Having enough energy for an early morning workout routine has much to do with what you eat, drink, and how much you sleep the night before.

You can't expect your body to have energy if you're not taking proper care. 

Let's start with what you eat:

What to Eat Before an Early Morning Workout

When you work out in the morning you need to give yourself (brain and body) sufficient time to warm up and sufficient energy to exercise properly.

Overnight your muscles go into sleep mode, and trying to immediately spring them back into action isn't going to end well. It's kind of like trying to jumpstart a car that's been sitting out in the cold all night. 

Having some simple carbohydrates in the morning before a workout is a good idea because your body will break down the food quickly, giving you a quick burst of energy that will come in handy during your workout. Carbs, healthy fats, and protein are all important before a workout to fuel your body. 

Eating something quick like a banana with peanut butter is my go-to before a morning workout. But some peanut butter brands are loaded wit sugar, so make sure to opt for the all-natural versions without much sugar. 

Almonds, yogurt, and oatmeal are also great sources of energy before a morning workout. 

What to Drink Before a Morning Workout

When it comes to having energy and motivation for your morning workout, hydration is the name of the game.

You actually lose up to a pound of water overnight just from breathing, because water is lost via condensation in your breath. That's why you often wake up parched and feeling groggy.

Drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning is a good way to hydrate before a morning workout. In fact, hydrating will help to eliminate that groggy feeling you have when you wake up, it'll make you more alert, and it'll give you more energy during your workout. 

EarlyBird mixes with water to help with morning hydration - and on top of that, EarlyBird also has electrolytes, which help your body hydrate even faster. It's what athletes drink to stay hydrated during games and practices as well. 

Whether you're drinking regular water or supercharging your hydration with EarlyBird, it's important to hydrate before an early morning workout. 

Waking Up at 4 AM to Workout 

Let's face it:

Waking up at 4 AM to workout is not for the faint of heart. Waking up at 4 AM is hard, let alone sweating your *ss off for an hour in the cold, as opposed to laying in your soft, warm bed for an additional four freaking hours. 

But if you're like us at EarlyBird, you're a motivated go-getter that wants to wake up early and get sh*t done, despite the challenges, but you're just not sure how to get past the early morning fatigue.

Coming from someone who used to struggle waking up even after 9 AM, to someone who regularly wakes up at 4 AM to workout, I can tell you that it is possible to wake up at 4 AM to workout consistently.

In fact, it actually gets easier as you repeat the habit, to the point where you actually look forward to working out early in the morning. 

So, how do you wake up at 4 AM to work out?

Let's dive in:

Commit to Your Why

You need to know why you're waking up early to workout before you set the alarm, prepare your workout gear the night before, or order a tub of EarlyBird.

Without knowing your why nothing else matters. You have to start with the end in mind, so you can make yourself get out of bed every morning when you'd rather sleep in and stay warm.

Sit down with a notebook and write about why you want to wake up early to workout. Don't sell yourself short by writing for just 30 seconds - spend at least ten minutes writing without interruption to fully articulate your reasoning. 

Then you can look at that notebook every morning to reinforce your decision. 

Prepare the Night Before

Preparing the night before is a great way to wake up early at 4 AM. Starting a new habit isn't easy, but you can still do your best to make it as easy as possible.

The idea here?

Give yourself the path of least resistance in the morning so you don't have to work hard while groggy. Waking up and having to find your clothes, put on your shoes, pour your glass of water, etc. makes more resistance between you and actually going to the gym.

Instead, plan your morning and make it easy for yourself. You can leave your workout clothes and sneakers out next to your bed, along with a banana. If you want to make your life even easier, you can leave the EarlyBird morning cocktail ready on your nightstand as well.

Then you can wake up, put your clothes on, eat your breakfast and head out the door, without thinking about it.  

Blinding Lights

No, I'm not talking about The Weeknd song.

Part of preparing the night before is setting up a light that will turn on in the morning, ideally natural light from the sun. You can leave your curtains open before bed so the sunlight shines through in the morning. There are also curtains that automatically open at a certain time.

But if you're waking before the sun comes up, or if it's winter time and the sun doesn't rise until late morning, you can use a sunrise lamp that naturally gets brighter as the sun comes up,

Light naturally wakes you up and makes you more alert, so it's helpful to shine a light on your face when you first wake up.

Keep The Alarm Away from Your Bed

Keeping the alarm away from your bed is another important tip. When I used to keep my alarm next to my bed, I'd usually wake up, rollover, turn it off and go back to bed.

On the flip side, setting your alarm across the room as part of your bedtime routine makes you leave your bed to turn it off, waking you up automatically. 

