Do You Even Start Your Day With a Healthy Mix of Cardio, Stretching, and Lifting, Bro?
A chat about early morning workouts.
Two days ago, I gave Nadia a ride to work around 6:20 am. Later, I was complaining about the early wake-up to Matt. This was a mistake. Being the Inherited Wil resident gymrat, it turns out that Matt is actually in the gym at 6 am on weekdays. If anything, I was sleeping in.
So, yesterday morning, when Nadia woke up at 6 AM to get ready to work, I let the power of Matt’s brutal challenge coarse through my veins, lifting me out of my bed and to my local YMCA. I spent about 45 minutes there. Honestly, it was a solid workout - leg day, baby.
Anyway, Matt and I discussed the concept of early gym sessions last night. My questions and comments are in bold, Matt’s are in italics.
W: You started going to the gym in 2019 - when did you start the early morning workouts?
M: I started early mornings around 2022. I think it was mainly convenience. I was prioritizing the gym so much that I was missing out on post-work activities. My entire evening revolved around it. I had just started dating my ex, and it wasn’t working. The gym opened at 6 at the time, so I was trying to get there at open - and I wanted to maximize the time in the gym.
W: I felt like I got tired faster this morning. The idea of a full 90 minute workout and then working all day was unappealing. What about you?
M: It was a tough adjustment. Took like a month, and I’d be cranky and groggy all the time.
How did you feel the rest of the day?
W: I’m honestly pretty tired too. I was a little bit more chipper first thing because I’d already been up doing stuff. But the day felt longer.
M: Ohh, that’s interesting. I kinda get what you mean. It’s part of the adjustment; right now, 5 pm is going to feel like 7 pm.
W: So, once you adjusted to morning workouts, did you miss having that kind of stress reliever after a hard day in the office?
M: It kind of stopped being a release at that point in my lifting. I enjoyed getting my heart rate up, but it became so routine that I didn’t feel like I was “pumping it out.” When I’m tired and cranky in the morning, it wakes me up. It’s a middle finger to the fact I’m tired.
W: Does your soundtrack match your mood?
M: Yeah, on those cranky days, I listen to angry bullshit.
Today was a pretty normal playlist - I have like an hour of music that I shuffle through. The new Turnstyle album is like a sort of punk metal that gets me pumping. Funny enough, it’s become an issue where I’ll hear playlist songs outside of the gym and feel my heart rate escalate.
What about you? What do you listen to in the gym? That EDM stuff?
W: Ha. This morning, I was listening to Ezra Klein’s podcast about how social media determined the NYC mayoral primary. Not exactly hype music, I know. Sometimes I’ll listen to mixes, or sports podcasts, too.
M: Dude, that’s insane. How does that keep you going at the gym?
W: If I was doing harder workouts it’d be more problematic. Today was pretty short, though. I did like 45 minutes: 10 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of core+abs, 20 minutes of squatting. When I got to my max lift squatting (4x295) I struggled and could only do 3. Probably needed some music then. Otherwise I was ok!
M: So I do see where you’re coming from. There’s a famous powerlifter who can deadlift like 400 pounds for a casual lift. He doesn’t really need to get pumped up - he says he’s comfortable in his routine. If I’m doing something heavy, then I’ll look for good music.
W: Honestly, I feel like the consumption of podcasts might’ve screwed me up a bit - feels like I used to be more comfortable with my own thoughts and now I just want stimulation.
M: Yeah, I get what you mean. Feels like my brain is always running, and I don’t want my thoughts to be super scattered when I’m trying to finish a workout. Loud, angry music still works for me, though.
W: Maybe I’ll give that a try, too. So, are there any reasons not to work out before work?
M: When it’s really hot, I wake up and sweat at the gym, and I’m just sweating all day. Then I’m just sitting in front of a laptop and I get nasty. On a heavy leg day, I just need to push through but I’ll kind of get woozy sometimes. Finally, after work I can take as much time as I need to work out, but before work I have time constraints. In some ways, that helps me manage my time in the gym.
W: What do you consider to be staying up “late”?
11 pm is late. At that point, I’ve fucked up. I’ve been getting in bed by 9, reading a book. It’s nice because I still hang out with friends after work, but I know that if I have some sort of activity or, like, a date. it’s going to keep me out of the gym the next day.
W: Wow, that’s impressive. How does that translate to the weekend?
M: I’m normally in bed by midnight. Quality of sleep can vary, but I’ll end up waking up around 6 or 7, and then go back to sleep and wake up at 9. Could you see yourself being able to get to bed earlier? I know you’re a night owl. How much did you sleep last night?
W: Huh, good question. I guess I got like 6.5 hours of sleep? Not great, but doable one night. If I kept doing this, I’d definitely have to be asleep by, like, 10:30. In general, I do like staying up later, so switching to your schedule would be a big decision. How would I watch the Warriors when half their games tip off at 10:30??
M: I was running into the same issue with the Knicks during the playoffs. Some of their games were starting at 8:30 pm, so I’d either be up until 11 or go to bed at halftime.
I’ve also been watching a lot of movies after work. Long movies don’t really work.
W: Anything on the agenda for tonight?
M: Tonight is the Holdovers. Last nigh was Judas and the Black Messiah. The list keeps growing, unfortunately.
Matt, thank you for the excellent and insightful conversation. To anyone else considering early morning workouts, we’d be curious to hear about your experience! Feel free to comment or reach out if you have thoughts.
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You cooked with the memes, chef.
Excellent conversation. I love the nuanced discussion of various points, such as bedtime, social life, weekends, work, and more.
Currently I've been on a 6:30am wake-up schedule for weekdays, which I've been fortunate to have an accountability buddy in the same time zone for. This means an ideal bedtime of 10:30pm, but that is not always feasible. I'm usually pretty happy if I can get in bed by 11:15pm, which gives roughly five sleep cycles (maybe a tad less). On weekends, I get to "sleep in" til like 7 or 8am — which is wild to say because before this year, I struggled to wake up before 8am ever.
All said, this is still usually not enough time for me to get in a workout before work. Sometimes I have a consulting call at 7am or else I try to be in office by 8am. After six months of this schedule, I feel ready to take it a step further.
Therefore, I proposed a 6am wake-up time starting next week, which my friend was more than happy to accept. Now, I hope to get in a morning workout, at least on days without a 7am call.
Will this potentially cut into my evening activities? Yes, but a worthy sacrifice.