Renegade Fit Camp Hillcrest

There’s a new sheriff in town and it’s Renegade Fit Camp. This place has everything one would want in a fitness studio: great workout, clean studio, friendly coaches and a former pro-athlete owner. The workouts change daily and focus on a different muscle group Monday-Thursday, concluding with a weekend of “Full Body Metcon”. You’ll leave feeling challenged, sweaty and possibly thinking “Hm, was that better than Barry’s Bootcamp?” And at only $129/month for unlimited classes (with a 3-month commitment), it’s certainly a better bargain.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

Each workout is 45 minutes of work, consisting of three 15-minute stations: cardio, racks and turf. You have the option to decide where you start and on this beautiful Thursday morning at 6am, we decided to begin with cardio. The cardio workout consisted of six minutes on the treadmill, alternating between base pace and sprints. We then hopped on over to the assault bikes and began a tabata (20 second sprint, 10 second rest). We ended our bike routine with a one minute full-on sprint and then transitioned back to our treadmills to run for the remaining time. After cardio, we moved to the racks, where a bicep/chest domination patiently waited. The first two blocks consisted of four rounds of 15 reps. Block one was a dumbbell incline chest press and dumbbell incline curl, while block two changed our positioning for a dumbbell flat chest press and dumbbell hammer curl. We then ended on block three: 12 sets each of dumbbell incline flys and floor band twist curls. After pushing ourselves with heavy weights on the first two blocks, we only got through one round of block three. Once finished, we moved on to the turf for a slightly more complex and varied workout. Here we had four blocks that mirrored the cardio portion for time. We did everything from push-ups and tube curls to planks and some good ol’ crunches at the end. After 45 minutes of the workout, we all gathered on the turf for some final stretching.

INSTRUCTOR

Tim is the man. Even before the doors open, you can hear him singing into the microphone, and once the door does swing open, he’s smiling and welcoming every person that enters. If you’re new, he introduces himself and explains the general gist of the workout. After he’s briefed the newbies, Tim goes through every movement of the entire class with the whole group. Once the workout starts, Tim is loud on the microphone and pays attention to every person. He’s not afraid to help you make necessary modifications and will happily explain a motion again if you’re confused. Thankfully we love him, because he teaches every morning in Hillcrest.

SPACE

We’ve all heard the real estate phrase “location, location, location”. Renegade has arguably one of the best spots in town. Not only is it centrally located and easy to get to, but there’s parking, a security guard monitoring the lot and one of the best healthy grocery stores directly next door. From the outside, the studio is unassuming; the lobby is bare with concrete floors, one bench to wait, some tanks for sale, a water fridge and a single desk for check-in. Around two minutes before the official start time, the instructor will open the door between the lobby and studio to welcome everyone in. (Word to the wise – don’t go in ahead of time). The studio itself has a lot of equipment, but due to the 21 person class limit, does not feel cramped.  There are two bathrooms, lockers and cubbies at the back of the room for your personal items.