Aquino+Holzman Wedding @Refugio Ranch vineyard Santa Ynez, CA
Good times at Stephanie and Eli's wedding.
Central Coast May 2014
Took a trip up the California central coast to do some camping at Morro Bay state park. Our group also decided to take a lunch trip up to Cambria, CA and stop by Moonstone beach with some breathtaking views. Here's some of the pics I got.
Sequoia National Park
I try to take an outdoors trip once a year. Here's a few pics from our 2013 trip to Sequoia. It was amazing! Also checkout www.facebook.com/btlphotos
New Venture... Beyond the Lens Photos
It's a new year and it's time to venture out. I will now be operating under the name "Beyond the Lens Photos". I will still have this personal page up and running but will slowly start building out Beyond the Lens. It's time I took the leap of faith and express my creativity with you all. The website www.beyondthelensphotos.com will be forwarded here in the meantime. Thanks for the support.
New Year, new photo ops
With this new year in full swing, I'm vowing to take and share a lot of pictures. So with the first Sunday of the year, we decided to go play at the park before the San Diego Chargers playoff game today. Have a great weekend!
Summer MTB trip through the easter Sierras
After a good family vacation in Solvang and Santa Barbara and then a good 4th of July firework show, we (my brother, friend "C", and I) headed up the eastern sierras to do some mountain bike riding in Mammoth. We had some pit stops on the way up and on the way down with some great riding, food and beer in between. Without further or do, here are some pics.
Central coast family vacay
Had a blast these past three days with the family. From Solvang to Nojoqui Falls to Santa Barbara. Here's a few shots...
Birthday wod
Family vacation out here in Santa Barbara and started our day with a birthday wod.
Back squat 5x3 @ 254#
AMRAP 10 min
20 front squats 75#
30 double unders
20 push press 75#
30 double unders
Thanks to Tyler @ CrossFit Santa Barbara
Now it's time for some beach, sun, and Food!!!
Summertime is here
Having fun snapping around for the start of summer! Fun times are just around the corner.
BOOM! Dinner is served!
Here's what I create on my rest day! Yummy! It's all clean baby. Grilled Salmon with green beans sautéed in clarified butter and minced garlic.
Photography fun with the lil one....
no explanation needed... just had a great time taking pics of this precious one.
my new favorite portrait
Femme Royale pictures are up!
Pictures are posted from the Femme Royale event held on June 1, 2013 at Valley Crossfit. Feel free to contact me and share from my website. The entire day was inspirational and motivating. As a father to a 2-year old daughter, this gives joy to see you all be examples of strength and beauty. Take Care.
Click the links to the left or below
Searching for partner to start Photography gig
I'm searching for a partner or partners to start a side photography gig/business. This will not be full-time as I currently have a great day job. I'd like to expand on my photography and am in search of a partner with similar or better skill set start doing gigs. I have a lot of contacts, professional gear, and great leads. Contact me and we can discuss more.
Tri-City Open update
Canyon crossfit has been doing the crossfit games open and held the opening wod for the tri-city open. Unfortunately due to scheduling I have not been able to participate at the other boxes. Here's an update to the rankings of our boxes.
And I'm back...
So if you perused my blog and saw there was no activity, I'm sorry. I have no excuse, I was too lazy to post anything because it takes a lot of my time and I'd rather train and be with my family. Now since that's off my chest, I can share some good news. I PR'd my back squat this week and it was unplanned. I had already did some back squats to start the week because I noticed squats were programmed at the end of the week. On top of the weekly training, the crossfit games open had started. I really want to do well for personal reasons so I didn't intend to go heavy on back squats before Saturday's "tri-city open". This is a new and super cool event. Our box is joining two other crossfit boxes and are going to do the open workouts competition style, where people sign up for heats and perform the brutal wod of:
17 min AMRAP
40 burpees
30 Snatches @ 75(M)/45(F)#
30 burpees
30 Snatches 135/75
20 burpees
30 snatches 165/100
10 burpees
max Snatches 210/120
Good Luck to all participants. It's going to be really fun, see you all tomorrow! OK and here's the video of me PR'ing on my back squat and if you want to see some new pics, click the 'crossfit" tab on the left and then "Femme Royale Canyon Ladies".
