So people have been raving about getting up at 5 a.m and joining the 5 AM Club. It’s supposed to have a magnitude of benefits. But is it really as useful as they make it out to be? Will it really change our life as suggested? In a 5 day self-experiment we tried the 5 am club for you.
First of all what is the 5am club concept?
The 5 AM Club as introduced by Robin Sharma is a concept where you wake up at 5 am and do a set of 20/20/20.
Phase #1: The first 20 minutes you are supposed to workout, get your heartbeat up. Sweat. You can do yoga, run, do pilates, anything sweat inducing really.
Phase #2: The next 20 minutes you should use for self-reflection. You can for example journal or meditate.
Phase #3: And the last set of 20 you learn something you are interested in.
Suggested benefits of getting up at 5 AM are:
First of all we googled why you should even get up at 5 am? Why would you do that to yourself? WHY? There better be a really good reason. This is what we came up with:
- You’ll become a new person.
- You’ll be more confident.
- You’ll show up more powerfully in your relationships.
- You’ll strengthen your self-discipline.
- You’ll lose weight.
- You’ll gain extra planning time.
- You’ll gain extra work time.
- You’ll have more time to yourself.
- You’ll sleep better at night.
- You’ll have better health.
Sounds to good to be true, right? Well let’s say we were sceptical.
How to Wake up early?
Here is what I do to get up early:
- I go to bed early to wake up early. Slowly adjust your schedule to sleep sooner.
- Get overhead light when you wake up. Turn on some bright lights.
- I don’t use my phone for waking up. When you get enough sleep you’ll wake up early automatically.
- Once I wake up I get up immediatelly or I fall back asleep.
Now this is where we started:
Julia:
Why I am doing the 5 AM Club challenge? I want to build a habit that boosts my productivity and gives me more time to accomplish my projects.
I tried to wake up at 5 AM several times before but I’ve always had too many steps in my morning routine. I am not really a morning person. Maybe that’s why I always fall back into my old sleeping patterns.
Usually, I don’t use an alarm and wake up between 7 to 8 AM (benefit of being a student). I just do a quick washing routine, make my favorite iced coffee (I really love iced coffee❤️), and scribble down my tasks for the day. After that, I start with the first task. Around 10 I get unfocused until it gets dark again at night. What can I say I am most productive in the morning and at night. As the 5 AM Club only has 3 steps, I hope that it will stick better than what I tried in the past.
Carina:
I generally wake up around 6:15 am. Wash real quick and start home office at 6.30ish. I don’t do breakfast. The first time I eat is around 12. pm (unless I give in to temptation and snack on something)
Lately I have been super stressed. And my skin has been breaking out like crazy. Between my 9-5 (is it ever really just 9-5?), and the blog I have barely any me-time. And if I take it I feel bad for not working. If that makes sense.
I decided to give it a try in hopes that more me-time would destress me. Also, I do struggle with self-discipline. So getting up at 5 is a real self-discipline builder. Or so I hoped. I decided to go for yoga/ pilates as my workout, to journal (was too worried I might fall asleep again while meditating), and I am reading the psychology of money by Morgan Housel.
Day 1 of the 5 AM Club
Julia:
- Waking up at 5 am was hard but not as bad as expected since we went to sleep at 9 pm.
- Feeling super weak so no jumping exercises (you are lucky Mr. Neighbor).
- Craving water in the morning, after the workout. Usually, I drink wayyy too little.
- Plan more time than 60minutes (I needed almost 120minutes).
- I feel a lot less stressed, and more organized now that I take the time to write everything down before the day starts.
- Chose coding as a skill to improve for 20 min.
Carina:
- Woke up at 4 am after a nightmare and couldn’t sleep anymore.
- Really struggled with starting the workout →so I just did some light yoga. Guess what no back pain while working! BIG plus.
- The 20-20-20 doesn’t include washing, brushing your teeth, etc. → Needed 15 more minutes for “The Essentials”.
- I had a lot of time before I started to work. I enjoyed a cup of tea and started my day less stressed.
- I was super hungry by 6 am. I had a quick breakfast around 9 am.
- I was super cold on the first day after 7 pm.
We are trying the 12-week year Method by Moran for goal setting. Learn all about it here!
