5 Element Fitness

Just a relaxing day by the Bay after a long weekend.

Photo by - hit him up for any art or performance shoots!

Great capture as Iit up my Meteor Dart from . I can always be happy getting just one good photo from a meetup, but last week I was flattered enough to recieve two!

At a certain point my practice lacked "purpose" and many of my postures got away from me. Or rather maybe I just didn't have a reason to be going into some of these shapes or my therapeutic practice needed to take a front-seat. Returning to aerial arts has provided me with a rekindled desire to return to my former drive. I think before I was too young and unaware that I would force things and feel awful after the fact, now I don't even know how to move that way. Not being able to do something or sustain a certain position on the aerial apparatus like Lyra or Pole points to a certain deficiency of the body or an area to be targeted for improvement or evolution. My still isn't at where it used to be....but once it Is ill essentially be back at my original peak, and from there it will be on to new territory.

Massive shot from Bags 🙌

Equipment by .monk as usual 👊

Pool, Pole, and Penelope Party was a great day of creating art and fun memories. So many great pictures and videos to share. Thanks to .is.awesome and everyone else for contributing their gifts and talents to help make this party a blast

Please share to the Google drive link so I can keep track better. 😊 https://photos.app.goo.gl/3wVepVpczCLZ94Z39

TOMORROW!

We've got POOL, we've got POLE, we've got....Penelope! It will be a fun filled day of relaxing, playing, and hanging out with friends. We also have music and fire spinning at sundown. PM me or Nadine with any questions.

-parking easy on street either Watson or Yettford
-feel free to bring snacks, drinks, or food (some will be provided but more the merrier)
-firespinning in my driveway at sundown just keeping it limited to 1 at a time to ensure safety and neighbors not getting nervous
- anytime 1:00 pm and on good to come over!

Me and .is.awesome are so excited for our pool party next week in Vista. We will have Aerial rig setup, music, and fire spinning at night. PM either me or Nadine for details or any specific questions.

SUNDAY MAY 19th - 1:00 - 9:00 pm
Bring food or things to cook on my grill if you like!
Easy parking

Photo credit: - maybe he'll stop by too. :)

Big changes to the space, all for the better. What I like to call a fully functional indoor gym studio that still retains good floor space. The outdoor training area still has a few more additions to go, but inside this multi-equipment piece adds so many previously missing essentials: leg extension, chest fly, machine press/row, cable row, lat pull down, and a nicely padded captains chair.

Ask about current training specials and offers, always here in Vista helping a wide range of clientel.

There...my studio is as organized and spacious as it can possibly be.

Definitely the most obnoxious thing from China I've built, though at least it was straight forward your fingers just bleed as usual having to hand tighten everything with like no space. I liked this design though. Wanted a sturdy cage that I could get over with calisthenics movements if I wanted. Has lots of extra add ons without feeling crowded.

Well I gave up and made a new Google my business listing. Anyone that wants to help out please visit link and give a 5 star review and a sentence or two if we have trained together, or even if we haven't and I taught or showed you something. It all greatly helps as my phone actually used to ring from this search engine. Please and thank you.

5 Element Fitness · 1836 Watson Way, Vista, CA 92083 5.0 ★ · Personal trainer

Secret of the ooze. Bringing the ninja turtles drink back with excitement now that I have my home grown kale and spinach. The types are never important as I never eat those greens straight up - I prefer making a smoothie with a bunch of other rotating selections and a standard formula that always leaves it tasting as good as a Jamba Juice/Robeks with far less junk. Today's mix was Kale, Spinach, Kefir, grapes, banana, ginger, cinnamon, and farmers market chocolate honey. Goes down smooth.

The time has finally come to get internet-organized and have a better distinction between my business.' Moving forward all Dragon Fruit, Cactus, and plant related posts will be on and this account will be reserved for things pertaining to fitness, flow arts, yoga, etc (as it used to be entirely). It will take a little bit to get into a good posting groove but I feel like this is for the best to maximize quality of offering to interested audiences. Please hop on over and give that account a follow if plants, Cactus, and fruit are your jam as there will be many posts forthcoming this time of year as we enter the peak season.

This year just call me "Bumper-Crop Bolas." When it feels like nature itself is against you like this year, it is just a challenge to add more diversity and rely on more options. After getting really into berry brambles and vines I already have had some tasty rewards. Gold Raspberries, Pink Blueberries, and some strawberries and regular blueberries on a regular basis from my more mature plants. Lots more to come while I wait for the Dragon Fruit.

First Yellow Dragon Fruit of the year. This one is the "Columbiana" type which is probably the most common South of the Equator yellow dragon fruit on the market. To be honest I don't devote a lot of space or effort to these types - the overall time it takes for everything is just so much longer, the fruit isn't magically better tasting imo (and annoying because of spines on fruit), and it isnt well disposed to our climate so even in Zone 10a Vista California a bad winter will still wreck your plants. In the long run I'll enjoy harvests once my plant gets really really big and mature, but until then I'm pretty take it as they come. I am pretty happy with my Columbiana and Palora and might add the Bolivian one in the future I heard is also good. Always feel free to ask about cuttings and plants I have available.

