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For me, waking up early is a form of torture. Waking up early just to work out is a special kind of torture of its own. It’s early in the morning, I feel miserable, and I’m about to have my heart rate jump up while sweating all over the place. Crazy enough, I am a morning person. I prefer to get up early and be productive believe it or not. But something about working out early in the morning sounds so satisfying yet distasteful to me. It took some time, but I now workout in the mornings and I’m usually finished by 8 am. A lot of people struggle to get out of bed early, while I still do from time to time I, for the most part, have made it into a habit. These are some tips from yours truly on how to work out early in the mornings and to grow it into a habit.

1. Set out everything the night before 

Setting out everything the night before, clothes, headphones, gym bag, and have pre-workout powder already in your Blender Bottle (so you can just add water). Alternatively, you could just wear your gym clothes to bed and sleep in them. I’ve done this before, it’s a little uncomfortable but it works. I also recommend having your phone set on top of your gym bag when your alarm goes off. Some more helpful advice would be having your breakfast, other meals, and your snacks already prepared the day before. You don’t have to go full on meal-prepping, but this saves you so much time.

2. Setting your alarm

If you have self-control, just set your alarm 15 to 30 minutes before what you think you’ll need. So, if you think you’ll get up at 6:00, you should instead set it to 5:45 just in case. But if you’re like me, just set your alarm to go off every 15 minutes. If you really hate yourself then totally just set it to go off every 5 minutes. Will it be restful? Well no, no it won’t.

Sometimes we just snooze our phones, so just don’t bother putting it by your bedside if you’re a snoozer. Set it somewhere in your room (like on your gym bag) far from your bed so you HAVE to get up to turn it off…or to snooze it. Another idea is using an alarm such as Kiwake or the Rock Clock alarm made by Dwayne the Rock Johnson that is meant to motivate you to get out of bed. Throwing another idea at you that I personally use, open your curtains and use natures alarm clock. So just go to bed with your curtains open and wake up naturally. You’ll be slightly less hateful and those in-bed irrational contemplations significantly drop down.

Kiwake is available for the iOS. The Rock Clock is available for iOS and Android.

3. Go to bed early 

It’s best for your body to have a schedule on when to sleep. Most people need around 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, so how much do you need to feel energized? Another tip is to only use your bed only for sleep and sex, your body and mind will only recognize the bed for intimacy and sleep. This has helped me out, as someone who would eat, play games, browse the web, do homework, and pretty much everything else on the bed. I actually fall asleep quite easy now since I stopped hanging around my bed.

4. Play some upbeat music to pump you up

Having some uplifting music to listen to while getting dressed can really help shake off that grogginess and feel ready kick some ass.

5. Have a friend to help you out

This may not help everyone, especially if you don’t have a workout buddy. But if you do or believe it’s easy for you to get one then this may be helpful. Just call each other in the mornings and get each other motivated to work out. Sometimes we just need a push from someone else to get motivated.

6. Take it easy and start small

Starting off small helps lead to healthy habits. It doesn’t have to happen all at once, just set a goal like getting up early twice a week and slowly work from there. You could also try waking up at 8 am instead of 6 every day and just slowly work into waking up early. Remember that slow and steady wins the race.

7. Don’t force yourself 

If you can’t get up that’s totally fine so don’t be hard on yourself. Maybe you’re just better cut for working out in the afternoons or evening, maybe even try late in the mornings such as 10:00 or 11:00.  Don’t force yourself, and just take it easy.

8. Treat it like an appointment 

If you’re an organized person this may help you out. Having the mindset that the gym is a 1-hour appointment can really help. You don’t want to cancel an appointment because it messes up your schedule for the day. So, this mindset may help keep you motivated. This helps me out because I try to organize and keep a specific schedule daily. If I don’t work out early in the morning, then I’m either going to be too busy in the evening or just lazy to get it done.

9. Put some inspiration by your bedside

When I say this, I don’t mean to put a picture of your biggest weight by your bedside. We here at Flyawhey are against self-loathing and shaming. So, don’t do this method as some sort of inspiration it’ll only bring you down.Plus it’s not good for your mentality at all. Instead, have by your bedside some rewards, a list of your goals, or something along the lines of that. Just remember the long term results when doing this consistently.

10. Reward yourself

vaIn researching this for baby anon, I found that while individual cultures have different practices, beliefs and views on infanthood, postpartum healing and childrearing practices, the goal remains the same. Parents (and sometimes, whole communities) are working to ensure health for the child and to raise it to be a well-developed adult. 

