G7 Stories – Veronica Garza from G7 Athletics on Vimeo.

Are you inspired yet? You too, can change your life. Do something primal today in light of her story. Say no to grains!! Skip the bread at Johnny Carino’s…do NOT give the cake and ice cream eye contact at a family gathering…only eat the inside of those tacos (toss the tortilla in the trash can)! I always believed in my sister, and I believe in you. G7 baby!!

If you’d like a preview of G7 Jr., check out the video below.

G7 Jr from G7 Athletics on Vimeo.

G7 Jr. girls hanging out

After 2 weeks of my first G7 Jr. camp and a very successful finale, G7 Jr. classes have officially begun. The classes are every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 2:30-4:00 p.m. If you would like more information on the classes and are interested in signing your children up, please e-mail me at beckygarza@g7athletics.com.

Great things happen at G7. I am extremely proud of my Jr. athletes. After just 2 weeks, they have seen much improvement in their health. One specific athlete, Alejandro Villarreal (Ale), has seen amazing results. According to his mother, Erica Contreras, prior to joining G7 Jr., Alejandro had severe gastrointestinal problems and had been on medication for three years. After only two weeks in my program, he is off all medication and now living a much healthier and happier life (and he has one of the best burpees I have ever seen). In a recent post, Erica said…

“HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALE DOES NOT HAVE TO TAKE HIS MEDS ANYMORE! We met with his Gastrointestinal DR from Driscoll Hopsital in Corpus and he gave us the best NEWS! Ale is MEDS FREE as long as he follows the diet he has been following since he started G7 Jr. THANKS EVERYONE AT G7 Jr.! BECKY you are AWESOME…not to mention that a MEDICAL DR from one of the best childrens hospitals also said you all are doing an awesome job!”

This is an amazing story, and I feel so privileged to be a part of it. Congratulations Ale!!

G7 Jr. athlete, Ale

Another amazing thing happened at G7 Jr. recently. My niece (and G7 Jr. athlete), Abigail Martinez achieved 2 unassisted handstand push-ups in a row! You can check out a video of that below. Way to go Abby!!

Abby Martinez HSPU from Becky Garza on Vimeo.

In food news, my very talented sister, Veronica Garza is selling her very delicious primal tortillas. You’d be crazy to not want a pack of these! They are so scrumptious. If you don’t believe me, ask any G7 athlete that has already purchased 1…2…3 packs. They will all tell you the same thing…AWESOME tortillas!! Each pack contains 10 tortillas and is $10.00. These tortillas are grain free, wheat free, gluten free, soy free, and so tasty!! If you would like to purchase a pack, you can stop by the G7 Athletics gym or contact Vero at verogarza@g7athletics.com.

Vero's primal tortillas

94 tortillas

Coach Mike and Roberto are just as inspiring.  Coach Mike radiates positivity, and it’s contagious!! Even during the toughest times…the times when I’m feeling extremely sore and do NOT want to roll out of bed and head to the gym…when I’m having trouble increasing in my press or connecting kipping pull-ups…or even when I feel like I’m regressing and not getting any better…he is somehow able to make me smile and keep me motivated…all the way from Austin, TX.

And Roberto…not only does he teach us (his knowledge of movements and tricks is never-ending!!), but he does the workouts with us as well. Just yesterday, I witnessed him complete two workouts within a few hours. Hardcore!! Because of my coaches and my team…I achieved the ring dip. I am so lucky to have them. Thank you G7! Check out my ring dip below! Muscle-up coming soon…

My First Ring Dip from Becky Garza on Vimeo.

Strong Girls

The past few days I have been continuously mesmerized by their impressive abilities…and I find myself striving to be as strong as them, as fast as them, as skilled as them.Veronica Garza: the pull-up queen…and about 1 nanometer away from getting a muscle-up (just by saying that, I bet she’s going to accomplish one tomorrow). Veronica Peña: the woman of skill…I handed her a jump rope and she accomplished double unders two seconds later…I provided a pull-up bar, and she was doing kipping pull-ups in no time. Javier Guzman: the push-up master…he never stops!! And he makes heavy power cleans look like he’s lifting a PVC pipe. Jake Tijerina: the runner…so quick and so light on his feet that you won’t hear him creeping up on you as he passes you by. And those 50 unbroken pull-ups yesterday were legit. Jorge Cuellar: the heart of our team…and the one who will always pull through in the end. Ask him to sprint 100m carrying 180 lbs. over his shoulder, and he will. I’ve seen it!