If you're serious about waking up early to workout, never leave your alarm in your bed if it's your phone or near your bed.

Meaningful Incentives

Typically we form habits because we like the end result - it's rewarding in some way. For example, video games give you dopamine (the feel-good chemical in your brain) when you win or accomplish something. Sugar gives you dopamine when you eat it, alcohol gives you dopamine when you drink it.

But habits that are difficult typically don't come with a hit of dopamine until later, after what you're doing has paid off. It's delayed gratification which is incredibly important but often overlooked in today's day and age of TikTok and Instagram, etc. 

If you want to form a long-lasting habit, including waking up early, you need to program your brain to like it, which you can do by giving yourself meaningful incentives.

When you're planning your why, make a reward system to treat yourself when you actually wake up early and accomplish your goal. It could be 30 minutes of video games, buying yourself a new shirt, or something like that. 

The reward doesn't really matter as long as it's something you'll enjoy, and you can do it once a week or once a month, etc.

You'll begin associating that reward with waking up early, which will help motivate you to workout in the morning. 

EarlyBird 

Even if you follow all of the above tips, let's face it: waking up early at 4AM to workout is no easy task - at least, without EarlyBird.

EarlyBird is a morning cocktail that was designed specifically for go getters like you who want to wake up early and get sh*t done but aren't morning people. 

It's zero calorie, zero sugar morning cocktail that mixes with water and tastes delicious. You mix it up the night before, drink it in the morning, and then get sh*t done. It's really that simple.

Here's why it works:

1) Supercharged hydration - EarlyBird uses electrolytes that hydrate your body even faster than just water, which is imperative for waking up early and actually feeling great

2) Clean energy - A unique blend of green coffee bean extract, antioxidants, L-Theanine, and L-Tyrosine. This blend quickly eliminates the impulse to hit snooze and fills your morning with energy (without the crash).

3) Mood enhancement - The powerful combination of patented nootropics, Ashwagandha, Theobromine, and Neurofactor gives you the ability to move through your morning with smiles and motivation.

Before I started using EarlyBird, my mornings were horrible, but ever since I started drinking EarlyBird, I can finally wake up easy and get sh*t done.

1. Enhanced Metabolism

When you eat, your body can either use the calories for energy, use them to replenish itself, or lastly, store them as fat. 

After you workout, your body burns more calories throughout the day, even if you're no longer being active, because it needs to replenish itself using more calories.

So rather than turning your food into fat, working out in the morning helps your body use the calories to replenish itself. Increased metabolism makes it easier to maintain and lose weight, rather than gain weight, which is a big advantage of morning workouts.  

2. Consistency

Consistency is the name of the game with everything in life, including exercise, and working out in the morning helps to ensure you'll have a consistent workout routine.

When you schedule exercise in the middle of the day you might end up blowing it off to take care of more pressing matters, which overall is a bad move because health and wealth are synonymous. 

Or, if you wait until the end of the day to workout, you may be too tired to have a productive workout, or to even make it to the gym at all.

Working out in the morning allows you to knock it out first thing so you have the time and energy needed to make it happen every day, every week, every month, etc. 

3. More Energy

Getting active, especially in the morning, is a natural way to boost your energy and increase focus for the rest of your day.  

When I wake up in the morning I naturally get a boost in energy, followed by the ability to focus intensely on my work. 

It seems like starting your day with something productive leads you to continue doing productive things throughout the day. 

Conversely, starting your day with easy dopamine like sleeping in late, watching Netflix or checking Instagram starts your day off on the wrong foot, and before you know it you'll be doing unproductive thing after unproductive thing.

4. Discipline 

At the end of the day, those with discipline are the ones who end up successful. You may not always be motivated to wake up early and work out, study for your test, reach out to another client etc. but it doesn't matter. 

Motivation and discipline are two different things. I'm not always motivated to write blog posts, but I'm disciplined to make it happen regularly, regardless of how I feel. And it's my discipline that's helped this blog from 0 to over 6,000 monthly readers (and counting) within a year.

Likewise, if you want to achieve your fitness goals, you must be disciplined, and there's no better way to discipline yourself than waking up at 4 AM to work out every morning. 

5. Better Sleep

Although you will have more energy immediately after your workout and throughout the rest of your day, by the time it comes time for bed, you're definitely going to be exhausted.

Going to bed early is key if you want to wake up early to work out or do anything else for that matter. Even drinking the cheat code to waking up early - EarlyBird - won't help if you're sleep deprived. Trust me, I've tried it. 

Considering sleep is one of the most important things for your overall health, exercising in the morning is not only good for you during the workout, it'll also help you fall asleep early (and stay asleep throughout the night.)