My Morning Routine

For the past several weeks there has been a running theme interwoven throughout my blog posts.  That theme has been practice, Daily Personal Practice (DPP), to be precise.

I’ve gotten several questions about the details of my own DPP since I refer to it several times in my writing.  So I figured I would pull back the curtains and give you a more detailed glimpse into my Morning Routine of DPP in this post.

My AM Daily Personal Practice

I usually wake up between 5:45 and 6 am every day.  I grab a quick shower ending it with several minutes of cold water to help wake me up and boost T-levels.

Then I head downstairs and start making coffee.

While the coffee is brewing I squeeze 1/4 of a lemon into a tall glass of room temperature water and drink it down.  I keep a bag of quartered lemons in my refrigerator so I can just grab one every morning without worrying about having to cut them up.  The lemon infused water is great for re-hydrating the body after sleeping and cleansing the liver first thing in the morning.

I’ve got my coffee now and I’m ready to hit it.

5 minutes of joint mobility (more if I really need it) to get warmed up and start the blood flowing.  Then a quick, one minute breathing exercise to fire up my energy levels

Active Standing

My main morning practice is 40 minutes of Zhan Zhuang, standing meditation.  I call what I do in the mornings, Active Standing, to distinguish it from the Relaxed Standing I talked about previously.  The focus of this exercise is to really work intent (yi) in order to cultivate that curious, yet highly elusive body quality of motion in stillness.

This training is combined with several other Internal Power conditioning exercises such as winding, spiraling, and breath training.  Also I like to use the 8 Pieces of the Brocade Qigong set after my standing practice.  The purpose of these exercises is to condition the tendons, fascia, and other connective tissue in the body to be strong, flexible, and elastic in order to develop relaxed whole-body power and be able to spread load (force) throughout the body (more on this later!).

Depending on my time constraints for the morning, I sometimes add in more dynamic work to wrap up the session or call it quits and get ready for work.  I’ll be posting another article on my weekly workouts soon as this post just covers my AM training.

AM Supplement Cocktail

After my early morning training I take my AM supplements.  Here is the list of what I currently take every morning:

• 2000 IU Liquid Vitamin D
• Liquid Ionic Magnesium Oil
• 2 capsules Fish Oil
• 500 mg L-Carnitine
• Amazing Grass Green Superfood Organic Powder with Wheat Grass and Greens
• Pine Pollen
• Titan Formula (usually add it the day after a particularly tough workout)

Start your own morning routine and begin winning your days one morning at a time!

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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