Javi working on wall-ball shots

These are only a few of the people that make G7 the powerful and unstoppable team that we are. We have numerous great athletes. Two quick shout outs to G7 athletes, Alexa Schaefer and Aida Garza (my mother). Alexa Schaefer accomplished double unders on her first try! Aida Garza completed her first dead hang pull-up! You can see footage of that here. Congratulations to both of you!!

And…just in case you’re craving something sweet…

Almond Butter Brownies

I love tweaking recipes!! The original brownie recipe can be found here. You can find my version of almond butter brownies below. They are so good!!

Ingredients:
1 cup almond butter
¾ cup canned organic pumpkin
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
applesauce (from 1 small apple)
2 T melted coconut butter
4 T melted organic unsalted butter
25 cinnamon shakes
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
extra butter for greasing pan
chopped pecans (optional)
extra cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and mix well. Grease an 8×8 pan with butter. Pour batter into greased pan. Sprinkle chopped pecans and cinnamon for topping. Bake for 1 hour. Enjoy the tastiness!!

First off, Roberto (my older brother), Morgan (his wife), Bobby (their very primal son), and Oliver (their dog) moved to Laredo! I love having them here all the time. They were living in Sugar Land, TX before and finally made the bold move down here to Laredo. Roberto is fulfilling his dream as general manager and head coach at G7 Athletics. He’s doing a great job, and business is booming. Congratulations, Roberto!

Two weeks ago, G7 sent 5 coaches (including me) to compete at the Central Southern Texas Sectional in Austin, TX. Congratulations Mike Garza, Veronica Garza, Javier Guzman, and Jorge Cuellar. You made G7 very proud. A special congratulations to Mike and Vero for placing 18th and 21st, respectively, and advancing to regionals!! I must add that Vero performed unassisted handstand push-ups for the first time during the competition. Amazing job!

Thank you G7 owners, Bobby Garza and Aida Garza, G7 coaches, Jake Tijerina and David DeLeon, and CrossFit Austin coach Wes Kimball for your continuous coaching and support throughout the event. I must also thank CrossFit Central’s Linda Salcedo, CrossFit Houston’s Audrey Ibarra, and CrossFit PlusOne’s Phillip Garcia and AshleyLou Hinojosa. Just when I thought I might quit during the WOD’s, your very loud motivation helped keep me going strong.

The most challenging part of the competition

The competition was tough, and I am glad I participated in it. It was my first competition using prescribed weights, so that was a great accomplishment! I have Dutch to thank for that. During the competition, my strengths and weaknesses were quickly revealed, and I have already started working with Dutch to make those weaknesses stronger. G7 is taking a team to the CrossFit regional competition in Dallas, and I intend to help lead my team to victory…starting with my new 55 kilo clean and jerk PR (which basically translates into my own body weight).

The G7 Coaches

And now food…I finally mastered my coconut pancake recipe!! The recipe is posted below.

Coconut Pancakes
(adapted from Bruce Fife’s recipe in Cooking with Coconut Flour)
4 eggs
4 Tbsp organic unsalted butter (melted)
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
2/3 cup full fat coconut milk (room temperature)
2 Tbsp coconut butter (melted)
1 small peeled organic apple
25 cinnamon shakes
1/8 tsp sea salt
6 Tbsp sifted coconut flour
2 Tbsp organic unsalted butter (for the griddle)

Preheat the griddle at a medium to high temperature. With a food processor, chop up the peeled apple to make your own applesauce. Use an electric mixer to thoroughly blend eggs. Shake the cinnamon 25 times (or more) onto the eggs (I love cinnamon!!). Mix. Add melted butter to eggs and cinnamon (while still mixing or you’ll cook the eggs). Add coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut butter. Keep mixing. Add applesauce and sea salt. Keep mixing. Finally, add the coconut flour and mix well.