I think one of the largest differences between Western cultures and most others is the reliance on an entire group/family to help with infant care in comparison with the Western norm where all the responsibility lies on the parents.

However, here are some facts I pulled out from the websites and articles I found on the topic:

On the development of children cross-culturally:

“These studies showed that babies from different cultures deviated from the accepted "norms" for American middle-class society with respect to both the stages and the timing of motor development in the first years. Hopi infants, from the American Indian tribe from the Southwest, begin to walk alone late; Balinese infants follow a different series of stages on their way to walking; and Ghanda and Wolof infants from Africa tend to be more advanced in motor development than U.S. age norms would predict. In the absence of a "generalized precocity" among infants, another investigator was led to study Kipsigis mothers in Africa and their parenting practices: He found that over 80% deliberately taught their infants to sit, stand, and walk. Another study found that Dutch infants, who are stimulated less than American infants, scored lower than Americans infants on scales of psychomotor development. Other studies found that African infants (Ghanda and Kipsigis, respectively) reared in the manner of European babies lose the advantage that their traditionally reared, genetically similar compatriots maintained.”

https://science.nichd.nih.gov/confluence/display/cfr/Mothers+and+Infants+around+the+World%3A+A+Report+of+the+Cross-Cultural+Data+Collection+at+Five+Months

On the effect of cultural values on infant behavior:

The researchers largely chalk these differences up to variations in parents’ cultural values. In South American cultures, for instance, parents are typically very animated with their children, which may contribute to babies being more active and having more trouble focusing. In Poland, on the other hand, the common cultural value of being open about emotions may lead infants to feel comfortable showing sadness. In South Korea, an emphasis on behavioral and attentional control likely causes babies there to reflect these traits.

(this one is a good, easy read) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/child-psychology-babies-around-world_us_585c0055e4b0d9a5945756d1  

On cross-cultural parenting styles (also an easy, good read with a lot of resources cited)

Basic care regimes are also influenced by culture and cultural customs. Sleeping arrangements, for example, such as whether parents or siblings share their bed with the child or not (DeLoache & Gottlieb, 2000), as well as the time parents spend in close physical contact with their child by carrying/holding them, and soothing them with close physical contact, are both likely to reflect the habits and customs of the parents' culture (Webb, 2001). Cross-cultural differences are also recognised in a number of different aspects of feeding practices, with some parents encouraging independent feeding and others preferring to directly feed their children (see, for example, Harwood, Scoelmerich, Schulze, & Gonzalez, 1999).

https://aifs.gov.au/publications/differential-parenting-children-diverse-cultural-bac/introduction 

On cross-cultral postpartum practices (this is more about the mother, but still interesting)

“One common belief in many non-Western cultures is the necessity of maintaining a “hot-cold balance” within the body and with the environment after the birth of a baby. Hot-cold concepts of healthcare (also called humoral theories) are centuries old in the traditional cultures of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In many non-Western cultures, blood is considered “hot.” Therefore, after giving birth, when the woman has lost blood she is considered to be in a cold state. Accordingly, postpartum care in these cultures is aimed at keeping the new mother warm; it is believed that this will restore her humoral balance.”

http://www.tyckledtales.com/2012/12/03/postpartum-recovery-care-new-mom/

This is an article on the health of indigenous Latin American women, which only has some information on birth/infant care, but as baby anon asked for info on indigenous South American cultures I thought I’d include the link

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861319/

Dreamy Illustrated Swimsuits by Sea Tales Swimwear

1.) DietBet

DietBet is a pretty interesting way to keep on track of your weight loss goals and to reach out to your competitive side. So basically, the app and website allows you to join bets where you pay a small entry fee, and then you’ll compete against others in the bet who’re also wanting to win that money! In order to win the bet and get some money back, you’ll need to lose a certain percentage of weight in a specific amount of time (usually it’s just 1 month). If you win the game then you’ll split the pot with all the other winners. I have personal experience using Dietbet and it is legit. I’ve won $206 from it! DietBet is available for the Apple and Android

2.) StepBet

So this is from the same company that made DietBet but this focuses on the amount of steps you take. If you’re just wanting to walk more or just get more steps in your day, than this would definitely be for you. From the looks of everything it’s a lot like DietBet, where you’re in competition and you split the pot with the winners. StepBet is available for Apple  and Android

3.) Healthy Wage

This is pretty similar to DietBet, with a few differences. Just like Dietbet, you get paid for winning weight loss challenges. But Healthy Wage focuses more on the user creating challenges with people who know each other such as challenging friends or a type of corporate challenge. While the same can be done with DietBet, Healthy Wage just puts more emphasis on personal challenges and usually there is a big payout.

