Best time of day to workout? Watching TV while working out?

Honestly, the best time of day to workout is the time of day you’ll stick to!

I found that leaving my workout for the end of the day never worked for me. I found too many excuses throughout the day to avoid it, got too busy, got too tired, etc, etc. I would sometimes do it during my lunch break, but the whole getting showered again and back into my work clothes took up half my lunch break. I never had enough cool down time, and I would still be sweating after my shower. Yuk!

So I do it first thing in the morning. Before my day gets the best of me. Before traffic. Before my stomach has too much food in it. Before my brain goes into overdrive. Before my husband and daughter starting needing me.

Now I know a lot of you are not morning people, so maybe this will not work for you. But if you find that you keep missing your workouts, you might want to give it a shot. You get used to the early hour. The world is so peaceful before 7am.

For me, once my alarm goes off and wakes me – that’s it. I can’t fall back asleep. So instead of staring at the ceiling, I get up and workout. I used to have an old roommate who would set her alarm on the other side of the room so she would have to get out of bed to shut it off.

Another thing that might help is to buy new workout clothes. And ones you feel good in. Sloppy and baggy sweat pants might be comfortable, but it is not exactly the most motivating attire in the world, now is it? I am not saying you have to go out and spend a lot of money on your workout clothes, but get something you actually LIKE wearing.

No heavy meals within 2 hours of your workout, no cell phones, no books, no TV. Concentrate on your workout! Those TV’s on the machines are ridiculous. If you can get involved in a program, you are not working out – only going through the motions. Sure listening to some motivating music can help, but again, FOCUS. You’ll get a FAR better workout.

There is some research that says people often workout longer if they watch TV. How about workout harder, more efficiently, and shorter! That’s much, much more effective than a longer, mediocre routine.

The only time I would ever advocate watching TV while doing your workout is if you workout at home, and will ONLY workout while watching your favorite program. If you are carving out time in your day to workout during a Seinfeld repeat, or while watching the news, or CSI, etc, then I say absolutely go for it.