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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 wrapped up their first playoff berth since 2005 with a dominant win against Chico on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 10-0 in four and half innings due to run-rule to earn the district’s final playoff spot and break a nearly two decade drought.
Nocona was in a similar situation last year after beating Chico in the first game before losing twice more to the Dragons, once in the regular season finale and then in the play-in series.
The Indians won the first game earlier in the week 9-4, but knew they could play better. On Thursday they then proved it.
In the bottom of the first inning, Nocona got the scoring going as Wesley Murphey hit an RBI double. Two batters later, Landon Fatheree drove in two runs with a double.
Konnor Harrington followed with a groundout that scored another run as the Indians led 4-0.
In the second inning, Nocona kept up the pressure. Brody Langford drove in a run with a single. Later with the bases loaded, Caden Belcher was hit by a pitch that scored a run. A later passed ball allowed one more run to score as the Indians extended their lead to 7-0.
Nocona got one more run in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Wesley Murphey grounded into a fielder’s choice out that scored one run to make it 8-0.
The Indians got the final two runs they needed in the fourth inning. Walker Murphey and RJ Walker hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Nocona up 10-0.
Chico needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule. Instead Walker Murphey completed the shutout performance by retiring the next three batters to end the game and the Dragon’s season.
The Indians won 10-0 and earned the district’s final playoff spot.
Wesley Murphey and Fatheree drove in two runs each to lead the team. Walker Murphey led the team with three hits. The team finished with 11 hits and drew six walks.
Walker Murphey also allowed zero runs and one hit while striking out five batters and walking none. The defense behind him committed only one fielding error.
Coach Zach Denson was beyond proud of this team for breaking the playoff drought.
“The amount of growth that they have shown throughout the year has been the most incredible I’ve seen in 13 years of coaching,” Denson said. “We went on a little skid in the middle of the year and that could have derailed our young team, but it actually brought us closer together as a unit.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits were able to clinch the final playoff spot on Thursday with a senior night home win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-1 in a game where all of the offensive action happened in the first three innings for both teams.
Bowie came into the game needing to win. Failing to do so would mean setting up a series with the Bearcats for the final playoff spot. If the Jackrabbits just took care of business against a team they had already beaten once pretty easily then they could avoid that whole situation.
Henrietta knew it was playing for the future of its season and struck first. A one out double followed by a single two batters later put the Bearcats up 1-0 against Bowie’s top pitcher Edmond De Leon on the mound.
The offense responded in the same inning with a two-out rally. Troy Kesey hit a single and Hayden Rodriguez drew a walk. De Leon then hit a double to drive one run in.
Cooper Hammer was then hit a by a pitch to load the bases up. Rayder Mann then drew a walk that scored one run and the Jackrabbits led 2-1 before the next batter popped up for out three.
Bowie added to that lead in the second inning. Boston Farris led off with a triple. Tucker Jones then hit a groundball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Farris to score and make it 3-1 for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie then extended the lead in the third inning. Hammer hit a one-out single. Mann and Cy Egenbacher followed with hits that resulted in fielding errors for the Bearcats. The Jackrabbits scored one run on the second error.
Farris then hit a single that drove in another run. After a strikeout, a wild pitch then allowed another runner to score as Bowie was up 6-1. Another strikeout ended the scoring for the Jackrabbits.
The next three and half innings saw neither team score runs, though both had several chances with two runners getting on at times.
Henrietta’s best chance came in the fifth inning with two singles, but De Leon and Bowie’s defense shut that down. De Leon retired the final seven batters he faced as the Jackrabbits won 6-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.
To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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