WHY MORNING MOVEMENT MATTERS

Over the past few years, I have had some occasional but recurring tweaks in my low back and hips. It seemed they were getting more frequent but also, more irritating.

One year, a couple of my close buddies and I went camping. Part of this annual trip is to complete a misogi, which is a physical and mental challenge. Well, this past year, it really kicked my butt and while I finished, it was a huge struggle.

Both of these incidents convinced me that I need to do something to A: improve my mobility/flexibility but B: improve my cardiovascular system.

Enter 10 Min Morning Momentum. This has been a morning routine with a purpose of 1. Getting my body moving, 2. Improving mobility/flexibility, 3. Spiking the heart rate.

After doing these for only a couple weeks straight, I already noticed many benefits and I will break those down here.

I think there are many benefits of a morning routine. The first and obvious one is physical. By getting your body moving, it improves blood flow to all parts of your body; muscles, organs but also your nervous system. This helps wake you up and get you into a great physical state in the morning.

Metabolically is a huge aspect. While one could argue that doing activity at any point of the day is going to burn calories, I think that doing it early in the morning is going to cause you to get your butt moving quicker and more overall, which will then help with more calories burned.

One aspect that may or may not come as a surprise is the mental component. By doing some AM exercise two things happen. First, you get a surge of endorphins from the exercise which helps you feel good. The second aspect is the increased confidence from the win and feeling of accomplishment.

Another benefit of a morning exercise routine is productivity. I think this is due to the aforementioned aspects that puts you in a great state to just get stuff done and be more productive.

Finally, I believe one big benefit is improved sleep. By getting more active in the AM, it helps wear you out so that you can then get to sleep easier that night.

So what should this consist of? I think that is largely individual and should be specific to the person and where their fitness level is and/or desired results.

For me, I wanted to improve my mobility/flexibility along with cardiovascular rate. Therefore, I start with the cardiovascular component. I want to get my heart rate spiked to help that aspect. Next are mobility drills to help activate/get my body moving and improve range of motion/flexibility and functionality.

How long? Again, I think this depends on the individual. If you have another primary workout scheduled, then I think a 5-10 min burst is sufficient. However for some, this might be their primary workout, which is perfect. Then I would say somewhere between 30-60 minutes is a solid target.

Another benefit? For me, it’s that my son and I get to do it together (oh, and our dog Indee too, lol).