Training and Martial Arts: Last Two Weeks Where Have I Been?

Hello Everyone,

I have been remiss in updating my blog. The last two weeks have been a doozy. Where have I been? Well I was sick, was a single parent for 5 days, and was starting my business.

Upper Respiratory Cold

The last two weeks I was fighting off an upper respiratory cold. It was so bad I was concerned it was Covid – 19. So I did what I was supposed to do and got tested.

I got the rapid test and that came back negative. I was biting my nails because while my husband, son, and myself are vaccinated fully, my daughter is still to young. So I was terrified that I would give it to her if I had contracted it. The PCR test came back negative as well. I was so relieved. However, the upper respiratory cold that is going around is terrible here. I was coughing, sneezing, running nose, stuffy, just all of the above, and I felt like absolute poop.

I listened to my body this time and just rested. No workouts, not training, no going anywhere, I did not want to spread this nasty cold around.

But I am back at Muay Thai training tonight. Yay!

Yesterday, Monday 10/26/2021 was the first day back to training that I did.

Single Parent

I say this every time it happens but I will say it again. My hat and heart goes out to you my friends that are single parents. It is not easy, and I certainly miss the tag teammate I have in my husband.

Anyway, my husband has to go on a business trip at least once a year. (Last year was canceled because of a global pandemic) During that time that he is away I am teacher, mom, cook, chauffeur, moderator, dad, task master, house cleaner, handy woman, and face of the family. When my partner is here, I can offload some of that.

I had to do all this while I was still recovering from a terrible cold. So no feeling pitiful for me and just laying there like a lump on a log.

I am feel much better still a bit frogy in the throat but much, much better.

Starting my business

I finally opened up my shop. For that I have many hats, as most people know when they run their own businesses. I am the creator, fabricator/work horse, photographer, social media manager, pr spinner, finance, r&d department, and marketing manager.

So while I was sick unable to train, I decided to do a hard push on my store. It is an etsy store, and you can find it here. HTTPS://sharpcupcakestudio.etsy.com

I won’t go in to much detail about it here, but suffice to say it is where I will put my art and my creations. If you wanna check it out feel free.

Eating

While I was sick I was not tracking anything. I was just trying to keep my head above water. With being sick, and the single parent week it was hard. I know I did not eat enough protein. Hell some days I was lucky to just eat a yogurt cup and some fruit.

I fed the kiddos, and made sure they had everything they needed, but I just went with the flow for me.

I have not seen any adverse effects yet. I am sure if I kept up not focusing on getting protein and not eating there will be, but I am going back to my routine, now that I can breath and I have my partner back.

Anyway that is it for me. We had a 19 year anniversary that we were able to celebrate when he got back home, and everyone is happy and healthy on my watch so I am going to count the last two weeks as a win.

Thanks for reading. I just wanted to pop in and update you/blog on my goings on. I hope you have a great week. If you liked my blog please hit the like button, if you wanna keep up with my crazy training and life please subscribe, if you wanna comment and leave me a message I would love to read them.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Training and Martial Arts: Differences in Thai boxing and Western Boxing

Happy Monday everyone!

This week was a bit of a detraining week for me. But I still got some good training in. Just not as much as I normally do. My body needed the break and with the changing seasons here in the U.S. my allergies kick up.

I did train 3 days this week in Muay Thai. That was great. I helped teach one day, and we taught… yep you guessed it… Boxing fundamentals!

So I wanted to talk about that. There are so many websites you can look up to see each persons take on the two, however, this is what we taught and teach for our students.

Muay Thai vs Western Boxing:

Differences

  1. Muay Thai stance is more squared up with opponent than traditional western boxing. This gives us the ability to check/block our opponents kicks, and helps with body mechanics (makes easier, and more powerful) for kicking with the rear leg.
    • Western boxers blade their body more. They do this because they only have to worry about the other boxer boxing, there is no worry about kicks, elbows, or knees.
  2. We keep our hands closer to your face for guard and protection. We have to protect from kicks, and elbows as well. Western boxers do not need to do that.
    • Western boxers tend to have their hands lower at shoulder level.
  3. Footwork – we don’t lean back hard on the heel, we stay 60 % rear foot, 40 % lead foot depending on which stance we land in. Also we might have to change stance to switch kick as well. Some times our weight is on our lead foot. We don’t hop around back and forth, we tend to shuffle in, cut around, or shuffle out.
    • Western Boxers dance about, bounce

Similarities

  1. Footwork – yes footwork is here twice. We have similarities as well. Our punches all originate from the feet. We use our hips and torso for the torque.
  2. Jab, Cross, Hook, are all the same animal. We use the same tools in the tool box, a wrench is a wrench. We as Muay Thai practitioners use other tools with it, like a kick.
  3. We both have to read our opponent and watch their body mechanics to hopefully predict our opponents strikes so that we can guard against them.
  4. Contact sport. In the end these are both a contact sport.

