2018 So Far

I’M LATE POSTING THIS BECAUSE LIFE!!

There are a few things that I intended on accomplishing this year. I have a list! (The real question is, when do I not have a list?!)

• Create a Savings Plan
  • I am using the Dave Ramsey methods, and I recommend his book Total Money Make over and the use of his envelope system. This is where you get your power back when it comes to spending and saving money! 

 

• I also upped my 52 weeks savings plan from just saving by what week it was in the year to attempting to take the 5,000.00 52 week money challenge. We will see how this will work out this year. I have faith! If you want to follow it is never too late to save a dollar and some!

 

• Be more committed to fitness
  • I now work out 4-5 times a week. I typically only can dedicate one hour to fitness in my day and I make sure It is worth it. I have a plan and a purpose. I just want to make sure that heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases are kept at bay. I also want legs like I had when I was in track. It is going to happen people! I joke with my friends all the time about how I want to look like edible arraignments LOL. Now even some of them are jumping on that whole snack bandwagon!
  • I follow some pretty inspiring people on the “Gram” @FitfoodieLe @FollowtheLita @MassyArias are a few people who I am truly inspired by. I feel like they offer something I can truly benefit and can learn from.
  • I plan to run 5 or more 5k runs this year as well.
• Utilize my power in saying No
  • *big sigh* Hi, my name is Sharde and I am a person who seems to over commit myself to everything. I am the go – to in my family, friends, and many others because, well my heart is that big. I sometimes forget about myself in that equation like, how am I going to be at two birthday parties that start within 30 minutes of each other? I have learned to send a “I can’t make it” Or a firm no with zero explanations. I feel empowered and like I am taking care of myself when I use the word no. There has to be a recharge period for me and a reset. If I do not take care of me, how will I be useful to anyone else.
• Graduate Grad School
  • I do not know if I have really mentioned to anyone BUT! I am in school. Inspiration behind is I intended on accomplishing this in 2014, but God had other plans for me that year. I had my daughter and put the degree on the back burner. I picked it up in the summer last year and I will complete the task this year! So far,  I have been doing great with my studies, and when the time is right, I will make moves that align with my career goals.

So far life has been great this year. I hope to cover some interesting topics on my blog, such as life or responsibility as a single mother, trying to have a fitness regimen while being a single mama, empowering yourself, and learning to go with the flow in those times that things do not go according to our plans.  Hope that someone can take my life lessons and apply them to their life.

Facebook Announcement

Hello!

I finally announced my pregnancy to my main social sites, Facebook and Instagram. It was not a secret, but I wanted to be very cute with my announcement. I wanted to incorporate my dog, since I treat him like my child and so I went and looked up pregnancy announcements. Here is the end result!

 

Pretty cute huh! Hope my re-sizing is not too small but it was huge at the start. I took a picture with my Nikon J1 and it turned out great. I am now 17 weeks along and I am interested in feeling my baby move. I feel like I might have felt her move, but I cannot be too sure. I am sure that it will happen soon. Most 1st time mothers do not feel anything until 20 weeks or so.

School has been kicking my assets, and I find that concentrating on things is hard for me lately. I hear it is associated with being pregnant. Sucks, because I am the sharpest person to most people, and I have become extremely forgetful! I made an 85 on my midterm, and I am very satisfied with that being that I read 4 of the 8 chapters a couple of days before the midterm. I definitely should not let that happen again. EVER.

I have decided to wait on purchasing a home for now, and decided to continue to rent an apartment. Having a baby and a House note on my one person income may be too much for me. So once I get a decent raise, or promotion and adjust to life with a small baby, then I will start the exciting journey again. I move in a few weeks.

In workout news, I have not been motivated, I just have not done it. Period. I am however active, when it comes to work and when I am out, I am just not working out. When I move I will use our amazing apartment gym and take walks around our community. It will be good for the baby and me. I will also do some of these stretches I found on pinterest. So expect some bump pictures soon, I have honestly not been in a picture friendly mood. So I will get it together.

Eventful is not the Word

I have had all kinds of things going on these days,

School has kept me so busy, that I was unable to even look at a gym. Luckily, I was able to do a 5k and a 28 mile bike ride this weekend, which has my glutes a little sore, but I feel foxxy! I did the Tour de Donut which benefits the Make-a-Wish Foundation, with my new bike group called the Slow Spoke Society! Go on over to our Facebook Page and like it! We are new fresh and ready to conquer rides! On this bike tour, we got to eat as many donuts as we could as we rode. I ate about 3 donuts. I was more concerned about the water and where it was lol. Check out the pics!

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This entire month has been absolutely challenging for me. School, Work projects, Home life, and just life in general has been a whirlwind. My home life in particular was a nuclear disaster, which is why I ended up moving, and I feel like a heavy load or burden has been lifted. My morale this month, because of my stressful home life, has been all the way down. But do not worry, I have managed to stay positive, take it one step at a time and I am rebuilding it back up.

