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Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight: Earl Hooks

Community Spotlight: Earl Hooks (Hooked on Fitness)

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  • October 27, 2020April 22, 2021

Earl is the founder of Hook’d on Fitness, Boyz N The Woods, and was a participant on American Ninja Warrior. I trained with Earl and Bertrand Newsom previously in preparation for the Silicon Valley Half Marathon.
In our talk, Earl shares his powerful story of his battle with alcoholism, his recovery and fitness journey, his current addiction – a 1,150+ day run streak of 5K or more, training for TAJI 100 and the Ventura Marathon, recovery methods, his commitment to the youth and community, his Hook’d on Fitness Bootcamp and Boyz N The Woods trail running group (and their partnership with Pacific Coast Trail Runs), his experience with American Ninja Warrior, and what he’s up to now.

Chris Gaines (PerformanceGaines)

Community Spotlight: Chris Gaines (PerformanceGaines)

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  • October 1, 2020April 22, 2021

Chris Gaines is the founder/owner of PerformanceGaines. PerformanceGaines is a functional fitness and wellness gym in Palo Alto, CA. In this interview, we talk about Chris’ background in Football, Rugby, and Bodybuilding, his training philosophies, him being part of the crew for John Tarlton a cyclist who biked in RAAM (Race Across America) to raise funds for the Stanford Cancer Center (as featured in the Netflix documentary), his thoughts in minimalist shoes, and various podcasts and books (Muscles and Meridians, Atomic Habit, Art of Possibility, Consilience, etc.) that he’s reading today.

Community Spotlight: Bertrand Newson (Too Legit Fitness)

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  • September 16, 2020April 22, 2021

Bertrand Newson is the founder of Too Legit Fitness (established 2011). Too Legit Fitness is a well-known training program in the Bay Area with over 700 members and hosts the official training program for the Silicon Valley Half Marathon and has coached several athletes (including me!) in long distance running and pursuing many different fitness goals of all ability levels.

Community Spotlight: Ali Ahmed (Dreamland Boxing)

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  • August 19, 2020November 14, 2021

This week’s Community Spotlight feature is on Ali Ahmed, a professional boxer at Dreamland Boxing. Ali is the most disciplined athlete I’ve ever met – he stays in shape year round and never fluctuates in weight. In this interview, we discuss his amateur career, winning the Golden Gloves, the Olympic Trials, his diet, training during Ramadan, and adapting to the current shelter-in-place.

Community Spotlight: Alex Rodriguez (Dreamland Boxing)

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  • August 12, 2020October 17, 2021

Today’s Community Spotlight feature is on Dreamland’s own Alex Rodriguez. Alex has been boxing for since he was a teenager and previously fought for Dreamland in 2016-2017. In this interview, we talk about his time in boxing and placing at the Golden Gloves, fighting undefeated pro Tony Munoz, the mental side of boxing, the books “Top Dog” and “Born to Run”, his journey into trail racing, the Big SURreal Virtual Marathon, and more!

Coach Ian Cruz, Luis Rodriguez and Sara Koshfam

Community Spotlight: Sara Koshfam (Dreamland Boxing)

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  • August 5, 2020September 19, 2021

Today’s Community Spotlight feature is on Dreamland’s own Sara Koshfam. Sara has been boxing for around 7 years and been training and coaching at Dreamland for the past 2. In this interview, Sara takes us through her journey walking into a boxing ring, having her first fight (overseas!), training at Dreamland, coaching, sparring world class fighters such as nationally ranked Alexis Gomez, and how she’s keeping herself busy today.

Community Spotlight: Veronica Cruz (Downtown Yoga Shala owner, and my mom!)

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  • July 31, 2020December 13, 2021

Hey everyone, I’ll be putting out a weekly series to highlight some of the trainers, boxers, runners, and other members of our community. This week’s feature is on none other than my mom! My mom is the founder and owner of Downtown Yoga Shala in San Jose, CA. She’s also one of the major influences in my life – we regularly like to geek out over health and wellness and share podcasts, books, training plans, etc.!  In this interview, my mom and I discuss: -Our shared interest of podcasts, Mark Sisson, Zone Training, my status wearing a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), Self-Quantification -My mom’s… Read More »Community Spotlight: Veronica Cruz (Downtown Yoga Shala owner, and my mom!)