At the end, the two are both amazing contact sports. I don’t like to say one is better than the other. That really has to do with the practitioner. There have been amazing boxers that have crossed over into Muay Thai.

We taught our fellow students that boxing begins with the feet. You lift your lead hip a little when you throw the jab, but don’t turn hour lead leg to much or you will get kicked there. We taught them to pivot their rear leg so that their rear knee points to the lead leg when throwing the cross. The power comes from the foot to hip to hand movement. The power for your boxing starts in your feet.

I did a better job of getting protein in this week. I will keep up with it.

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is staying safe. Hug your loved ones, and give your fur babies some love too from me.

If you liked this blog, please hit the like button. If you want to follow me subscribe, and as always I love to hear from you all.

Remember, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: The Training Does Not Stop

I missed last weeks post. Sorry everyone. I have been super busy. On top of my regular job that I use to bring home the bacon (hah), I am also trying to start up a business. I am a mom, and we as a family also home school. So my days are filled to the brim with all the things.

On top of my life as a mom, wife, and now an entrepreneur, I train in martial arts and weight lifting. Crazy I know… but that is my life. =)

I have been asking myself why am I doing this now? But really I won’t ever have a good time to start a business. I am busy all the time. Need to start somewhere, so I started now.

But the training does not stop for me. I am still doing it. I just have to rearrange my schedule.

For the next few months I will only be weight lifting 2 days a week, that is down from 4 to 3 days a week I normally do.

I am training martial arts 4 days a week still. So still have a full schedule of training between the two. Depending on when I do them it will be 5 to 6 days a week.

Now about food… my food intake has not been great. I have fallen to old patterns, where I am not eating enough, and certainly not enough protein. It is so easy to fall back into old habits.

I am making efforts to get back onto track. I need to prioritize eating and carve time out to eat especially when I am working on my business. I get very single minded and will work through a meal because I am trying to get something done. Then look up at the clock and realize I missed eating.

So I am still here. I am still training. I have been teaching classes in martial arts. It has been so much fun. I also have been kicking my own behind with my workout and training as well.

What have you been doing? Do you find you are missing workouts when your life gets busy?

This was a short blog post. I did two days of weight lifting last week, 3 days of martial arts.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you are having a great week. Please feel free to comment, I would love to hear from you.

If you liked this post, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow me please subscribe.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Doing what you really don’t want to is sometimes good.

If you look up on google forcing yourself to do a workout, you will see, articles and information warning you against forcing yourself to do your workout.

For the most part I absolutely agree. You really don’t want to force yourself to do something you absolutely hate. That will create a negative association with you and your workouts.

However, and this is a big however, sometimes you do need to do the things you don’t want to do. Wait… don’t tune out now let me explain. For example, I am a distance athlete. I really have always been. In swim team I loved 500 meter freestyle, 200 meter fly, and just like longer distance running.

So what is it I don’t really like? If you have not guessed yet it is sprinting. I am not good at it. I don’t like it. I also know that it will help me reach my goals in my martial arts. I want to be more springy and responsive and be able to get in and out of the pocket when sparring in martial arts. How do you do that? You work on your ability to get in and out of the pocket, by drilling and training. But on the back end you have to work on your sprinting and quick momentum.

I say all this because that is what I am doing. I generally run for cardio, and I usually like to put at least a mile or miles under me. However, I don’t often ever want to sprint. So I do it to help my training. Do I like it, nah… do I not want to do my workouts sometimes when I know I am going to be doing it? Yup! But I also know it is helping so I do it anyway.

Sometimes it is good to force yourself to do something you don’t like. I can already tell my cardio is different during training and sparring sessions.

What do you hate to do? What do you think you could force yourself to do if it helped you achieve your goals?

