Running back Alfred Blue has devoted April to strengthening his body and making sure he doesn't get overlooked when the Texans determine their 2015 roster.
The heat hasn't hit yet. The saturation hasn't begun. But Allen Parkway is heading one way, Memorial Parkway the other and Alfred Blue isn't going anywhere.
The second-year Texans running back is stuck. The steep hill Blue has been sprinting up, down and around only seems taller 30 minutes into a three-hour session. And while Spotts Park is perfectly calm and serene in its early April beauty - greening trees, thickening grass, singing birds - Blue's face already is dripping with sweat and his legs are tightening up.
"You're not one of those guys who only wants the ball 10 times," said James Cooper, Blue's personal trainer. "You want it 33 times. You're saying, 'Give it to me, coach.' "
Cooper keeps giving it to Blue. As sprints, sideways slides and uphill blasts continue, Blue's body pumps out water. The trainer pushes, nudges, talks down and pumps up his gasping pupil.
"You were moonwalking on your last step," Cooper said.
Another sprint.
"Thirty minutes into it, and that's your first rep," Cooper said.
Before the next one, Blue asks his trainer to fix a stretched-out band the running back is about to leap over. Cooper fulfills the request, then keeps firing away.
"Oh, you want me to fix the other one, too?" Cooper said. "We got some lemon water when you get to the top."
Blue hops over both bands, breaks free of the barriers, hits turbo toward the top and outraces a nearby wide receiver.
"That's it, Blue!" Cooper said. "Nothing wrong with a little competition."
That's all Blue wants: real competition. It's Year Two for Texans coach Bill O'Brien and Blue. His rookie season was a sweet surprise for a sixth-round pick coming off an anterior cruciate ligament injury. His second season is about staying power and lasting proof in pro football.
King of the hill
While the NFL narrows its focus toward the April 30-May 2 draft, Blue is doing everything he can to leave his first year behind. He must be bigger, faster, stronger and more complete in 2015. He has to prove to the Texans that he belongs. To do so, Blue has put his offseason in Cooper's hands and paired up with once-exiled running back Adrian Peterson in an attempt to mirror A.P.'s 2012 rise from ACL surgery.
"They tell you every year that nobody's set, nobody's safe," Blue said. "You've got to come in every year like you just got drafted or like you're an undrafted free agent trying to make the team."
Peterson has a day off. He's in New York to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, trying to be reinstated to the league.
Cooper has Blue all to himself.
Spotts Park is almost empty and nearly silent. Then a muscled-up car rolls into a parking lot. Blue wheels by, smiling. He emerges in a tight black Texans T-shirt and bright neon-green shoes. He walks toward the top of a hill, picks up an elastic belt and begins stretching.
"Let's go," Cooper said. "High knees."
Workout No. 1 begins. For the next hour, Blue is locked onto the hill. He races backward like a cornerback preparing for the scouting combine. He runs east to west, then fires north like a wide receiver. He echoes Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton and so many others whose offseasons have been devoted to an unmovable, unbeatable earthen object.
"We do a little bit of everything. You might consider it unorthodox or different," said unsigned wide receiver Ryan Whalen, who spent 2011-13 with Cincinnati and is trying to return to the league.
Cooper, who has seen the best of Peterson up close for years, wants Blue to be special. The second-year back possesses the body, athleticism and innate potential. But there's a mindset he's just beginning to understand and an altered lifestyle that's in infancy.
"We teach you how to be a professional and how to live as a professional in the NFL for longevity," said Cooper, who has trained, among others, NBA great Kevin Garnett and ex-Rocket Robert Horry.
The hill is about inner drive, personal willpower and untapped ambition. It's also completely practical.
Cooper wants Blue to increase his burst capability, power-up his legs and learn how to reach the second level of NFL defenses faster. Texans starter Arian Foster is famous for his on-field vision, brilliant cutbacks and artistic running grace. Blue must fine-tune his own unique style while improving his burst at the line of scrimmage and finesse once exiting the gate.
"He has to stay consistent," Cooper said. "When he gets that small window of playing time
the team has to believe in him. But he has to make them believe in him."
So Cooper breaks Blue down and builds him back up minute-by-minute.
The trainer: "(Your leg) is supposed to be tight. Look at all the (stuff) we do."
"You look like a ballerina."
"You want me to help you up? You got down there yourself."
The athlete: gasping, bending over, kneeling down, then rising back up and readying for more.
"I love what he does," Blue said. "He over-pushes you, and that's kind of what you need to be. It's that grind that gets you where you are today. And a lot of guys, they lose that."
Hitting the iron
Trees and grass give way to cold iron.
Blue stretches his back over a worn-out bench, breathes deep, then thrusts 185 pounds into the air multiple times inside a tiny gym.
He transfers stations, squatting, lifting and jerking heavier weight that is soon thrown back against a mat.
"Lock it up for me," said Cooper, who'll open his own gym, O Athletik, in early June in Houston.
The repetitions are repeated. Pull-ups and oversized exercise balls follow. As Blue reaches 265 pounds - pushing, holding and repeating again and again - Cooper tells a Peterson story.
As A.P. became great, he worked out on his own during the season. While teammates practiced, rested and waited for the next game, Peterson would bench 405 pounds like it was nothing.
"A.P., man," Blue said. "There's only a few guys that you work out with that you can definitely tell got it. He's on a different level.
"You see it in his eyes: 'I'm going to show the world. When I get back out there, I'm going to break it this time.' "
Doing it the Watt way
Air-conditioning pumps cool air into a small room. Blue leans his body into a plush couch and aligns his rookie season with the upcoming year.
His personal message to the Texans in 2014: "Don't overlook me."
His message a season later, as Foster remains locked in as the Texans' No. 1 back and premier prospects such as Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley wait for new pro teams: "Show them that I belong here and show them that I need a much stronger role on the team."
Blue has changed his diet, picked up All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt's nutritional supplement plan and intends to space out organized team activities by training with the two-time defensive player of the year.
"Watt works out during the season five times a week," Blue said. "You see other guys and they just do the minimum. You see J.J. Watt and he grinds every day."
The Texans saw a glimpse of the real Blue in 2014. They want more. He wants the same. While pro football waits for the hype of the draft, Blue sprints up an unforgiving hill and lifts cold iron. He's just one year into his career. But he's already a year closer toward the end, and the running back knows the NFL doesn't wait for anyone.
"You have to do it," Blue said. "You have to sacrifice different stuff to get where you want to be."