Got a shot with one of the kids before all the rain. It's true what they say about column cactus - 6 feet is the magic number for many. Even before all this rain we've been having I've noticed a whole lot of flowers starting to form, denser at the top of the 2 main columns, but showing up everywhere really. This type makes a pretty tasteless fruit but it is self fertile and feeds the birds. :)

I was tired of doing backbends by the time I got to OB so I made other people do them instead. Awesome shapes .brown can't wait to practice again soon and show you some really cool stuff you have a great foundation and awareness.

Getting stronger every practice with . Won't be long before we are doing this standing and extension.

October didn't have mountains of fruit for me this year, but I still got some good ones and some first timers before the season closed out. San Ignacio, a local Fallbrook unknown like Rosa, native Costaricensis from Puerto Rico, and lastly Asunta 2. All great choices.

I definitely still do acro, I'm just more selective these days because I have seen both the injury and the "revolving door" of many that come and go for whatever reason. For me this practice is about making quality progress and building real partnerships. Healing and building bodies not destroying them (let's be real many circus arts are destructive). Excited with all I got done recently with my new friend Kirsti, and looking forward to all the new training we potentially can get done together. This posture has a silly name but still one of my favorites - "Hangle Dangle." A nice 1 arm warm up for the base and a side stretch for the flyer.

These 2 simple, cheap props are all you REALLY need to aid your static stretching - a Yoga block and a taught strap with loops. My living room didn't feel right and it was because I had totally forgot to get some new ones! You sit on the block, you use the strap to take the suffering out of any range you arent ready to 'grab hold' with ease yet. The rest is up to discipline.

I like gooooooooollllllllld. Was waiting to get to say that. The Israeli Gold came in with 3 nice sized fruits. Another high ranking white flesh variety, I much prefer this to some other yellow types as this yellow undatus ripened the fruit in 31 days! This plant will be strong once I get its size up a little more. A good Hylocereus Undatus can be slow to get established and bare - but an unstoppable force of nature once adult.

September will be delivering the biggest dragon fruit harvest to date and kicking it off I have my Stenopterus varieties starting to roll in which always seem to be earlier than everything else. "Edgar's Baby" didn't get a pretty purple flower like some of its relatives, but it gets a beautiful pink-purple fruit with a balanced sweet flavor and great texture.

In some circles my area used to be called "Cactus Capital," and it is true if you look hard enough up and down my streets there is always buried treasure waiting to be discovered. Some Pilosocereus classifications can be tricky because of lack of distinction or clumped names, but this is one that I believe to be a true "Pilosocereus Leucocephalus." Said to be from Honduras rather than the Palmeri from Mexico I believe. If something has form it needs a name, if many different forms have the same name its almost as if others don't exist. Categorical distinction in nature should be illuminating diversity and shining a light in the darkness of ignorance.

Peace in life for many can be better achieved with a more balanced lifestyle. Come check out the workshop hosted by .jstarbetty and myself this Sunday at 3pm in Vista for Yoga, Qi Gong, lessons in drought tolerant gardening with lots of goodies afterwards including pool time, rare dragon fruit to eat, and a plant to get started at home. Pm me and jenn for details and pricing we still have a few spots left! I'll post Facebook link in comments too.

There's a reason it's called "physical grafitti" right?

Normally I frown on and discourage this - my column cactus is refusing to root and instead is making flowers. This can sometimes be a path to destruction or at least a waste of time, but this Pilosocereus is one of my rarer finds and also a mystery so I had to check out the flower. It's definitely really cool! I'll let it have fun with this bloom but if I see any more I'm going to discourage as I want this thing to root and grow up properly. Want to learn more about cactus and other drought-tolerant plants? Come check out the mind-body workshop and pool party August 7th where we do yoga, learn techniques for restoration and well being, and put those skills to practical use learning more about gardening and fruitful practices.

Near and far, everyone looks up to our local Dark Star. Sure I have lots of Dragon Fruit plants from all over the world, but most of my best tasting were made famous in our own back yard and are world-known. The Dark Star was the 9th of Paul Thomson's Guatamalenesis/Undatus Hybrid Series and many will argue its the best. One could say S1 Physical Grafitti and S3 Delight are on par with flavor, but where S9/Dark Star wins overall is being the most vigorous and aggressive grower. It has a good tolerance to full sun and winter conditions while setting many flower waves throughout its season. It also tends to make very large fruit never being under a pound and ranging up to 2. Even on the early side like this one today it easily smashes most of my others I've eaten so far this year. Only draw back is this plant is self-sterile so its good to have a different plant for pollination or a crazy neighbor like me.

Thanks again to a good friend and awesome craftsman for making this little workout installation to enhance my home gym. With this setup I can do lots more bodyweight exercises with clients, work on advanced things myself, and also have some structures to anchor my suspension straps against. Highly recommend hitting Chris up for a variety of construction needs. He always does amazing work at a very fair price.

Since I sort of softly started it anyway with 2 clients of mine, might as well just create a recurring event and general reminder of Yoga by my Pool in Vista every Saturday for time being 10am - 11am. I have extra mats and towels and obviously feel free to use my pool and eat dragon fruit after. $20 per person, $30 for friend/partner deal (cash, venmo, or PayPal fine). I will also clarify at this point in my Yoga career I'm much more on the 'Hatha' than 'Vinyasa' spectrum. Classes may be varying degrees of challenge but we always focus on the breath and the restorative art. Always feel free to PM me or text/call with any questions - 617-610-3295.