why do you go to the gym at 4am?

originally written 03.21.24

It sucks, but it's a good way to wake up early and start the day. I've always sort of naturally been an early bird — I've had to wake up early to walk to high school, and I never had a class in college that started later than 8:45am. So, I was basically conditioned to always wake up early — and I figured if I could just start the day at 4am to hit the gym for an hour, then I can get it out of the way and move forward with my day. I have to be at work by 7am, so it's just a natural cycle throughout the week.

Every eatery is closed, so I'm not tempted to go to a fast food place after the gym, for whatever reason. I have a food addiction, straight up — I can justify why I need to eat at the snap of a finger. I swear they did this on purpose, though — on the way to the gym, on what we call "The Strip," I pass by, drumroll please... 31 eating establishments on the way to the gym. That's not technically counting all of them — just the ones I genuinely like and unfortunately frequent. By the time I finish my gym session at around 6am, next to none of them are open. Therefore, not only do I not have a reason to go, but I physically can't go to any of these eateries — perfect!

Finally, there are some simpler, smaller reasons as to go to the gym early. There's less traffic on the road in the morning, so it takes me way less time to get to the gym than during the day or worse, after work. After work traffic sucks! The gym itself is less crowded, so I can actively get through my routine without toooo much waiting around for a machine. The squat racks are going to be taken no matter what time of day you go, so I hardly bother. Sometimes my favorite treadmills are taken (I like to go on the ones with the updated displays), but that's the luck of the draw typically. In that case, I start with my routine first instead of cardio, and it usually works out in the end. That's my last point — overall, there's less worry that I won't be able to get my routine done, or heading to the gym overall.