Reaching for that alarm clock

Even though half of my weekday workout routines are done in my basement - two days a week of at-home cardio - and thus could presumably be done at any time, I generally prefer to do them in the morning before work. The other two weekday routines are at the gym. Considering that both times I've worked out at the gym in the evening the place was crammed like a subway station at rush hour, I've similarly preferred to get my workouts done in the morning as well.

I need to be out the door at 7:25 each morning in order to get to work, so that requires me backtracking through my morning routine in order to determine the optimal time to get up in order to either trudge downstairs with my laptop and do an hour of cardio, or get dressed and hop in the car for the ride to the gym*. In most cases I have to be up by about 5:15. Now as someone whose wife had to get up at 5:00 in the morning every day for a year in order to get to work, I probably don't earn much sympathy points, but this is kind of a pain in the ass. And yet, so far, I haven't missed a beat.

And that really strikes me as the fundamental difference between being engaged in a serious workout routine where I either lose weight or stay relatively in shape, and my normal course of business where I'm packing on the pounds. There have been numerous times over the past four years where my alarm has gone off at 6 or earlier for a potential run and I've simply decided to ignore my late-night wishes by pushing the alarm time back another hour. When you're not really serious about staying in shape, the snooze button isn't even sufficient.

I don't know if these musings have any point other than acknowledging that will power is a huge aspect of dieting, and it's not just about declining the second helping of ice cream cake (one's okay - that's pretty much my motto). If you're serious about fitness, then you just gotta answer the sound of the bell, even if it comes at the price of an extra hour sleep. It also implicitly means that the days of checking Facebook at 11:00 in the evening are over.

*For the record, it should also be noted that getting out the door this early means I don't really have time to warm up the car. Unless you happen to live in a ten square mile section of California, you've noticed that it's been pretty freaking cold this winter. So there's a nice added bonus of a freezing cold car ride where the car finally gets nice and warm just as I arrive at the gym.