The dreaded 6 a.m. walk to the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center on a cold winter’s day is not for the faint of heart for any varsity athlete at the College.
With many programs’ seasons wrapped up, teams head to the weight room for the offseason to build strength alongside coaches Craig Buckley, Thomas Manning, and Jorge Morales.
For most teams, the morning lifts may seem difficult and exhausting when you don’t have class until 11 a.m., but we all understand the grit and determination it takes to get up on that Wednesday morning, trudge across the snow, and chase a new PR.
Studies have shown that there is little to no difference between morning training and midday or evening sessions; however, it is not about the physical side of things. Rather, it’s the mental aspect that athletes care about. When you reach the final five minutes of your match, clinging to a one-point lead, and you think back to those gritty mornings trekking across campus to lift weights, you remember that you’ve put in the work, and you can keep pushing then, too.
The Colby men’s soccer team has Friday morning lift, and after a hard-fought season in which they missed postseason play, these sessions help inspire them to keep working toward greater success next year and to continue striving for their goals as a team. From bench press to squats, the team remains united in the gym, with each person striving to help the others succeed.
Inside the weight room, there is no sense of the hour. Music blasts from the speakers, whether Manning is playing Bad Bunny or BigXthaPlug, and the energy is high. There’s something different about a 6 a.m. lift. There’s no crowd, no fans, no scoreboard; just you and your teammates, and the understanding that everyone in that room chose to wake up and be there.
That choice is what defines the early morning lifts at the College. No one forces an athlete to load another plate onto the bar or grind out the final rep, but when you glance to your left and see your teammate pushing through the same exhaustion, quitting is no longer an option.
I remember my first time this season walking into the lift and feeling the energy Buckley and Manning brought; I knew I was in for a ride. I still remember watching CJ Supan `28 nearly hit the ground during his squats the day before, only to wake up and smash a PR on bench press with ease the next day. That’s the thing about these mornings: they expose you. There’s no hiding fatigue, no masking soreness, no pretending you’re at 100 percent. And yet, somehow, that’s when breakthroughs happen.
When I asked my friend Will Trafford `29, who is part of the Colby football team, what he thought about morning lifts, he laughed before answering honestly: “Lifting in the morning isn’t favorable for most people, but as a team, we cherish getting up early to get better, not because we have to, but because we love to.”
His words captured something hard to explain to someone outside the program. It’s not about convenience; it’s about commitment. Trafford did, however, have one critique: the app TeamBuildr, through which athletes log their progress through the overall strength and conditioning program. According to him, it has caused “considerable mental pain” over the last few weeks, sometimes more than the lifts themselves.
By the time the sun finally rises over Mayflower Hill, the weight room has already done its job, reminding us that championships aren’t built under the lights, but in the chosen grind of 6 a.m.
~ Kameron Mohammed `29
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