Dilan has been part of the BeachSide family since January 2020. It just a few years Dilan has made tremendous progress in his strength and fitness overall. Dilan has logged almost 900 workouts while at BeachSide and very recently hit a PR on his back squat with a total of 300 lbs. Dilan is not only a great athlete but is also very positive and supportive of his fellow gym mates, even after he crushes everyone in the rowing workouts. Keep up the hard work Dilan!
Tell us about yourself:
Hello everyone I’m Dilan Tejeda and I’m 20 years old. I was born in Mexico City, Mexico and moved to Oxnard when I was 6. I’m the 2nd youngest of 7 in my family. I grew up in Oxnard and have loved every minute of it. Even though I’ve been here for almost the entirety of my life, I’ve only been to the beach a handful of times. Hard to believe I know. I’m currently a student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and plan on getting my degree in marketing with an emphasis in business administration in the next 2 years. I’m a very open person that likes to try new things and experience’s. I’m always up for road trips and adventures (as long as they don’t intervene with my work). After university I want to take a US cross country trip with a couple of friends. When I grow up I want to be as fit as Nate whilst being able to consume as much Coors Light as Jimmy. Some say its not possible, I guess I just have to put it to the test.
What do you do for a job?
I operate and manage our family business “La Casa De Ceramica” where we sell cabinets, countertops, backsplash and all types of flooring. We do full house remodels and help customers find their look in the process. I’ve been doing this since I was 10 and now I’m gladly running the whole operation. In the last couple months I’ve also opened up an event center which is also located in Downtown Oxnard. Its still developing and getting big time remodels. It’s a very new experience and takes up a lot of work but it’s very fun and eye opening.
Tell us something people might not know about you:
When I was younger me and all 5 of my brothers skated. Not the roller skates but skateboards. There’d be days where we’d all leave in the morning go skate some stairs or ledge and then just go from one place to another, one push at a time. Good times. Nowadays I don’t skate but I keep up with it and know all the brands and lingo and all of that still. Another thing people might not know about me is that I know how to do ceramics. It’s something that I picked up very recently but its super fun and head clearing. My favorite thing to do is either bowls or small tea cups.
What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?
When I was in high school I did wrestling my freshman year and loved the long workouts that would leave me gasping for air. I stopped because of an injury that I received to the head and then took up running my junior year. This was just another form of workouts that would leave me gasping for air. After high school I joined 24 hour fitness to look shredded and ripped like all the gnar bros but I realized that dumbbell curls and flexing in the mirror for an hour wasn’t making me fit. I noticed I was gaining a lot of weight because of that and decided to look up a nearby CrossFit box that would give me the same endorphins that wrestling and running did. After my first box closed only 4 months after joining I joined the best gym in California AKA Beachside CrossFit.
What was your first impression? How has that changed?
My first impression of CrossFit was “hell yeah I love this” and that impression has not changed. I love how everyday is different and how even if you can’t do some of the movements you can scale to every extremity to fit your fitness level and get an amazing workout in. It’s just never ending fun.
What was your first “bright spot”?
I think my first bright spot happened a couple months after being at BeachSide. To put into context this happened after the shut down in 2020 where we were working out at home. During these home workouts I had actually taken a rower home and was rowing like a mad man. One of the first days of coming back from lockdown we had a workout that was an AMRAP with 15 cal row in the beginning. We didn’t move the rowers to have them in our area, we just put them down where they usually stand and sat there. Now that everyone was sitting next to each other, the workout started. I was just rowing at my own pace, I didn’t want to burn out because there was a lot more to do after. So I finished and start getting off the rower but was surprised because I got off first. More than anything I was worried because why was nobody else was getting off?!? Coach wondered if I even did the right amount and checked my screen to make sure. She said good job and that’s when I realized I was OK at rowing. After rowing hundreds of meters in my living room and constantly red lining during lockdown I could definitely tell the difference it made. Now I love every workout that has some rowing in it.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on snatches, pull ups and really anything overhead. I have an elbow deformity that happened back in the 3rd grade that limits my overhead ability and shoulder mobility. Maybe 2 months back I had never even attempted to snatch but just started to try it out. I’m not going for the heaviest snatch ever but would love to just put some weight on the bar for workouts. Now it’s one of my favorite movements. Pull ups have always been difficult because of the shoulder mobility requirement. I’ve been taking it easy on them and really working on good form and control on the bar. Besides that I don’t really think I’m working on anything in specific. I’m not saying I’m amazing at anything but I just feel like there’s always room for improvement in every movement. That’s the beauty of CrossFit, never ending.
What’s your favorite BeachSide CrossFit memory?
I think my favorite beachside memory is my first ever CrossFit open in 2021. It was just really good energy that whole night which led to a 20 pound pr in my push jerk. The Open Friday Night Lights that BeachSide has are always a good time.
