#36 - Surf & Scuba Special Episode with Brian Jones

Brian Jones joins us for a Surf and Scuba Special just in time for the summer water sport season. Let Brian inspire you to get out in nature to revive your soul.  Learn how to train to learn how to surf depending on your stance, body type and wave types. Training is important to prevent injury and muscle strains. Flagler Beach, FL is hosting some surf competitions coming up soon including Her Turn Surf Festival on June 1, 2024. We also have locals who help people learn how to surf. Find Brian On TikTok where he creates all kinds of helpful therapy videos at the request of his followers to help them recover and prevent further injury. 

Brian currently resides in Hawaii where he is a physical therapist, personal trainer, certified strength and conditioning coach, health fitness specialist, athletic trainer, nutritionist and clinical specialist. He is an avid surfer and all around fan of water sports. He has worked in wound care, sports/athletics, geriatrics, pediatrics, neurology, skilled nursing, acute care, inpatient neurology, outpatient orthopedics, with the military and for professional sports organizations (World Surf League and Major League Baseball). He is most confident with orthopedic injuries as he has undergone several serious surgeries personally. He is currently working with Access Surf which is an organization that helps handicapped individuals get in the ocean through adaptive sports equipment. He also volunteers for Life Waters , an organization that helps wounded veterans SCUBA dive. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Women Learning How to Surf in Flagler Beach, FL with Heather Tran (Link to podcast episode)
• 17:50 Her Turn Surf Festival (Link)
• 47:15 Life Waters Adaptive Scuba with the VA (Link)
• 47:49 Access Surf Adaptive Ocean Access (Link)
• 51:45 Reach out to Brian and Ask for Information!

Transcript

0:11

This is Angela Grayson from The Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It's all possible. It’s time to wake up. Here we go. Hey, everybody, This is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. And today we're going to be talking to Brian Jones once again, the physical therapist from Hawaii. Hey, Brian, how are you? Aloha. Angela I'm there just fine. I love that. I've been using that word a lot. Aloha feels good. I like it. Once you get out here, you can't stop using it. It's just part of the collective consciousness. The culture feels right. Yeah, I'm thinking once I get out there, I might not want to come back. What happened to me? It's so beautiful. So today we're going to be talking about surfing. Brian, you're an avid surfer, and you're right there in the depth of it. You know what it's all about. And you help others who want to get into surfing, maybe train their bodies, and also help them deal with issues that might come up later on down the road. So let's first talk about your surfing experience. Yes, well, I am a Ohio boy, so not too many waves out there. But I didn't even know I really liked the ocean until I went to grad school in Florida. Florida. Not too many waves. So I got into scuba diving out there. So I started a love for the ocean when I was, you know, in Miami on the East Coast diving. But I didn't even try surfing until I got out to Hawaii. The waves are just very predictable. Warm water, very welcoming. Once I got out here, I was determined to learn. So first thing I bought was a car. The second thing I about was a surfboard. That's it? Yeah. I didn't even have a place to live yet. And I was like, I'm going to learn. So I went every day where I would take three or four months before I really could call myself a surfer. Right. So you can actually get the hang of it takes a lot of practice and skill. And for those who may be just learning, one of the most valuable lessons is you may deal with some tendinitis, some overuse injuries. I certainly did. You tend to use certain muscles more than you typically don't, right? Because you're paddling a lot. I had to learn how to compensate for these injuries and now has helped me as a physical therapist to teach people what to look out for. Body positioning, kinematics, how you move your whole body while you're in the way and how injuries occur. So it's been, oh, gosh, about 11 years now. I really, you know, a learning experience of a lifetime. Are the waves monstrous? They're compared to Florida. Yeah. The people say, well, what's the what's the seasons like in Hawaii? And we always joke there's north swell and south swell. Meaning in the winter, there's waves coming in an orange. And in the summer the waves coming from the south. And so the waves are typically bigger on the north shore of Oahu and the winter and at certain times can reach 50 to 60 feet. Wow. Yeah, it's it's intense even on the shoreline. If you're if you're standing there, you can feel the vibration of the waves. Yeah, it's it's an unreal feeling. You could watch it on TV all day, but until you're there in person, it's different. The power of nature. And what about the summertime? Yeah. The biggest the waves will get will call it double overhead, meaning like two people. So but typically they're about at high and Waikiki on a lulu. The waves are about four or five or six feet at most. So it's more welcoming to most people. And that's typically