Find your 5 AM time!

Find your 5AM time

Workout at 5 am! Or, find your own time!

When life gets busy and distracting, it may be good to find your own 5 am time. This is the time that you can exercise with consistency.

At certain periods of my life, 5 am was the time that nothing interfered with. It was my time with no distractions. And, it started the day off with getting the hardest task done first. I felt good about it all day. I usually feel disappointed in myself if I do not get the workouts in on a given day or for the week. Getting workouts in early is great because the body is recharged from sleep.

If this becomes your time, first thing in the morning that is, you may want to make sure you have a good warm up, since your body has not been moving for a good portion of the day like it might have been for a mid-day or evening workout. A good warm up is recommended for every workout to help prevent injury.

Find your 5 am and consistently work towards your goals.

Some of you may say "I don't have time!"

A common reason for not working out, doing yoga, going for that run, bike ride or other healthy choice is the feeling of not having time.

If this is you and you would like to overcome this hurdle, I have a few suggestions.

First, Prove it! Not to me. To yourself! Try creating a daily journal of how you spend your time until your question is answered. Personally, I think and plan in 20 minute action increments. Twenty minute increments out of every 30 is 66 percent efficiency - which is about right even for productive people. Therefore, consider there are about 8 hours for sleep. This leaves 16 hours a day to be planned and used. There are two 30 minutes per hour. Over 16 hours, there are 32 half-hour time slots. Hopefully, there is one or two in there for taking care of your health needs each day.

Second, if there really aren't one or two time slots in your day, consider that exercises can be integrated into your day. Perhaps take a few moments for a balance or flexibility exercise. Balance on one foot by the sink doing dishes then the other. Train stabilization by doing a core exercise like a plank or side plank. Raise your heart rate with an exercise. For example, 30 pushups takes about 30 seconds. Isn't this the same as 3 sets of 10 repetitions? Is 30 seconds too much time? How about 10 seconds for 10 pushups? I think you know the answer.

Third, superset! A superset is performing one set after another with minimum rest. I like supersets with dumbbells. I may do squats, lunges, high rows, curls, good mornings, overheard press, bent-over rows, push ups, abs, rear flies and bench dips closely grouped together and with the same dumbbells, if I do not have a lot of time. It's great to stick with the same weight and superset many exercise like circuit training in a gym. I even took two 25 lb dumbbells on a road trip and used them to continue a long workout streak.

Lastly, consider your priorities! Health is one of the three pillars in every life. The pillars are health, family & friends, and work. They are the three legs of the stool of life. Are you living by these priorities in a balanced way or are you out of balance? If you are out of balance, can you make some changes to your priorities? Will improving your health also improve your ability to be there for your family and friends or take care of yourself? Will improving your health make you more reliable at work? When one pillar is too long and taking too much load, it affects the ability of the other pillars to support the load on our lives. If one pillar is too short. The stool which represents your life may fall over or at a minimum be unbalanced.

It takes time and commitment to get good at something and even more time to become an expert. Make the time to meet your goals and put your time where your priorities are!