5am swim practice, how do you motivate yourself to get there on time?

5am swim practice means a 430am alarm, which is tough.

This is the only adult swim club near me that has practice available during my non working hours, so it feels like my only option as I really want to swim. I just have never been much of an early riser, how do y’all who also might not be early birds naturally motivate yourselves to get out of that warm cozy bed that early in the morning?

Go to bed earlier. Get up earlier. Make swimming (and health) the priority. I get up an hour after you (5:30) but the payoff in the form of better health, better mental acuity, and better focus is worth the early start. Give yourself two months in the cycle to see if it fits your jam, if not, move on.

Go to bed earlier the night before. Simple but not easy

To build a habit, avoid negotiating with yourself. Get up immediately when your alarm goes off!

@FRANK The “beauty” of the early morning workout is that you’re half awake on the way there and you aren’t persuasive enough to talk yourself out of it.

Just get up with the alarm and start getting dressed!

@EVERLY Absolutely, put your stuff in a pile the night before and go with the ‘brain off’ flow!

I did this almost all my life.

Don’t do it anymore as an adult… LOL

@Letsgototheriver Haha, was thinking the same.

Same here. I also have a progressive neurological sleep disorder, and at this age and level of RLS… that’s a hell no for me :rofl: I wake up between 9 and 11 depending on when my body let me sleep.

I get up at 4:45 for a 5:45 masters group. It’s worth it to me, because with kids and work the day is just too crazy busy for any other workout time to even make sense. I don’t think I could manage every day, and I only go 3x a week.

@VINAZ What time do you get to bed? I start a masters group Wednesday and I have to get up around 5 for it which is doable on off days but I work in the ER so work nights I don’t get to bed until 11 or midnight. Not looking forward to 5 hours of sleep during a work stretch of 12 hour ER shifts.

When the stars align (kids in bed by 8:30, no crazy house mess, no random broken thing at work), I’m down by 10:30, 9:30 if I’m tired enough. Add 30 to 60 mins for any of these good or bad things: Kids won’t sleep, Cat puked/peed somewhere, Behind on laundry, Dishes everywhere, Wife actually said yes!

Waking up at 5 AM is tough! I made it a routine like breakfast and motivated myself with quotes.