Coat the griddle with remaining unsalted butter. Pour batter onto griddle making small circles. I keep the pancakes small (the bigger they are, the more likely they will break). Let the batter sit on the griddle for a few minutes. Next, place a metal spatula under the pancakes to lift and check the bottom of each pancake. Once the bottom of a pancake is brown, place the spatula at the end of a pancake and give a quick jab forward. This will allow you to get the spatula fully under the pancake. You MUST use the jab method. Believe me!! Flip the pancake over and wait for the remaining side to brown. This recipe makes about 8-12 pancakes. Enjoy!!

Please take the time to sign the petition at the link below. We need a Farmer’s Market in Laredo, TX!!

Laredo Farmer’s Market

While doing my usual recipe research over the weekend, I happened to stumble upon a great website with many recipes I’d like to try in the future.  One recipe that I found especially interesting was a carrot chip recipe. Do not be fooled when you find vegetable chips at your local grocery store. Often times, these “vegetable chips” have added ingredients and oils which classify them as grain-filled chips with a hint of vegetable flavor. So far I have found only one brand of carrot chips (SunWell) that is primal diet approved. The ingredients consist of carrots, palm oil, and sea salt. Palm oil is considered smart fuel due to its vitamins and antioxidants, and you can read more about that here. SunWell also offers green bean, onion, and sweet potato chips.   I have been able to find them locally at HEB Plus in the past. They are very tasty, but why not make your own?

I tested out the carrot chip recipe and had extreme success. Extreme success can be measured by the fact that my dad tried a few, went back for more, and said “I like them!” He doesn’t know this, but I was jumping for joy on the inside once he professed his love for my carrot chips.

You can use frozen or fresh carrots for this recipe, but make sure to defrost the frozen carrots before frying.  While frying the carrots in coconut oil, I sprinkled some sea salt into the pan, but you can add the sea salt after done frying, like the recipe suggests. If you prefer a really crispy chip, continue frying until they begin browning on both sides. For the carrots in the picture below, I removed them before they began browning.  This resulted in carrots with a crispy outside and soft middle. Both methods give you the same sweet and salty deliciousness and will keep you wanting more!

Carrot Chips

While in New Braunfels, George and I made a quick decision to stay overnight with my brother, Mike, in Austin (which is only about 40 miles away). Little did I know that my older brother, Roberto, was in also in Austin for the night. It was awesome to be able to see them, and we all had a great time together.

In Austin, George and I were introduced by my brothers to a motivation video that was posted on the SicFit website. It’s an uplifting video that definitely got George’s blood pumping faster. He’s probably seen it over 20 times now and has recommended it to everyone in sight. After seeing this video, I started thinking about my own motivation. Sure, I get fired up when I hear a really good song or watch a video of Carey Kepler achieving an 11:01 finish in an insane workout at the 2009 CrossFit Games, but what is my true source of motivation? This is what I came up with.

G7 Motivation from Becky Garza on Vimeo.

What’s your motivation? I’d like to hear about it. Post to comments.

Over the weekend, I traveled to San Antonio with George Cuellar for his CrossFit certification. He is now a Level I certified CrossFit coach. Congratulations, George! During our time in San Antonio, we searched for primal eateries and decided on Chipotle and Red Robin. At Chipotle, I ordered a salad with 1/2 chicken, 1/2 carnitas (pork), pico de gallo, and guacamole. This is one of my favorite restaurant meals because it’s not only delicious (especially the guacamole), but also the carnitas and chicken are from naturally raised pigs and chickens. So…what do they mean by naturally raised? Pulled straight from their website:

Naturally raised pork involves “no antibiotics ever, letting pigs exhibit their natural behaviors in open pasture or deeply-bedded pens, [and using] vegetarian feed with no animal by-products.” Naturally raised chicken “must never be given antibiotics, have more room to move about than in conventional chicken operations, be vegetarian fed, [and] never given animal by-products.”

