Welcome to Flashback Friday, where I revisit the early entries from this blog from deep in the archives. If you have recently started following along, there are certainly older articles you may have missed the first time around.

I have such mixed feelings about this time of year. I enjoy the holidays, but winter is my least favorite season. I mourn the end of the hot summers, tank tops, and shorts while I prepare to hunker down to survive the cold weather season. I realize I sound dramatic because I live in Texas, it's not nearly as severe as the winters I experienced growing up in Pennsylvania, but I am a wimp when it comes to any cold weather.

While the rest of the United States cheers for an extra hour of sleep when the clock "falls back" for the end of daylight savings time, I like to use the time change to make it easier to get up early to work out. If you set your clock back, but you still get up at the time you're accustomed, you gain an extra hour to work out. The clock may say 5:30 am, but it will feel like 6:30 am, since we just changed the clock.

When you change your clocks, it’s the perfect time to change your routine for the better.

I wrote more about it in this post from a couple of years ago: Fall Back Into Morning Workouts. This article talks about how to use the end of daylight savings to get up early to workout. I’d love it if you would check it out.

I recently wrote about my attempts at early morning workouts, and I was successful for a couple of weeks, but I fell back into old habits.

I am always sure to point out, while morning workouts have their benefits, there is no magical best time to work out. You don’t lose more weight or gain more muscle due to the time of day. The best time to exercise is when you will do it consistently. If you are not a morning person and don’t want to exercise in the mornings, then go ahead and enjoy that extra hour of sleep, and do your workout at night. There is no right or wrong as long as you are consistent.

I've been struggling with evening weekday workouts lately. After a full day at the office, eating dinner, walking my dog, and working with clients, sometimes I don't get to my workout until 8 pm. By that time, I am so physically and mentally exhausted, and I am not able to give a full effort into my workout. I usually have a mindset of getting through it, instead of focusing, or pushing myself. My recent efforts to lift heavy with barbell training requires my full attention. I want to take on my workouts with energy!

When something is not working for me, I look for ways to make it better. This is why I love flashback Friday. It gives me the opportunity to revisit and update older posts. I am going to take my advice from back then, and when the clocks roll back this weekend, I am going to use the opportunity to get up early and get my weekday workouts done before a long day!

What do you think? Are you a morning bird, a night owl, or some sort of confused pigeon, like me? Haha.

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