2018 Recap

2018 was interesting. I started it out with goals, hopes, and a list! Well, when God makes a move or a shift in your life, he makes a move! In 2018 I started out with a few goals let me give you an update on those items:

Create a Savings Plan

I stated in my previous post that I wanted to do a 52 week savings plan of 5,000.00 along with the Dave Ramsey savings tips, and I did that!  Mission accomplished. I am still following Ramesy’s baby steps and I encourage you to buy his book (audio, kindle, nook, hardcover, etc) and participate in one of his financial peace university courses. He is a wealth of resource!

Be more committed to fitness

I did just that.

I was working out 5 times a week, having lunch dates with friends to run hills, eating right, and then………I managed to tear my ACL and partially tear my meniscus in my knee. That had me set back most of  the end of 2018. It was one of the most trying injuries I have ever had. I had a full work load, a very busy 4 year old, and I was in grad school! I managed somehow to do all of it, with a strenuous physical therapy schedule in the mix!

Physical therapy is no fun, but the payoff in the end is worth all of the tears and pain. Also, guess what?! As of Monday, I am back running! This took 5 months to accomplish, and if it was not for my awesome physical therapist at Select Physical Therapy, I would not be as functional as I am today.

I plan on taking the running and getting back into my full blown workout schedule as my progress in physical therapy lets me. My goal? To walk in heels. All 6 ft of me needs to sashay through the Houston streets! Ha! I have also started my new year off with a very basic vegan diet. I am doing it more for spiritual reasons (The Daniels Fast) and, the fast is basically where you only consume, fruits and vegetables. For 21 days you are not to consume any dairy, breads that are not whole grain, sugars, etc. I paired this fast with a journal challenge and devoted time to God. I have lost some weight, and with me not being able to run up until this week, I was concerned that all my hard work in 2018 was being flushed down the drain.

I really enjoyed the fast and being vegan allowed me to try new recipes that brought about a lot of wonderful flavors. I highly recommend trying out black bean vegan enchiladas.

Source: LightOrangeBean.com

This was by far my favorite recipe during this fast. Click for the recipe here. I learned with this fast that the discipline of taking care of myself is as important as my relationship with God. I recommend giving your body a good break from meat if you can manage it.

Utilize my power in saying No

I said no to a lot in 2018 and I do not plan on stopping that this year. It is a powerful thing.

Graduate Grad School

I did it! In December of 2018, I walked across the stage with a Masters in Business Administration.

Had to add my own touch to my cap! Proverbs 16:3

You guys know I wasn’t paying for those expensive photos!

Me, Sharde, full time mom, full time employee, a woman with a torn acl, busy personal life, all the above, managed to make it through. I thank God for giving me the motivation and determination to push through all the trying times with a peaceful mindset. The reason I set out to accomplish this? To show my daughter what black girl magic looks like, to show her that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to despite the circumstances, and to finish what I had started.

So let’s see what 2019 has in store!

New Year! New Goals!

Image provided by: http://www.padhokhelo.com/

 

It is a New Year! We are blessed to see another day. We are also blessed to make some new focuses and goals!

I know we all have something we are grateful for in this new year. I know I do. I have a few goals that I want to accomplish this year and I think that they are manageable I just have to put in the work. Because without works, you cannot have anything right?

Goal number 1,  To start a gratitude journal

• My goal is to write at least 5 things I am grateful for everyday. I think this will help me to be more optimistic and more faithful with the blessings and things I already have!

