As you tiredly turn over in bed, you turn your alarm off. It’s 6:30 am. You get out of bed. You put your workout clothes on. You lace up your running shoes and you head out the door.

For students in Billy Graham’s Z block Revolution Health and Fitness class, this routine is a daily process.  

For eight years now Graham, a Health and Fitness teacher, has been teaching the Revolution Health and Fitness class, where students can get a challenging workout before school every morning.

By participating in Revolution, students are able to make improvements in their health and prepare themselves for the upcoming day.  

“They show up every morning, Z-block and work out. I think it’s an amazing thing to have a high school kid wake up in the morning to work out,” Graham said.

Revolution has allowed students to not only improve their health, but to be more awake and ready for the school day ahead of them.

Junior Zach Fischer has been in Revolution for the past two years, and he has seen major differences in his ability to transition into school.

“The class totally wakes me up. It’s something I didn’t realize as much when I started it, but now that I’ve been doing it for a while the change is pretty crazy,” Fischer said.

Although the class is not a traditional sport, students who put their best effort in can see just as much improvement in their health as students who play on most of the high school’s sports teams.

“It’s a hard class. We always are doing different things. Graham is always pushing us to learn not only new exercises, but what physically we can do.  It’s not just come in and do 10 reps, it’s how far can you push yourself,” Fischer said.

Freshman Jacob Smagula has been in the Revolution class since first quarter this year, and he agrees that Graham has made the

class operate at a high intensity.  

“Mr. Graham really helps you to get better and work your best while trying to get you to work both physically and mentally,” Smagula said.

Smagula, who played soccer at the high school this past season, believes that Revolution has allowed him to improve his skills and endurance during the soccer season. The class also gives him the tools to make new workouts for himself.

“I’ve definetly gotten fitter, and know what I want to do when I want to workout,and have a place I can work out in the mornings,” Smagula said.

While students have freedom in the class, Graham makes sure they are doing high intensity workouts that push their limits.

“We do a lot of high intensity interval training.  We’ve done sprinting upstairs, spin bikes, running.  I try to vary it up, but we do spend a lot of time in the fitness center. Sometimes I give them independent work, sometimes I write something up,” Graham said. “I’ve had kids that push themselves so much that they’re throwing up. The kids are dedicated to exercise, and there’s not a health and fitness class like it in the high school.”