the waves I stay on. It's about waist, shoulder height, just one relaxing, controllable, manageable waves. It's the water. Always warm there. Yeah, about 83 degrees year round, year long. Wow. That's. That's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Very welcoming. Fun for watersports all year round. So we're very lucky. I'm. I'm very lucky to call this home. Absolutely. So we're going to be having quite a few surfing events here in Flagler Beach where I live this month, are starting out. Let's see, March 15th, there's going to be the Flagler Surf Series. That's for three days. And and it's for for all people who want to be involved, men, women and children. Depending on your level, you can be brand new at it. You can be or you can enter the competitive level. So it's open to all. I think that's pretty cool for three days. Yeah, I'm reading about it right now. It looks like it's the third best wave in the state of Florida. But what's cool though, in three days or kind of an open tournament? Mm hmm. Nice. I'm trying to look at the predictions to see what the waves are going to be, but that's a whole science in itself. Yeah, that's right. It's called Sounds like I'm going to say a list, but. But the symmetry is the study of waves, you know? Well, there's a lot of more intelligent people than I'll ever be about this. They look at ground swell winds, well, temperature barometer readings and try to figure out the best day and times research. Mm hmm. Well, try now. Look online right now about the whole Maine period. But it looks like it's just. It's that day. Mm hmm. Yeah. Out here, something perhaps something called a holding period. Say, a tournament. It'll last three days, but the holding period will be 2 to 3 weeks long. And in that duration, they try to figure out when the best waves are coming through. Nice. Most competitive time in the most clean waves that you will as surfing's moving into an Olympic sport. They're trying to standardize a lot of the contest. So a lot of science behind getting the right conditions. Yeah. Makes for a better day, for sure. Make it more competitive, right? Yeah. And even they're building all these wave parks around the country are extremely with us. Yes. Yeah. So I think in a matter of 10 to 20 years, it'll be more and more common to see these wave pools around the country. Mm. Texas. Arizona. Places you wouldn't think surfing exists. They're starting to happen. Yeah, that's pretty cool. You can practice anywhere you're at or just go to have fun. Yeah, it's very. I'm ready for Hawaii. Yeah, exactly. Leads yourself really? Well, I do have friends who come out of Austin like, Hey, I want to surf Waikiki when I get there. And I'm always like, Hank, just go to your local YMCA, start doing laps. I mean, you got to train. You got to get your body ready for at least a few months where you want to get out there, because the closest, the closest, most popular wave breaks about 200 yards out. Mm. So if you can't swim to football field. Mm hmm. Yeah. And that's just getting there. Right. Yeah. Let's talk about the training. Go ahead. Yeah, I've been to that for beginners. You want to make sure that your shoulder strengths are adequate, and also, more importantly, as you're neck. And Whereas, sparring. When we paddle, you're in a slightly extended. So scapular retraction and scapular crushing position. Most people who start surfing without any training, they'll over strain their neck and rotator cuff because the body positioning is so important. And if you're not training surfing for at least a couple of months out, getting your body used to the repetitive motions, you're going to have a lot of problems. And we'll see that people will hire, you know, their surf instructors you can hire for the day who will paddle you out here, help. You don't want to work them out. You can pay someone and you pay them really well. You don't have to paddle at all. All right. Yeah. Yeah. There's. There's guys who devote their job to doing that out here. Well, yeah, I know a few of them. Furthermore than that, it's getting familiar with the water, but also breath holds. And it may not sound like it's that intimidating at first, but on your 3 to 4 foot waves, you may be held under for several seconds. And it's scary. It seems like a lot longer when you're when that's happening in person. Mm hmm. So when you fall off the board, you have to hold your breath. Right. And typically, when you're at forces exerted on you and you're falling through the wave, you will not focus on your breath, hold an air will escape. So most people kind of panic when they first learning and they lose their air that they hold. Right. So a lot of surfers, you eventually get into big wave training. They'll do something called apnea, actually. And a lot of my buddies to surf these 30, 40, 50 foot waves, they don't let you go out until you can hold your breath for about 2 minutes while doing push ups. So it's a very common apnea training method. You hold your breath, you push ups for 2 minutes and they won't let you out if you can't do that to stress the body. Also, there's a very common training method which I participate in with some big wave surfers. They call it running rocks. Where you are. You just get a rock and then you run on the bottom of the ocean. So you go down the beach, keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. And