The 10-Second Tip that Helps Me Start My Day with a Workout AND the Word

Some people are just morning people – I get that. I totally understand that waking up early is more difficult for some people than for others. My ability and motivation to do anything super-productive diminishes around 9PM. I’m just wired to be up at the crack of dawn… May have something to do with the name; May have something to do with growing up on a farm. I’m not sure…

While the best time for you to exercise is simply whenever you will actually do it, the people who are the most consistent exercisers typically workout in the morning.

Please know that I’m not judging you or saying that early rising is the only option. I can, however, point out story after story of successful people making exercise part of their morning routine. (Just google morning exercise + successful and you’ll have your list of articles to choose from. Granted, I could go on a little tangent about how successful is defined, but let’s stay the course today.)

In addition, I think many of us will agree that starting the day in the Word has many, many benefits. Even Jesus saw the importance of early morning quiet times. Mark 1:35 says,

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.”

Now, I’ve written before about simply rolling out of bed and starting your workout before your body really has time to complain.

But, here’s the thing — now that it’s still dark AND cold — my body bristles very quickly! I’m no Bible-times expert, so I’m not sure what the temperature was when Jesus was going off in the dark to pray, but friends, I’m a weenie. I’m very temperature sensitive. Perhaps I have something wrong with my hypothalamus or it’s possible I have Raynaud’s disease – whatever it is, I do not like that I am cold so often.

But here’s my solution. My 10-second tip that allows be to get both my workout and some quality Jesus time in the morning: Reaching for my pile of workout clothes (including long pants and sweatshirt) and moving them into the bed with me when I wake up. While I’m busy “warming up” my clothes with my own body heat, I grab my Bible/devotional/etc. and start to read/pray. By the time I’m done, my workout wear is warm and I’m ready to go.

I realize this is not earth-shattering – and is full of potential issues like falling back to sleep, feeling rushed with your quiet time, etc. But, if you’ve been wanting to get into an exercise routine and haven’t been successful so far, see if this little warming up your workout clothes while you read and pray helps get your days started off a little more smoothly.

Beginning the day with two of my favorite things definitely makes it a win-win situation for me!

Comment below with other ways you make morning workouts and Jesus time work for you.