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.
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!)
Day 2 of my CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) tracking! I just wanted to do a quick log of my observations during Day 2 of my blood tracking: Morning: My blood sugar dips down to ~80 in the early morning. There’s a surge in blood sugar to 96 when I wake up. My understanding is that there is a cortisol release that leads to waking up. One thing that I’m trying to figure it out is why I woke up earlier than I wanted to. Typically my sleep cycles (as described in my blog post here) have me getting lots of… Read More »Day 2 of Wearing a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor)
Recently, I finished up the book “Carnivore Code” by Dr Paul Saladino. I’m not exactly on the Carnivore diet bandwagon (I still eat a lot of plants), but still wanted to get a better understanding of the science behind a meat-only diet. Paul Saladino challenges many of the prevailing notions in health, and it was interesting to read his counter arguments. There are probably too many to list here, but here were a few highlights from the book: Cholesterol: Paul does a great job of detailing the important role cholesterol plays in overall health, and why you don’t just want… Read More »Book Review: Carnivore Code by Paul Saladino
Today’s share of the day is a simple hand eye coordination drill. Hand-eye coordination is really important for boxers.. I used to take our team to a place called Sensory Speed where it was all reaction and cognitive training, with things like a Dynavision board (think wack-a-mole while someone’s giving you math problems) or Fit Lights. Or they’d have these glasses you wear that shutter in and out your vision and they would throw like a green ball for you to catch with you left hand, a red ball to catch with your right, and an orange that you skip. I… Read More »Share of the Day: Hand-Eye Coordination Drills for Boxing
I’m proud of my mom for the way she’s navigated her business (Downtown Yoga Shala) through the pandemic, putting the well-being of her community above all. It takes courage to stand for what you believe in with such uncertainty in the air. Now, more than ever, is the time to adapt to best serve our respective communities in a safe way. Things aren’t going “back to normal” anytime soon Another milestone for Downtown Yoga Shala. Read all about it here: https://conta.cc/2Ltq7xD
I didn’t think I’d be writing about this as I don’t watch TV but I watched the Biggest Little Farm and really enjoyed it! It’s a cute movie, and follows the journey of how an unlikely couple moved from Santa Monica to Moorpark to create a “simply, happy farm” with a diverse ecosystem of plants and animals with no background knowledge. They run into some challenges and always have some creative solutions to making sure the entire ecosystem is in harmony. They started this before regenerative agriculture became a buzzword, so they had a hard time finding the resources (i.e.… Read More »Documentary Rec: Biggest Little Farm
I thought I’d put out another summary of some recent reads. I’ve been mixing it up lately.. Food Fix: Mark Hyman – This is Mark Hyman’s latest book, this time tackling the policy changes that need to be made for our healthcare system to change. Everyone is talking about “flattening the curve” and, yes, that is our most urgent, pressing need at this moment. But imagine if our healthcare system wasn’t already near capacity and less people had the risk factors to turn COVID-19 more lethal? The book also has interesting insights on how factory farmed meat and processed frankenmeats (Beyond/Impossible Burgers)… Read More »Book Recs: Food Fix, AI Superpowers, Feeling Good
“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.” – Seneca One lesson this whole ordeal has taught me is how truly hard it is to slow down. I was a big proponent of large events getting cancelled, but wasn’t willing to stop preparing for them until they officially did. Now while this shelter-in-place may come as a shock to many, I think it’s a great time to reassess our current direction, reconnect with others, and… Read More »COVID-19 Initial Thoughts
Hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. Like many of you, my eyes have been glued to the endless stories coming out on the topic. In particular, I’ve been following Peter Attia for an understanding of the mechanism of the virus. A big difference from the Spanish flu and prior epidemics is that the Spanish flu would cause the immune system to become hyperactive, thus, young people and pregnant women were most at risk. In the coronavirus, immune response does not seem to have an impact on the disease. The virus attacks both the lungs and heme in… Read More »COVID-19 Podcast Rec