In February I was fatter than I’d ever been in my life. Doc Willis said that I was almost a pre-diabetic. I made my mind up I was going to lose a bunch of weight. I also decided I wasn’t going to use any weight loss medicine.
When I was younger I if I wanted to get in shape I would see how hard I could torture my body. I would run sprints and do push ups, pull ups, sit ups and any other core training I could. I would also stretch everyday. I was always trying to make myself faster and more flexible, because that’s what a good calf roper needs.
I never eased into a training program when I was younger. I went full bore as hard as I could. One of the first things I did this year was jump rope and do squats everytime I went to the horse barn to feed. I tore my MCL and ACL the first week, that set me back. I had to have cortisone injections in both knees just to be able to exercise.
For the first time in my life I had to ease into a fitness routine. So, I set goals for every ten pounds I lost. As the weight came off I added a new thing, it was kind of a reward system.
The first forty pounds came off fairly quick. The next ten took two full months. This past week I finally lost fifty pounds. I couldn’t wait to rope Sunday after church, I had waited a long time for this “reward.”
I was the only one roping Sunday at my house. All summer long I didn’t ever hold my slack and try to turn a calf around on the end of the rope. I was afraid my overweight and out of shape fifty year old body would break or I’d tear a knee off. That move is the most demanding on a calf roper’s body.
I ran three practice calves Sunday afternoon. I was surprised that I was able to make really good runs and turn the calves to the right or to the left. I hadn’t felt this good about my roping in ten or fifteen years. I’ve got twenty more pounds to go until I hit my ideal weight. I roped the best in my thirties and I weighed just over two hundred pounds. Hopefully, I can keep it up during the cold winter months.
This year I learned a new lesson. I learned patience, I’m not that young man anymore, I had to set smaller goals and work like the dickens to reach them. I finished the year eighth in the world in my age division of the National Senior Professional Rodeo Association.
I knew I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be this year. Maybe next year I’ll do better, losing fifty pounds and setting smaller goals taught me a lot. Fifty pounds lost and a life lesson about being patient, it was a good day of roping all by myself on a Sunday afternoon.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses
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