SPORTS
Week seven of getting fit while social distancing
It’s week seven now so it’s fitting I picked a phone app called the “7 Minute Workout.”
I wish I could tell you I planned it, but it’s just a coincidence.
It’s a free workout app that has seven workouts that should take about seven minutes each. There is not much more to it. There is not a whole lot of customization to it. After working out for five days using it, I’m not sure if it updates with new workouts regularly or if you have to pay to get that feature.
I previously complained about the Nike Training app for the lack of customization, but this app feels more bare bones than that. If said exercise is too hard or you just don’t feel like doing it, there is no skip button that keeps the workout moving along at a fast pace. You just have to sit there for 30 seconds while you contemplate how your hardworking, in-shape teenage self would be disgusted if he could see you now.
With it being a free app, there are ads present. I would not call them super intrusive since they are not videos. Usually a full screen one would pop up right before or after a workout, but it would not take long to exit out of it.
The app does want to track your weight and wants you to rate how hard each workout was for you. I freely rated each workout, but I own no scale and have not weighed myself outside of a doctor’s office in several years now.
Maybe it is because I know the number will just depress me. As a super skinny guy for most of my adolescence, weight only came on once I stopped being active after the final whistle of my football career. I still identify and see myself in that light despite knowing my clothes are bought in a bigger size now.
Instead of beating myself up about it, I have come to terms with what I look like and I am okay. Until a doctor tells me I am unhealthy or I really start to hate how I look, I am not going to worry about it.
Putting numbers to it would just ruin it since I still remember what I weighed when I was younger. The simple math equation of how much more I weigh now to then would never make me feel good, so I just don’t want to know.
Back to the app, there are some fine print readings that go against its title. With “7 Minute Workouts” you expect every workout to be seven minutes long. It’s what it’s called.
Every workout is done in a circuit style, with 30 seconds to do as much or as little of each exercise before moving on to the next one, with 10 seconds in between each one. It’s pretty set in stone.
In reality, the five workouts I did took somewhere between seven to nine minutes. I never paused during a workout. I guess those five seconds add up.
It is not the biggest deal, but when a company names something a specific time because the whole gimmick is it only takes that long and then it routinely goes over said time, you just ask why.
Why not name it “8 Minute Workout?” Why did it have to be seven minutes? Is that just a more pleasing advertising number?
This is petty I know, but as someone who has mostly only stuck to 10 minute workouts in the past, I like the full round evenness of the number, seeing an even shorter workout promise got me to download the app.
One last thing that contradicts the app’s name that I did not appreciate. In the instructions that touted how the app can change people’s lives, how you do not need any equipment, ect., it says workouts should be repeated two to three times.
Excuse me? If I do this workout again or even a third time, that is not seven minutes. I know 14 or 20 minutes is not that long either, but as someone who has dedicated to spending longer taking a shower each morning than I do working out for six weeks now, I am not doing that.
The promise in the app’s name says seven minutes. You can’t get it done in seven minutes, don’t name your app that.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
-
NEWS3 years agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS4 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS3 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS3 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS3 years agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
Show us something good9 years agoCountry music star children perform in Bowie
-
NEWS3 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
100th Birthday4 years agoLooking back at the 1958 Centennial edition of The Bowie News