On early Saturday mornings, when many people are sleeping in, a dedicated group of people are getting together.

They put on weighted vests and motivate each other to get moving. They call this activity "rucking."

Tony Martinez Jr., 34, is one of those dedicated ruckers.

“I'm carrying a 40 pound vest, a 40 pound vest plus we carried a 50 pound sandbag,” Martinez said.

Martinez has been rucking since October 2024.

“I'm becoming leaner, stronger — my pants fit way better,” Martinez said. 

Martinez joined the group due to concerns over his blood glucose levels. Diabetes was an issue on both his mom and dad's side of the family.

“A grandfather of mine passed away from a diabetic shock and I’ve always kept that in my mind because it's like he was such a good man and for him to go like that, he didn't deserve it,” Martinez said. “It got me thinking, what can I do to make it better?"

Martinez decided to join the "956 Ruck Tribe," which gets together on Saturday mornings in the Upper Rio Grande Valley.

At Valley hospitals and dialysis centers, medical professionals are seeing an alarming number of people with uncontrolled blood sugar levels, and health issues caused by diabetes.

"There's 4,000 patients getting dialysis today, 4,000 patients in the Rio Grande Valley who theoretically need kidney transplants,” DHR Health Transplant Surgery Director Dr. Jose Almeda said.

Almeda said he's treated many of those patients. According to Almeda, rucking is a good cardio and weight training activity that can improve your health.

It does raise your heart rate, so check with your doctor if you can handle it.

“One thing you may ask yourself is, when you're done with the exercise, how great do you feel when you take that 20 pound vest off? And imagine if you lost 20 pounds, and you didn't have that weight, that's how you would feel if you lost 20 pounds,” Almeda said.

Watch the video above for the full story. 

This April, Channel 5 News, Noticias RGV and Take 5 is educating viewers about diabetes prevention and treatment as part of our Heart of the Valley series.

As part of the series, HEB and South Texas Health Systems are offering free diabetes screenings in the month of April. Click here for the full schedule of where the screenings will be available.