again you try to just hold it for as long as you can imagine, this 30 foot wave, it's going to push you under. Yeah. Yeah. So that force of the water is going to push you down in the water. So you got to get used to the pressure out your ears, too. So it's not just musculoskeletal training, as one would think. It's cardiopulmonary and it's also deal with pressure and your equilibrium, your middle ear. Mm hmm. Yeah. Those. Those ear injuries are more common than people tend to realize. So people will get slammed on the water and have vertigo from damaged middle ears. So it's not uncommon for us to have a surfer out there kind of paddling in circles. And that's when we know some damage has occurred to the stimulus system. So, yeah, it's a very weird one, but not often talked about. We always like to focus on cervical spine, shoulder, whatever it may be, concussions, but the vestibular thing is often not talked about. So that's our system that keeps us in balance. So there is there's more to it than the paddling out there. And okay, so you need to be able to jump up on your board. You need to be able to balance on your board. Yeah, I don't even focus on that at first. I'm like, we just got to focus on your body's ability to stand up and there's tons of real BS we could laugh at like, Oh, we're receiving forgiving serum secreting Sarah Marshall. Uh huh. Have you seen that one? Yeah. It's like aura. He's up there and he's like, Do, let's do less. He's trying to stand up, but I would I think of that one every time because people often try too hard. But yeah, you got to have the flexibility range of motion to essentially do a burpee right from the ground. So that's a common method of training that. But yeah, jumping up, do you ever see people doing that on the land first before they even get into the water? Oh sure, yeah. You're walk by a surf school and typically they have 5 to 10 participants at going over the basics, the mechanics of how to stand up and whether you've tried snowboarding or skateboarding or surfing before. There's two styles, right? There's regular and goofy. You know, regular would be your left foot or goofy is your right foot. Now, there's speculation why people go this way. Like, why wouldn't someone surf for the right foot forward or left for work? I'm goofy. I can't figure out why, but I've tried to surf regular, but my brain and my body just doesn't happen. And so you'll be on the beach and I'll say, Stand up and get into a surf position. And whatever position you get in, that's where you go. Feels natural. Yeah, whatever is natural for you, you know? Yeah. Right handed. And then that has nothing to do with it. But I just have to put my right foot forward so we don't try to chop up your right foot forward. Personally, yeah. I can't do more. Feels right. Okay. Yeah, I can't. Snowboarders skate or anything the opposite way. It just feels so wrong. Huh. So we don't try to change that. We're like, whatever. That's what you do. That's. You never work. Yeah. With it. Well, does it matter which way the wave is coming from as far as balancing better? Yeah. Great question for the left foot. Yeah. So waves can either be a left or right break or a point break. I'm sure everyone has seen that movie with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves might break. That just refers to the way it breaks over the reef. Typically, waves come in at different angles, so you can either go left or right. So that's just the way the way it pushes you won't break the spoke direction. And that's why they're so popular, because they cater to both regular and goofy style surfers. So these little variables don't mean much and you can surf a normal I give you a right and just there are different waves that surf, different stances better. So and in my case, going left is more easy. So my right foot forward so I can kind of face the wave. And that's a lot to process for the audience, right? But sometimes I'm picturing that in my mind. Yeah, Sometimes just Googling an image of different wave breaks is really helpful. You're having a hard time imagining it, but yeah, just Google Point break. Not the movie, but the image. And that should make sense to you. Mm hmm. Yeah, but that actually comes full circle back to how we train and help rehabilitate surfers who get injured. Depending on your body position, you will overuse and underused certain muscle. So whatever foot is or where you tend to use that glute medius more so the hip abductor, that will see a lot of like tendinitis and the no sustained issues as well low back pain. And because you're always in that one sided position, we have to train the opposite side to compensate. So a lot of surfers, if they were doing their whole lives, will have to turn the opposing muscle groups off to keep symmetry balanced. I saw one of your TikTok videos of you balancing on it look like a band and ing on it. Taken a few steps and then I'm like, Oh my gosh, talk about balance, you know, hold my arm. Yeah. Have you never seen this before? No, it's. Wow. I just, like, really? Because everything's got to be steady. You got your legs, your ankles, your feet, your hips, you know, your core, everything. Yeah. We call that the kinematic chain, right? If you have a deficit in your ankle strength or knee strength, it's going to affect your