The Power of Exercise

One of the questions I often get is how I stay fit and healthy. Even after having a baby, I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in. It’s been a process…I used to be 60 lbs heavier and really struggled with my weight for most of my life. But after years of trying different things, I finally have it down.

One of the main things that has literally changed my life, is making exercise a non-negotiable in my morning routine. My morning routine consists of waking up at 4:30 – 4:45 every single day – I have a workout class at either five o’ clock or 5:30 in the morning, depending on what day it is as I flip flop between yoga and orange theory classes.

Now I know that waking up that early every single day is early. When I used to hear people talking about doing this I used to think, oh my gosh, these people are crazy, I don’t even know they you do it, I’m not a morning person…and then, I started just making myself do it. And it IS hard. It’s especially hard in the winter months in Wisconsin when it’s dark and cold and you don’t want to get out of bed.

But the truth is that there is a night and day difference between me waking up and starting my day like that, versus me hitting the snooze button. If I sleep for an extra hour because I feel like I need it and then I dive into my day…I always kind of feeling a little discombobulated. And why it’s so powerful is that it allows me to get my mind in the space that it needs to be in. It allows me to release the things that I no longer need so I can tackle my business from a fresh perspective.

Exercise, for me, is such a powerful tool for stress and anxiety and it’s also a really powerful tool for finding clarity and getting incredible ideas. So when I get my workout in first thing in the morning, I’m on fire. I feel more energized; far more energized than if I slept a little longer in the morning.

Being real though, I do still fall off the wagon. I have weeks where I don’t wake up early. I have weeks where I’m working really late in the evening, like tonight, as I happen to be working at 11.00 pm recording a podcast. Now, I’m not proud of that, however, that’s the reality of it sometimes. And in the past, it’s been a lot harder for me to get back into the swing of things, but now, I’m so addicted to that feeling and that outcome that even if my alarm goes off and I’m like, oh my god, I can’t do it today…I get my ass out of bed.

If you struggle with getting out of bed, there are a different tools that you can use. There’s mindset work that you can implement, just acknowledging that you feel a certain way. There’s sheer willpower and just getting your ass out of bed. But once you start to really allow yourself to get attached to the outcome, that’s when you’re going to see those lasting results.

Now getting up at 4:30am might not be for everyone. There’s a lot of creatives that work through the night and so their days and nights are totally flip-flopped. They work until 6am and then they sleep through the day. I’m not saying that you need to get up at 4:30am, that’s just what my schedule is and I happen to really love it because it’s quiet. My phone isn’t ringing yet, my email isn’t going off, my team isn’t usually working. No one needs anything from me in that time, so it’s really powerful for me to just be, to sit and not worry about who’s trying to get a hold of me, what email needs to be answered, you know, all of those different things that go on throughout the day.

How do you incorporate exercise into your routine?

Tell me in the comments below!