Goal number 2, Save Money

• I have to focus on saving more money because my future goals require capital. I want to focus on more of what I need vs more of what I want and that is to be as debt free as possible. It just will put me in a better position to have funds for the home I dream of owning one day.
• Nwo youot only does saving money help out a good home down payment, it will also benefit me to have additional funds to travel with my little. I started out doing a few challenges and one of them is the penny challenge. I can save a total of 667.00 for the year. That is basically a good flight somewhere cool or fun for me and the little to go with a little extra change left over for a fun souvenir! I have family and friends all over the United States so this would benefit me greatly to visit my loved ones.  How the penny challenge works is you save a cent a day. So day one(January 1st) you save $0.01 cent, day two save $0.02 cents and you add more cents as the year progresses. You end up with approximately $667.00. You can save backwards (start off at $3.67 and work your way down to $0.01 if that helps you) too and even up the ante to a dollar a day if you want to save let’s say $6,667.00 (WOW! Right!).
• Another way to save is to to the weekly dollar saving plan. There are 52 weeks in a year and each week you add a dollar accordingly. So week one is $1.00 and week 2 is $2.00. by the time you are done with the year you should have saved $1,378.00 which is substantial.Check it out here on how to get started with this challenge if you are interested  You can even save it backwards to save the larger amounts first and work on the smaller amounts last.

Goal number 3, To be a healthier me

• The best gift you can give your family is a mentally, spiritually, and physically fit version of yourself. A lot of people think that the physical aspect is the only thing you have to work on but no, renewing our mind, our faith, our perseverance, our peace, our personal selves is the best gift we can give to ourselves and those around us. So I plan to devote more time to praying, reading my bible, fasting if needed, and I also bought a fitbit to increase my daily activity to try to maintain the physique I am at at this point in my life.

Goal number 4, To have more peace

• I refuse to let anyone try to mess up the peace I have in my life I have learn to not be influenced by others and the emotions or actions they try to inflict in my life. Peace is priceless. I will not allow any other person’s dysfunction or disobedience to God to encroach or try to take up space in my life. God has been too good to me for me to mess up the blessings he has given me and will continue to give me in my life.

Make sure you write your goals down and have them somewhere were you can view them everyday. Also make sure you have a plan! Make sure it is obtainable! You can even go as far as tracking your progress, or creating a vision board (A modern day vision board would be Pinterest)

I have noticed on some social media sites, that there are people being critical of others for wanting to improve themselves for the better for the new year. When I see such criticism I ask those of you creating goals or writing them out socially to refer to Jeremiah 17:8 “Such trees are not bothered by the heat.” You are the tree and the opinion of others should bear no weight on your goals. Also, if you see a person trying to claim or wanting to do better for the new year and you know that they are struggling in certain areas, be that friend that encourages them when their endurance gets low. It makes a difference. You could single-handedly be the catalyst for their growth. That’s all I have to say about the berating of those with goals and dreams for the New Year.

 

What are your goals for the New Year? Feel free to share. I think 2016 is going to be an amazing year, a lot of work,but amazing nonetheless! 

Halloween Workouts!

Halloween is approaching!

Why not have a workout inspired by one?! Tribesports has an awesome challenge that has a discount. Tribesports has teamed up with Run For Your Lives to offer a 20% discount off of their races. You can use the promo code TRIBE to get the special discount. Cool right?

In addtion to that, there are also 10 pairs of tickets for Run For Your Lives race entry, a Bodymax Kettlebone Kettlebell, and 5 Join The Tribe T shirts to giveaway in our competition which you can read more about here.

Lastly, There are some Halloween inspired workouts that they have created so we can all look great in our costumes!!!

 

1. Zombie Fitness Circuits

 

2. Zombie Wrecking Ball Workout

 

 

 

3. Evasion and Escape Workout

 

4. Survival Under Siege Workout

 

Legs

 

Pull out the handicap signs.

Yesterday was Leg day! My oh my! I have a new personal best. leg pressing 180 in 3 sets of 30 with a rest pause. Brutal. I was dizzy and my legs were weak. Fun times. I have 2 days of rest (today included) and I am going to recover!

