How do I start working out in the morning?

Shift your wake-up time earlier by about 15 minutes every few days, lay out your gear the night before and keep the first few morning sessions short and easy. Don't try to jump from a 9am wake-up to 5am in one go. That plan usually lasts about four days.

Morning workouts have a real advantage: nothing else has had time to get in the way. But whether morning training is "better" is mostly a matter of what you can keep doing. If evenings work for you, you don't need to change.

The sleep part comes first

You can't wake up early on five hours of sleep and expect to feel good. Going to bed earlier is the real project here. Most adults do best with seven to nine hours. Work out what time you'd have to be asleep to get that, then move your bedtime first and your alarm second.

A simple ramp-up

1. Week 1: wake 15 minutes earlier on workout days. Do 10 to 15 minutes of easy movement.
2. Week 2: another 15 minutes earlier. Make it a full short session.
3. Week 3: you're at your target time. Do your normal workout.
4. Keep the alarm at the same time on weekends if you can, within an hour or so.

Night-before setup

• Clothes, shoes and bag ready where you'll see them
• Water bottle filled
• The plan for tomorrow's session already decided
• Phone charging across the room so you have to get up
• Your day's match in League of Fitness, which is settled when the day ends, so an early session gets your score on the board before anything else can interfere

Warm up properly

Your body is stiffer in the morning, and joints and muscles take longer to loosen up. Spend an extra five minutes warming up before lifting or running hard. Easy cardio followed by a few lighter sets of your first lift works well.

Breakfast

Some people train fine on an empty stomach and some feel lightheaded. If you're in the second group, have a banana or a slice of toast 20 to 30 minutes ahead. Drink some water either way. If you get dizzy or feel faint while exercising, stop and speak to a doctor if it keeps happening.

If it isn't working

Give it three or four weeks. If you're still dragging after that and your sleep is fine, go back to evenings or lunchtime. Training at the time you can actually keep up beats training at the time that sounds more impressive.