If you want to skip my week of training, down below I talk about some changes to my social media.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 9/06/2021: HIIT Sprint Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 9/07/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 9/08/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 9/029/2021: rest day
  5. Friday 9/010/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 9/11/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training (teaching)
  7. Sunday 9/12/2021: scheduled rest day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. teaching fellow students
  2. working the fundamentals
  3. helping students focus on fundamentals and why

Drills for this week:

Training:
1) jump rope
2) hip turn drill 20 each side
3) partner rear kicks, you lead shield, lead kick, cross hook, rear kick
3) partner rear kick, you lead shield, rear kick, hook, cross, lead kick
4) partner rear kick, you lead shield, to lead Teep, to lead kick, follow up with whatever 4 count
5) pop the leather, 4 count, I focused on flanking my opponent to get hits in.


Cardio Run / Weight Lifting: Week two

Weightlifting: focus – back biceps and abs

Cardio Run: focus – sprinting HIIT

Sprint HIIT – changed up with longer warm up run and more burpees

1) warm ip 600 meter run
2) 4x 200 meter sprints
3) 30 jump squats
4) 200 meter sprint
5) 20 burpees
6) 200 meter sprints

Weightlifting: time and attention – glutes and hamstrings focus

1) abductor resistance band – reps- 20, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10

2) pause hip thrust (3 seconds pause at top) -rep- 8, 8, 8, 8

3) dumbbell single stiff leg dead lift- reps each leg – 15, 15, 15, 15

4) barbell stiff leg dead lift – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

5) dumbbell frog pumps- reps – 20, 20, 20

6) cable pull through – reps – 12, 12, 12

1) standing barbell row- reps – 15, 15, 10, 10, 10

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I seemed to have met my fat and carbs needs, but was woefully under on my protein. Need to keep pushing the protein, if I don’t I find I just don’t eat enough of it.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein41148757310810474.989.1285714190100.8714286
Carbs75219186128109212197.5160.928571160-0.928571429
Fat908785691019282.686.657142967-19.65714286
           
Calories12742251180914251777209218331780.142862003222.8571429

I changed my instagram handle to @fiestycupcake. I did this mainly because it makes more sense for my workout adventures and everyday shenanigans. I also made a Redbubble shop that has the same name Sharpcupcake.

I am an artist and decided to start uploading some of my artwork for people. You can visit my store here:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/SharpCupcake/shop?asc=u

That is the last I will talk about this change here. I will be uploading more designs based on my interests and art.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all have a fantastic week. If you want to follow me on my day to day adventures, I am here on instagram @fiestycupcake. If you want to comment please feel free I would love to hear what you say, and have a conversation. If you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to see more right when I upload please hit the subscribe.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Teaching martial arts is… fun, rewarding, hard, and so educational

Hello beautiful people, I had the awesome chance to teach an entire class last week. I will be able to teach another few classes for this month.

Teaching martial arts is… fun, hard and so educational.

Let me back up a little bit. I am not new to teaching. I taught B&P (Baking and Pastry) and Cake decorating for the public school system for 13 years. I went to school and got a degree in the the things I was teaching. Yes there is still trepidation the first couple of times you get up and teach in front of a class. However, this being my profession, and what I taught it faded after the first year and then teaching became easier.

However, with martial arts, I have only been studying it for 3+ years. My brain asks what do I know. How much do I know to be able to teach.

Teaching can be hard:

So I made a plan on what I wanted to teach. Screwed up my courage, and hoped I did not fall on my face when I was demonstrating the strikes/skills I wanted to. It was hard in that I kept telling myself remember the basics and make sure you explain why you are doing something. They may not see the little nuances.

Teaching is very educational:

Teaching my fellow trainees is so educational. The biggest thing that I learned is that I know more than I think I do. I taught about the fundamentals of the Thai round house kick. The kicker is when some students asked questions I was able to answer them. When they wondered why we did it the way we do I was able to answer them. I was able to go around watch what they were doing and see the small tweaks they needed to do. This is different then my own training. In which I just train, and try to make my skills better. I sometimes don’t see what I need to do to change my own movements. I sometimes can’t see what I can need to do to fix my strikes even when I record it and look back. I can see it in my fellow students.

Teaching others also cements what you know. It does this because you have to figure out how to explain what you know to your students. They may not see/understand what you are saying/showing the way you are showing it. So you have to know the what, why, and how of what you are showing so that you can change the way you are saying it.

Teaching is fun:

Teaching was so much fun this week. I really enjoyed teaching people cake decorating and pastry arts. I find I love teaching martial arts. It is so rewarding to see that light bulb, or light go on behind peoples eyes. I found it rewarding when teaching pastry. I find the same reward when teaching martial arts. I also love to see people having a good time. It is rewarding to see people fall in love the martial art that I love so much.