My leg workout consisted of:

20 mins of cardio on the elliptical

150 seated barbell twists per side

1 drop set of a total of 100 reps  leg extensions starting at 170lbs and dropping to 30lbs after every 10-20 reps (BRTUALLLLLLL)

Seated leg curls at 70lbs w/ 2 warm up sets 10 reps and  3 sets of  20 reps 

Leg press w/ 2 warm up sets of 10 reps at 90lbs and 3 rest pause sets of 30 reps at 180lbs

Hack squats w/ 2 warm up sets of 7 reps at 70lbs and 3 sets with 7 reps at 80lbs

20 mins of cardio on the bike 

And a wheelchair LOL. I felt like I needed that. I hope everyone’s hump day is going well. Mine is. I downloaded this new app called Bitstrips it’s like a comic version of yourself. I have had tons of fun posting things on my social network sites. Who knows, I may post one on here! Hahah Happy HUMP DAY!

 

Check out my Progress! (After a week of eating cakes, pies and ect)

Shoulders, Calves and Abs

 

Yesterday I hit the gym pretty hard and rocked out my workout. I did my shoulders, calves and abs. I thought the workout would be easy being that there were not that many exercises. No. My shoulders were on fire and I had the slow disoriented waddle, when I walked out the gym yesterday. My workout consisted of:

20 mins on the elliptical

150 reps, per side of Seated bar bell twists w/ 20lb bar

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Side Lateral raises w/10lb 

3 sets to failure in 15 reps  of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Superset of 

3 sets to failure in 12 reps of Side lateral raises w/ 5lbs

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Machine Shoulder Military Press w/ 25lbs

1 warm up set of 8 reps

3 sets to failure in 15 reps

7 sets of Seated bent over Rear Delt Raises in 15 reps w/ 15 lbs 

Standing Calf Raises 1 warm up set of 10 reps and 5 sets of 20 reps

3 sets to failure 20 reps each of Sit ups

Elliptical for 20 mins

150 twists w/ 20lb bar

 

I was pooped I tell you!!!  I also noticed this amazing phenomenon. A lot of women do not lift. I got a lot of stares and questionable looks as to why I was in the free weights area. Usually a woman is accompanied by a man in this area to be trained briefly or they are just passing by. So, it is overall a male dominated area. Most women dominate the cardio equipment. I would like to encourage all of my female fitness enthusiasts to join me! Come to the weight area. It is not a scary place, it actually is a great place to look at men! lol See the various forms and different workouts that other people do. I am a beginner out there in the weighted world, but I would like to see women get their weights, and toning in too! I am all about showing these guys what I can do! The stares were welcomed by me, and I even got a few smiles out the guys when they saw me working hard!

 

Today is leg day and I have my handicap sticker ready lol. I may be crawling out the gym when I finish wish me luck.

 

 

Photo credit: Womenshealthmagazine.com

Rainy Weekend

Rain was all that happened this weekend. So I took this as an opportunity to relax, and get back to my leisure lifestyle of life. I started out my weekend by going to get my hair done, and running a few errands, and ended up unpacking some boxes. In between that, I watched a movie, played with my dog, attempted to take a nap, unpacked some more, and worked on homework. I got it all done! I also went to the gym and got a beasty back and biceps workout in. I still cannot do a pull up, so I had to skip that. I will get better. I can tell I am getting stronger, though. Any progress is great progress.  I also ate pretty horrible this week/weekend. Fried foods, Mexican foods, desserts you name it I ate it. In moderation though. So I am maintaining my weight,  but not my precious abdominal muscles *tear*, but that’s okay, every now and then you need to eat freely. Give the body a break from not being tempted to eat every cookie in sight and managing to resist can be tough and weary sometimes.

I spent all of Sunday arraigning my room, speaking with my Mom, submitting homework and playing fetch with the Gizster.

Today I will be working on Shoulders abs and legs and will post about it on tomorrow, and this week will be all about reviewing my Chapters for the up and coming midterms I have on this weekend. I am also apart of a skit for my Company’s annual BBQ Cook off and I have a friend coming into town to visit for her PV Homecoming. So my peaceful weekend was welcomed and appreciated. When I will get another? Who knows! Stay foxy people!

Leg Day!

Today was Legs day!

I started out my workout by carrying boxes to my car (Cardio) from my soon to be old 3rd floor apartment.

After that I put in this type of work.

