Do you know the song “Work” by Rihanna? It goes something like this: “Work, work, work, work, work, work.” That’s all I could think of when my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. on a lovely Friday morning. I hit snooze, of course! I hit snooze again at 5:45 a.m.

I crawled out of bed at 5:55 a.m., thinking, Oh crap! My class starts in five minutes!

I rushed around the house, trying to be as quiet as possible, and headed out. I made it into the gym at 6:04 a.m.—still sleeping, I might add, and totally unaware of what I was getting myself into. As I may have mentioned before, I am not an early morning person, so the task of getting out of bed and hauling myself over to the gym by 6:00 a.m. is almost impossible for me. 

But I did it!

I was greeted with a large smile by Sherisse. I’m 99 percent sure she knew who I was, as I looked lost and confused. I was then welcomed by all the participants with big bright smiles, handshakes, and introductions.

Morning people! Who is that cheery that early in the morning?

These people.

I felt like a walking zombie, with sleep in my eyes and a puffy face. But I honestly loved how friendly everyone was.

The class I went to is called Strength and Conditioning, and we started with slow squats to warm up our legs and butts. Then we moved on to lower body prep, sharing the large elastic bands we needed for the exercise. (I should mention there were 11 of us in this class. I didn’t realize so many morning people existed in the world.)

After the warmup, I stood helplessly as everyone else got the bars and weights ready. I was just now waking up, and very confused.

We headed over to the racks, with everyone starting in on four-by-four back squats. Sherisse, sensing my confusion, headed my way and paired me up with another participant. 

Away we went! We practiced our form first by squatting the bar, and then we added weight to join the rest of the group. And by the way, it’s called four-by-four because you do four back squats, take a two-minute break, then your partner goes… repeat four times.

Sherisse was there the whole time to guide me, reminding me to stick my butt out first and then squat. Why? To keep my feet flat and my core tight! Honestly, it was great. I love the encouragement Sherisse and my partner gave me.

We ended the one-hour workout with Death by Thruster. You may be wondering what I mean by that. A thruster is a combination of a front squat and an overhead press. Well, we lined up in rows, and everyone had a bar with weights on it. I had dumbbells. Every minute, on the minute, we completed one thruster in one minute. In the second round, we completed two thrusters in one minute. In the third round, three thrusters in one minute, and so on.

Most of the group made it to ten thrusters in one minute, and one extraordinary guy made it to twelve!

It was a great morning workout. I may not be a morning person, but I have to admit I felt great all day.