Motivation for Morning Workouts

Originally published on the USA Swimming website

This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from Dr. Chris Carr, a sport and performance psychologist at the Methodist Sports Medicine Center in Indianapolis. Carr offers some advice for those days when you don’t feel like waking up for morning practice.

Carr’s Tip:

Sometimes everyone has a hard time getting going in the morning. Most of the elite swimmers I have worked with have stated that although they don’t always like early morning practices, they take pride in the fact that they are working harder than everyone else before everyone else is awake. Here are some tips to help with early morning practices:

1. Make sure you get to bed at a good time in the evening. Sleep is important to being a great swimmer, as it helps your body recover and prepare for performance.

2. Before you fall asleep, picture yourself being alert and ready to go the next morning on the pool deck. If you can see yourself being motivated, it will help to get you ready. Also, if you find that you think about negative thoughts before you go to sleep, write down the negative thoughts (e.g. “I hate hard interval sets”) on a piece of paper and throw it away, then you can focus on more positive (e.g. “I want to make 90% of my interval times tomorrow”) goals.

3. If you wake up feeling a bit tired, play some inspirational music (rap, country, rock, whatever creates a good vibe for you) while you are getting dressed and heading to the pool.

4. When you get to the pool, write down 1-3 specific goals for that practice (your journal would be a good place, or even a 3x5 card in your gym bag/locker). These goals give you direction for the day. Remember, if you make a choice to be motivated, you can work through those hard days.