Plus, tips for establishing healthy morning habits.
Certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist Brynley Joyner helps her clients create healthy and sustainable lifestyles through fitness and nutrition. The workouts and wellness content in her fitness app include gym and home programs, as well as upper-, lower-, and full-body workouts, and are designed to make fitness fun for everyone.
“I try to keep my workouts exciting, [and] I try to throw in different circuits and supersets and have different variations of strength and HIIT-style movements,” Joyner says. “[As for] the nutrition, I love all my recipes [in the app] and they’re genuinely recipes that I have all the time and love incorporating into my routine. The combination of those workouts and recipes is just great for building a healthy lifestyle.”
Playbook talked with Joyner about her morning routine to learn about her healthy habits and how she kicks off her day for success.
“I usually wake up around 6:30 a.m. — I have an internal alarm clock and my body wakes me up around that time,” Joyner says.
After waking up, Joyner brushes her teeth and washes her face. She says her morning skincare routine includes moisturizer, face oil, and a gua sha tool.
“I have been using a gua sha tool for my face. I [use] it for 10 seconds and it feels like a small act of self care,” she says.
When she heads downstairs to start her day, Joyner says she starts by drinking a big glass of water.
“I usually add a little bit of lime juice and apple cider vinegar and I flush my body with hydration right away,” she says. “As soon as I’m done with that cup of water, I go to my coffee — my coffee is my most important thing in my morning routine.”
She makes a pot of her go-to Bulletproof Coffee every morning, and Joyner says she typically has a few cups throughout the a.m.
“Usually my first cup is black and then my second to third cup will be a more fun coffee drink… I’ll add almond milk, oat milk, honey, Bulletproof Collagen Protein, a bunch of stuff to make it more of a fluffy, fun latte,” she says.
Try Joyner’s Collagen Coffee recipe, below.
Ingredients:
⅔ c. hot black coffee (she uses Bulletproof)
½ c. milk of choice (she uses oat milk for extra creaminess)
1 scoop Bulletproof Collagen (original or vanilla)
Drizzle of honey
Dash of cinnamon
Download Joyner’s fitness app to get the prep instructions!
Once she’s made her first cup of coffee, Joyner says she reads for 10 to 15 minutes to set the tone for her day. She’s currently reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, and Joyner says she picks up a book or reads an online devotion to inspire and motivate her most mornings.
“It’s really hard [to set aside time for myself first thing in the morning], because the first thing my mind wants to do is get into my to-do list, but I notice a big difference in my anxiety and feeling calm and peaceful throughout the day if I can get just even 10 minutes of reading in [in the morning],” she says.
After reading and sipping her coffee, Joyner tackles her to-do list for the day, which she says she writes out on a piece of paper in two hour intervals.
“I get started on whatever I can as soon as possible,” she says. “Usually it’s posting on my fitness page on Instagram, and then going through emails, texts, and DMs before I get into the rest.”
Movement is a consistent part of Joyner’s morning routine, and she says doing her workouts in the a.m. helps her productivity for the remainder of the day. She has a home garage gym where she works out and films content for her fitness app.
“I’ll go into our little home garage gym and stretch and do my workout and get that done bright and early in the morning so that I can focus on work the rest of the day,” Joyner says.
If you’re looking to add a little bit of movement into your own morning routine, check out Joyner’s “SPICY4SUMMA” program, which includes glute, back, and full-body workouts.
“I just recently launched a summer [program], which is the one I’m doing right now. In my opinion, it’s the best one so far — it’s a mix of strength training and some cardio HIIT-style,” she says.
Joyner says her first meal of the day depends on her hunger cues for the day. On the days she has breakfast after her workout, she says she’ll have something hearty, like toast, eggs, and a protein shake.
“If it’s a lighter, pre-workout breakfast, it will usually be toast with avocado or a small bowl of oats, and then I’ll have a little snack after [my workout],” she says.
Joyner’s fitness app is packed with healthy recipes, including good-for-you breakfasts like Protein Pancakes, Protein French Toast, Avocado Egg Toast, and more! She even recommends her Banana Mango Nice Cream in the mornings, since “it’s just made of all-natural fruit, almond milk, and protein.”
While a solid morning routine is crucial for a productive day, Joyner says her a.m. routine actually starts the night before. She says she tries to stay off her phone at least 30 minutes before bed and cleans up her space so she doesn’t wake up to clutter.
“I like to think of myself in the morning knowing that I want to wake up to a clean, organized space,” she says.
And if you’re looking to establish a morning routine of your own, Joyner says it’s best to start small to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
“[Try] incorporating one small thing at a time and discovering what you can stick with and what you enjoy, and then just building on that as you go,” she says.
For more of Joyner’s workouts and recipes, download her fitness app today.
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