whole way up. And so when there's no waves, you'll see a lot of people out here put up these things called slack lights, which is a tightrope. Yeah, between trees. It's about two feet off the ground. So when you follow, you land on the stand relatively safe. Relatively, yeah. Is that what be though? Is it is this like a regular. It's like. Yeah. It's like now it's a toe strap like when you pull carts out of ditches. Oh, okay. Like this. I don't remember riding. I'm curious to let you know. Yeah. Yeah. I like if you have a tow strap in your car to pull a car out, maybe. You know, stuff I actually have one of those. I'll have to set it up. Yeah, that's what it is. It's like a two inch wide. There's one inch wide once. But yeah, if you just walk up it, it's like when there's a little go. And that's where your body has to compensate and there's no waves. I mean, we can't predict Mother Nature that way. Right, I'll answer. But those slack lines up to essentially do balance and stability training. Yeah, we always like being at the beach too. Right. So a how to. Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to take take my toe line out to the beach. We're here. The ladies are going to be starting to train soon because in June we have our it's called her turn surfing surfing event. Okay. Personal trainer that I know here in the community, Heather, she Heather Tran. She's the one who started it. I believe last year was the first one. Just all women surfers at all levels. Yeah. So they're going to be starting if they haven't already started their training. So it'll be cool to take that out to the beach and have them practice their, their balance and all of these. Yeah, especially with the female surfer demographic. We when we use Slack line for training for surfing, I always like to have them focus on neutral, always. So just standing on one leg, very subtle, bending the knee and then just maintain stability for 30 seconds to a minute and then trying to switch between the three. The reason for that is when you're able to stand on one leg and keep a neutral pelvis that drains a muscle, the group medius. So if you have weakness in that muscle, we call it the model walk, you'll see the strap left and right. They call that a Brandenburg Gate pattern and why it's so important in the female population, there's a are you familiar with you angle? Yes. Yeah. So wider hips women and wider than men. And what happens is the femur will internally rotate more and they call that Jenny Belgium. If the media is weak, it's going to create more strain on the inside of the knee because of the wider hips. And that's why a lot of female surfers are more prone to ACL and ACL. Tear just an anatomical variation, but that's why we focus on that strength training for not just surfers but basketball players and baseball players and all female sports. Yeah, we want to start that early to like around 12 to 30. We see most ACL tears around 16 years old female athletes. So it's important if you're out there listening and you have a young daughter, maybe you are a young teenager. It's important to train those muscles to help reduce the risk of injury. Some Yeah, but Slack runs. Good way to do it. Ah yeah. Lo fi. Add up to a couple of palm trees on the beach and have some fun with your friends, right? Yeah. It's cheapest form of entertainment you'll ever find. It's like 40 bucks. And every time I put it up, I might do it today if not too many waves. Once the kids come by and, you know, I would just tell the parents might just hold their hands. It's. It's on you. I don't want to be responsible about. Yeah, I gotcha. Athletes have fun. It's a it's a very, very cheap way of entertaining everyone for hours. Yeah. So you have a lot of people that come to you with shoulder damage from surfing. Yeah. It's not injuries. Yeah, it's mostly overuse injuries. So tendinitis and the assists bursitis like chronic degenerative conditions. But every now and again we'll see like impact from falls or acute injuries like liberal tears where the arm will hyper are extended to an abnormal position. That happened to me. I wiped out and I put my arm forward to stop myself. But the board caught my arm and yanked it back over my head and I wound up with something called a slap here and that needed surgery down. Have you heard of the label? Tears in the shoulder? No, no. The labrum is kind of like a clump that holds. Ah, she were all had in place. It's a stabilizing factor. We have one in the hip as well. But if there's trauma to the she risks, it goes into an abnormal position like whether you've fallen an outstretched arm or you think your arm back over head too fast, the bone itself will dig into the cartilage, the labor and tear it. And so that unfortunately does not repair on its arm. You need surgery to help repair labor. And yeah, otherwise it'll just like click and snap and pop all the time. And so they had to go on there and essentially just suture it back together. And so it wasn't too bad. But recovery six months now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I couldn't work out or surf or anything or, you know, just do my little weights and stretches. But you know, the sutures essentially heal. So at it takes time. Yeah. So you had to restrain yourself and not go do what you love to do every day. No, thank you, artist part, right? Oh, my