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Our top 5 dawn workouts

Practicing yoga at the seashore.

Salute the sun

Yoga - Danielle Earle

Yanchep yoga instructor Danielle Earle says practicing yoga first thing in the morning has dozens of health benefits.

“It helps balance your hormones, regulates sleep rhythms, and even helps speed up your metabolism, which means you can eat more during the day. It’s also an ideal way to create a peaceful, calm and grounded day.”

The Yoga by Danielle instructor starts her day with Surya Namaskar, otherwise known as the sun salutation.

“It is a continuous series of eight related Yoga postures, some done twice. It is designed to warm up your whole body and integrate the body, mind and breath. It stretches, compresses, arches and reinforces all the major muscles of the body, as well as the digestive and respiratory organs. It also helps develop flexibility, strength, balance, concentration and focus.”


Find your balance

BodyBalance - Jennifer Birkhead

Vivid Health and Fitness founder Jennifer Birkhead relishes a dawn workout and while over the years she’s run, swum, cycled and trained in group fitness, her favourite dawn workout is a session of Les Mills BodyBalance.

“It is a mix of Tai Chi, Pilates and yoga choreographed to beautiful music,” Ms Birkead explains.

“It starts gently which is good when you’ve just woken up. We finish with meditation and so by the end I feel not only is my body energised, but my mind has calm and clarity. Doing this at dawn not only gets the job done before anything else gets in the way, I feel accomplished and I carry the calm with me through the day.”


Grab some weights

Fat burn with resistance training - Jason Dick

Succeed PT founder Jason Dick says if you’re looking to burn body fat lifting weights first thing in the morning is the way to go.

“Early morning is the best time to work out because your fat burning hormones are at their highest, follow this up with a healthy breakfast and you’ve got the perfect combination to maximise fat loss and build lean muscle while you’re at work throughout the day.”

Combining heavy lifting and moving fast is the dream combo, Mr Dick says. He recommends a 15-20 minute workout of 15 push-ups, 10 chin-ups, a 100m sprint, one-minute rest and repeat for five rounds.


Move it

Parkour training - Jacob Moffitt

Movement Conditioning movement coach Jacob Moffitt says the way you choose to spend the first few hours of your day dictates the tone for the rest of the day.

Mr Moffitt recommends a morning workout combining calisthenics, gymnastic and parkour movements. Parkour is a French style of sport or fitness where the goal is to move through an urban area as quickly as possible navigating obstacles by jumping or climbing.

“Celebrate the way the human body is meant to move,” Mr Moffitt says.

“These styles at their heart are about using your body to interact with the urban environment. I personally believe the feeling of accomplishment and clarity of purpose that flows from the journey to mastering one's self and surroundings is the perfect way to start your day.”


Go hard early to set up your day

CrossFit - Bec Halliday

CrossFit Quarter Melville coach Bec Halliday says her early morning weekday CrossFit classes are always her busiest, and are often booked out.

“With a mixture of cardio, gymnastics and weightlifting, our intense 45min CrossFit sessions help our athletes kick-start their metabolism, improves mental focus and helps energise them for the day,” she says.

“We find the members who train in the mornings are the most consistent as their routine is set and they have less distractions to training. Plus, the benefit of having your entire evenings free to relax and enjoy this wonderful summer weather down the beach or walking along the river is enough to get most out of bed.”