I have the chance to teach again this month and part of next month. I think I will learn so much. I am excited.

The best thing about teaching is everyone coming up and telling me how much I helped them. They mentioned how much fun they had in class. That is in itself rewarding.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/30/2021: HIIT Sprint Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/31/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 9/01/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 9/02/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 9/03/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 9/04/2021: Off holiday
  7. Sunday 9/05/2021: unscheduled but needed rest day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Working my distance management and learning my distance
  2. Stay light on my feet
  3. Teaching fellow students

Drills for this week: the lesson I taught (focus on pivot and hip placement/turnover)

1) jump rope
2) isolated hip turn partner drills ( partner holds your foot and you balance pivot the foot and turn your hip)
3) jab, rear kick / jab, lead kick
4) jab, cross, rear kick / jab, cross, lead kick
5) jab, cross, hook, rear kick/ jab, cross, hook lead kick
6) pop the leather – shield and response kick drill


Cardio Run / Weight Lifting: Week one 3 day split finding that 3 days is gonna be more like two days for the foreseeable future due to scheduling.

Weightlifting: focus – back biceps and abs

Cardio Run: focus – sprinting HIIT

HIIT:

1) warm up – 200 meter sprint and stretching
2) 4x 200 meter sprints
3) 30 x jump squats
4) 200 meter sprint
5) 20 x push ups
6) 200 meter sprint

Weightlifting Back Biceps and Abs

1) standing barbell row- reps – 15, 15, 10, 10, 10

Superset
2) pat pull down wide grip – reps -12, 12, 12
3) cable rope face pull – reps – 12, 12, 12

4) barbell rack pull – reps- 10, 10, 10

5) seated cable rows – reps – 15, 15, 15

6) dumbbell standing double arm bicep curl- rep- 12, 12, 12

7) dumbbell biceps spider curl – reps – 12, 12, 12

Superset
8 ) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
9) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
10) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
11) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
12) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
13) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
14) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
15) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
16) kettle bell sit ups – 30 secondsd

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Lets just face it. This week I just did not try to much. I did not eat well, I did not eat on time. I did not eat enough. I feel back into my old ways. Gonna make it better this coming week.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein9438798553688271.2857143190118.7142857
Carbs17731169212201109192155.8571431604.142857143
Fat8455919839659675.428571467-8.428571429
           
Calories1840771181120701367129319601587.428572003415.5714286

Well that is it for this last week. I did terribly on making sure I ate enough, and ate what I needed to. I am working on making sure I meal prep for this week. I had a great week and I got to teach my fellow teammates. I get a chance again coming up. How was your week? Did you eat well this week? Did you do what you needed to do?

Thank you for reading. If you like this, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow along on my adventures, please feel free to subscribe. Comment below if you want to chat. My daily shenanigans is on instagram @sharpcupcake.

You know, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Always learning and growing, training to my body type.

I will never stop learning and growing. I am so happy about that. I mean in my martial arts and fitness goals, but also in everything I do.

I have some new things on the horizon… It has a huge learning curve, and potential for me to do things I love. I am being intentionally vague because there is a lot up in the air. We will see how it goes.

Anyway back to the blog. I am changing how I train, or am trying to. The thing I have learned as I have gone through the years in my training is that you have to be willing to change things up. You have to be willing to try something new. If things are working for you but not the way you want, you have to be willing to change it up.

What am I doing that is different in my workouts/training? Well it seems like something that should be intuitive, but I am moving more toward training to my body type. I am making little changes to try to work with my body. Trying to be understanding when hormones are not working with me.

This current week I am adding more moves/workouts that are supposed to be more appropriate for my body type.

Body type you ask? I have heard about them and read about them before. But it is really hard to find consistent information on how train to your body type. I have been reading a book called Roar by Stacy T. Sims, PhD.

Different Body types:

  1. Ectomorph: Ectomorphs tend to be longer limbed people. They don’t seem to pack on muscle easily, and they tend to skinny looking.
  2. Mesomorph: Mesomorph people tend to find building muscle easy. They are more proportionally built.
  3. Endomorph: Endomorphs are usually curvier, softer and rounder. They tend to store fat more easily than the other two body types.

I feel am mostly Endomorph but partially Mesomorph. I kinda straddle both of these two body types. Which makes things difficult to taylor my fitness routine.