God. Yeah, I know. I was just hiking and doing cardio by me, and that's just how it goes with life. You know, I always tell people, don't focus on what you can't do. Focus on what you can do. So whether you enjoy your shoulder, you're still capable of walking, you're still capable of going outside now. And that's no different than, um, you know, I think it's a good metaphor for life, not just physical well-being. Mm. Yeah, but we often get too caught up in our own past life mistakes, rate ups that you're, you're not. And try not to be a psychologist there. Right. But hey, blood's over. Yeah, it definitely does. Yeah. Don't focus on your past failures. Focus on your future success. And right there you go. Learn from your past failures and move on. Yeah, yeah, that's a podcast. I was listening to you recently focusing on your losses in life. Turn those L's into lessons and fell off them and fail a lot to learn more. That was the plot. The beautiful thing about surfing is no matter who you are, if you're Kelly Slater or if you're just starting off, you're going to fall everyone involved. So there's there's yeah, it's a fun sport because everyone falls at them no matter who you are. And so that's half the fun. Like, yeah, enjoying the ride, Just that little wave. Having a good time. Absolutely. Yeah. So do do you see a lot of injuries out there or not really. I mean, I of course it happens, but like on a basis, is there a lot of stuff going wrong? Yeah, it's relatively safe sport. Meaning you just know how to fall right? Man in the water, protect yourself. Most injuries come from other boards. Maybe a novice surfer who doesn't have control of their body. Then they let it go and that ball will be kind of pushing forward by the lake or the water will and it'll hit someone in the hand or the. Yeah, the female slice someone. So we'll see a lot of the lacerations as well or more than I or just injury from the reef. You get pushed in to the reef too much and volcanic rock is not soft, it will cut you. And that's almost everyone's first experience of Hawaii. Is that rock sharp? Yeah. You walk on barefoot, you're going to have cuts on your feet, has no different in the water. So when you get crushed into it, you can stay a little. Is it any worse than coral? Like the coral reefs, The volcanic rock? Yeah, it's just about the same. I mean, I would say it's worse just because of the lava rock. Yeah, the way it breaks down, it's a little sharper. But there are coral reefs out here too. But not as much. Yeah, not. But they'll drop. But the lava rocks are everywhere. Yeah, Yeah. And that's what creates the surf, Right. And so the break the, the lava rock, different depth. When the wave goes over it, it creates that way. So wherever you see waves out here, there's a volcanic rock underneath it or a reef. So. Mm. Just kind of like be careful, don't go over there a little too shallow. And that's why it helps to have someone take you out, knows where to go, what to avoid. Yeah, but yeah, there's Marine life out here too. So jellyfish, all that can bother you year round. Yeah. Yeah. There's different seasons like Portuguese matter, the the ones that suck the most. Have you heard of those? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I jumped into one once. Lovely. I, I like electric too. The bolts on my arm for about a week. Oh it's for that long. Wow. Yeah. It'll, it'll wrap around you and I'll have these pretty red lines that will stay on you for a good four or five days. A tattoo you don't want. Yeah, Yeah, exactly. You know. Yeah. I see them on faces and backs and it's just like I'll read. It's not the worst, but it's not funny either. Yeah, yeah. But we do see, we do see a lot of acute injuries as well out here, but mostly it's the lifeguards, not so much the surfers themselves. Now, I mean, think about it. You're in Florida and you get a lot of snowbirds out there, right? So New Jersey, New York, right. All East Coast, not only snowbirds, but all kinds of tourists and visitors. Yeah, around the world. Yeah. Two zero global. So they go out to Daytona or wherever they're in Orlando and they want to go see the ocean. Maybe the waves are big one day and they don't swim. Mm. It happens all the time out here. Well something called shore breaks. So where are the waves big enough where it breaks on the shoreline. People either the attractive, they want to go check it out. It's visually stunning. And the problem is people don't realize how powerful they are, but mostly people kind of playing in the shore break and then a big wave will pitch up. And then I'll just you know, I mean, there's a beach out here called Sadie's. They call it Breakneck, Breakneck Beach, about two or three ambulances a day out there. Wow. Yeah. It's like keep those guys busy, huh? Yeah, but, I mean, you get you get thrown into the sand really hard by a heavy away. And if your neck lands wrong or your shoulder and strong, it breaks bones. And not only that, but you're getting dragged out into the water. Yeah. If you don't know how to swim or you're panicking, a lot of the lifeguards will go out there and try to save you. But I mean, I like this story a lot, but, you know, you got a £300 guy from Wisconsin who does a lot of swam and now he has a hard shoulder and he's getting yanked down to the ocean panicking. You got a £150 lifeguard trying to save him. And unfortunately, the lifeguard usually doesn't win in that situation. He didn't add up with the bicep tendon strain or something, you know. So, yeah, they're putting their bodies the life on the line just to help you out. And I'm so grateful they're there because they saved me. Mm. Yeah. Okay. When you, when you hurt your shoulder. