Try something new!

Send your butt to Boot Camp with Tough Mudder!

Looking for a new gym to kick off your 2019 resolutions? Or maybe just a new addition to your normal workout routine. This past weekend I tried an intense new workout that challenged my body at the new Tough Mudder BootCamp in the Heights. This is not your typical gym, but it still got my heart pumping, body sweating, and feeling great! That's because they offer HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) for 45 minutes of non-stop work! The workout consists of several different stations of plyometrics, body weight exercises, abs, weighted exercises, and more. Even better…workouts through Saturday are FREE!

Every work out is different to help keep you on your toes and challenge your body. I love that the exercises take you through a full body workout, as well as a focus on abs. The workouts focus on strength, agility, power, and endurance. The workout is designed to support all levels of fitness. Even for superb athletes like myself, (kidding), but they always have modifications on each exercise that can suit anyone. For our 45-minute workout we had six different stations, each station had 1-2 exercises. For two minutes you are at that station and rotating exercises. I find it very neat and encouraging that Tough Mudder BootCamp focuses on teamwork, so most exercises you will have a partner to alternate the exercises with, while still working out the full two minutes. They focus on the team-based workouts to encourage everyone to push together to do their best and have fun. Even better…. they have TVs with examples of the exercise to follow! So when you forget 10 seconds after the instructor just walked through all the stations, you're in luck!

In the video above I will take you through a little snippet of the TMB workout. I start out with some kettle bell swings and then move into "spider-mans," or side mountain climbers. Trust me, just :30 of those bad boys feels like two minutes. Then you have some dumb bell deadlifts to curl, while your partner is doing push-ups, then you switch after one minute. For the next two minutes straight, you are doing tri-cep dips, while working those tiny little tri-cep muscles. Then at the next station you have a little bit of agility and cardio. While one person is doing kettle bell deadlifts, the other is running in and out of the cones, not only forward, but backwards as well and then full sprint down. Now let's get in some abs; these are knees to elbow, (key is: don't let your feet drop), this will be for :45 seconds straight. On the other hand your partner would be doing a dead hang from the bar, with the chin above. A little bit harder than I thought, but as always there are always modifications. We went through 6 stations for 3 rounds at 2 minutes each station, not bad and quite challenging. And somewhere in the middle of my video, I challenged myself to cross all monkey bars from one end to another. I'm going to re-challenge myself again soon to cross all the monkey bars forward and backwards, as I saw franchise owner Jason Stanley do ever so swiftly.

And after he got off the bars, I caught up with Jason to get his thoughts on something that was once a thought and now a reality.

"We're excited to officially introduce Houston to our Tough Mudder Bootcamp team this weekend! Our team-based high intensity workouts have already been a big hit with our early members, and everyone agrees that having a team nudging you outside of your comfort zone makes all the difference. We're looking forward to growing the tribe and helping more people achieve their fitness goals while making new friends at TMB." – Jason Stanley, Tough Mudder BootCamp Franchise Owner.

Remember Grand Opening is this Saturday and TMB will have 2 workouts at 11 a.m. and 12:30, and you can sign up on the app or website. But if you can't get in by Saturday don't worry, anyone can try the workout for free on their first time anytime! Grand Opening is from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with Fit Bit giveaways, tickets to a SaberCats games, membership giveaways, and more!

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The Houston Texans approach to the offseason has caused quite a bit of controversy among Texans fans and media. Some really like what the team is doing in free agency, while others are underwhelmed.

But the argument that keeps getting thrown around is whether the Texans are ready to win this season, or if the team will have to suffer through another disappointing season. Most would agree the Texans roster has a number of holes, but how will that roster look after the NFL Draft and hopefully a new franchise QB is taking snaps for the team?

The great thing about the NFL is how fast teams can turn things around and start winning. When we looked at the teams coming off a bad season and drafting around the Texans in 2021, many of them showed a huge improvement the following season.

The Lions were 3-13-1 in 2021, last year? 9-8. The Jaguars went 3-14 in 2021. Last year they won the AFC South and notched a playoff win over the Chargers. Look at the New York Giants, they went 4-13 in 2021. They improved to 9-7-1 and also won a playoff game just one year later. And don't get us started on the Jets. They went 4-13 in 2021, improved to 7-10 with bad QB play, and now Aaron Rodgers wants to play there.

The point being, most of these teams hired new coaches in the last couple of years, added some talent through the draft and free agency and started winning. Why are Texans fans and media so convinced they're in for another season of losing? Why can't the Texans be the team that turns things around and competes for a division title? Especially if they land a franchise QB as expected.

The AFC South isn't a very tough division. In fact, the Texans beat the Jags, Colts, and Titans just this year. Shouldn't we expect them to take a step forward with better players and DeMeco Ryans leading the way?

Be sure to check out the video above as we break it all down!

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Listen to The Bench with John and Lance weekdays from 7-10AM on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5.


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