Some experts say to do one thing and other another thing. Honestly we are all different and we cannot be put in to a box. With that said we have to find what works for us, and be willing to throw away what does not. That is why we need to be able to experiment.

So as I go along I learn and try out new things and throw away the old things. Sometimes going back to the things I did before because they worked better than the new things.

This week I am doing more sprints. I hate sprints. But I need to work more on my explosive movements. I am keeping the weight lifting, and I am of course keeping the Martial Arts. I am changing up when and how I am eating. No longer just waiting till I have time. I am making time.

Let me get to my last week of training.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/23/2021: Mile Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/24/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 8/25/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/26/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 8/27/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/29/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai Training, Weightlifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 8/30/2021: we had an off day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Working my distance management and learning my distance
  2. Stay light on my feet
  3. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  4. Pull up foot out of the bucket when throwing cross

Drills for this week: Focus on getting in and out of the pocket

I did not record the drills for this week.


Weight Lifting: Week one 3 day split

Weightlifting: focus – shoulders, triceps, chest and abs

1) seated dumbbell shoulder press – reps – 15, 15, 8, 8, 8, 8

Superset
2) seated dumbbell lateral raises – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12
3) inclined fly backs – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset
4) dumbbell inclined chest press- reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
5) diamond push ups – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

Superset
6) cable chest flys – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12
7) overhead rope tricep extensions- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset
8 ) pike crunches 30 seconds
9) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
10) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
11) walking planks 30 seconds
12) pike crunches 30 seconds
13) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
14) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
15) walking planks 30 seconds
16) pike crunches 30 seconds
17) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
18) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
19) walking planks 30 seconds

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Just trying to make sure I eat right now. Not getting enough protein in… and eating lots of carbs.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein79104119107641009395.142857119094.85714286
Carbs229217238293130188164208.428571160-48.42857143
Fat87739912289676986.571428667-19.57142857
           
Calories20151941231926981577175516491993.4285720039.571428571
08/32/2021-08/30/2021

I am kinda in a transition. I guess this shows in my posts. However, this is a recording of Trying to figure out my next steps, feeling out my new workout. But I will keep training. Changing things up, and tweaking things to make it better for me.

What do you do for your training? How have you tweaked it? What is your body type?

Thanks for reading, If you liked it hit the like button, if you want to follow along subscribe. My daily shenanigans is @sharpcupcake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Getting back into the swing is hard after a vacation.

This week was hard to get back into. I did not realize how much I needed that vacation. We had been on lock down and not going anywhere for 15 months. We worry about our kids and them getting covid. One of them is still to young to get the vaccine.

So we chose the beach and being socially distanced from everyone. It was fantastic.

But we came back last week, and I attempted to start an 8 week weightlifting program. I one day in of the 3 day split. So I restarted it for this week we are in.

I did however, get all of my martial arts training in. I have new bruises to show. Today woke up wondering why the left side of my torso hurt. Looked down and lo and behold bruises on my lower left hand side of my torso.

So getting the training in just needed to restart my other training.

Gonna be kind to myself and just go with the flow.

Do you find it hard to get back into the swing of things after an awesome and much needed vacation?

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/16/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/17/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 8/18/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/19/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 8/20/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/21/2021: 3 hours of Muay Thai Training
  7. Sunday 8/22/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai Training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Pull up foot out of the bucket when throwing cross

Drills for this week: Focus on getting in and out of the pocket

1) mirror with rear leg kick
2) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow
3) jab, cross, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
4) jab, cross, lead elbow, lead knee, lead kick
5) slip the incoming cross torso hook, break elbow with upward elbow, throw arm, bob and weave the incoming hook, torso hook, kick back of knee, hit back of opponent head.
6) rear to lead pop the leather


Weight Lifting

Done with the 8 week program. So happy with the results. Well contemplate my next 8 week program I am going to start on my detraining week.

