SPORTS
Week six of getting fit while social distancing
I decided to dive into the world of yoga this week as I followed another YouTube workout personality.
I have always been curious about yoga as a workout. I have always had what I think is above average flexibility. Even when I was younger, I felt like I needed to stretch before I did any physical activity to get my body feeling right. That feels especially true now I am older.
I only know the basic information about yoga. I’ve seen people hold poses. I know its about breathing. I know it’s a way of life for some people that goes beyond just being the preferred way to workout.
With the practice dating back to the third century and being more of a philosophy than just another way to work one’s body into shape, yoga has many layers and an intricate history to it that goes beyond the weight lifting, running and calisthenics and I have done in my life.
That has been the reason I have been hesitant. The stereotypical yoga practitioner that movies and television have fed me my whole life, one who is in touch with their spiritual side in a eastern religious type of way, is just not someone I could ever see myself being around for very long.
I know it works for plenty of people and that’s great, but I have been skeptical if it was for me. I don’t like being told how I am supposed to be feeling and constantly being told to exhale away all of my worries while I transition to a pose is not really how I deal with my stress.
Still, I went in with as open as my mind could be. I settled on this channel called SarahBethYoga. This woman has yoga workouts dating back to eight years ago, but eventually settled on putting out one new video a week. She seems to be pretty successful on the platform, with more than 800,000 subscribers and 68 million total views. She also has her own mobile app and membership website.
Videos can be anywhere from five to 30 minutes long. No mater what you want out of yoga, she has a workout for you. The video titles are pretty clear what you are going to get.
There are videos for beginners, intermediate, stretches, weight loss, body target and more. There are also videos for the spiritual like a 10 minute calming workout for anger and frustration. I didn’t really mess with those.
I started easy with one titled to “wake me up in the morning” on Saturday. I did not invest in a yoga mat, but I do have good news.
My dreaded shedding rug is no more. My sister decided to get me another one, even though I did not really have much issue with it the last two years until I made it my regular workout area.
I learned the first day that just hanging my body limply in certain poses that were supposed to be relaxing were not that relaxing to me. The one where my upper body was slumped forward down reaching the floor while my knees were bent was described as a resting type of pose of some sort.
Even with my ability to comfortably touch the floor with my hands with my legs straight when I stretch, this pose proved more taxing to me than it should have been.
I also picked up on that as people got more comfortable with yoga, it would sort of start to resemble dance steps to me.
Each pose was kind of taught as a step and some would transition into other poses. Eventually several poses would be strung together.
No more than two or three at this beginning level, but I can see the appeal of the idea of seeming to flow through ones workout.
Another thing I was prepared for and tried to keep note of was the part that breathing plays when doing yoga. Every move was specifically made to either be breathing in or exhaling a breath.
Each exhale was sometimes described as blowing away certain thoughts from the mind or stresses from the day. I’m not sure I was able to do that last part, but I did my best to breathe right when directed.
I’m sure the workout did something for me, but I could not tell the difference afterwards.
After another beginner stretch on Sunday left me underwhelmed, I looked for a workout that was advertised to burn more calories than anything else.
While it had more poses and the pace was fast enough for me to start sweating, again I was not too impressed. Maybe after five weeks of consistent beginner exercise, I just needed more than the 10 minute gentle yoga workouts.
I know yoga can be hard, so I found a 15-minute core workout. It involved a lot of time on my back as I did a lot of similar movements I had done in other core workouts. The difference was instead of reps, it was transitioning through a couple of poses in a controlled pace.
This workout pushed me at times. It was the one where I felt the most benefit from as there was some light burning afterwards that had been mostly absent.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Indians were able to beat Saint Jo at home on Thursday night in a tight contest.
The Indians won 55-48 against the Panthers in a game where both teams played hard, but made plenty of early season mistakes.
Nocona came into the game following a low-scoring win against Bells earlier in the week 35-30. For a young Indians team that only has a few players with varsity experience this year, every early season win builds confidence.
For Saint Jo, the Panthers were still without several returning starters since football is still going on. Despite that, new Coach Jacob Nocktonick is trying to build what he can with his group of basketball first players that include several key players even when the football team is integrated.
Despite Saint Jo being the smaller school, overall it had the height advantage in the front line since Nocona features only one player, Kasch Johnson, who is built like a post player. That is nothing new for the Indians, who featured a short team the previous year as Coach Brody Wilson emphasizes full-court pressure on defense and pushing the ball in transition in his system that makes up for a lack of height and size.
Initially Nocona’s pace and energy, grabbing several offensive rebounds, got it the lead 9-3. Eventually, the Panthers adjusted and trailed only 12-11 after the first quarter.
Saint Jo got the lead early in the second quarter. Post Trent Gaston took advantage of his size advantage, especially when the Indians had Johnson out, and led 17-12. Both teams had trouble scoring in a rough second quarter as open perimeter shots just were not going in and shots at the rim were tough to convert.
The Panthers led 23-20 heading into halftime.
Both teams had better offensive success pushing the ball when it could in the second half.
