Let’s face it.
Most people start their day like sh*t.
I used to be one of them.
I’d stumble out of bed like a zombie…grab my phone…eat something…and then shower.
By then, I would *still* feel, and look, like some pale walking dead creature.
Needless to say, you can’t be productive when you feel like you smoked 3 grams of Spice.
But that’s how I felt half of most days. Weak, listless, lazy, and grumpy. I would shake off this blanket of negativity only after doing a workout.
And one specific workout accomplished this more dramatically than others: HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training).
After a short HIIT session, the unproductive feelings disappeared like snow in the sun.
It dawned on me that if I STARTED the day with a session like that, I’d instantly get rid of the fog that consumed half of my days.
So I did… Every day, first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. And it’s been working amazingly well.
Yeah, the first few times you do it, you may be exhausted afterward, but quickly the benefits will start working their magic.
Why You Should Start Your Day With HIIT Training
Start your day moving, and the rest will move with it.
The high you get from this exercise will set you up for a successful day.
And soon, you’ll have had many successful days. And you will know that this HIIT-training-first-thing-in-the-morning ritual is the real deal.
Other morning rituals might work.
But they can get complicated with their many steps and take too long. With this one, things are kept simple, and the results are excellent.
Your mind will work better. Your mood will improve. You will look better. Even your food will taste richer. Your memory improves instantly and…you’ll be a superior language learner.
Slept in late today? No problem and no excuse to throw your day away.
Start the day with fifteen minutes of HIIT. It will burn away your body’s laziness.
Having a bit of a hangover? Do your morning HIIT, and maybe the day might not turn out so bad.
How to Do Morning HIIT
Do the interval training in the nearest place you can. Fifteen minutes is perfect.
*Very important: check-in with your doctor if it’s OK for you to start this exercise program.*
STEP BY STEP
- Wake up
- Allow yourself fifteen minutes of rest. Drink some water, hydrate yourself.
- Go to the place where you’ll do your HIIT training. This should be very close-by. If it isn’t, you will not keep this up. My bedroom has a sort of hallway attached to it. This is where I do my sprints.
- First, warm up for 5 minutes by jogging slowly or doing jumping jacks. Nothing fancy. Just work yourself into a light sweat.
- You need two timers. One that keeps the time of the fifteen-minute period as a whole, and another that alternates between 30 seconds of sprint time and 1 minute of rest time. During the rest period, you can walk or jog slowly. The sequence would be: sprint 30 seconds, rest 1 minute, sprint 30 seconds, rest 1 minute, etc.
- When the 15 minutes are up, keep jogging slowly to cool down or take a shower straight away.
- Eat a strong breakfast that gives you the required energy for the day ahead. (optional)
You can also do other exercises (like very fast jumping jacks, or riding an (exercise) bike during the 30 seconds periods, but make sure they’re:
- High intensity (90% of maximum intensity)
- Simple to execute
You don’t want to do complicated exercises when you’re still in a zombie state of mind.
Simple explosive movements are what you want.
Start Your Day Like a Warrior
You can’t learn optimally if you don’t exercise.
Exercising regularly makes you a far better language learner.
It rejuvenates your body…and brain.
It’s great for you, physically…and spiritually.
Your self-discipline will improve in spades just by exercising.
Rising to the challenge of putting your body in motion on a daily basis, will spill over to your language learning.
And it will be easier for you to take on the challenges your new language throws at you.
In short: daily exercise is a no brainer.
So…now you know what to do first thing tomorrow morning. 😉
Over and out,
Noel