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's. Yeah, exactly right. Uh, that when I got hurt, the board got broken in half to the big way. Not only do I have one arm, but no board to hold on to. And I was like, Oh, yeah, and oh, crap moment. But they're new to survival really fast and I treading water on the hard shoulder and thank God they saw me out there and I'm on a jetski and they're like this My buddy is like, You're going to hang out for a little while longer. You want some help? I'm like, Oh, just, you know, treading water on it. You just joking with him. But he's the kid. I like my shoulders pretty bad now. Yeah. Good guy. Good guy. Yeah. Yeah. He actually got hurt not too long after that. On the jetski itself. He took a big wave and broke his femur just from the impact of the wave. He didn't fall off the jetski, but just going over a big wave, it landed and the impact alone just broke his leg, which is the hardest bone to break. But let me just give you an idea of the force of the big waves up. Oh, the power of the ocean. You don't fool around with Mother Nature out there. You know he wins every time. Yeah, Yeah. Whether you're free diving, scuba diving, spearfishing is big in Florida, right? Or surfing. You just got to be careful. Know your limitations and trial and error. That's the best way. I mean, be safe. I don't know if you've heard this saying before, but when in doubt, don't go out. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So we try to convey that to everyone to like, hey, my shoulder hurts a lot. Like go up if you're questioning it, go, go out there. Yeah. You need the strength of the body to to be able to perform at your optimum best. Yeah. I hope that answers your questions about different types of injuries out here, but mostly it's sprains and strains and stuff you see in typical sports arenas in any capacity. But the uniqueness that everyone wants to know about is the shark attacks, right? That's the extra one variable that these people out of the water, right? Yeah. So but it happens more to those who fear the ocean won't even go, you know, to the beach or go swimming because the sharks out there. Sure. But and you know, they're out there. But the majority of the time, you know, they don't want to eat people. Right now, we're not on the menu. I'm a scuba instructor. And every time I come across a shark, what we teach people is go vertical, not horizontal. Mm hmm. And they're so old, They're. They're dinosaurs. Right? So if you're horizontal swimming, whether you're fluid, Right? So if you base them and go vertical, they're like, we don't know what you are. They'll swim away. All Oh, bother. But it's hard to stand your ground when you have that right. Your lizard brain kicking and fear right, a top one. Now you have huge sharks out there along the coast. Oh, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. Yeah. It's unfortunate to say, but just an attack. Yeah, but it's the other day like it's obvious off there. They're fine. They a board was bitten but tiger sharks are big on our. I'll show you a photo. I took my this was an however which is our own North Shore. I know your viewers can't see it right now, but I sent this one to National Geographic. Mm. Because this is the biggest one that I've seen a lot. You can see that. Okay. How many feet do you think that is? They sound pretty big because there's a diver right next to it, and it's like a reef size of the diver. Yeah, he's about six feet. And that shark is about 17 feet. Yes. Yeah. No, I think. Yeah, it's a pregnant female since she's about 16, 17 feet. I mean it's bigger and some boats are. Yeah. But I saw, I saw the shark in the water and my is like in a photo I'm like I think I'm saying by the ladder. Okay, but some people don't have that fear in them. And I do like, you know, I was afraid to go in the pool after watching Jaws, right? Oh, you know, that movie just ruined it for so many people. And yeah, Shark Week comes out on TV during diving season. You know, I'm on shark Week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're on it. I watched you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to pull a guy in after he got his legs beat up out here. I know. Not a fan story. Oh, wow. Where he was just swimming in the water. And typically snorkelers and swimmers will get attacked way more because they're splashing right like that distressed animal. And we were kayaking this day and a man had gotten attacked from behind by a tiger shark. And it took one of his legs and the other one was kind of hanging out. But we pulled them into the shore and did CPR. And he survived. We're friends to this day, but as 12 to 15 already a year, they're eight years ago. But yeah, that was my one moment on the National GEO GEO Channel. So where we are you know it's a cool though is after he got healed up I got to do peachy with him. So I got to help him out through his recovery and I gained training with his prosthetic wound, healing and all