Texas Boot Camp

LoL @Annas review! I did not have a similar experience but i did feel awkward when they prayed at the end. I have not tried the El Camino location and it sounds like i never will from the last review But love the camp in Pasadena (Outside 5:15 am). Oddly its at a church but the only God talk was on the 1^st day with an invite to church and the daily closing prayer which i DID find a bit out of place with my work out but not enough to stop me from going. At this location you pay the 130 or 90 and you can go as much as you want which i found to be a GREAT deal. I bought it as a Groupon and was only able to go 2 out of 4 weeks due to change in my work but in that time lost 5lbs!!! I will be going back and recommend it to every1!!! The only reason i give it ⁴⁄₅ stars is b/​c i think they should have more stretch time and i would love a little more 1 to 1 focus where the instructor pushed me more, but thats just me! =)

After doing Houston Area Adventure Boot Camp, I was hankering to do some more boot camps, so when the Texas Boot Camp came up on Groupon – $ 40 for unlimited classes – I thanked My Heavenly Father (no, no I didn’t – you’ll see what I mean), and got on that like ice cream on apple pie.
I really thought this had LTR potential, as Texas Boot Camp looked so good on paper. Though all the locations are OTL (Pasadena, Clear Lake, Spring, Memorial, The Woodlands), that was dandy with me, as I live in Clear Lake – no long-​distance relationships, thanks. It was pretty cheap, as it’s $ 180 for three times a week for a month, but $ 90 after the first session. It’s like the money you fork out when you’re first dating someone, what with the wining and dining and trying to get the opposite party drunk, but the costs decrease when you make it a date night with Netflix (then again, it’s probably accompanied by an example of the law of diminishing marginal returns).
Our first date was a little disappointing. The location was in a martial arts studio, which shared a parking lot with an HEB, Quizno’s, and yoga studios, amongst other places. The United Studios of Self Defense (US…SD? okay) didn’t have a sign, just a neon Martial Arts in the window, so I was a little confused. It’s no fun working out indoors in a somewhat small carpeted room with fluorescent lighting at 7am. The first workout – which was similar to the other workouts – included push ups, crunches, butt kicks, reps of various exercises involving weights (bicep curls, chest presses). Some outdoor activity was usually involved – running around the parking lot in between sets or various cardio strung together (jump squatting down, grapevining down).
I didn’t find the workout to be particularly difficult, since the instructor had to pause between exercises to look at her cheat sheet and it seemed more suitable to people who are relatively new to exercise. Actually, I felt like a rock star, because it appeared as though I found the exercises to be easier than the rest of the group. I found that to be really weird, because while I have pretty good endurance and am somewhere above the middle in cardio classes, I am definitely no Steven Tyler. Rock star status could be a plus, but when you’re looking for a LTR, you want someone who can keep up. Weird lingo was used. The instructor called burpies «squat thrusts» and looked at me like I was a weirdo when I asked her if she meant «burpies.» Jumping jacks were side jump squats or something. Also, before exercises such as jumping jacks, the instructor would say, «Exercise. In cadence,» then, «1, 2, 3» and then we’d have to say in unison the number we were on. I love an accent and the multilingual, but damn, this was like someone who uses the term «interwebs» in all seriousness or dating someone who’s been homeschooled his whole life and his only social activity was churchgoing twice a week. I’m pretty sure saying something negative about someone so nice who means so well is going to squat thrust me into the tendrils of hell. Seriously.
At the start of the second workout, the instructor said that she’d forgotten to turn on the radio so that we’d have music. Imagine my reaction when I heard Christian music being played. Good god – eh, focus on the workout. The instructor was really sweet, and was open to questions after class, nutrition and whatnot. I started to sidle towards the door when the instructor said, «Let’s gather together for prayer.» Um. WHOA., As an atheist, I was not happy to find out that my potential snugglebutt wasn’t a casual churchgoer, but committed to the Holy Trinity. The only religion I bring into my exercise is when I’m getting my butt kicked and silently modify Jesus’s name, usually replacing his first name with the activity that is the fornicating of one’s mother, or giving him a last name that is a person doing the above activity. I ended this the typical way – a tapering off of meetings, while I tried to get some bang for my buck. This relationship had no banging, even if there were thrusts.
Some other notes: The instructor said that the early am (5:15/5:30am) classes always have more people. Texas Boot Camp also offers a beginner’s camp that meets twice a week for 45 minutes each. There are boot camps in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Waco; if you’re in another city, you can email the instructor ahead of time and attend a class. The instructors also sell for Advocare (nutritional supplements/​shakes), and though there’s no hard sell, I did get emails and talks about it in class. I don’t think the Christianity angle was just my instructor, as six of the nine instructors said they were dedicated Christians or mentioned their favorite verse in the instructor page online.
If you’re new to exercise and don’t care about the religious bent – or really really care, in the right way – you could give this a shot.