There is one thing certain about my gym’s free boot camp workouts — you’re going to get dirty.

Just about every month, Crossfit Central hosts free workouts at their two indoor facilities and one boot camp-style workout under the bridge along the Town Lake hike and bike trail.  They call it UTB, and since current clients DON’T have to bring a friend to UTB, it’s a great way to fit in an extra workout.

Four members of my I AM team showed up Saturday morning for the February UTB, including me.  There was a chill in the air, but I knew I’d get warm fast, so I threw my white jacket next to a pillar and took my place behind one of the dozens of medicine balls that had been laid out in rows.

Just to give you an idea of the locale — it’s right by the lake, in the dirt and grass, under the pedestrian bridge that goes across the lake under the MoPac bridge.  It’s loud from all of the highway noise, but a prime location to be SEEN by the hundreds of runners and walkers that pass by during just that hour.

And it’s a great way to get dirty.

I had leaves and dirt all over my clothes after just the warmup.

The coaches had us do all sorts of stuff — from jumps to around-the-worlds with a partner to something that I can only describe as team plank holds and duck-duck-goose.  The real meat of the hour was this:

For 1 min, 45sec, 30sec do the following with 1 min rest in between rounds:
Wall ball shots
Swings
Med ball wood choppers
Shoulder press with kettlebell
Squats
Pushups

When I say we got dirty — I mean it.  The med balls were covered in sand, and the sand would fall in your face for the wall balls.  And of course, my pants were covered in leaves and dirt from the push ups.

After we were done, I met Andy and the kids for a trade off.  Andy took Luke to a birthday party at the nearby Austin Science and Nature Center and Mads and I took off for the Farmer’s Market where we picked up eggs, grass-fed beef, mushrooms, liverwurst, kohlrabi and collards, and a cup of coffee for me.

Talk about an excellent Saturday morning.  Too bad I was too pooped from UTB to get in a home workout that I had planned to take care of for the challenge.

Ah well….