Morning routines are an attractive concept. Isn’t it cool to see a reel on instagram of David Goggins talking crap on the rest of the population who are asleep at 3 A.M and you’re like ‘Yeah Man I should be a warrior and go for a jog at 3 A.M too’. And you do get up early in the morning to train, somehow, that day just feels different, in a positive way.
You feel like you did something important out of your morning, started a day with a win, that’s how I felt after I adopted a morning routine, and it was better than just oversleeping and then, waking up late and walk around the kitchen with panic and fear of losing my job because I’m always late.
The truth is, that feeling of positiveness and well being after waking up early and doing something meaningful isn’t some quick motivational video type of rush that makes you excited. There’s real science behind it, and there’s more benefits to explore if you’re not on a fixed sleep schedule and a morning routine yet.
The benefits :
Just waking up early to sit down and do nothing or as some people call it ‘meditate’, can have some benefits on your physical and mental health. Let’s talk about the general benefits of waking up early :
1. Better Mental Health & Lower Depression Risk
As I was crying and hitting snooze because I didn’t want to get up and go to work I used to think that waking up early is bad for my mental health and it was making me depressed, however, a study from JAMA Psychiatry found that people genetically predisposed to waking one hour earlier had a 23% lower risk of major depression.
Clinical studies also back this—shifting your schedule earlier can reduce stress and depression rates significantly.
I eventually found out that it was work that made me depressed, not waking up early
2. Improved Sleep, Alertness & Productivity
Routine sleep times help avoid “social jet lag,” a misalignment between sleep and social schedule that hurts mental health and work performance.Sleep Foundation
A study also found that morning light exposure (natural or via light therapy) resets your brain’s internal clock, boosting energy, focus, and mood.
3. Reduced Stress & Better Focus
An organized morning routine makes you see your day clearly, and it eliminates decision fatigue. Plus starting the day with consistent tasks, sets a positive mindset that makes you more productive and focused.
Also, routines are proven to lower anxiety and stress, and to improve emotional well-being.
4. Physical Readiness & Performance
It’s clear that exercise improves strength, anaerobic power, and endurance, I don’t need to tell you about a study that proves that right?
The plus that morning exercise gives you, is helping you perform better all day long, physically, and mentally.
5. Long-Term Brain Health
Even lifestyle habits that you can include in your morning routine, like eating eggs, morning walks, meditation, and mental challenges (like crossword puzzles) may help protect against cognitive decline and support long-term brain health.
The Fighter’s Morning Routine
Step 1: Lock In Your Wake-Up Time
The first step in the new lifestyle you’ll live by is that it needs to be organized. There’s no discipline without organization. And that’s why you’ll need a fixed sleeping and wake-up time. 6 AM is perfect for most people, but if you want to push back to 5 or earlier, it will definitely give you an edge over most of the competition.
First thing to do after waking up is a big glass of water (if you’re a savage like me you can add a pinch of salt or lemon). And don’t just slurp it all down in one big sip—that’s most likely bad. Take your time with that glass. Sleeping for 7 to 8 hours most definitely makes you dehydrated. Hydration is energy, my friend.
Step 3: Activate the Machine
After water, it’s time to wake your body the right way. Don’t just drag yourself to the couch and scroll. Fighters get moving.
You don’t need to go beast mode right away — this is about activation, not exhaustion. Think light mobility and bodyweight work to get the blood flowing and joints loose:
- Neck rolls & shoulder circles
- Hip openers & ankle rotations
- 20 bodyweight squats
- 20 push-ups
- 2–3 minutes of shadowboxing
This is on your basic workout, this will switch you on, getting your body ready for work, the real training comes later, but this part makes sure your body is ready through the day, also wakes you up making you less half-asleep in the first few hours.
Step 4: Roadwork — Old School Discipline
Ask Tyson, ask Pacquiao — fighters run. Roadwork has been part of the fight game forever, and for good reason. It builds lungs, legs, and mental toughness.
Here’s two options depending on your time:
- Steady pace run (20–30 min) → builds endurance, clears the head.
- Intervals (10×1 min hard / 1 min easy jog) → that’s what’s fighting is about, you don’t keep one rhythm the whole fight, it goes up and down, just like intervals
Time to hit the road, champ. This is the part of the morning that separates fighters from regular people. Everyone else is still snoring — you’re out stacking miles.
Step 5: The Fighter Circuit
Once you’ve got the sweat flowing, add a quick strength & power circuit. No fancy machines, no gimmicks — just fight-specific movements. Here’s one to run 2–3 rounds:
- Renegade rows (8/side)
- Bulgarian split squats (10/leg)
- Push-ups (15–20)
- Plank with shoulder taps (30 sec)
Keep the rest short. This builds explosiveness, core stability, and the kind of strength that actually transfers into fighting.
Final Round: Own Your Morning
Our day doesn’t start with our first task or our first hour awak, it starts the moment we open our eyes. And having a morning routine matters, it’s not about to make a world champion (not right away) but having an organized morning will definitely set a positive productive mindset that will stay with you through the day.
And let’s not forget the discipline part of thing, you’ll be waking up on time, hydrating, moving your body, and all of that hones your discipline. This will not be just your regular morning training, it carries into everything else : work, relationships, even the way you carry yourself through hardships.
It can starts from tomorrow on, all you have to do is to not hit snooze, get up and live the lifestyle.
The Fighter Lifestyle.
Need workout for the training later in the day? Check this.