Easy Morning Exercises That Will Keep You Energetic All Day Long
Exercising is essential to be healthy and fit. You can work out anytime during the day, but a morning workout can get you maximum benefits for your health. However, we always find ourselves rushing during the morning hours. What if we told you that we have some easy exercises for you that you can do anywhere and stay energetic all day long? Seems dreamy! Well, it’s true. If you need more convincing, we suggest that you take a few moments of your valuable time and read this post, which will help you learn some easy morning exercises!
Why Should You Exercise in the Morning?
You may have umpteen reasons for not working out during the morning hours, but once we discuss the benefits of early morning exercises, you may change your opinion about morning workouts.
1. Helps You Feel Energised
Exercising in the morning is the best way to kick start your day because it not only helps you feel physically pepped up, but it also helps in improving your mental abilities and focus. Your mind feels more awake than it does after drinking tea or coffee. Therefore, exercising not only helps in energising your body, but it is also a great way of energising your mind for the new day. There have been many types of research that support that exercising keeps the mind more alert.
2. Helps in Enhancing Your Metabolism
Exercising in the morning is a great way to get your body moving, thus enhancing your metabolism. As per one of the studies, it was noted that people who exercised burnt approximately 200 calories in a day, in comparison to people who didn’t do any kind of workouts. This trend was more pronounced in people who engaged in morning workouts. When you eat, your body uses it as energy, for replenishing or to store it as fat. However, after a morning workout, your body uses the food you eat to replenish your body – and because your metabolism gets rocking, the following meals too help in replenishing the body. Therefore, morning exercises are ideal for weight loss.
3. More Consistent Workouts
On choosing to work out in the morning, you will be more consistent in your workouts because evening times may sometimes get too pressing because of work demands, household chores or other such commitments. Also, fatigue or exhaustion may also make you skip your exercise in the evening. However, you may seldom find any of these reasons interrupting your morning workouts.
4. Helps in Getting More Disciplined in Life
Believe it or not, but most of us are very casual and careless about our exercising routine. If we get up in the morning and get disciplined about our exercising routine, there are very high chances that the same approach may reflect in other spheres of life too.
5. Helps You Sleep Better
If you suffer from issues with your sleep, exercising in the morning hours is a great way to get some good night’s sleep. When you wake in the morning and exercise, you may enjoy a healthy sense of tiredness and fatigue. You may not experience any tossing or turning in your bed and may get some good sleep at night. Exercising in the morning may not only help to improve the quality of your sleep, but it may also enhance the length of your sleep.
Simple Yet Effective Morning Exercises
Here are some simple and effective morning exercises and how to do them:
1. Jumping Jacks
One of the easiest and most effective ways of starting your morning exercising regime is by doing jumping jacks. It is a great way of toning your calf and deltoids, and it is also an effective cardio workout.
How To Do:
- Stand erect with your feet closed and hands on your side.
- Jump and move your arms and legs to the side and jump and come back to the same position.
- You can repeat this 20 to 30 times and increase the number as you get comfortable.
2. Cat and Camel Pose
This is a great exercise for toning your muscles and for preventing arthritis.
How To Do:
- Get on all fours on a mat.
- Inhaling, push your abdomen and pelvic upwards and stretch your head towards your pelvis. This is the camel pose.
- Exhaling, arch your back and push it towards the ground. Take your head out towards the ceiling. This is the cat pose.
- Repeat this 4 to 5 times, maintaining a slow pace in order to have maximum impact.
3. Abductor Side Lifts
This is a great morning exercise for beginners as it helps in maintaining good core stability.
How To Do:
- Lie down on your side with your one hand curled under your head and the other hand placed sideways on your body.
- While lying down, fold your hand and hold your waist.
- Maintaining your balance, lift your leg up, hold for a few seconds and bring it down.
- Do this on both the sides and repeat 10 to 15 times on each side.
4. Leg Squats
This is a great morning cardio exercise that is also great for your knees and leg muscles.
How To Do:
- Stand straight with your legs apart, a bit farther out from the hips.
- Place your arms in the front.
- Inhaling, bend your knees as if you are sitting on a chair and stretch your arms in the front.
- Hold the position for a few seconds. Exhaling, return to the original position.
- Repeat two sets of 15 reps each.
5. Lunges
Lunges are a great way of doing effective morning exercises at home. They are good for strengthening your glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings.
How To Do:
- Stand straight with your legs wide apart and your hands on your hips.
- Take a big step in the front with your right leg.
- Bend your left knee towards the floor, but do not touch the floor.
- Do the same with the other leg.
- Repeat 10 to 12 reps with each leg. Ensure your knee does not go beyond your feet while bending.
6. Bicycle Crunch
One of the most effective morning exercises to lose belly fat is the bicycle crunch.
How To Do:
- Lie down on your back, knees bent and hands supporting your head.
- Raise your upper body; lift your folded legs off the floor.
- Push your upper right side towards your left pelvic side; stretch your right leg while your left leg remains bent.
- Do the same with the other side.
- Do 10 to 15 reps from each side.
7. Push-ups
One of the best ways of doing a total body workout and improving your endurance and strength.
How To Do:
- With your hands in line with the shoulder, lie down on your stomach with your toes curled inwards.
- Lift yourself upwards, your feet joined and your arms straight.
- Inhale as you rise up and exhale as you lower down, repeat this 10 to 15 times.
- Beginners can bend the knees, for the easier version.
8. Balancing Table Pose
This is a great exercise for strengthening the spine and back muscles. It also helps in improving concentration and memory.
How To Do:
- Place a mat on the floor and get on all fours.
- Exhaling, stretch out your right leg and left arm, both parallel to the ground.
- Inhaling, come back and repeat with the other sides.
- Do 10 to 15 reps from each side.
9. Lying Knee Twist
This twist is good for stretching your abdominal muscles and your lower back.
How To Do
- Lie on the floor with your knees bent and your arms stretched out on the sides, in line with your shoulders.
- Move your folded legs on the right side and touch the ground.
- Twist your upper body to the left side.
- Get your legs in the centre and repeat the same with the other side. Do 10 to 15 reps from each side.
10. Running or Jogging
Running or jogging is one of the best forms of workouts if you can step out of your house.
How To Do
- Make sure you are wearing proper running shoes and rig.
- If you are walking, ensure that you are taking bigger and faster steps.
- Initially, start with 20 minutes of brisk walk and slowly increase the time.
FAQs
Here we have answered some frequently asked questions about morning exercise –
1. What Is the Ideal Morning Time to Do Exercise?
There is no research that states the ideal morning time for a workout. You can get moving as soon as you feel fresh to start. Exercising early with an empty stomach may help you lose more calories because your body may consume stored fat to get the energy.
2. Is It Good to Sleep After Morning Exercise?
There is no harm in sleeping after exercising; especially if you have had an extensive workout session, sleeping may help you relax and rejuvenate. However, if you are focusing on losing weight or burning calories, sleeping may not be the ideal thing to do. But if you feel sleepy, extremely tired or weak, there may be some underlying medical condition and you must get yourself examined.
3. Should I Eat Before Morning Exercise?
Yes, you should eat a small meal before your morning workout. This will help you in feeling energised and will also prevent you from huffing and puffing during the workout sessions. You can consume any low-fat, moderate-protein or complex-carbohydrate food item. A yoghurt cup, banana or an apple would be some good eating options.
Exercising is a great way to feel healthy. So, get moving and start exercising in the morning, and follow some good habits!
Also Read:
Reasons You Should Take Up Zumba
Exercises for Men in Their 30s and 40s
Simplest Exercises That Only Need 5 Minutes
How to Start Working Out After a Day Off