For those have been there, waking up for a 5:30am workout provides a distinct mental advantage in itself. Being up before your competition, throwing around some heavy weight, grinding away and sweating profusely has a tendency to do that.
This video from Boise State takes you beyond that though, and provides a rare look into the psychology of their early morning workouts with head strength coach Jeff Pitman.
"Really, the idea behind it is to get them up early in the morning, develop that blue-collar mentality. They come in tired, we get them cranking, and then we make them think." Pitman explains.
"When we're doing our mat drills, we get them tired and make them think on their feet and get them to move and react on a command so they're able to carry out that goal that we want them to acheive."
Pitman goes on to explain their six agility stations, and mat drill setup before ending with this nugget about the culture that the morning workouts help to create.
"Boise State football has always been about, whatever we ask them, they're going to be able to accomplish what we want them to accomplish, and the way that we want them to accomplish it."