Focus on for this 8th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: glutes and hamstrings focus

Weightlifting:

1) resistance band abduction – reps – 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10

2) barbell pause hip thrust TUT 1/3/1 – reps – 8, 8, 8, 8

3) single leg, stiff leg, dumbbell deadlift- reps each leg – 15, 15, 15, 15

4) barbell stiff leg dead lift – reps- 12, 12, 10

5) dumbell frog pumps – reps – 20, 20, 20

6) cable/resistance band pull throughs- reps- 12, 12, 12

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Whew it has been a high hormone week for me. So the carbs have been flowing.
  3. Need to work on my protein, and actually get them in.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein97102669242969784.5714286190105.4285714
Carbs300239225227168268179229.428571160-69.42857143
Fat69935782751215779.142857167-12.14285714
           
Calories22092201167720141515254516171968.28571200334.71428571
08/16/2021 – 08/22/2021

This blog post is a day late. Par for the course this last week. But I am pushing through and going to get back on track.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow along, subscribe. My everyday shenanigans can be found on instagram @sharpcupcake. Comment if you want to let me know how you get back on track after a vacation.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get it!

Martial Arts and Training: Vacation, Deloading Week, and Kali/Silat/JKD seminar

week of 8/9/2021

One more rotation around the sun. I made it one more rotation around the sun. Yay!

So this is not going to be my usual training post, but maybe a more abbreviated post that is going to jump around to three main things that happened during this last week.

It just so happens that I finished an 8 week Weight Lifting program and the week we went on vacation was a deloading week.

Normally I would workout and train through my vacation because I believe in keeping up my schedule but I also have learned that I need to take these deloading weeks off. So this post is going to be different than my other posts. Just because I don’t have a lot of

So what did I do for my natal day? I went to the beach. My happy place.

Deloading/Detraining week:

Deloading means – stopping regular training and letting your body rest. You still want to stay active, just not do any hard training.

I did not work out but I did go boogie boarding with my kiddos at the beach. I did go walking around a state park with my family. I did climb a huge look out tower with my kids and we did have a blast just enjoying each others company.

Nutrition:

I did not track my food intake. I gave myself a break from the tracking and I wanted to just focus on enjoying the moments. I did try to make sure I made smart decisions on my food, but I did not restrict myself either.

The number on the scale did not go up or down but stayed steady.

Kali/Silat/JKD Seminar with Sifu Mike Mathews:

The training I did end up doing was a two day 3 hour per day seminar. We learned Kali drills/strikes, Silat drills/strikes, and Jeet Kune Do drills/strikes.

I learned so much. I felt like my brain was a sponge. I don’t know if it was cause I took the week off for vacation and I was able to relax. Maybe it was because I took the week off and let my body reset. Quite possibly it was because I did both at the same time.

I was able to watch Sifu Mathews work and watch how his hands worked, how his body moved and able to apply it to my techniques. Am I saying I am an expert? Nope not in the least. I will never stop learning, but I was able to as I said absorb the information. I felt like everything was clicking. I was even able to help my fellow students understand a Kali stick and elbow lock.

We covered some really cool things:

3 inch punch set up
  1. Jeet Kune Do One Inch Punch, The Three Inch Punch, and the 6 Inch Punch.
  2. Kali we worked on Hubud, with a stick and empty hand. Some new techniques I had not seen before, and I brought intent.
  3. We worked the 15 wrist locks flow.
  4. We worked the JKD wedge and knife hand flow
  5. We worked Silat’s, Basset Dalam, Sapu Luar, and the Sayaw Dance or Knife 12 disarms

So that was my last week. We were able to go to my favorite place… the beach. I was able to relax, read, and spend time with the family. We had the honor to be able to attend a seminar with Sifu Mike Mathews. I was able to learn and hone my skills. I have so much to practice now and pages of notes that I took.

Yes I did have cake! H my partner got me a fantastic mango mousse cake for my birthday. Look how pretty it is. It was light and fluffy. It was delicious, satisfying, and well balanced.

Future:

  1. I have already chosen my new Weight Lifting eight week program.
  2. I am back on track for eating, tracking my nutrients, and getting my training in for Martial Arts and for my Weight Lifting.
  3. I plan on trying to work around my hormones, and working with my body and not against it.

How did your week go? Mine went great. I had the best birthday week ever.

Thank you for reading, if you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to follow my adventures please subscribe. Comment and let me know how you like to celebrate your birthday. Are you a forest person or beach person? My every day shenanigans are on @sharpcupcake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Berry Walnut Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

I have been looking for a breakfast. Breakfast cereal without oats that I liked. It seems oats and I don’t get along. My body hates them. So we adapt and change. Find what works for you and put away what does not.

I love this one… I found it in a book I am reading called Roar. I include the information for the book below. This is a healthy, delicious, vegan, contains good for you fats, and has some protein.

You can add your own toppings but I liked mine this way.

This can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.

