5 morning rituals to kickstart your day
Getting up in the morning can be a drag. Merchandise brands make a fortune with phrases like “sorry for what I said before coffee,” and if the early bird catches the worm, what do you do if you’re a night owl by nature, like me? Here are 5 rituals I’ve incorporated into my morning routine to get me started:
#1 THE CHAMPION
Your alarm clock goes off, and all you wanna do is hit snooze and get another hour of sleep. Who doesn’t know that feeling? But guess what strange trick I found out about recently:
Right when your alarm goes off, you sit upright in bed, clench your fists and pull them over your head like a boxing champion while yelling “YEAH!” Don’t think it works? Try it out yourself tomorrow morning!
#2 THE 10 MINUTE POWER-WORKOUT
Nothing gets you going like a workout in the morning, not even coffee. Apple CEO Tim Cook does it, just as much as Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and me too. It’s not about getting ripped, but rather about practicing your everyday-discipline, training your grit, your problem solving skills, and getting your circulation going to kickstart your body and mind. But since most of us spend our days sitting at a desk in the office though, it’s a nice plus to helping you stay fit in general.
I myself start my morning with a set of 10 burpees, 15 push-ups, 20 mountain-climbers, 30 bicycle crunches and a plank of 45 seconds. As a beginner 2-3 repetitions of this set will do, and since one repetition should take something between 3 to 5 minutes (depending on your training level) the entire workout should last about 10 minutes only. It’s done so quickly, but now you got your juices flowing to conquer the day!
BONUS: If you still have time, you can add a quick run outside to your morning routine, filling your lungs with fresh air to fuel your brain with oxygen.
#3 CONTRAST SHOWERS
Contrast showers are a form of hydrotherapy, i.e. the use of water for healing. Basically what you do is alternating the temperature of your showering water from very hot to very cold. This way first your blood vessels will open, flushing the entire body with blood, and once you switch to cold, your blood flow will go back inward to protect your internal organs. So what we’re going for here is to again get our circulation going. Start with three minutes of hot showering, followed by a minute of cold showering, and you repeat this 3 to 1 ratio about 3 times.
Especially the cold shower part discourages a lot of people from contrast showers, but let me tell you about the advantages of contrast showers: The number of white blood cells in your body responsible for fighting diseases will be increased, making you more resistant to colds and flus and the sort. Your skin and hair will get healthier due to the increased blood flow. Tense muscles are loosened up, helping soothe stiffness, which is especially practical after your workout. Even weight loss is encouraged by contrast showers, as the cold stimulates the production of the kind of fat the body burns to keep us warm, rather than the sort that it stores. (As some people have physical restrictions that can be negatively affected by contrast showers, I recommend consulting a doctor if you are not sure about your body’s capabilities.)
#4 “EAT BREAKFAST LIKE A KING”
“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” That’s what nutritionist Adelle Davis already said in the 1960s. And yet so many people tend to rush out of the door in the morning, skipping what is widely known as the most important meal of the day.
If you don’t eat in the morning, you’ll most likely wind up feeling weary throughout the day, since the blood sugar level your body needs to function optimally wasn’t restored. Also you’ll tend to snack high-fat and high-sugar foods to get through the day until lunchtime, only to overeat once you find the time to kick back for your first real meal. So make time in the morning!
#5 MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC
Once you’re on your way to work, listen to music that really gets you hyped. Rock music, classical music, hip-hop - anything works really, it just depends on your own taste. At the moment I love listening to “We Will Rock You” by QUEEN - I just love its energy! What better way to enter the office and greet your colleagues than feeling like a Rockstar?