Houston, we have a legend supporting Samir’s extreme fitness challenge! Rudy Tomjanovich, NBA legend, Olympic Gold medalist, and Houston icon joined Samir on a 3-mile walk around Rice University campus while Samir wore a 140 lbs weighted vest as part of his extreme fitness challenge. He aims to inspire Houstonians to get outside and get more active!
Throughout his tenure as “Fitness Czar”, Samir Becic has continued to inspire Houstonians to take control of their health by creating several accessible and achievable fitness goals. If you’ve been following his story, then you know that getting fit takes a lot more than just running laps around the track or lifting heavy weights at the gym. It takes dedication, effort—and most importantly—a specific plan for success.
Even though Samir chooses extreme fitness challenges for himself, his ultimate goal is to show people that they can achieve their goals with hard work and dedication. He works to set an example for individuals who want to achieve big goals, but who may need more motivation. Because he knows that sometimes the work it will take can be overwhelming.
Rudy T and Samir shared camaraderie at the end of the walk, with Rudy telling Samir to take the weights off and exclaiming “You’re amazing!” he continues with wise words to Houstonians: “This is our life, our health, and we love you guys, we just want to urge you to get out, get moving. We have beautiful walking paths in Houston. We’re at Rice University, we like to go to Memorial, also there’s places all over the city. Get out and walk, and get fit Houston!”
Samir then goes on the thank the city of Houston for keeping our parks so beautiful and investing in the renovation at Memorial Park. He then thanks Rudy “I appreciate you my Balkan brother, Houston is proud of you for all of your accomplishments, you are a part of Houston’s history, you are Houston’s history!”
Samir and Rudy T have a long friendship of support- Samir even attended Tomjanovich’s 2020 NBA Hall of Fame induction and his Houston Sports Hall of Fame Induction in 2020. When Samir asked Rudy to join him in order to motivate Houstonians to get more active, Rudy didn’t hesitate at all!
But Samir isn’t stopping here- he’s inviting Houston personalities and celebrities to join him as he trains for his extreme fitness challenge of wearing a 200 lbs weighted vest as he walks the 3-mile loop at Memorial Park. He began his training regimen with a 75 lbs weighted vest, and gradually adds weight (100 lbs, 125 lbs, 150 lbs, 175 lbs) until he can do 200 lbs in celebration of his 4-year anniversary as Houston’s “Fitness Czar” as proclaimed by Mayor Sylvester Turner on November 1st, 2018.
This new challenge will best his last attempt in 2016, when he walked 2.87 miles while wearing a 200 lbs weighted vest. Back in 2016, he not only lived for 6 weeks at an obese weight, but he trained for months to be able to accomplish his goals- first, he wore a 120lbs vest, then a 150lbs vest, and finally a 200lbs vest. After that, in 2018, he successfully completed 7 marathons in 8 weeks while wearing compressed weights equivalent to 73.5 pounds weighted vest. Stay tuned as he works towards his goal and invites other celebrities in an effort to motivate Houstonians!
