Although some college students complain that classes starting at 8 a.m. is too early, others get up as early as 5:30 a.m. to head over to the Peters Recreation Center to workout before the sun comes up.
Not many people get to the Rec right when it opens, but it begins to fill up quickly after 6 a.m.
“Normally it’s a lot quieter,” Nick Lechtenberg, senior in chemical engineering, said.
Even though the Rec is a facility of Kansas State, most of the people you’ll find here this early in the morning are not students.
“It’s about 80 percent people that aren’t in college — retirees, stuff like that,” Sam West, Rec employee and junior in park management, said.
There are about 20 regulars that come in every morning and the employees recognize them, West said.
West said most college students start to roll in around 6:30 and later, including himself if he’s not working the opening shift. There also used to be a Sunrise Yoga class taught at 6:30 a.m.
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“You go in the yoga studio and you can watch the sunrise and you do yoga, which is really nice,” West said.
Although this class isn’t currently offered at the Rec, early bird students said there are still benefits to working out in the morning.
“Every time I come in the morning, I’m more productive throughout the day,” Jon Lister, junior in construction sciences, said.
Along with being more productive, it also opens up some students’ schedules to do other things during daylight hours.
“It helps me get things done so I can be able to hangout with my friends and stuff more,” Lister said.
While some students may think working out in the morning would be difficult, Lister said he doesn’t believe there are any cons to it.
“Sometimes you can get pretty tired, but you still get used to it,” Lister said. “I’ve been doing it for about two months now and I’m pretty used to it so I’m not tired anymore.”
Lechtenburg said the only con is an early bedtime.
“I’m a morning person,” Lechtenburg said.