You can join up to 10 challenges at a time, and you can create personal challenges that’ll keep you motivated. While DietBet challenges are usually a month (some do last longer), Healthy Wage challenges last longer and each month take a minimum of $30 out of your bank account.

Healthy Wage is available for Apple and for Android

4.) Charity Miles

So, you’re looking to workout, make a little money but not for yourself? Hey, that’s totally cool and there’s even an app for that! The app essentially donates money to a charity of your choice. The app uses your smartphone’s GPS, where it can easily track your movement and track your activity (from walking to cycling). The more you move, the more money your charity is gonna receive. Sounds a little sketchy doesn’t it? Well believe it or not but it’s completely legit!   Charity Miles is available for Apple and for Android

5.) Walgreens Balance Rewards

As part of the Walgreens’ Balance Rewards for Healthy Choices program, by simply tracking your health and fitness efforts, you can earn Balance Reward Points. You build points which then can be redeemed with Redemption dollars. These redemption dollars can be deducted from your purchases at Walgreens, meaning you can save a lot of money on items there (I’ll be using mine to buy makeup). It was a little tricky for me to sign up at first. The website was a little disorganized All you need to do is sign up to the Walgreens website and download the app. What’s great about this program is the fact you can connect the app with a fitness tracker, like MyFitnessPal or even your Fitbit. Also, you can just log your activities in manually.

The more steps you take the more Balance Rewards points you will earn. You get 20 points per mile, and you can also get those points for tracking your weight, blood glucose levels, sleep schedule, blood pressure, and I’m sure there are a few other things too.  One of the few cons of this App is the cap of 1000 points, so you can only earn up to $1 a month at maximum. The Walgreens app is available for both Apple and Android

6.) AchieveMint

AchieveMint is a website/app, where you gain points just by using the health apps and devices that you already use regularly (similar to Walgreens Balance Rewards). All you need to do is connect your Fitbit, or another app, to your AchieveMint account. You’ll earn points for tracking your weight, amount of sleep, your water intake, your caloric intake and how many steps you take. 10,000 points equal $10 dollars and they payout via Paypal. So, if you’re active and use your Fitbit pretty regularly, then you’re gonna love this app! I use this one and last month I got my first $10. It’s a nice way to make a little bit of cash but it doesn’t take a while to cash out that first $10 if you’re not super active every day. But those points do build up little by little.

If you decide to sign up through my referral you’ll get 100 points!

AchieveMint is available for Apple and Android

7.) Sweatcoin

This app hit in early January 2018 and popularity blew up for it. I also hopped on the hype train to reap the benefits of what this app could offer me. While Sweatcoins are supposedly a cryptocurrency of its own, I personally have my doubts on that. However, similar to some of the other apps I mentioned, you are racking up points (this being Sweatcoins) which then can be exchanged for cool stuff like an iPhone X, Delta Airlines gift card, a discount or free trial to some fitness related services and products. The app does offer a subscription service, so you can earn more than the $5 Sweatcoin daily cap it has. SweatCoin is currently available in the US, UK, and Ireland. But I used a VPN  app to download it so you can try that out too.

Here’s my referral if you wanna sign up through me.

Sweatcoin is available for Apple  and Android

8.) EarthMiles

So, this one is a little different but you’re still getting rewarded for working out. This UK starter company has a similar concept to all the other apps I’ve mentioned. You sync your apps and devices, bother your friends and followers to use your referral, then just wait until you have enough points (in this case Earth Miles) to treat yo self to something nice. This reminds me of SweatCoin to an extent because the rewards are similar. While you can’t redeem and iPhone X, you can redeem your Earth Miles for a free 1-month subscription to an online yoga class, get so much of a percentage off snacks and cool fitness items. If you’re feeling generous, use my code AMB96W3V , you’ll get 50 points and so will I!                   For now, this is available only available in the US and the UK.

EarthMiles is available for Apple and Android

Some Dishonorable Mentions

I wasn’t planning on writing about these four app. They received so many low ratings I figured I should mention them just so you would download at your own risk. A reoccurring complaint with all of them is the fact you can’t cash out and customer service is a joke. I personally wouldn’t waste my time if the 1 stars ratings outdo the fives.

1.) Runister

2.) Well Coin

3.) AtariFit