Steve's BJJ Blog

aka: What can I do to get my bro to share some diving stories with me?

When I found BJJ, it was great. I’d found something that was healthy and positive, a hobby that was good for me both physically and mentally, and became addicted instantly. Most of us have had a similar experience, where we were immediately hooked and can’t wait to get back on the mats.

Mainly, though, I want to encourage my brother to write, and maybe even get him to start his own blog, tracking his adventures and experiences while diving. [hint]I’d read it[/hint]. So, with that, below is a completely unsolicited endorsement for the dive shop my brother, Randy, and his wife use, written by him. Sounds nice…

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A few years ago, my wife and I obtained our open water certifications in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. Sounds awesome. Right? The whole experience was miserable. The weather sucked. The dive shop treated us as if we were a nuisance. I felt awful because I had promised my wife this great adventure, but I had failed miserably. Still, I had the bug and I wanted to dive again. Diving is something I’d wanted to do for a long time and I wasn’t ready to give up.

Eventually, Jo agreed to give it one more shot. This time, we decided to give the Big Island a try and I started searching for a dive shop that would offer a more positive experience. If you look online you will find references to a couple of big shops with good reputations, but I also found a few references to one smaller shop: Sandwich Isle Divers. After our experience with the bigger dive shop, the idea of working with a smaller outfit was appealing. Everything that I read about these guys sounded great so I gave them a call.

A guy named Colton answered the phone, and we talked for a while. I told them about our previous experiences and explained that my wife was on the verge of giving up diving. Even over the phone, I knew we’d found the right place. Colton acknowledged that our experience sounded terrible and promised us a totally different one.

Steve Myklebust and his wife Lara run a shop like no other. Their dive masters are all knowledgeable and very friendly. Steve knows so much about the local marine life that every trip is like a short marine biology class. While they’re a full service dive shop, each trip never has more than 6 divers. Because they only do morning charters, you never feel rushed since they don’t have to hurry back in for afternoon divers. The pace of the dives is relaxed and they encourage us to enjoy our bottom time. When you return to the surface you can pass your gear off to Steve so you don’t have to climb the boat ladder with all that weight. Surface intervals will include light snacks and drinks and might include a bit of whale watching!

Since that first trip, we’ve logged over 60 dives with Sandwich Isle Divers and plan to do many more.

Randy and Jo Zacher
Anchorage, AK

Not feeling well today, so no training, but I did run across a cool highlight video for Renaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza. Whew…

Renaldo “Jacare” Souza Highlights

I’m not a spiritual guy. While I am and have always been very interested in world religions and philosophy, my interest is largely academic. I think it’s fascinating to learn about and try to understand what drives and motivates people. However, I get uncomfortable and squirmy whenever someone mentions crystals, auras or in the martial arts world, chi. I try to remain diplomatic, usually saying something awkward and stupid like, “So, I guess my aura is plaid. Right?” But I just don’t go in for all of that. The claxon alarms go off and my BS meter starts to peg out in the red. Most new age medicine is right up there with Dim Mak and the No Touch Knockout, unless proven otherwise.

I have mentioned that my past experiences with chiropractors haven’t been all that positive. Well, a good friend and training partner at Foster BJJ is Sean Flaherty. Dr. Sean is a standup guy. He doesn’t wear crystals… that I know of… and likes to train hard. He’s also one of the only guys in Washington who does what’s called Zone Healing. I had actually decided I needed to check him out a while back, but it took a few months to really take the step. The last time I saw chiropractors, after a year or so I was worse than ever. So, I was a little nervous.

I’m on the bubble right now about how much I buy into the Zone Healing concept, but I have to say that results so far are good. My lower back is still a little sore, but not nearly as much as before and I’m looking forward to training tonight.

I’ve been reading up on Zone Healing over the last few weeks. Turns out that Zone Healing is, while a little new agey, something many guys in MMA and elsewhere swear by. Check out this article from May, 2007 over at MMA Weekly. The article is actually an interview with Dr. Pete Goldman. He discusses Zone Healing and a little about how he helps several of the biggest names in MMA including BJ Penn and Bas Rutten. I guess Bas took too many salt shakers to the noggin and needed to get his neck fixed. Or something like that.

Here’s another article on Zone Healing and MMA.

Essentially, zone healing builds on the general chiropractic idea that the spine is the key to overall health. Basically, we have six different body systems that can be addressed specifically: the Glandular, Eliminative, Nervous, Digestive, Muscular and Circulatory systems. So far, Dr. Sean’s been working on the first area. I should notice increases in fo… cus (sorry, I was thinking about something else…). He also refers to the area of the prostate and testes. And here I thought that my four month old baby was killing my sex life!

Seriously, though, it’s been positive so far and I’m approaching it with optimism. Each year, I try to take a step to improve my overall health and wellbeing. While in 2006, this involved literally stepping into the BJJ school, and in 2007 and 2008 working to improve my weight through diet and exercise, I’m now at a point where I’d like to eliminate as much as I can the chronic pain I’ve lived with for years. If I can get to where I move without pain in 2009, I’ll be very, very happy.

Well, that and improve my grasp of the fundamentals, work on escapes from every position and somehow grow back my hair… well, maybe not that last one.

Since Zuffa bought out the WEC, it has become something of a destination for top tier little guys. The 135 through 155 divisions are terrific, and the fights always exciting. While any MMA fight has the potential to be exciting, it’s the lighter divisions that I really enjoy watching. As a result, with a few notable exceptions, the free MMA offered by the WEC is something I always look forward to watching.

Well, now it’s time to pick your favorite fights. Set your TiVos for December 28th and the WEC Best of 2008 Special. From what I understand, it will include the following fights: Miguel Angel Torres vs. Yoshira Maeda, Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver, Carlos Condit vs. Hiromitsu Miura and the never before seen on television bout between Donald Cerrone and Rob McCullough. All of these fights were great. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the Judo on display in the Condit vs Miura match.

So, watch, and then vote. There’s a contest where the grand prize is a trip for two to San Diego and the WEC Event on January 25th. This is the official word on that:

Versus is also running a contest – viewers can visit www.VERSUS.com to weigh in on which of the four bouts featured in the WEC Best of 2008 special is the best fight of the year. Each person who votes will be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for two to VERSUS’ next live WEC event on January 25 in San Diego which will feature the Lightweight Championship fight between Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone and the mega-rematch between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver. The fight of the year, as decided by VERSUS viewers, will be announced in the January 25 live telecast airing on VERSUS at 9:30 p.m. ET.

I’ve never seen the Cerrone/McCullough fight, so that will be good, too. More information and a link to some interviews can be found on the WEC PodOMatic website.

Josh fought in his 2nd Amateur MMA fight at Carnage at the Creek 4. Josh won by RNC at :58 seconds in the first round. Congratulations, Josh. You’re one of the hardest working guys at the school and it shows!

Thanks to the guys who nominated me for the Fightworks Podcast BJJ Blog of the Year award. What they’re going to do is make a decision about who gets to be on the final ballot (not sure what the process is for that). If I make it to the ballot, I’ll need every vote I can get at that point. So, keep your eyes out for more on that.

Class yesterday was really fun. We worked a baseball bat choke and did a lot of sparring.