Another 3 days in the book
It's been 3 days since my last post and I'm feeling great during the day, but not so much after a brutal wod like yesterday. I'll recap my workouts at the end of the post.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a nutrition breeze. For some reason doing a whole30 is not a challenge anymore. It's more enjoyable now. The way my body feels and reacts to whole natural foods is amazing. Something I want to point out is the member activity on the PNE facebook page. It's motivating and inspiring to see so many people involved and then you go to the gym and everyone is talking about the different types of food and their personal progress. Ah, what a life changer this program is. There is one member that decided to blog about her experience and I think it's captivating, Mrs. Jill Schoch, thank you for entertaining and sharing. She's the epitome of "Crossfit is for anyone and everyone." I had to share her blog with my older sister. One, because Jill's initial experience with crossfit is the same as when my sister started crossfit last week and two, I was able to convince her to read "It Starts with Food." Three, actually complete a whole30 and finally, join crossfit. These women's journeys are very encouraging and I'm glad to be following them.
Everything is all fine and dandy when I walk into Canyon last night and see my fellow crossfitters. It's also one of those days where you get to workout and/or watch the "top dogs" at our gym, mainly Josh, Afi, and Gabe. After Josh finishes the wod, all he had to say was "that one sucked!" with what little breath he had left while he was sprawled out on the floor. GREATTTTT, I thought. My goal was just to try and keep up with Afi and Gabe, until Gabe pointed out the warmup. It was heavier than the wod for goodness sakes, but it was Josh's idea so we can hit "Club 13", a new achievement program the Canyon coaches started. Anyway, hang squat clean thrustering 135# is no easy task but I got it done and begged for more recovery time before the actual wod.
There comes a time during the wod where my body doesn't want to listen to my mind. For example, my mind tells my body "this workout really sucks but if you don't want to be a pansy pick up the pace and go faster!" and my body responds like an untrained dog looking at its master and does nothing. I continue the current slow pace I'm going or stop and catch my breath. If only my capacity was that much more, I can say I hang with the "top dogs" of our gym. This gave me an epiphany, I've got to step my game up. I have to start running more to increase my endurance and I have to start lifting more to increase my strength. DUH, CARL! But how in the world am I going to do this, I work full-time and have a family, which is my priority. I guess it can simply be put by starting to become and early bird, buts it's not like I was ever a night owl to begin with. So I'm planning on starting tomorrow, Friday the 25th. Why? Because I leave for a 5 day business trip to Texas. The time difference is +2 hours, perfect for me to start training the body to get up early and get moving. Accountability, remember? I need to stay accountable to reach my goals. Wish me luck and cheer me on.
Tues WOD:
Push Jerks
3-3-3-3-3 (165#-185-195-205-215)
Run 800m max effort: 2:30 (PR)
Unbroken Double Unders: 84 (PR)
Core: 40 hollow rocks, 30 GHD situps
Wed:
Warmup: Every Min on the Min (EMOM) for 6 min
3 hang squat clean (135#)
3 thrusters
WOD:
5 rounds for time
10 hang squat clean thruster (95#)
Run 400m
My time= 16:31 Rx
Core: 3 rounds (20# med ball)
10 get ups
10 twist
10 sit ups
Thurs:
Snatch Balance Technique work (Press, Heave, Snatch Balance)
WOD:
21-15-9
Overhead Squat 95#
Burpees
My Time: 6:54 RX
Tuesday morning breakfast, chicken chili con verde with scrambled eggs and jalapenos.
Holiday Weekend Recap
The holiday weekend has come to an end and it was a good one. Let's recap some things. Saturday morning started with a BANG! The PNE kickoff was amazing, high energy and lots of enthusiasm by the new and veteran participants. Our family meals were tasty and we're super stoked to be back on the whole30 plan. Then came "Championship" Sunday for us football lovers. The two head coaches of the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens are the Harbaugh brothers and will be facing off on Superbowl forty-seven. Low and behold we got the "Super-Baugh" or the "Har-Bowl" however you want to call it. Lastly, Martin Luther King Day, we have come so far as a nation that today was also the inaugural celebration of the second term of President Obama. I'm not super political, but wherever you stand we all were just a part of history. As you can see or read, a lot has happened in the span of 3 days, but I'm willing to bet all the participants and I got through the weekend unbroken, just like we do at our crossfit gym.
The saturday PNE kickoff workout and brunch was a perfect start to the day. I wasn't able to PR on the wod but I'll be looking to get after it in 60 days at the end of this experience. Soon after, the immediate consumption of tasty food was perfect for recovery and the grumbling stomach. Kudos to all the cooks/"box-moms," the dishes were amazing! After all that, the remaining day seemed to just flow. We had paleo chili for lunch and jetted off to Sprouts to stock our refrigerator for prep/cook day the following day. Oh ya, that consisted of purchasing 80lbs, yes eight-zero pounds, of boneless skinless chicken thighs and to all the workers at Sprouts, we're are not having a party, just stocking up for a family for three. We planned to make a persian dish called koobideh and it required grating and onion with our ground lamb and let me say this, if anyone ever wants to grate an onion be prepared to suffer........enormously! I'll leave it at that.
