Angel M. Aguilar Castaneda

Certified Bodybuilding Specialist, CSCS, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Nutrition Specialist

My fitness journey all began through humble beginnings, consistently during the beginning of the pandemic at the age of sixteen. Due to my lack of a relationship with siblings and immediate family at the time, I would isolate myself in my home gym. I would do primarily bag work and core work. I didn't have a precise program until I became much more into fitness later on. After high school, I would invite my friends over to train. We’d do this repetitive workout circuit that involved dumbbell shoulder press, legs on plyometric box, kettlebell swings and pushups. It would primarily be boxing workouts, however I'd force them to do strength & conditioning, just as I would myself. It was around this time that I discovered calisthenic workouts. During the spring/summer of 2022, calisthenics was my primary passion. However, I did significant damage and destruction of my knees from only doing squat jumps and knee tucks for legs, with a 40lb weighted vest. I would isolate myself from socializing and prioritize my physique and elevating in strength, explosivity and boxing performance. Consistent, grueling and limit pushing training lasted for a year and a half, I discovered how to recover from my knees and also progressed in calisthenic skills. In the summer of 2023, I focused on pull-ups and would end up capable of high pull-ups and inverted row pull-ups. I got a form of bicep tendonitis from doing so many pull-ups and locking my arms out with weights in hand, which encouraged me to do push with the dip bars, which had a passive healing effect that I observed from practicing dips and l-sit. The mix of pull and push on the same day from my ambition and persistence in mastering the art of your own body weight led to an overtraining injury. The injury in question being a torn ligament which would hold the tendon of the long head bicep in place, causing the bicep tendon to slip out of the groove, which required frequent relocation. I have now discovered how to recover properly, to an even more exceptional degree of integration than I ever was before. Take the step, and Ascend today.