What do you do to relieve stress, pass time or make yourself feel efficient throughout the day? For some students, like myself, they choose to go to the gym.

I am an avid believer of daily exercise, but when the gym doesn’t open until 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, it can conflict with my schedule.

Weekends are a great time for students to work a part-time job, but that should not be the reason they miss out on the opportunity to workout in the gym.

“I, for one, enjoy working out in the morning, so earlier on the weekends would be great,” said Zack McMillen, intern at California Lutheran University for outdoor recreation/special events.

As of now, the gym is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and on Sundays until 11 p.m. I have noticed that in the last year, the time the gym closed has changed to a later time on Sunday nights rather than closing early like it used to.

So, why can’t the gym hours change to an earlier time to better assist early risers as well as the late night owls?

“I think it should be open earlier because I like to work out earlier, and I think that we could find people that would enjoy working earlier in the morning so that they could have their days free on the weekend,” said Drue Bosco, a Forrest Fitness  Center employee.

I am one of those students who wakes up early on the weekends. Sleeping in for me is about 8 a.m. So, when I get up in the morning, I want to get my workout in and have the rest of the day to do whatever I need to get done.

However, some students don’t agree that others would want to workout earlier.

“I don’t think it should be open earlier because no one wants to get up early on Saturday to go and workout,” said Paige Rios, a Forrest Fitness Center employee.

Not only is it frustrating to miss a workout because of the time confliction, but waiting around all morning makes it difficult to keep the motivation to workout after three hours of pacing and frustration.

It is also aggravating when work is not an issue and I can have the day to do as I please, but lose many of my morning hours because, once again, the gym does not open until 11 a.m.

I think there is a simple solution. I am not suggesting that the hours be changed to 6 a.m. like they are during the week, but I think that 8 a.m. would be reasonable.

It would give students the chance to get up and be done with their workout in the morning and have their days free if they would like and it would significantly benefit the students that work and have a conflicting schedule.

Erin Chisolm
Staff Writer
Published Oct. 23, 2013