"Championship" Sunday was upon us, but before the game, I was reminded on facebook that Canyon Crossfit will be observing MLK day and only have a 9am session. I usually don't wod on Sundays, but this was an exception since I can't make it on Monday and so I loaded up the baby girl and off we went. The wod was momentous, literally! How fast can you and a partner move 10, 20, or 30 tons of total weight with only 3 movements using a barbell? Grrrreeeaaatttt, just my luck, and to top it off, I get paired with Herculean-Bill, thanks Ray! I've gotten to know Bill's M.O. for a while now, "go big or go home"! You guessed it, we chose 30 tons and NOT the prescribed weight of a 45lb barbell, but let's "go big" and use 65lbs. To my chagrin, we load up and 3, 2, 1....go. Sumo deadlift high-pulls: 308 reps, Strict overhead press: 308 reps, and last but not least overhead squats: 308 reps. Yup, you calculated that right we completed 924 reps, just a little over 30 tons or 60,000 lbs. I won't sell myself short, I'm probably 2-3x smaller than Bill so he made up for more reps on the press and squat, but I know he wouldn't be able to do all that by himself, so I can say we got after it and finished at 48:05 as RX'd. Got home after letting the little one burn off some energy at the park and hit the floor running, well I mean cooking. We started by grilling our chicken thighs, its a weekly staple in this house and oh-so-good! We then threw the lamb koobideh on the grill. It was our first time making this dish but BAM! It turned out super amazing. It was a flavor explosion and aside from the painstaking grating of an onion, the recipe was fairly easy. Oh, we didn't forget our veggies, grilled cauliflower, zucchini, and tomatoes. Lunch and dinner were served!
Unfortunately, my place of work does not observe MLK day. It is important but that's ok because it's made up with giving us a floating holiday for the year, so I can use it whenever I so choose, I'll take that. My day started with the usually three egg omelette with onions and spinach but this time with a side of leftover chili chicken con verde instead sweet potato hash that was on sample at the PNE kickoff. For lunch, I had that amazing lamb koobideh that tasted just as good as yesterday. Since it was my crossfit rest day, I was excited to get home to my lovely family and enjoy our evening. For dinner we our staple grilled chicken with sweet potato and roasted brussel sprouts. I'm ending the evening with wrestling with my daughter to burn off some energy, walking my dog, and sharing it with all of you. Good night and stay tuned for what's ahead.
PNE WOD:
Run 400m
1 round of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats)
21 Deadlifts 155#
Run 400m
1 round of Cindy
15 Front Squats 155#
Run 400m
1 round of Cindy
9 Clean & Jerks 155#
Time = 12:49 as RX'd
grilling lamb koobideh
the final plating
Accountability
I need to get active on this blog once again. This blog gave me a little more accountability during my first PNE (Performance Nutrition Experience) challenge. It has changed my life and I'm hoping that this next go around with the new Canyon members will change other lives as well. The wifey has been upgraded to one of the elite paleo cooks of our community. I, on the other hand, just benefit from it and I'm very thankful.
This next PNE challenge will begin on January 19th and we will be participating. As a brief overview, it is a 60 day experience that consist on bettering your health mentally and physically. It is based not solely on a number on the scale but the overall change in body composition, mindset, and athletic performance. We follow the whole30 eating guidelines from the whole9life crew and reference their outstanding book "It Starts with Food." Trust me, it will make you a better person overall. The wifey and I are here to support you (since someone out there is reading this) and the community. In fact, you don't even have to be a member of our gym to participate. There will a seminar video that you can watch and you can always ask questions to either me or our coach Andrew through the canyon or PNE website.
This Saturday will be Canyon's kickoff to this next PNE. We will bust our asses for a workout and enjoy a healthy whole30 approved brunch to get everyone rolling. Stay tuned for what's to come. I am accountable for my actions, don't hesitate to remind me.
Canyon Crossfit Member's Holiday Photoshoot
I want to thank all the Canyon crossfit members and their families for allowing me to take their photos. I had a great time shooting all the beautiful families and in some cases their pets, because they are family too! I hope everyone loved the pictures and I can't wait to see some of your holiday cards that you are sharing. This was a great experience for me and I'm thankful for the support from the Canyon coaches and community. Without further or do here are a few of my favorites that I will also highlight in my web portfolio. Thank you all again and Happy Holidays!
