I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.

This quip circulates widely in modern fitness and motivational culture, typically as an “anonymous” joke shared on social media, in workout communities, and in casual conversation about building exercise habits. It reflects a familiar situation for many would-be exercisers: the internal negotiation that happens once the day’s demands and excuses begin to accumulate. By placing the workout “early in the morning,” the speaker implies a strategy of preempting procrastination—getting moving before the mind fully engages in rationalizations, scheduling conflicts, or second thoughts. Because it is unattributed and appears in many informal compilations, its original occasion and first publication are not clearly documented.

A humorous, self-deprecating observation about motivation and procrastination. The speaker implies that if they wait too long, their “brain” will rationalize skipping exercise—finding excuses, weighing discomfort, or prioritizing other tasks. By exercising very early, they bypass conscious resistance and rely on routine, momentum, and reduced decision-making. The joke personifies the brain as a sabotaging negotiator, highlighting a common experience: the gap between long-term goals (fitness) and short-term impulses (comfort). In a broader sense, it endorses habit formation and “pre-commitment” strategies—acting before overthinking can derail intention.