How often do you find that at restaurants? If you haven’t visited a Chipotle yet, do so!! You won’t be disappointed.

At Red Robin, we basically created meals of our own. I got the guacamole bacon burger which usually consists of two buns and a hamburger patty topped with guacamole, bacon, melted swiss cheese, onions, lettuce, and mayonnaise. I asked for this burger without cheese, onions, and mayonnaise and was able to get it wrapped in lettuce. Instead of fries, I got a side order of steamed broccoli, which was not listed as a side order on the menu. Fortunately, George asked the waitress if there were any veggie options as a side, and she revealed that broccoli was a possibility! Thank you, George! Lesson: Don’t think that your only options at a restaurant must be from what is listed on the menu. Always ask the waiter/waitress about substitutions or any other non-menu options. My Red Robin non-menu burger creation was tasty!

Moving onto G7 news…

Yesterday, I successfully completed an extremely brutal workout: 3 rounds of 30 wall-ball shots (14 lbs./10 ft. target) and 30 hang squat snatches. When my brother, Mike, andDutch revealed to me that it was the fifth workout of the 2009 CrossFit Games, I immediately felt defeated. My thoughts were…if elite athletes at the CrossFit Games had a tough time with that workout, I would definitely not complete it.  In the end, I made it out alive; however, my 24:48 time was not within the 20 minute cut-off time used at the CrossFit Games. Instead of looking at my completion time as a failure, I decided to stay positive and proud about it. I think it’s good to notice all the little things that have been accomplished through training rather than dwell on what hasn’t been accomplished yet. Yes, I missed the cut-off time; however, it was my first time using the 10 ft. target. For those of you that don’t know much about CrossFit, the 10 ft. target is usually the men’s target, whereas the 8 ft. target is designated for women. That’s a 2 ft. gain for me! Thank you, Dutch for pushing me to go beyond that 8 ft. target. It was definitely tough, but I did it!!

Congratulations to G7 athletes Brenda, Daisy, Kenia, and Karina for accomplishing regular burpees this week. Although they insisted regular burpees were too hard and not possible within a workout for them, I knew they could do it. Check out the video below. Too hard? More like…too easy!! Great job!!

Daisy, Brenda, and Kenia doing burpees from Becky Garza on Vimeo.

One last congratulations to my brother, Mike, who PR’d (beat his personal record) on the infamous CrossFit workout, Fran. It consists of 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups. His previous record was 3:24, and he completed it in 2:30 this time around. Check it out here. Amazing!! You make me proud.

Three days ago, I attempted making mayonnaise…twice!  It was an epic failure. I followed the recipe posted on Mark’s Daily Apple and had my mother overlooking my every move. It is a difficult recipe, and I really don’t know what I did wrong. I ended up with a yellowish looking substance in a jar that is sitting in my refrigerator. My mother and I both didn’t know if the mayonnaise I made was how the recipe intended it to be. If you have any experience with making mayonnaise and have some advice to offer, please let me know. Also, if anyone decides to try the recipe out and has success with it, help me out! In the meantime, I am going to continue searching for other primal mayonnaise recipes that will hopefully be easier for me to follow and have success with.

In other news, G7′s George Cuellar is off to San Antonio this weekend to become Level I CrossFit certified. Good luck, George! I know you will represent G7 well.

Lastly, (and what I am most excited to tell you about) I had some great success at G7 yesterday. About two months ago, my super awesome coach asked me to list out my short and long term goals for performance that I wanted to accomplish through training. One of the items on my list was the handstand push-up. For those of you familiar with the gymnastics movement, you already know that it is a difficult task to accomplish (especially if you’re female). Before last night, any attempt at a handstand push-up, without assistance, ended up with my head hitting the ground below me and no push-up whatsoever. Last night was a different story. Check out the video below.

Handstand Push-ups from Becky Garza on Vimeo.

It’s still hard to believe that is me in the video. I successfuly executed 2 handstand push-ups!! It is something I never thought I could do, and it’s definitely a great achievement that I am extremely proud of. A special thank you to Dutch and G7 for all the strength and endurance that you have helped me accomplish so far. G7 baby!!