For most of my life, I believed I was doing fitness the right way. I worked out consistently, trained hard, and used movement as a way to decompress after long, stressful workdays. But despite all that discipline, something felt off. My workouts were helping my body, but my mind stayed stuck in stress mode for most of the day. I realized I was spending hours in survival mode before earning relief in the evening.

The decision to train every morning for 75 days was not about intensity or performance. It was about experimenting with when movement happens in my day and how it shapes my mindset. Some mornings were long runs. Other mornings were five minutes of mindful movement. The only rule was that I moved my body first thing in the morning. What unfolded over those 75 days changed far more than my fitness. And today in this post (and in the YouTube video linked here and podcast episode linked here), I am going to share with you exactly what happened.

Discovering joyful anticipation

One of the most powerful shifts came from something I now call joyful anticipation. Over time, my brain started linking morning movement with feeling good for the rest of the day. Instead of waking up bracing myself for stress, I woke up looking forward to how I would feel after moving. That anticipation alone became enough to pull me out of bed.

Joyful anticipation works because it removes willpower from the equation. I no longer relied on discipline to force myself to train. My mind wanted the outcome. The habit reinforced itself through positive emotion, not pressure. Once that loop formed, consistency became effortless, even on days when motivation was low.

Growing up as an Athlete with Asthma

I was born with asthma, and when I was four years old, doctors told my parents I would never be an athlete. They advised avoiding exertion, competition, and endurance. That message stuck with me for years, shaping how I viewed my limits. Even when I proved them wrong physically, some of that fear lived on mentally.

Today, I am an elite ultra runner with asthma, including finishing and winning long-distance races. Still, the morning workout experiment revealed something deeper. It showed me that the battle was never just physical. Training early helped rewire decades of subconscious stress around performance, breathing, and energy. It gave me control over how I entered each day, rather than reacting to it.

From evening stress relief to morning empowerment

Before this shift, I worked out after work as a way to escape stress. It felt productive, but it also meant I carried stress all day long. I woke up stressed, worked stressed, and finally released it hours later. My nervous system lived in a constant loop of tension and delayed relief.

Morning training flipped that pattern. Instead of ending stress, I prevented it from taking over in the first place. By starting the day with movement, I anchored myself in calm, control, and clarity. That state carried forward into work, relationships, and decision-making. I stopped surviving my days and started leading them.

Result One: Shifting from stress to abundance

The most immediate result was a mindset shift. I stopped operating from scarcity and survival and started working from abundance. Training in the morning created a psychological win before the day even began. That win changed how I approached challenges, conversations, and goals.

When you begin your day by doing something meaningful for yourself, everything else feels more manageable. Problems no longer feel threatening. They feel solvable. That internal shift changed how I show up in my business, my creativity, and my relationships. I no longer waited for the day to give me permission to feel good.

Result Two: Raising my emotional floor

One of my favorite concepts comes from Dr. Benjamin Hardy and the idea of raising your floor. Your floor is your baseline emotional state. Even on bad days, that baseline determines how low you fall. Over 75 days of morning training, my emotional floor rose dramatically.

I still have hard days. I still wake up tired or unmotivated at times. But the lows are no longer overwhelming. My baseline mood is higher, and my worst days are far more manageable. That change compounds because your thoughts tend to repeat themselves daily. When your mood improves, so does the quality of your thinking.

Raising your emotional floor changes how you respond under pressure. It affects how you speak to loved ones, how you handle setbacks, and how resilient you feel when things do not go as planned. Instead of spiraling, you stabilize. That stability creates momentum.

This is why the habit became addictive. I was not chasing a perfect day. I was protecting myself from destructive lows. Morning movement became a safeguard for my mental health, not just a fitness routine. Once you feel that difference, it becomes something you do not want to lose.

Result Three: Productivity through momentum

Productivity was never the goal, but it became a clear outcome. On mornings when I felt unmotivated, the act of moving shifted my energy enough to create momentum. A short run led to lifting. Lifting led to clarity. Clarity led to action.

I structure my days around three core priorities. Before morning training, some days I would struggle to start even one. After 75 days, I noticed that movement unlocked focus. Once momentum started, productivity followed naturally. It was not about forcing output. It was about creating the conditions where work felt easier.

Result Four: Mental toughness without force

Mental toughness stopped feeling like something I had to summon. Cold mornings, low motivation, and discomfort lost their power. Joyful anticipation outweighed temporary discomfort. I knew how good I would feel afterward, and that knowledge carried me through resistance.

This mirrors my experience with cold exposure. The discomfort is brief, but the reward is lasting. Morning training taught me that toughness does not require aggression. It requires perspective. When the reward is clear and meaningful, discomfort becomes irrelevant.

Result Five: More time and better presence with family

Perhaps the most meaningful change was time. By training in the morning, I reclaimed my evenings. I no longer needed a long decompression window after work. I had already processed stress before the day began.

That meant more time with my fiancée, our dogs, my parents, and my friends. Even more important, it meant better presence. I showed up calmer, more patient, and more engaged. It was not just about availability. It was about quality. My personal life benefited as much as my professional one.

How small movement creates big change

Not every morning workout was long or intense. Many were short. Five to ten minutes was often enough to create the shift. The lesson was not about duration. It was about consistency and timing.

If you are considering trying this, start small. Walk, stretch, breathe, or move gently. The goal is not exhaustion. The goal is signaling to your brain that the day starts with intention. That signal compounds faster than you might expect.

The three pillars that made it sustainable

Movement is only one pillar. The system that helped me lose 40 pounds and maintain elite performance includes movement, tracking, and accountability. Together, they create awareness, structure, and follow-through. Morning training plugged seamlessly into that framework.

When these pillars work together, health stops feeling fragile. It becomes predictable. You are no longer guessing or reacting. You are leading your own well-being with clarity and confidence.

Final thoughts on training every morning

How training every morning for 75 days changed me is not just a story about fitness. It is a story about identity, control, and momentum. By choosing to move first thing each day, I chose how I wanted to experience life.

I no longer wait for relief. I create it. I no longer start my days behind. I start them ahead. And that single decision continues to ripple through every area of my life.

DISCLAIMER: THIS INFORMATION IS MY OPINION AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER. PLEASE CONSULT A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER FOR GUIDANCE SPECIFIC TO YOUR CASE.