Waking up early can be a challenge [1] and can even feel outright impossible — but Jason Wimberly, celebrity trainer and creator of THE WALL [2] and WIMBERLEAN [3], believes there's no better time to work out than the early morning hours [4]. How do you do that when you're decidedly "not a morning person [5]"? Well . . . you change sh*t up [6] — with your sleep, that is.
In order to reap the benefits of a morning workout [8], you've gotta retrain your circadian rhythm. Wimberly suggests doing this in the simplest way possible: getting to bed early. "Getting up early regulates your circadian rhythm," said Wimberly. "All of us are having sleep issues as we get older . . . it's hard to get good sleep," he told POPSUGAR. His remedy for this is an earlier bedtime — and doing everything you can to reset your internal clock [9].
"It's really hard for a lot of us to shut down at a certain time [11]," Wimberly told POPSUGAR, especially when you begin to change your sleep cycle. "Being mindful of things like cutting off screen time, [which] is so important," he said. "If you read on an iPad, don't do it after 9 p.m., and try to not have loud music on at night." He also suggests "never" working out after 8 p.m.
What else can you do to get the ball in motion? "Increase the things that are soothing for you, like a warm bath, hot tea, etc. Really focus on making those adjustments so you get that earlier bedtime [12]."
Over time, Wimberly suggests you'll condition your body and reset that internal clock so you're on an early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule that's more conducive to a healthy workout schedule. Godspeed.