Morning Workouts

My boys had a late night last night (oh, past 9), so this morning, when I woke up at 7:30 my house was quiet and one of them was curled up at the end of our bed.  It was nice to have my hubby home for the day, so that we all got a slow start and I was able to do my workout while he did some schoolwork with them.  Today, as part of my Insanity/Brazil Butt Lift Hybrid, I did Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  Let me just say that Pure Cardio is my least favorite workout from month one.  The month one workouts start with 10 minutes (or so) of a quite intense warm-up which leaves me dripping in sweat.  Then there is about a 6 minute stretching time before the actual workout begins.  So, by the time you start the "workout" portion of the video, you are about 15 minutes in.  So, in Pure Cardio, you do all that and then there are 16 or so minutes of craziness.  The individual exercises themselves are not awful. but seeing as they are all 60 seconds in length and there is no break between exercises, it is extremely intense.  I have yet to make it through this video without pressing pause at least 3 times (for 30-60 seconds).  Then, to top it off, the last to exercises are suicide jumps and push-up jacks - let me just tell you I fall to the ground when the last exercise is through and don't think I will make it back up.  The last 5 minutes are spent in the cool-down.  The hardest part is that normally Pure Cardio days = Cardio Ab days which means as soon as you think you died, you still have a 16 minute ab workout.  I actually think of this as more of a core workout as it involves a lot of hip flexor strength and low back strength.  Today after finishing both, I had burned 680 calories and I felt every one of them.

The interesting thing that I have found about workout out it the morning is that it increases my mental alertness earlier and I feel much better prepared to tackle my day.  This afternoon, I took my CEN (certified emergency nurse) exam (AND PASSED!) and I didn't even think twice about not drinking a cup of coffee.  I have been slowly weaning myself off coffee (and opting for herbal tea when I want something warm to drink) and I can't say that I miss it a ton.  I still like to have a cup on Sunday mornings during church, but other than that it has mostly been eliminated.  So, that all being said, I highly encourage exercise in the morning!