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I really did not want to do this workout, I was thinking of the bajillion things I needed to do today and was like, how in the heck will I even have energy to even look at this. I looked at the workout and it was simple quick and I worked it out!

Tonight I need to break down my bedframe, get lots of newspaper to pack my dishes, find my check book, I packed it somewhere and I have no clue where it is, pay my last little rent and pack up some more kicknacks that need to go to my new space.

I forgot, I need to do homework, but I think I will do all of it on Sunday. I have to secure my move first. Wish me luck!

Full Body Dumbbell Workout

 

Hey there! It’s been a while! But Tribesports never fails me! They came up with an AWESOME workout that will work every part of your body! Just follow the steps below with a 5,10, or 20 lb weight, depending on your fitness level and you will be set. Work your way up to the 20lb dumbbells if you can. Check it out!

 

 

Pretty cool huh? Tribesports.com has also added some more cool features to their site such as the new training features. You can now log. your daily exercise, and even saving different sessions as “Workouts” to re-do them at a later date. Almost everything imaginable is covered from back squats and individual weights exercises to yoga and even fitness classes and sports, and we are constantly adding new exercises and sports to improve the system.Use it after a day at the gym, a run, a biking activity or whatever. Use it! Check out all the functionality of the new and improved site here

 

This weekend came together nicely. I am walking with my Company in the annual UNCF walk for education on Saturday and that should be fun, then I am participating in a biking event with my sis in Prairie View called the Tour de pink. It’s an annual biking event that raises money for Breast Cancer research. Really exciting stuff!

How is your weekend coming along? Anything cool going on?

Thursday workouts

This Thursday I rocked it out!

My workout with #garagefit consisted of:

• Warm up: 15 minute run 
• 15 hills
• 20 Front Raises with 10lb dumbbells for warm up
• 3 rounds of  20 lateral raises with 10lb dumbbells
• 3 rounds of 20 lateral raises with 5lb plates 
• 3 rounds of standing  lateral raises, front raises, lateral raises with 5lb plates
• 3 rounds of rope thrusts locking elbows for 1:30seconds
• 3 rounds of standing lateral raises into front raises
• 3 rounds of 20 curved barbell bicep curls with 5lb weights
• 3 rounds of 20 curved barbell bicep curls with 10 lb weights with a slowed paces on coming down
• 3 rounds of 20 sitting Arnold shoulder press
• 

Ya girl went in! I wish the Bicep Emoji could be inserted here. That’s how I felt. Also, I am on this new meal plan and so far so good. I haven’t felt hungry since 6am. I meal prepped for 3 days since I will be going out of town for the weekend and I am sure I can maintain my little plan when the weekend hits. I just have to pack the non-perishables and possibly purchase some perishables. Here goes one of my meals I believe this is meal 3.

 

Tomorrow I will get some cardio in and probably do some light work on Saturday whenever I get to my destination. Happy Friday Eve everybody!

 

Beast Mode and some

Good Morning,

I woke up this morning a little stiff, and you know what! I am very okay with that. I am starting to do some lifting in my workouts and boy, let me tell you, it is interesting. Not only is it a challenge, it really takes concentration. Yesterday’s workout with #GarageFit consisted of:

15 min run for a warm up

25 hills

3 sets of bench-press w/ 20lb barbell @15 reps

3 sets of reverse pull ups with body band

3 sets of bench-press w/ 20lb barbell with 10lbs on each side @15 reps

3 sets of shoulder press w/ 40lb barbell

3 sets of reverse planks hold at 30 seconds each 

3 sets of dumbbell lat flys w/ 10lb weights

3 sets of dumbell hammer curls w/ 10lb weights

15 hills. 

Beasty. I have also found that if I eat a Banana w/ peanut butter. My performance increases dramatically. So tomorrow I am attending #GarageFits Boot-camp. I will definitely blog about it on Monday! Also, I picked up my books for school, and I need to go buy a few notebooks for notes! I need a laptop too, but that can wait.  I typically always have access to a cpu. A laptop is just far more convenient. Happy Friday everyone!