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At 5 feet tall and 110 pounds most of her adult life, Sheila Barden said the last thing she would have been mistaken for was a professional athlete. Now, two and a half years and 20 pounds of hard-earned muscle later, the 26-year-old is stronger and faster than ever.
Barden said becoming a professional athlete never entered her mind when growing up.
“I studied communications in college, and three years in, I decided I didn’t like what I was studying. My husband was supportive so I quit school, and then became a dog walker,” she said. “It was the coolest job ever. I love dogs, and figured if I ever did want to go back, I could go back and study something else.”
With no background in sports or athletics, she stumbled upon functional fitness and was hooked, despite her lack of experience with it.
“I saw some girls competing in fitness on TV and remember watching and telling my husband, ‘I can do that,’” Barden said.
Her natural drive and competitiveness means Barden sets goals, and then knows she can achieve them.
“I’ve always been competitive. I used to race my siblings to get to the car the fastest, I was the valedictorian of my class because I didn’t want others to beat my test scores. It was just ingrained in me,” Barden said.
Laser-focused on honing her skills and strength within the sport, Barden walked into a functional fitness gym and joined immediately.
“I was ‘that girl’ on the elliptical before I started doing more functional fitness, but still just as competitive. I would spend 45 minutes on the elliptical and look at the others around me to see if I was beating them,” Barden said.
Soon after starting her fitness journey, Barden said she would study other women’s competition stats and work toward beating them.
“I could squat 185 lb for instance, but when I saw a girl had a 225-lb back squat, I decided I could do that. I put 225 on the bar, and quickly came down. Ha, ha. I was continually working to be better, though,” Barden said.
She soon surpassed that 225-lb back squat goal, and currently boasts a one-rep max of 285. She credits her coach, located in New Jersey, with providing programming that has drastically improved her game, and prepared her to compete.
Barden trains five days per week, and a typical training session lasts several hours. She is in the gym mid-morning, starting with an hour of mobility and warm-up, followed by 30 minutes working on skills (such as hollow body positions, handstand holds, forward rolls), two hours of strict strength work and an hour and a half of Olympic lifting.
“It may be really light, at 60 percent one day, then the next day I may do 100 percent or 105 percent, I may only use a PVC pipe one day. Every day is different,” Barden said.
After her morning session, Barden takes a break to eat and then goes back to the gym to do between three and five conditioning workouts. She also runs 1-2 miles every morning, seven days a week.
“My training is very intense” Barden said.
Barden is currently working hard to make it to the 2015 CrossFit games and for her 2015 Grid Season with her L.A. Reign team.
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