At 23 years old, after spending a few nights in the Santa Barbara County Jail, Luis Muñoz knew it was time to turn his life around. He got on his bike and started riding around town and quickly discovered the pull-up bars at Dwight Murphy Park. One pull-up started to turn into multiple, and multiple pull-ups turned into a muscle-up and Muñoz fell in love with calisthenics.
Over the past 13 years, Muñoz has transformed a personal love of calisthenics into a community focused on positivity and outdoor fitness by founding SBBarLife. As the sun clears from behind the fog bank at the west end of Cabrillo Ball Park, Muñoz is helping inspire others and encouraging them to reach their goals.
Muñoz didn’t get to this stage due to luck. It took deliberate change and effort to escape his past life of gang violence. He credits the beginning of this journey to his mentor: a former Eastside gang leader who left the gang scene and instead dedicated his life to working with at-risk teens.
That man was Matt Sanchez.
“When you’re in jail, who’s there to visit you?” Sanchez asked a 16-year-old Muñoz.
That was the question that sent Muñoz on a path that would forever change his life. Involved in gangs, Muñoz spent time in juvenile hall and Los Prietos Boys Camp as he struggled to find a way to fit in and feel validated by his peers.
“It wasn’t overnight,” Muñoz said. “But I eventually started to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
SBBarLife
In the over $200 billion-dollar fitness industry, exercise of almost any form has been turned into a profitable model, but Muñoz doesn’t want to turn SBBarLife into a business.
“There is nothing being sold here,” Muñoz said. “I just want to see everyone reach their full potential.”
The group works out right next to the iconic Chromatic Gate, where a small fitness park provides two pull up bars, and a couple of other calisthenics focused workout stations. Each member is barefoot. Muñoz doesn’t want fitness to be restricted by equipment and access to gym spaces. No matter your income, Muñoz wants to see everyone reach their fitness goals.
“I just want you to come out next week, maybe bring a friend, bring that positive energy back,” the NASM certified trainer said.
Calisthenics also presents a pure form of working out that protects the body from injury caused by fitness machines. Body weight exercises are solely based on what your body is capable of. Muñoz says that injuring yourself doing calisthenics doesn’t have the same risk of misusing a machine and harming yourself due to incorrect form.
Looking outside of just fitness, a new chapter has begun to unfold, Muñoz is also now a father.
“I want to leave a legacy for my son,” Muñoz said. “I want him to see the positive impact I’ve made in my community.”
Family is a highly important part of Muñoz’s journey, working out alongside him is his father, Ted Muñoz, and his brother, Angelo Muñoz.
“It’s hard to come out of the gang,” said Ted Muñoz. “It’s really hard.”
Luis’s father fought for him to get the chance to turn his life around. He promised the district attorney that after Muñoz was released for the last time that his son would set on a different path.
“You will never see him again,” Ted Muñoz promised.
For Angelo, calisthenics means everything to him. This day, he was focused on perfecting hand stand push-ups. As he lifts himself upside down he takes a moment to stabilize before starting the set of push-ups.
“It’s my life, this type of training,” Angelo said. He showed his brother, Luis, body weight exercises back in high school and they have been a foundational part of their lives ever since.
Luis is open about the role the community has played in his journey. Without the support and connection with others, his transformation would not have been possible.
“Without community I’m nothing,” Muñoz said.
Luis hopes to be the positive role model that Sanchez was to him, helping at-risk kids find a way out of the gang scene.
“At the end of the day I’m a credible messenger,” Muñoz said. “I’ve been locked up, I’ve been to boys camp, I’ve been to county jail, and I know what it takes to turn your life around.”
