Lady Lifter Spotlight: Sandy of Be a Bond Girl!

In all my years of blogging (so it’s been less than two years, but still!), I do not think I have ever come across anyone that has called me out publicly as her girl crush, but this week one of my potential spotlights did just that. I wanted to feature her even before she flattered me in such a way, but it is always nice to get a little ego boost and know that you are making a difference or inspiring someone!

@winetoweights xooxxo 😉 #IHaveAGirlcrushOnJenniferDontTell 😉

— Sandy Shepard (@fempowerment) November 20, 2013

This week’s spotlight is a woman who I am pretty sure has done it all, yet still is always striving for more. I admire this woman for what she has done and love that her active lifestyle has kept her feeling and looking young! A former Marine, Ironman, self-starter and lover of life, Sandy has recently discovered Crossfit and is ready to tackle the next chapter of her life!

Blog: BeABondGirl.com and DreamChoosers.com

Twitter: @fempowerment
Pinterest: BeABondGirl
Instagram: BeABondGirl
Facebook: fempowerment

LinkedIn: sandyshepard

Location: Marin County (across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco), CA

Age: 50+

What types physical activity do you enjoy?

I don’t really like physical activity 😉 I LOVE lying on the couch and eating bon-bons. 😉 HOWEVER, I have completed an Ironman, I did a handful of marathons in the past year (oh and the Lavaman triathlon), and I’m applying to The Amazing Race.

How did you get started in weight lifting?

I have been lifting now for 2 months. I started because I realized that, while I could run a marathon without issues (WELL, I could run 17 miles without issues, then I would be grumpy, but that’s pretty far for a couch potato), and swim like a mile, etc., I was super duper weak “strength-wise.” Also, I have had continual issues with one shoulder from when I was doing pole dancing, and nothing seemed to be able to get me out of constant, nagging, low-grade (or high grade depending on the activity) pain. I got a Groupon for Crossfit, and haven’t looked back!

I had one bad experience with a different box (actually with a coach) that was so frustrating it made me cry, but I went back because I felt fairly strongly this would REALLY make a difference. I’m still a “weak sister” but I’m constantly amazing myself and my hubby. Example – last night he and I deadlifted the same amount in a 10 RFT that includes 10 deadlifts in it – now look, we’re talking less than 100 lbs, but still – and the coach even whispered “good job” to me (He’s not a big one for praise, but in a nice way, not a mean way).

How many places in your life can you, at age 50, get “PRs” and “atta girls” – I mean, seriously? That’s what keeps me going back. Oh, and of course the fact that I’m kinda digging having calluses. Yes, that’s weird, I know.

Favorite workout or lift?

Right now, I really like deadlifting (um, obviously!) I still can’t do much of the workout otherwise, I scale everything in a big way. HOWEVER, 2 months ago, I was deadlifting the 10 lb “swirly bar” (it’s a bar that you can’t put plates on – the ends are “swirled”) and that was plenty, now I have a regular orange bar (I think it’s 10 kg – maybe 15?) plus ok it’s not a lot, but 10 kg either side. (Yesterday I started with 5 either side – which is what I’d done before – and then I just added 2 more 5s either side to see what would happen LOL) I have a bad shoulder, plus I blew both my knees out in the Marines, so I am “broken.”

But for the first time in memory, I don’t wake up with pain in my shoulder. Oops, I am wandering 😉 Let’s see, what else do I like to do? I love to push the sled. Maybe that’s because I was born in the Year of the Ox. And I really like pulling the battle rope with weights on it. Arrrrrrr, Me Strong. LOL.

Current lifting-related goal:

To do a pullup. To do a pushup once the doctor says I can. To do a burpee for real instead of basically a “stair climber, pike, updog combo). To do an OHS with something more than the weakest power band. To climb the rope. To do a handstand. To have one of the competing athletes (we have a bunch of competitors, they’re unbelievable) in the box see me do something good or cheer me on. I think that basically “to do an X for real” on ANY Crossfit-related thing is how I would fill in this blank. Or, how about “doing a workout at Rx”? That would be awesome. I’m way far from that now, that’s for sure.

Piece of advice for new lifters or those reluctant to try:

Find the right box. I started at one where the coach made me feel like a big loser in the first sessions (the “on ramp” where you have to do personal training before you can actually join classes?) I’m not sure if it’s because he heard I’d done like 4 marathons and was on my way to Austria to do another one, plus I’d been in the Marines, etc. but he CONSTANTLY kept saying basically how unfit I was. I would go home and just cry. I went to Austria for the marathon and came back and never went back to the box and pretty much crossed Crossfit off my list to try to get stronger. Then another box had a Groupon and I thought I’d give it a go.

The most important part of this box (for me) was that NONE of my friends belonged. We have (literally) 10 boxes within about a 15 minute drive from my house. 2 (including the one that I went to first) are within 5 minutes. I went to a box that’s a 15-20 minute drive depending on traffic, and though it’s actually the FIRST Crossfit in our area a lot of “hard core” Crossfitters put it down because it is a HUGE area but 1/3 is Crossfit, 1/3 is gymnastics, and 1/3 is Parkour. They call it “oh, that Parkour box” which is most assuredly is NOT. Anyway – so I actually LIKE the fact it has all sorts of things I can aspire to like an ENORMOUS amount of Parkour stuff, a rock climbing wall, etc. – I love that there are kids there from fat to thin, boys and girls, doing stuff that I would have been way too scared to do as a kid (I was a bookworm, DEFINITELY not athletic, until I was well into my adulthood).

So I would say to new folks, and this is coming from just MY experience, but if you’re curious about it, look for a Groupon, first, and then go to a box where you know NO ONE. Then you don’t have to be nice – if you reject it you’re not rejecting your crazy friend who lives for this stuff – you don’t have to tell anyone you’re even doing it – etc. And if you can find a box with a “Conditioning” class, DEFINITELY go for that over jumping right into the WODs. I LOVE that about our box too. And sometimes, Conditioning is HARDER than the usual WOD – but the good part is that generally everyone in there is at or around your fitness level, versus jumping into a WOD where the folks look like they are Action Figures.

~~