Saint Jo broke Nocona’s press and punished the Indians with quick baskets. Nocona ran whenever it could and seemed to put up an array of perimeter shots and drives, getting offensive rebounds it seemed at will to keep the pressure up and infuriate the Panthers coach.
The Indians got a big push from Landon Fatheree in the second half. After scoring eight points in the first half to lead the team, he scored 10 of his team’s 14 points in the third quarter.
Nocona got the lead back, but only led 34-33 heading into the final period.
The Indians had a comfortable lead up 44-36 when Saint Jo’s Gaston fouled out with 4:56 left in the game. Still, the Panthers did not give up and a minute later had whittled Nocona’s lead down to one basket 44-41 with 3:45.
The game stayed a one-possession game for the next two minutes as Saint Jo had several chances to tie or take the lead not go through.
Nocona made its free throws down the stretch to win with a little more comfort, with the final score being 55-48.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870682&T=1
Nocona senior Meg Meekins signed her official letter of intent to play college basketball at Lubbock Christian University on Wednesday. Meekins, the daughter of Brandi and Lance, is a four-year starter on the volleyball and basketball court. She has earned several accolades like being named to the All State Teams for TGCA, TABC, Associated Press and was selected to the All Tournament Team at the UIL State Basketball Tournament in San Antonio last year.“The coaching staff and the community of the LCU program and just knowing you have a staff that coaches you, but also looks over you just like Coach (Kyle) Spitzer did here was a huge part in the recruiting process,” Meekins said. She plans to pursue a degree in either physical or occupational therapy.
For more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870680&T=1
The Bowie Lady Rabbits got more than they bargained for when they traveled to Bellevue on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits escaped with the win 44-40, taking the lead with less than a minute to go after trailing whole game.
Bowie came into the game confident. The larger 3A school was supposed to play Windthorst, but had to reschedule because the Lady Trojans volleyball team was playing in the state tournament.
Finding a last minute replacement, the Lady Rabbits thought they would have an easy game playing the 1A program down the road. Little did they know.
Bellevue had a couple of players out with injury to limit its depth a bit and a new coach in Celsey Hoffman, but the Lady Eagles were coming off of nearly beating a Nocona team the previous week. While the Lady Indians were missing four starters who were still in volleyball, it still showed this was not a 1A team to take lightly.
Bellevue came out fast showing tough defensive pressure despite giving up size at nearly every position. Within a few minutes the Lady Eagles had used that pressure to force turnovers and convert those steals into transition opportunities.
Also, the energy showed in other areas as Bellevue seemed to grab every loose ball and fought for offensive rebounds despite lacking in height compared to Bowie.
After a little more than four minutes into the game the Lady Eagles led 15-0. The Lady Rabbits had barely been able to set up their offense or attempt a shot against the pressure.
Bowie Coach Matthew Miller had to reset his shell-shocked team during multiple timeouts. The young ballhandlers was reminded how the team was going to break the press defense so it could set up its offense.
Bellevue led 19-4 after the first quarter, led by Mary Grace Broussard and Brittany Gill who each scored six points.
The Lady Rabbits settled down and made some good progress in the second quarter. Their defense switched between man-to-man and 1-3-1 to keep the Lady Eagles off balance. With them taking care of the ball better, there were less chances for Bellevue in transition and the Lady Eagles offense struggled to consistently find ways to score against Bowie’s length.
The Lady Rabbits offense found some success as well. Five different players made at least one basket and the team made two 3-pointers.
While the game was physical from the start, now that Bowie knew what type of game it was in the team responded back. It was not pretty and only enough fouls were called to make the game watchable, but individual foul trouble affected Bellevue harder than the Lady Rabbits in the second quarter.
The Lady Eagles still led heading into halftime, but Bowie had gotten it down to single digits trailing 25-19.
The third quarter was more even between the two teams as both had trouble consistently scoring baskets. Bellevue made three baskets and a couple of free throws to keep ahead.
The Lady Rabbits got a big lift from Lanie Moore, who knocked in all three of her 3-pointers in the quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 12 points.
Bowie still trailed, but had cut the lead down to one point earlier in the quarter and one basket 34-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bellevue grew the lead to 38-32 early in the final period. The Lady Rabbits struggled to get anything going offensively and trailed 40-34 midway through the quarter.
Bowie’s Kendall Fallis made a 3-pointer in transition to cut the lead to one basket 40-37.
The score stayed there for the next several minutes even as the Lady Eagles had two starters, Karis Denson and Mattie Broussard, foul out of the game.
With a little more than a minute left, the Lady Rabbits drew up and out of bounds play that got Laney Segura an open shot in the corner. Despite not having made a basket all game, she sunk the 3-pointer to tie the game at 40-40 with a minute still to play.
Bowie had been in a pressure defense for the second half of the fourth quarter to prevent Bellevue from passively running clock. Still in the defense, the team next stole the in-bounds pass and Railey Martin made the undefended layup to give the Lady Rabbits their first lead of the game 42-40 with 48 seconds left.
The Lady Eagles could not tie the score on their next offensive possession. Bowie would made two more free throws to make the final 44-40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870678&T=1
-
NEWS2 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS1 year agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint