Primal Becks

After a horrible encounter with a stomach virus last week (that practically wiped out everyone in my household), I am back to training. This week has been a special one for me. I have started training with my old backyard buddies again: Veronica Garza, Veronica Peña, Javier Guzman, Jake Tijerina, and Jorge Cuellar. We all started out in the backyard together, and I feel very fortunate to be training with them again. I was on an individualized program for so long that I forgot what it felt like to train with other people! When G7 began last summer, we were often the only ones in my backyard (dying from the heat or dodging the raindrops) training together and cheering each other on. It is an amazing feeling working out with other people again…especially women. They push me to become a better athlete.

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!!

With my two jobs, training under Dutch Lowy, and need for adequate sleep every night, I have had little time to keep this updated. Well…I am back! It has been an exciting month!!

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

The G7 Primal Challenge is officially coming to an end this week. It has been a lot of fun, and many G7 clients have seen fantastic results. Be sure to attend the finale this Saturday at 3 p.m. Everyone is welcome!

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