Exercise in the Morning for a Mental Boost

​It’s so important to make time for exercise.  Getting your heart pumping is great for your body and physical health. But did you know that it can also give you a mental boost? By getting your heart rate up and sweating a little, you can set yourself up for an extra productive morning.

Scott Friesen takes a break from his morning workout to share why he starts his day with exercise. Not only will an early morning run or visit to the gym give you mental benefits. But it will also reduce your chances of putting that workout off until later…or never!

Video transcript:
It's just after 6 AM and I'm exactly where I should be: on the ground, doing my crunches, starting my morning exercise routine.

There's a couple of different reasons why I choose to exercise first thing in the morning. Number one, it's so much harder to defer that exercise when it's the first thing on your list. You see in the past, I've had good intentions of hitting the gym or going for that run after work, after 5 PM. But I often found that my motivation was lacking at that time of day. After a full day of meetings, phone calls, email, and travel, I often didn't have the energy to hit the gym or go for that workout at that time of day. As a result, I'd defer it, I'd cancel it, maybe go several days with missing my workout.
But by fitting in my exercise first thing in the morning, I've made time for it and therefore it's that much harder for me to ignore it, for me to simply defer my morning routine.

But there's a second reason why I choose to exercise first thing in the morning. And that's for the mental benefits. For the mental and productive boost that exercise can give you.

By raising your heart rate, by sweating a little bit, it actually gives you some additional mental power, some additional mental focus as you start your workday. And if you're already exercising routinely in the morning, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. After exercising for several days in a row and then missing a day, you'll find that you may be missing that mental boost or that mental energy as you begin your day.

So find time for exercise. Find time for a workout first thing in the morning. It may require waking up about 30 minutes earlier but it's worth it. Especially if you want to have the most productive day possible. Until next time, it's very simple.