The 5k and the 28 mile bike ride really helped. When in doubt, work out! Ha! Working out has become such a great form of therapy. I mean, I read about it being a stress reliever and therapy, but I think I truly experienced it this weekend. Sometimes life will kick you in the rear hard. It is up to you whether you become a victim of your circumstances, or get back up and say is that all you got?!

I got contacts this Friday and I as a avid glasses wearer feel so fancy! LOL I like that people can see my face and I like the surprise people see when they notice my glasses are missing.

This week I am going to get back into my workout routine, start to bike halfway to work, work on reading my 3 chapters, 2 discussions, and 2 papers. Sounds like a lot, I know, but time management is the key to being successful! I got it. Hope everyone’s week is great as well! Stay focused and positive!!!

-Sharde

 

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

Thoughtful Thursdays

It’s Friday eve!

I am excited. I was not able to workout since last Thursday.I have a lot of school work to complete and I am on the organization committee for Customer service week I finally was able to workout and continue the Kris Geithen 12 Week program. I should be on week 4, but I am on week 3 and so far so good. You can find the workout on Bodybuilding.com.

Yesterdays workout consisted of:

Cardio
20 mins

Seated Barbell twist
150 reps per side

Dumbbell Bench Press
2 warm up sets of 10 reps w/ 15 lbs
2 sets to failure in 8 reps w/20 lbs

Straight – Arm Dumbbell Pullover
1 warm up set of 10 reps 15 lbs
2 sets to failure in 10 reps 20 lbs

Incline Dumbbell Flyes
2 sets to failure in 12 reps w/20 lbs
1 drop set to failure 20 lbs to 15 lbs

Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension
1 set to failure in 7 reps 20 lbs
2 drop sets to failure 15 lbs, to 10 lbs, to 5 lbs

Dips Triceps Version
3 sets to failure 12 reps

Superset:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension
3 sets to failure in 10 reps

Bench Dips
3 sets to failure in 12 reps

Cardio
15 mins

Seated Barbell twist
150 reps per side

After all of that lifting, yes, I was tired. I need to mention I have officially lost 26 lbs so far. It has been a long journey, but I am here from a huge 198 to 172!!! For a tall person I am moving into the realm of skinny. 150 is rail thin for a person of my stature. So I am excited! I should post a pic for Transformation Tuesday! Happy Thursday to everyone!

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!

High School Reunion

This weekend was action packed!

My boyfriend came into town for my 10 year high-school reunion. When I say we had fun honey! We had fun.

Friday night was the kickoff event and we went to a place in Pearland called the Fox Den. They have a nice bar, good music and a bull. It was good to see everyone and let me say we all were dancing and as we like to call it. Turning up!

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Whew that was some fun. The next day I went to see the new movie Baggage Claim with my guy (It was very funny!)  and we got ready for the actual reunion look at us.

They had an open bar and I took advantage and got…. A little happy lol.

We had so much fun. The next day I struggled a little, but I was encouraged to get up and workout. I did my shoulders exercise and that consisted of :

20 minute cardio on the eliptical

Smith Machine Overhead Shoulder Press

Machine Shoulder (Military Press)

Side Lateral Raises

Side Lateral Raise starting behind back.

Dumbbell Shrug

Reverse Machine Flys

10 Minute Cardio

Good little workout. I need to work on my Side Lateral Raises. A 10 lb weight gave me absolute hell! Overall it was a good weekend and I am ready for this week. It will be a busy one. Seriously, I do not know when I will not ever be busy. My schedule/plate is so full. This week I am in the process of moving. So this Monday, I woke up at 7ish to load my car with two large boxes of clothes and one medium box of stuff.  I need to do that everyday this week in order to have the majority of my boxes out of my house. I will have some movers come and take my furniture down my stairs and help me get it to my storage. I also need to clean as much as I can, so that I won’t get charged an arm and a leg! I can do it in between working out, caking , writing a paper, and doing homework and reading assignments for school right?

Monday’s  Calves and Abs workout consisted of:

10 min cardio

Standing Calf Raises

2 warm up sets of 10 reps

4 sets of 12 reps

Donkey calf raises

4 sets to failure 18 reps

Hanging Leg Raises

3 sets to failure in 20 reps

10 min cardio

I did this on my lunch break. I found time! I did it. Calve workouts are tough! Donkey calf raises hurrrrt! I did surprisingly well on my hanging leg raises. Here is my video!

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Tomorrow is  Back and Biceps day and I don’t know where or how I will fit in the cardio. I am guessing I can take my box moving and trade that in as 20 minutes of cardio? LOL I will find time somewhere. I just wish there were more hours in the day!

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!