Anyway enough of the word salad here is the recipe.

Berry Walnut Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients:

  1. 1 cup of organic quinoa
  2. 1 cup of organic almond milk unsweetened
  3. 1 cup of water
    Toppings:
  4. 1/2 or 2g tsp chia seeds
  5. 1 tbs or 13g dried organic cranberries
  6. 1/3 cup or 56g frozen fruit
  7. 1/4 cup or 60g almond milk
  8. 1 tbs or 18g agave nectar
  9. 1 tbs or 4g raw walnuts
  10. 1/4 tsp of cinnamon or to taste
  11. Pinch of salt or to taste

Directions:

  1. Combine water, almond milk, and quinoa, bring to a boil.
  2. Cover, and turn heat down, to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes or until water has evaporated
  3. Let set for 5 minutes with head off.
  4. Portion out into 4 jars/containers, and add toppings.
  5. Mix, cap and let set in the fridge.

Nutritional information: For 1 serving of cereal

Calories 337, Fat 5.1 g, Fiber 7.4 g, Carbs 65.3 g, Sodium 75.1 mg, Protein 6.3 g

I hope you get a chance to try this out. I have been looking for ways to fuel my workouts, and to keep my body going. I found the base recipe out of a book call Roar by STacy T. Sims PhD. I so far love this book and it has helped me understand a great deal more about my hormones and training as a woman. I recommend picking it up.

I added chia seeds, extra liquid, altered the sugar source and amount, and altered the toppings.

Here is a link to the book I got on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ROAR-Fitness-Physiology-Optimum-Performance/dp/1623366860

Let me know if you get a chance to try this. If you liked this recipe please hit the like button. If you try it out let me know in the comments section. Subscribe to follow my adventures. My daily shenanigans you can catch on instagram @sharpcupcake.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: 8 week program end, and I can see and feel improvements.

It is officially the end of another 8 week weight lifting program. I am happy with my results and I am happy with my progress. I am also happy it is done. I am looking forward to this next week of detraining, or letting my body rest. Out of the two (8 week programs) I have done this spring and summer I am feeling the need for a vacation after this one.

I have increased the weights I can lift by 10lbs across the board, I even increased some of my weights by 20lbs.

I am seeing definition and I am seeing my progress. It is slow, and monotonous at times, but I can see it.

First picture is from this month August 2021, and second picture is from 2017.

I could feel by body being tired, and just needing some down time. I finished out this week and I got great times running, and fantastic weights lifted.

I am literally at the top of the amounts of weights I have at home. I am going to have to invest in some more plates for my barbell, and some more dumbbells. This is a good problem to have.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/02/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/03/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 8/04/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/05/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 8/06/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/07/2021: resting
  7. Sunday 8/08/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Keep my hands up
  4. Bringing the intent, intensity to training
  5. Superman Drill
  6. Head movement

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai Training: focus kicks
1) jump rope
2) Thai Test
3) mirror drill + leg kicks
4) mirror drill + leg kicks

5) jab, cross, rear body kick, rear leg kick
6) lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) rear kick, Superman cross, hook, lead kick


Weight Lifting

Done with the 8 week program. So happy with the results. Well contemplate my next 8 week program I am going to start on my detraining week.

Focus on for this 8th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: glutes and hamstrings focus

Superset
1) barbell stiff leg dead lift- reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell single leg dead lift – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

3) hip thrusters with a pause at the top – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
4) dumbbell alternating reverse squats – reps – 20, 20, 20, 20
5) dumbbell sumo squats – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I missed my protein intake by a lot this week. I was way under in calories total, but I made up for that in more carbs and fat than I needed. Hah! Well I did try to eat more protein… just did not succeed this week. Keep chugging along and I will get it right eventually.
  3. In hindsight this may also be why I feel just a little run down and needing a break. When my nutrition is not what my body needs…
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1406776127123697496.571428619093.42857143
Carbs1307876270285178258182.142857160-22.14285714
Fat58484513963859375.857142967-8.857142857
           
Calories16021012101328392199175321651797.571432003205.4285714
8/02/2021 – 8/08/2021

Anyway that was my week. This coming week is a de-training week and I am so looking forward to it.

I will continue to be on maintenance eating, and will keep working on getting my protein.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button, if you want to follow my adventures as they come along please hit the subscribe button. As always I would love to hear from you. What are your goals? What are you doing to meet them?

My day to day shenanigans can be found @sharpcupcake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!