Friday, March 19, 2010

Who Works Out At 5 AM?


I'm not sure who these people are, but they do exist. I see them every day when I exercise at this hour.

A recent conversation with a friend who is an early morning "regular" at my gym suggested this might be a good topic to explore. My experience dictates that most of these people are highly motivated folks with busy lives who don't have time during "normal working" hours to devote to fitness.

Let's face it. We all have a variety of issues competing for our time - family, work, volunteer activities, home upkeep and other things. If maintaining a solid fitness program also happens to be one of your priorities, the early morning quickly becomes the "path of least resistance".

Gender or age doesn't seem to play a role in this debate as I see many faces of both genders early in the morning along with a range of ages. Although, I would suggest that many of the folks I see exercising early in the morning tend to be working professionals.

I would also suggest that the early morning workout crowd fashions themselves on "accountability". Many of the "regulars" at my gym enjoy the camaraderie of others they meet at the gym and they appreciate that "ribbing" they get from fellow regulars when a day of exercise is missed. This post from "Carol" at www.openairfitness.sb.com sums up the approach expressed here - http://ow.ly/1c8ZF.

So, yes, we early morning "gym rats" are an odd lot, but there is some method to our madness.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In the summer months I often run at 4:30 AM, by doing this I beat the sun and the heat (kind of, considering it is still usually in the mid 80's at that time). Plus it's nice to have my workout down first thing in the day. I start working at 7:00 so I have to do it early to have it done before work!