Poll: Do You Plan to Work Out in the Morning—But Never Actually Get Up to Do It?

I'm about to make a big confession here, people, so please do me a solid and take my poll.

This is how idyllic I imagine a morning run to be.
(I wouldn't know first hand, of course.)

Here’s where I make a little confession: For me, every day starts off super optimistically. The night before I’ve laid out my clothes, packed my lunch, preset my coffee to magically brew on its own (best technology ever, am I right?), and set my alarm for 6 a.m. Yes, it’s early, especially since I don’t have to be anywhere until 9 and my commute is all of seven minutes long, but it’s so worth it because getting up at 6 means I have time to get in my workout for the day. That way, I can get it out of the way and don’t have it hanging over my head all day like a heavy cloud that’s about to rain on my happy hour plans.

So the alarm on my iPhone blares and buzzes at exactly 6 a.m. and then … oh, I’ll just snooze for five minutes. Then the backup alarm goes off at 6:15 and … just five more minutes, please. At this point, I’m already calculating in my head exactly what these wasted snoozing minutes mean: Okay, so instead of a 45-minute run, I’ll run for 20 and do 10 minutes of stairs at the Art Museum at the end—that’ll make up for it. What this means is that my brain is fully awake, rationalizing its way to an ever-shorter workout and an ever-longer snooze fest. At some point, I fall almost completely back to sleep. Sometimes, I’ll even start a new dream, until …

BEEP BEEP BEEP! Crap. The backup backup alarm. This one, set for 7:45, means I actually have to get up and get ready for work. No time for a workout. No time even to walk the dog (sorry, Scout). Barely enough time to chug the cup of coffee I set to brew the night before, which has now been sitting there, slowly burning on the “warm” mode for an hour and a half.

This is a typical morning in my house.

What’s funny is that after years (literally, years) of doing this same routine every day, I’ve yet to throw in the towel and just admit I’m not a morning-workout person. It’s like when Gretchen Wieners tries to make fetch happen—morning workouts just aren’t going to happen.

I guess the reason I keep trying, though, is because, to me, morning workouts are what the über-dedicated athletes do, the runners, cyclists, yogis and Lithers who have so much amazing willpower that they don’t need backup, backup, backup alarms to begin with. I so want to be one of those ridiculously awesome people, but frankly I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.

Don’t worry, though—I’ll still try again tomorrow.

>> C’mon be honest: how do often you plan to work out in the a.m., only to snooze through your alarm? Take our poll below.


Photo: Shutterstock