that. So physical therapists to our everyone thinks just exercise, right? But it's a little bit more involved. So we do a neurological rehab, we can do amputations. We deal with wound care and how those injuries need to be improved while we're healing. So when I work with like my veterans who have amputations, you know, you have to talk about, oh, contractures modification of the prosthetics. It's involved. So it's a lot to think about, just trying to get people to start living a ordinary life as ordinary as it can be once again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and I were briefly talking the other day about one of your clients who's dealing with soap issues. Right. And that the underlying factor, if you don't mind me saying, was no, you got to ask when you have multiple sclerosis. Uh huh. And for those unfamiliar with that, that's a systemic neurological, degenerative condition and unfortunately no cure. So in addition to all these like orthopedic problems they have, they also have a hard time controlling their muscles as well because of their damaged, for lack for keep it to keep it simple. Mm hmm. Yeah. There's never just one problem with people where we're very complex, and that's why every case is just a little bit different. I hope that makes sense to your listeners. Yeah, I think it will make sense to them. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's never just one thing in life. You're lucky if it's just one thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've never seen it. That's why is my nigger. Well, it's because this, this and that. It's never, you know, sometimes you get, like, you know, just the stranger sprain. There's also a variable behind that here. Mm. Yourself Ask why did this injury happen. And maybe it's from sports or trauma, but sometimes just to this being off balance or asymmetry or something like that and being off balance and not even realizing it during and yeah, I mean there's so many people out there who, you know, I'm sure you know, with exercise and training, they need it. Absolutely. And just like me, I'm sure you exercise every day. Right. Try to. Yeah. I mean, it's like in my DNA. I can't. I got to do something I like, even if it's just walking along my body. Yeah. And I had a bad day this week. Rehab, Right? And I was I found myself at the gym just like on an elliptical. Like, I can't wait to get out of here. Right. Just why am I here? This sucks. Well, I did my hour, and I'm, like, going home and I'm watching Netflix, whatever. But you just get it done. You kind of. You had it. You made your bed that morning. I did. Yeah, I know. That morning you went to the gym and you didn't feel over being there every day. So there are a lot. Last podcast for those of you who didn't hear it with Brian, he said, We got to start our day by making our bed. Right, Brian Make your bed. It's the set up for success for the day. Well, I mean, if you can't handle it, that's like making your bed. You're going to have a hard time getting through your day, right? Word to ask, phone calls, emails, friends, lovers, families, whatever it may be at. You know, and I just I think that if you get your bed in order, literally, or you get out of your house, it's and then you come on it's were made. But I like I know it's simple mix it up again right. Yeah but there's nothing better than like crawling into a nice clean bed when you're tired. Yeah, but yeah, it's the small things in life that matter. And creating habits, weight loss, working under cardiovascular health. I think in our society we get off to weighing down on weight loss, trying to look like a darker body. But what you need to focus on is just general well-being. Worry about. Yeah, you're feeling good, feeling good inside and out about yourself. Yeah. And I mean, there's so many neurologists and podcasts out there today about how the benefits of walking around the block in for depression, anxiety out on cognitive functioning, all these variables that I, I don't want to touch but so much research just read Yeah and swimming so that's why I believe surfing's so good. There's a lot of books around that the science behind surfing and how it changes our mindset and beliefs. Our outlook on life changes and connecting with nature, and whether if you don't have access to the water, you know, connecting with nature could look like a park. A lake could be walking in a forest, something may. But I, I truly believe it's more important than anything. And fortunately I live pretty close to the beach, and at the very least, I'll do a bike ride around the park everyday, just just to kind of let go of whatever the day's problems were. Know, I can only speak for myself, but I think if a lot more people did that, a lot less stress, yeah, the world would be a better place. I hope so. Yeah. Yeah. Nice to drink. And, you know, and there's just something about the water. Even if you're not in it, you know, seeing it, like you said, walking or bike riding near it. The sound of the ocean. Yeah. I brought my hammock up on Sundays and just read, you know, like my. That's my Sunday hobby. Just hammock reading, listen to the ocean and a palm tree and I think that's why I'm still here in Hawaii, because you can do that and it just finding your own little whatever makes you happy my friend You read that too? Just sitting