DAY 2 of the 5 AM CLub
Julia:
- In the evening the headaches started.
- My eyes were really puffy and burned in the evening.
- I had sweet and salty cravings due to low energy.
- I was super tense at night,became frustrated and was in a bad mood.
- In the morning I was very tired and had no energy for the workout
Carina
- Started my day with a F*** my life.
- Can’t stop yawning
- I looked more tired than on the first day.
- I’ve been cold all day and went to bed at 8:30 pm.
- Had a pretty productive day.
Read Next: Learn how to stick to goals even when it feels impossible.
Day 3 of the Experiment
Julia:
- I am so tired, day 3 was the hardest day
- No energy to workout, so I chose an even easier one (Goodbye Chloe Ting and hello bed workouts)
- Very cold during the day
- Headache got worse, and I didn´t feel productive at all
Carina
- By far my worst day.
- Been super grumpy and frustrated. Been snapping at my sister all day. (Sorry
) - Really didn’t feel the workout → Stopped and started again and again.
- Still cold…
- Look more and more tired. (Are bloodshot eyes attractive?)
Day 4 of Waking up at 5 AM
Julia:
- I got more done during the day (finished 80% of my tasks during the day – if i feel motivated lol).
- Brain fried after 5 PM.
- Completely lost and in a daze after 7PM.
- Sugar cravings.
- Super dehydrated so I try drinking more water right after waking up.
Carina:
- Struggled again to get up, but it’s getting easier.
- I have a lot more energy. I’ve been in a really good mood.
- Realized I am eating a lot more lately. Can’t confirm the statement that the 5 AM Club leads to weight loss.
- My skin starts getting better.
- I’ve gotten physically a lot stronger. I am working out with boho beautiful doing pilates.
- My eyes are still bloodshot.
- My days been productive again.
Want a more relaxed morning? Check out our Self-Care Morning Routine Ideas!
DAY 5 Saturday...
Julia:
- No longer cold but very unmotivated and unproductive all day
- Feel very stressed, as I have more time and expect from myself to finish more
- Seeing the sunrise is amazing
- Working most productively when its dark outside, so I have 2 productive zones not only 1 at night
- Sleep better as I am super tired at night
Carina:
- Not that tired. But obviously didn’t manage to go to bed at 9 pm yesterday. I mean it’s Friday.
- Forgot to set an alarm, but woke up at 5am anyways.
- I miss sleeping in and snuggling into the warmth of my bed. Doesn’t help it’s a gloomy day and the weekend.
Is the 5am Club legit?
Julia’s conclusion:
Overall I really like waking up at 5 and I will stick to it. I will do a light workout in the morning to wake up but do a throughout workout later in the day. I hope that with a bit more time my body gets used to the new sleep cycle and I feel less burned out at the end of the day. Also my diet needs to be adjusted as I ate a lot to compensate for the energy deficit. This way I would be done by 5pm and actually have more time to relax at night. -> would sleep better too.
Carina’s Conclusion:
I think 5 days weren’t enough to come to a real conclusion. So i decided to keep going and I’ll do a follow up post in a month! So stay tuned.
PROS of the 5 AM Club:
PRO Altogether I achieved my goal. I had more me-time. And I’ve been less stressed. Even my skin agrees. I think it’s worth continuing this experiment.
PRO I can’t say I’ve been more productive in the morning since I start work pretty early anyways and the weekend has started just now. I’ll come back to that. But altogether I feel I had a pretty productive week.
CONS of the 5 AM Club:
CON Wash time just wasn’t included. The following days I’ll do some changes. Instead of doing 20-20-20. I’ll do 15-15-15-15. With 15 minutes being for washing, clothing and self pampering. I am also thinking about giving myself a cheat day.
CON Have to go to bed too early during the weekend. I want to sleep in on Sundays. And have fun Saturday evenings. I think I can do the routine around 7am. or 8am as well.
According to a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition you can burn up to 20% more body fat by exercising in the morning on an empty stomach. On the other hand due to being tired I ate more. I’d say it’s a myth that you lose more weight. So I wouldn’t recommend it for weight loss.
Want us to test something you’ve heard about, but aren’t sure it works? Let us know in the comments below 🙂
Have you tried the 5 AM Club? What was your experience?