Try something new!
Send your butt to Boot Camp with Tough Mudder!
Jan 11, 2019, 7:08 am
Try something new!
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!
After the beating C.J. Stroud took in Houston’s divisional playoff loss to Kansas City it was clear the team’s top offseason priority should be upgrading its offensive line.
Instead, the Texans traded five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil and 2022 first-round pick left guard Kenyon Green and released right guard Shaq Mason.
They added tackle Cam Robinson and guards Ed Ingram and Laken Tomlinson, but as the NFL draft approaches their porous offensive line remains the most glaring weakness of the team.
Though the Texans won’t say that they plan to use their first-round pick (No. 25) on an offensive lineman, they’ve said plenty about the need to better protect Stroud this upcoming season. Stroud led Houston to its second straight AFC South title last season despite being sacked 52 times, which was the second most in the NFL.
“Getting better protection for C.J. is definitely a main point of emphasis for us,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We know when C.J. is protected, he has a clean pocket, he’s a pretty good quarterback. ... He’s capable of making any throw on the football field. But it’s just a matter of protecting him and giving him that comfort when he’s in the pocket.”
General manager Nick Caserio said he doesn’t believe they have to draft an offensive lineman next week.
“We feel like we have to add good football players to our football team,” he said. “That’s what we’re focused on. Whatever those positions entail, that’s what’s going to work. That’s how we’re going to approach it and handle it.”
Houston’s pick in the first round is one of seven selections it has in this year’s draft. The Texans return to the first round this season after not having a pick in the opening round last season because of trades, including the one to move up to get defensive end Will Anderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft.
Though the offensive line has several holes, Houston’s top priority should be drafting the left tackle of the future.
Robinson could protect Stroud’s blind side this season to give whichever player they draft a season to develop and learn behind him.
A couple of players who could be available when the Texans pick are Kelvin Banks from Texas and Oregon’s Josh Conerly. Banks was a three-year starter for the Longhorns and won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman last season. Conerly started 28 games at left tackle in the past two seasons for the Ducks and was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award given to the nation’s best offensive lineman.
The Texans have two picks in the third round and two in the seventh this year after receiving the 79th and 236th overall picks from the Commanders as part of the trade for Tunsil.
Along with the offensive line, the Texans could use some help at receiver. Nico Collins, who has had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, has developed into an elite option. But the Texans need a solid second option after they moved on from Stefon Diggs after one disappointing season that ended in a season-ending injury in Week 8.
They traded for Christian Kirk, but he’s coming off a tough season where he had a career-low 379 yards before breaking his collarbone in October. The Texans also don’t know when they’ll get Tank Dell back, with the receiver still recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained in December.
The Texans are set at running back after signing Joe Mixon before last season and having a reliable backup in Dameon Pierce.
While Caserio has added some stars to the team with first-round draft picks including Stroud, Anderson and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., he’s also had a knack for finding starters beyond the first round since joining the Texans.
Caserio nabbed Collins in the third round in his first draft with Houston in 2021 and added safety Jalen Pitre in the second round in 2022. He also found starting linebackers Christian Harris in the third in 2022 and Henry To’oTo’o in the fifth in 2023.
Last year he drafted cornerback Kamari Lassiter in the second round and safety Calen Bullock in the third. In their rookie seasons, Lassiter started 14 games while Bullock started 13.