaxed and in a state of healing. Some of the breathing exercises you can try as your start your day include; equal breathing, morning breathing as well as deep muscle relaxation breathing.
Full body stretching: To boost stamina
Incorporating exercise into your daily morning routine, especially with all the haste of preparing your children to go to school while at the simultaneously getting ready for work. However, you can always take a few extra minutes to do some stretching exercises. Stretching in the morning is quite effective and has various health benefits. They include; increasing blood flow, improving your body posture and also eliminating the aches and pains in your muscles and joints.
Jumping or running: To spark a positive mood
Running is one of the more popular forms of morning exercises. Taking a run in the morning helps jump-start your body. It makes your hands feel numb and your breathing painful; nonetheless, there are many benefits to running. You arrive to work wide awake, improving your focus thus enhancing your productivity.
It’s also a great cardio exercise that helps you to lose weight because your metabolism is activated early on in the day. If you are not able to run outdoors, you can still practice some running and jumping exercises such as running in place, mountain-climbers, burpees as well as jumping jacks.
Running, especially in the cold weather, maybe too hard, but remember that the easy way(going back to sleep) will always be there, ready to wash you away, all you have to do is pick up your feet and take the next step.
Push-ups: To Improve Adaptability
It’s common knowledge that pushups are the best form of exercise for the whole body. Doing pushups after waking in the morning gets your blood flowing giving you the energy to start your day. Either way, ten push-ups or more a day will help stimulate blood flow to your brain and generate new brain cells.
If you are not used to it, start small by starting with just ten pushups a day and increase gradually. Doing pushups keeps you fit and also helps your brain overcome mental challenges. They also help you develop functional strength due to the use of various muscles.
Plank: For sharper mental focus
Doing planks is an excellent way of strengthening your core while sharpening your focus. A plank is the one abdominal exercise that helps you burn more calories compared to others such as crunches and situps. When done in the morning, a plank pose enables you to calm your brain and focus on getting through the stressful situations you face.
While holding the plank position all your muscles are engaged and focused on accomplishing this task.
And then comes..cold shower! Yes, the shivers are all worth it, and it doesn’t only clean your body but also your mind. It’s difficult to stick to taking a cold shower every day in the morning, but being able to hold this habit will help you gain willpower to stick to other difficult beneficial habits you have been trying to stick to.
Morning exercises are an excellent way to keep you motivated throughout your day. When the alarm sounds, don’t hit the snooze button, remember there is a reason you set your alarm in the first place. Exercising may seem hard in the beginning, and you may only make it to three or four of these workouts but at least you are headed upstream, and with consistent effort, you will get there.
Keep grinding; you might end up falling in love with exercising in the morning and start looking forward to it.
Author’s bio: My name is Marion Selista. I’m a blogger and motivational coach. I am keen on writing about self-development, leadership, motivation and work-life balance. Currently blogging for Smart Pill Wiki resource.