Mar 7, 2025 4 min read

By Dave Bates

For the Observer-Reporter

Let’s be honest from the get go … diet and exercise are two topics for which I am not the most highly qualified on which to speak. Nor do I share the most enthusiasm. I love the great outdoors but find myself guilty of sitting in my chair or writing at my desk, far too often.

Diagnosed as a later-in-life type II diabetic, I struggle with not eating what I want, which is to say, what I’ve sort of always done. Sugar has been the toughest of deprivations. As of late, I am battling to avoid insulin injections. Add to that the fact that I have never particularly liked working out. I have never particularly enjoyed trips to the dentist, either. Sorry, Doc Williams. I especially dislike paying my taxes. I do these things because they are necessary, not because I enjoy them.

So where does that leave me in regards to a workout regimen? Don’t get me wrong, I am no slug, but I struggle to motivate myself to hit the gym regularly. Some of the following ideas are simply guerilla warfare when it comes to being a bit more physically fit. I prefer something different, everyday. One day I will stretch, which I find to be of more benefit than weights or cardio. Stretching is the one facet of my workout that I do attempt to incorporate every day. The next day I might do a battery of core strengthening Pilates-style iterations. Another day, 20-30 minutes on the treadmill. Some days you can find me walking the back roads on loose gravel and uneven surface.

I like to throw in a woods walk for good measure, now and then. Maybe the next day, a two-mile walk on the macadam. Kettlebells have offered new life in the gym as an alternative workout. Circuit training here and there on the gym equipment provides another variation to the routine. When all else fails there is the old standby – free weights. And how can you beat a few calisthenics?

I have found, over the years, that I am much less likely to work out with any relative form of what could be called “discipline” if I find myself in the rut of the same repetitive daily routine. It is the breaking up of the monotony that provides the impetus for sweating.

When I am preparing to hunt out west or for the rigors of bird season, assaulting the hill behind our home is a great way to measure stamina for the upcoming challenge. Maybe assault is not the correct word choice. Maybe it’s more like plodding but the end result is still a positive one. Walking right of ways is great sport. Every once in a while I find myself breaking into a full-blown jog. Both feet are actually in the air simultaneously! This usually doesn’t last for more than a few minutes or a few hundred yards, whichever comes first.

Once I awaken from my coma, my nearly sixty-year-old body forces me back into reality quite quickly. It is then and there that I return to a not-so-brisk walk. Walk. Run. Crawl? I guess it really doesn’t matter. I have even toyed with the idea of becoming my brother Chris’ pickleball partner in retirement. Pickleball. Really?

My old friend, Ralph Bell, the Christmas tree farmer, was fond of saying, “David, I try to do something every day.” Ralph lived to the ripe old age of 99, so I guess that sort of makes him the winner. I can remember Ralph in his 80s suggesting that we “run up the hill” on his farm between cutting trees and tying them to the roof of customer’s vehicles. During a lull in Christmas tree sales, we did just that. 200 yards maybe, but we did something. I guess the key to that kind of reasoning is to do something.

These days, if I find myself tackling a particularly taxing chore, then I count that as my workout for the day. Call it excuse making, if you like, but running a chainsaw, stacking firewood, lifting trees to a sawbuck all count as something.

And don’t forget to throw in a day of rest here and there … eh, Ralph?

Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com