Exercising every day as soon as you wake up sounds hard, doesn’t it?  But what if we told you that you don’t need more than 15 minutes to lose weight, as well as be full of energy to face all your responsibilities of the day? It’s not magic, it’s science. When you do sports, your body secretes endorphins which makes you have a more positive attitude and more energy, so your day will go better.

To make it easier for you and avoid morning laziness, we’ve found a very easy routine for you to complete quickly, so you don’t lose too much sleep time or be late to attend to the rest of your obligations. Write it down, because once you start, you’re sure to want more:

Warm-up: Three sun salutations

The sun salutation is one of the most complete and healthy yoga exercises. In addition to helping you warm up your muscles to face the rest of your routine, it will help you stretch muscles that may be stiff after several hours in bed.

To do it correctly, you should stand upright, with your back straight and your palms facing your chest. Breathing in, stretch your arms up and back. Exhaling, place your hands on the floor next to your feet. Breathing in again, bring the right leg back, knee to the floor, and gaze upward. Holding your breath, bring the other leg back, keeping them both straight and your arms straight.

Then exhale again, bend your legs and touch the floor with your knees, chest, and forehead. Breathing in, support your hips and legs while you force your arms to open your chest. Lean back and look up. Exhaling again, bring your hips up and gaze to your abdomen.

Breathing in again, bring the right foot between the hands, while lowering the other knee to the floor. Exhale and bring the other leg forward, place the feet together and bring the head towards the legs. Breathing in, lift your arms up and back. Finally, exhaling, bring your palms together in front of your chest.

Strength work

Strength work is a must for a toned body. Still, you won’t have to lift weights of several kilos as soon as you get up, since your body weight will be enough to get in shape. We propose a small circuit that you must repeat three times:

Jumping Jacks

This is our cardio exercise that will allow you to warm up and raise your heart rate. Stand with your arms outstretched on both sides of your body and start jumping by opening your legs and raising your arms above your head. Then, return to the starting position by jumping back up to close your legs and lower your arms. Do 20 repetitions.

Chest push-ups

It would be best to do the classic push-ups, but if you can’t, you can always do it on your knees. Lie on your stomach, resting your body weight on your palms, which should be placed just below your shoulders. Lower until your chest touches the floor and comes back up. Do 10 repetitions.

Squats

Stand with your legs hip-width apart, with your toes and knees slightly outward. Then lower as low as you can, keeping your weight always on your heels, and push off the floor with your feet to come back up. Do 15 repetitions.

Triceps Dips

Place a chair behind you and rest your hands on it on either side of your body with your fingers forward. Slide your glute forward, resting on your hands and feet only, and bend your elbows. Push down on the chair or bed to come back up. The farther away you place your feet, the harder the exercise will be. Do 10 repetitions.

Abdominal crunch

This is the classic abdominal crunch. Place your hands behind your head, with your elbows wide apart and your chin away from your chest. Next, activate your abdomen and raise your head only to the point of your shoulder blades. Breathe in as you come down and release the air as you come up without pushing your head with your hands. Do 15 repetitions.

Stretching

Performing this circuit will take you no more than 10 minutes and you will have worked all the major muscle groups. But it is just as important to exercise as it is to stretch when you finish. Focus on your legs, arms, and chest and hold each posture for at least 20 seconds without feeling pain but with a little tension.

Why exercise in the morning?

It makes you consistent and you get into the habit. Have you ever been invited to a party at 6 am? Have you ever had a family commitment before the sun came up… of course not!

It’s normal to fail with exercise in everyday life because there are indeed unexpected things, pending tasks, and commitments that take up space during the rest of the day, plus, after a long day of work you’re likely to feel exhausted and with zero moods to exercise.

On the other hand, exercising in the morning means crossing it off your list quickly, automatically eliminating it from your mind and preventing you from failing because you no longer have the number one reason (or excuse) for not exercising: “lack of time”.

Getting yourself to wake up half an hour earlier is much easier than trying to find an hour in the middle of the day to start exercising and get into the habit.

It helps you start the day with energy

Movement can be a great source of energy. Some research has measured the effectiveness of exercise in “waking up” and the results show that it’s more effective than a cup of coffee!

Exercise in the morning also puts you in a good mood. A major scientific study showed that those who exercised regularly reported fewer “unhealthy” days where sadness, anxiety, fatigue, or other symptoms affected their daily routine.

You enjoy your morning routine more

While most people are just waking up for their shower, you are already finishing your workout with a smile and more optimism to start your routine, which makes your mornings a more pleasant time (instead of being in a bad mood and carrying the accumulated stress of the previous day back to work).

This release of morning stress with exercise helps you feel good about yourself and gives you a sense of triumph that you carry with you all day, and it shows!

Your afternoons become fun

Think about this: when the end of your day comes, instead of dragging yourself to the gym, you can use that extra time you gave yourself in the morning to invest it in whatever you want.

Helps you sleep better

In one study, participants were divided into 3 groups: one group exercised at 7 am, the other at 1 pm, and the last at 7 pm. The researchers measured their sleep quality and, the results show that the group that slept better was… you guessed it! the group that trained at 7 am.

It’s a closed cycle, exercising in the morning helps you sleep better, and, sleeping better helps you continue to wake up early to exercise.