How to motivate yourself to exercise in the morning

It can be tough fitting exercise into your regime, especially when you're a parent.  A great time to try is in the morning.

But lying in bed, it's comfy... I know, it's tricky to drag yourself out so I thought I'd give you a few motivations.

"Lack of exercise kills as many as smoking"

This was a quote someone said to me recently when she was talking about a mutual friend she'd been trying to encourage to exercise.

It's a shocking statement.  We all know that smoking kills you and while, hey, we all have to die of something, smoking kills you earlier than you would have died from perhaps something completely unrelated.

The Excuses You're Telling Yourself Not To Exercise

I know what you're thinking.  There are reasons why you don't exercise.  I used to have reasons up to the age of 34.  Here are my reasons and why I now realise they were all excuses.

So you think you can't afford to exercise?

I used to say this to myself when I was younger that "exercise is expensive" and something I couldn't afford.

This is one of many excuses people give for not exercising and it's a really bad one.  Here are 14 top tips to keep down the cost of exercise.

Liven up your running in the winter

Winter is tough on the runner.  Waking up and getting ready for work is hard enough without trying to motivate yourself for a pre work pitch black run.  A warm bed is curiously tempting and it's easy to get into a running rut.

I'm no olympic athlete but here are a few ways I keep my exercise on track even when it's getting chilly outside.

How to keep up your exercise when away

It's holiday season and it's very easy to stop exercising at this time of year.  Either because it's too hot (it's never too hot to exercise) or because "I'm on holiday".  It's also felt like I've been away on business quite a lot recently which could make things more difficult to squeeze in a workout.  My view though is there is always a way to fit in a workout.  A combination of a little bit of preparation and some common sense and you can fit in a workout almost anywhere you are in the world.

It's too hot to exercise

It's too hot to exercise?  Stop using it as an excuse, there are ways to keep up your fitness when it's hot.  Here are some top tips to keep exercising even when the sun is out.

My favourite exercise tunes

I wouldn't describe myself as an exercise nut but in the last 3.5 years, exercise has formed part of my life again when I can't honestly say I'd more than dabbled with it since school years.

I hope things have changed but never being a sporty child at school, the PE teachers were largely disinterested in motivating me to enjoy sport because I was never going to be the best person at it.  Imagine if a maths teacher took the same attitude?  What happened to teaching life skills?

How hard I tried at whatever torture they were trying to put me through (hockey in January for example), it was never good enough because I wasn't one of the naturally talented girls.  Looking back now, it makes me so angry.  Exercise is vital for everyone, not just people who may run for the county some day.  It helps prevent obesity, it is important for cardio vascular health and it is fantastic at improving your mental well-being.  I firmly believe exercise is one of the most important habits to get kids into, however, many of us (me included) missed out.

Why Parkrun Matters

I've been running since I took up couch to 5K, must be about 3 years ago now.  Despite a major setback with injury which had a huge knock on my fitness, I am still running now and on Saturday, I did my first parkrun.

Make changes in your life today

When you first start thinking about changing in your life, it's easy to put things off.

Today seems too hard.  "I'll just have one last cupcake" if that's what you're doing or "I'll have one last glass of wine", "I'll exercise tomorrow."

Well carpe diem.  If the first day is always "tomorrow", then it will never happen.  Never.  How many years will we spend dissatisfied with our own behaviours in life before we change them?  It can be a disturbingly long time.

The year to be more flexible

My new year's resolution for 2016 is to stretch more.  Boring!  Ok, here is my reason why.  I posted some months back about a foot injury.  Months down the line, although it's only now at the stage of "minor and occasional discomfort" and it's not stopping me running any more, when it was checked out recently by a foot surgeon he looked at me with a steely gaze and said...

"Do you stretch?"
"Not enough." I said.
He laughed and said "Right answer!"

It turns out that my calves are super tight from years of running and wearing heels.  Obviously if you have any aches and pains, it's great to see an expect to assess your situation, don't rely on some unqualified person like me on the internet!  So I now have two different calf stretches to do for twenty seconds, five times and I have to do them twice a day and once before and after any exercise.

How to fit in exercise as a busy parent

As many people reading this blog will know, nearly 4 years ago I didn't exercise at all.  I tell a lie, my only exercise, which is significant, was pushing my toddler in his push chair, mostly thinking "please have a nap!"  I was busy, recently having returned to the workplace, I had a blog, Mamacook all about kids food.  Life was just work, son, more son and everything surrounding my son.

Gradually over those years I've taken myself from someone who would baulk at the idea of getting sweaty to someone who is almost in tears that I can "only" run three miles at the moment due to injury.  Injury is another story however, (physio pending) but despite this I keep exercising and now, working 4 days a week in a much more demanding job which often results in me travelling for meetings, I still fit in 4-6 exercise sessions a week.  So here I am to convince you that you can too.  Try for 3 times a week to start with, a time commitment of only 90 minutes or less than 1% of your week.  Some tips will work better if your child is in school or preschool or if you work part time but I promise you that something will help even if you have no childcare and no support.

Why I think you should take up running

I was 2 miles into my short running route when I started thinking about writing this post.  6 years ago I was overweight, bordering on obese.  I thought I was fit, I went on long walks three times a week but I was stressed, comfort eating and not really challenging my body.

Three years later, my son was 1 year old and, for some reason, I suddenly decided to take up running.  I think I'd seen posts from people doing couch to 5K on my facebook feed and felt inspired.  I'd been a cross country runner when I was 14 and after one attempt to pick it back up again and failing when I was in my 20s, I thought I would give it another try.