Morning Exercise: Start Your Day Off Right!

Encouraging your kids to exercise may already seem like a daunting task. Add on trying to get them motivated for morning exercise may seem near impossible!

But with the right motivation, you can get your kids to incorporate exercise into their morning routine — and actually enjoy it!

There are obvious challenges to adding physical activity into your children’s morning schedule.

You have to contend with early school start times for most of the year.

And even during vacations and summer break, many parents have their own work schedules to juggle.

Not to mention the fact that most kids like to sleep in during their school breaks.

However, there are so many benefits to exercising early in the day that if you can find a way to work physical activity into your morning schedule, it will be well worth it. 

Here’s how to get the whole family on board with morning exercise.

Don’t forget to loosen up first! Try these morning stretch routines to get the blood flowing!

Why Workout in the Morning?

There has been a lot of debate about the benefits of morning versus evening exercise.

Clearly exercise any time of the day is better than no exercise at all.

But a morning workout, especially for kids, can be a great way to start the day.

Many people, kids included, feel more energized when they first wake up as compared to at the end of the day.

This makes their bodies respond better to morning exercise.

In addition, if your kids do a lot of physical exercises right before bed this could disrupt their sleep schedule and actually have them feeling more groggy in the morning. 

For example, studies have shown that people that exercise in the morning had more favorable sleep outcomes, including a greater likelihood of reporting good sleep quality and a lower likelihood of waking unrefreshed. 

The best way to combat this is to get your workouts in before the day starts.

Plus, by getting in your exercise early in the day, your kids will actually have more energy than after a long day at school.

Another advantage of morning exercise is that it ensures your children get in some form of physical activity.

There are many days when your family gets so busy you don’t have time to fit in any type of healthy activities.

Starting out the day with even a short exercise session will get their metabolism geared up for the rest of the days.

This is important to improve overall health and combat the obesity epidemic that is affecting our children. 

Medical literature even demonstrates the benefits of morning exercise in kids.

A study from the Journal of Exercise, Sports & Orthopedics found that elementary-aged children who participated in a group exercise program before school had significant improvement in percent body fat, fat weight, and aerobic performance compared to children who did not exercise. 

Morning exercise has also been found to enhance immunity.

It’s always important to keep you and your family as healthy as possible.

Add in flu season and other germs generally floating around and this is definitely an added benefit!

Morning Exercise Ideas For Kids

When choosing morning exercises for your kids, you don’t need to make things complicated.

Simple activities like stretching, bodyweight workouts, or short 10-20 minute walks or jogs are all that are really needed to get the day started on the right foot.

Stretching

Stretching is one of the easiest ways to add a bit of exercise into your kids’ morning routines.

This is not only a great way to enhance their flexibility and range of motion, but it can also help with mental health and stress reduction.

Remember, exercise is important not just for your kids’ physical health, but also for their mental health.

Have your kids perform dynamic and static stretches when they first wake up in the morning to help prepare you for the day. 

Incorporate some of these basic stretches into your kids’ morning.

You should demonstrate these exercises and stretches for your kids so they can see the proper form and technique.

Dynamic Stretches

Inchworm

• Start on your hands and feet with your hips in the air in an inverted V position.
• Then walk your feet as far forward as possible while keeping your legs straight.
• Walk your hands out, extending your body into a plank position.
• Then raise your hips up again into an inverted V.
• Continue this pattern of “inching” forward 5 times.

Back and Chest Rotations

• Start down on your hands and knees and place your left fingertips behind your left ear.
• Rotate your torso to the left, so that your left elbow points up to the ceiling.
• Then twist back to the starting position.
• Continue for 5 reps, then switch sides and repeat on the right.

Static Stretches

Core Stretch

• Lie on your stomach and press up while keeping your legs on the floor.
• Hold for 20-30 seconds.

Glutes Stretch

• Sit on the floor and bend your left leg while keeping your right foot flat on the ground.
• Cross your left leg over your right thigh.
• Hold for 15-20 seconds, then switch sides.

Arm/Shoulder Stretch

• Stretch your right arm across your body while pulling into your body with your left arm.
• Hold for 15-20 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.

Balance Postures

Balance postures and yoga poses are another great idea for your kids’ morning workouts.

