I like to think of daylight saving time changes, both in the spring and in the fall, as a time to switch up your workout, much in the same way that many people switch their smoke alarm batteries.
The "fall back" is an especially opportune time to add or change a morning exercise plan because you will surely wake up, maybe like me, thinking "Wow, I'm not late." It's the only time of year I wake up before my alarm and feel refreshed and unruffled. Your kids' lunches will be packed, no one will miss the bus and you might even get to sit down for breakfast -- although for me, my body does somehow recalibrate and even on Sunday morning, I will still arrive the same seven minutes late for church that I always do, which is a disappointment. The body clock is wise,but the mental clock is wiser.
At our gym, I'm encouraging my 6 a.m. students to bring a friend to the early classes this week, because getting in the car to go work out (when it is light) is so much easier than when it is dark. Early morning exercise also jump-starts your day and checks off an important "to-do" that will make you more efficient as you tackle the rest of your list.
For those of you that are procrastinators, remember the words of Nike: "just do it." And the words of Warren Buffett, who said the same thing about putting things off: "Isn't that a little like saving up sex for your old age?" (He wasn't really talking about exercise when he said this, but the same theory applies.) Or the words of Dr. Phil, "You don't have to like it. You just have to do it."
Most exercisers do not exercise for how they feel while they are exercising. They do it for how they feel afterwards and the results that they get from doing it. Consider adding a morning walk, or even 20 push-ups and 50 crunches. Commit for just this coming week and see if you can utilize your extra hour and jump-start your fitness regime.
If exercise were a pill, we'd all be addicted. It would be the Oxycontin for everything. We would be unable to go without it, and desperate to get a refill if we ran out. Insurance companies would not cover it because a pill that supplied all of the benefits of exercise would put them out of business by fixing most age-related illnesses that keep those companies rolling in the money.
Also, exercise is an especially effective medicine to give yourself in the morning. You will have more energy, be more awake, productive and your day will go better. Did I mention that exercise is free?
So if anyone in your family asks you what you are doing on the living room floor doing P90X, as they step over you on their way to the coffee pot, tell them you are trying to become an addict.
Maybe you can get them hooked, too.