BANDERA, Texas — The life of a cowboy, most times means up before sunrise and in bed when the sun goes down. That doesn't leave a lot of time to go to the gym, which is why there is "Cowboy Fitness."
Larry and Mary Cortez moved back to Texas from California when Larry decided he had enough of the contracting business and California. They loaded up and settled in Bandera, Texas.
The Cortez' decided they would buy a ranch and give folks a real shot at experiencing ranch life. Rancho Cortez is not your ordinary Dude Ranch. Sure it has nice cabins, two pools, a hot tub, and a gym.
"You can participate being a cowboy as much as you want, or you can go over by the pool and have yourself one of those Pina Coladas," says Larry Cortez. I wasn't here for drinks, I wanted to see how he worked fitness in for his guests.
It didn't take any time for Cortez to have me toting 50lb feed bags, using his pipe fence for pushups, squats and reverse dips. Just when I thought my workout was coming to an end, Cortez had me pushing a wheelbarrow full of manure down and back up a hill.
When we were done with that, it was time to start clearing the land. Cortez instructed me to start moving rocks out of the field and stack them by a tree, "Just pick a rock and pick a tree" Cortez said.
But, all of the hard work we put into "Cowboy Fitness quickly fades from your memory when you're on the back of one of his 40+ horses, riding around his ranch. if you'd like to check out Rancho Cortez and Cowboy Fitness, here's a link to their website: https://www.ranchocortez.com