They don’t need to tie themselves into knots or perform difficult moves to improve their balance, range of motion, and coordination.

Plus, they can do these exercises in their bedrooms with no additional equipment.

Tree Pose

• Stand upright with most of your weight on your right foot while lifting your left foot off the floor.
• Bend your left knee and bring the sole of your left foot high onto your inner right thigh.
• Take 5 deep breaths, then lower your left foot to the floor and repeat on the other side.

Downward Dog

• Start in a plank position.
• Bring your hips up into the air so that your body is in an inverted V position, just like the starting position of the inchworm stretch.
• Try to keep your heels as close to the ground as possible.
• Hold for 5 full breaths.
• Come back into a plank position.
• Then repeat 1-2 times. 

Cow-Cat Stretch

• Begin on your hands and knees.
• Inhale and lift your hips upward.
• Press your chest forward and allow your belly to sink.
• Lift your head and relax your shoulders away from your ears.
• This is known as the cow pose. 
• Then, to come into cat pose, round your spine and tuck in your tailbone while bringing your head toward the floor.
• Continue to alternate cow and cat pose 5 times for each.

Child’s Pose

• End the stretching workout with the child’s pose.
• Come onto your hands and knees and bring your body to the ground with your stomach between your thighs and your forehead to the floor.
• Stretch your arms in front of you with your palms toward the floor.
• Stay as long as you like, but for at least 5 full breaths.

Both stretching and balance exercises, like yoga, can also help decrease stress throughout a child’s busy day and improve sleep at night.

Adequate sleep and recovery are critical to keeping your kids’ minds and bodies healthy and fit. 

Body Weight Exercises

A quick 20-minute bodyweight circuit is another easy workout to incorporate into your children’s morning routine.

Again, no equipment is needed, and they can do this in their bedroom or living room.

To really keep your kids motivated, do this workout with them in the morning.

This will keep you accountable for your own fitness routine as well.

Standard Push-Ups

• Position your hands under your shoulders with your feet straight behind you.
• Lower your chest towards the ground, pause, and then extend your arms to push back up.
• Your kids may need to start on their knees to ensure that they do these with the correct form. That is perfectly fine.
• As they gain the strength, they can start working up to a standard pushup.
• Have them do as many reps as they can with good form.

Wall Sits

• Stand with your back flat against a wall and feet shoulder-width apart.
• Walk your feet in front of you about two steps and slide your back down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
• Hold this position for 30 seconds.

Tricep Dips

• Place your hands on the edge of a stable surface, like a chair.
• Place your feet out in front of you.
• Lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, then push back up.
• Start with 5-10 reps.
• You can also have your kids change the position of their feet in front of them to make this exercise harder or easier.
• The closer the feet are to the body, the easier the exercise will be.

Body Weight Squats

• Start in a standing position.
• Drive your hips back and bend at the knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
• Then drive your legs back up to the top.
• Once your kids master the standard squat they can challenge themselves by jumping up at the end and turning this into a plyometric jump squat.

Mountain Climbers

• Start in a push-up position with your hands under your shoulders.
• Drive your right knee to your chest and tap your right foot to the floor then quickly move it back to the starting position.
• Then repeat this on the left.
• Continue alternating legs back and forth as quickly as you can for 30 seconds.
• Have your kids try to work through this circuit 2-3 times depending on how much time they have in the morning.
• But even if they only have 5-10 minutes they can get in a quick full-body circuit by just doing this workout once through.

Start A Morning Workout Ritual

At first, it may be hard to convince your kids to wake up 20-30 minutes early to incorporate exercise into their morning routine.

However, after a few weeks, they will begin to see the positive changes that this kind of activity can have in their lives.

The best way to encourage them to adopt a new morning routine is to do the workouts with them.

If they see that you are enjoying early morning exercise, they will be more motivated to make this part of a healthy lifestyle. 

You can keep them on track by writing down what you do each day, and trying to maintain a streak of days in a row that they can incorporate morning activities.

Of course, there will be days where they can’t get in morning exercise, and that’s OK!

Any time of the day is great for your kids to be active.

But keeping them on a schedule is a great way to keep them accountable and to lay a foundation for a healthy and fit way of living.

*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on morning exercise.