1.  Get all your stuff together the night before.   Because having to search for the strap to your heart rate monitor at the crack of dawn will suck.

2.  Do not press the snooze button.  Doing so will only prolong the agony.  Get up as soon as your alarm goes off, before your mind realizes what you’re doing.  Because trying to get up after 9 more minutes in your soft warm bed will suck.

3.  Put your workout clothes on right away.  Aside from getting up, wrestling with your workout clothes is one of the worst things you’ll have to do.  Take advantage of your groggy state and put your clothes on before your mind catches on and begins to argue.  Because, after lounging in your pjs, changing into those cold, unforgiving workout clothes will suck.

4.  Drink some water.  Aside from coffee, water is the elixir of life.  Hydrating your tired, shriveled cells will help you feel a bit more human and prepare your body for exercise.  Because working out when you’re dehydrated will suck.

5.  Give yourself extra warm up time.  By the time you actually make it to your workout, your mind will be awake and, likely, giving you a long list of reasons you should skip it and go back to bed.  Like a frightened, feral cat, you must coax your mind onto that treadmill/elliptical/bike.  You do this by promising that it can go really really slow for as long as it wants.  Because starting out fast, before your body is awake and your mind is committed, will suck.

What about you?  Do you have any tricks for making morning exercise a little easier?