by the water, just doing nothing and that. Yeah, but I still try to exercise those days still. Right? So yeah. So bike ride to the beach Fluently. Why not? If you live that close especially. Yeah. Yeah. And you're pretty close to your right. I am 1015 minutes to park. Yeah. Yeah. Accessible. So are you. You're from Florida, right? No. Born on Long Island, New York. Oh, okay. But my family moved to South Florida when I was 14 years old. Okay, So I feel like I'm a Floridian. I've been here for so long. Yeah, Yeah. The rest of my family has moved away, but me and my kids are still here in Florida. Yeah. Yeah, I. Well, I was fortunate enough to call Florida home for a little while. That was my first, you know, connection with the beach right. And having. Yeah, just South Florida, just being able to go out there any day. Well, on the weekends, but still just having the ability to change my view on a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. Fortunate. I think we're fortunate, right? Absolutely. Yeah. I've always been near the ocean, though. Even being raised on Long Island, where, you know, the ocean was all around us, you know, it's a little island off the side of the state up there in New York. And we went to the beach all summer long. Of course, wintertime. It was just way too cold. Water was freezing. And even in the summer, I can remember the temperature of the water being colder up north than it is here. Oh, yeah, the Atlantic. Yeah, my fun. I've been diving out there in the Atlantic and it's it's called the Hole. Yeah, but something about the culture too. The fishermen, the the the the activities. Just the seagulls and the beach. Huh, Girls? Right. To me, anyway, I know not everyone. Everyone's a beach lover. Some people hate the beach. I know. I know so many people that live around here that don't even go. It's like I even live here and understand it. It's definitely not the Well, Florida's nice, but the weather can be pretty brutal. It can be, yeah. So it doesn't get that hot there in Hawaii. Know for very fortunate I was trade winds so the winds come across the the island from the windward to the leeward side. Now in the winter there's more breeze so there's always some kind of airflow whereas in Florida I mean there's days like in Miami where there's no fire. It's just humid still. And that's why I think it doesn't feel that hot out here, just always went down. We're very fortunate. It's geographically it's a weird place to be. The middle of the Pacific, like one of the most isolated places on earth. But it used to freak me out when I first moved out here. I like we're pretty far out. I live in a way out on an island here. I mean, there'd be like, Well, what if something bad happens, right? And well, and this is been used to it. That's when you learn how to be a pilot so you can have a little plane to get out of there. But I've accepted my fate. I'm like, Well, if this is where I am, that well, that's not a bad place. Yeah, there you go. I know I've got to go some time, right? It's not so bad going as a as a as a Hawaiian native. Look, I. Yeah, I had my first earthquake about two weeks ago here, so. Yeah, Yeah. At I mean, they happen a lot because there's a big island where there's constant lava flow all the time. So seismic activity, but a big earthquake happened two weeks ago and my bed was shaking for like 20 seconds. And I looked outside like there's construction in my building because I've never realized that was an earthquake for my house, because the idiot shaking this wall and I, I was eight. I went back down to do my work and my buddy called me and he's like, difficult earthquake. Oh, it didn't even hit me. Like, that's how ambiguous I was. I never know what was happening then. Yeah, of the. Yeah. Little, little things about island living even after ten years. That's first time out here. Yeah, well, thank goodness. Just the one and not so big, right? So really. Yeah. So. Okay. And so I know I said we were going to be talking about surfing, but let's talk a little bit more about the diving out there in Hawaii. You're a certified instructor. Yeah, right. Haddie Yeah, My training was mostly in Florida, Mexico and Indonesia, and, yeah, I wanted to learn more as we go longer. And the marine life out here is what attracts most scuba divers. So We do have manta rays, varieties of sharks, humpback whales. And although you're not supposed to go after the whales, they're out here. So it's pretty amazing. We get a chance to die with the sound alone. It's it's like, I don't know, Universe, Soul connection not to get to it'd be Debbie and. Yeah, but it just I don't know. You're just connecting with these animals that are larger than life. Yeah. They look at you or you look at them and we're we're each mammals, so there's something magic about it. Spiritual armor. Yeah. We've had some right whales here off of Flagler Beach. They come all the way down this way, usually start coming down in January, February, and then start heading back late, you know, a few months later. But yeah, what a sight. What a sight you have you ever been in the water with any? No. When I saw one for the first time with a baby, I. Oh, my gosh. That's what I wanted to do. I just wanted to hike up in the water and swim to it. It's. It's a weird feeling. I've I have been guilty of diving off a boat and just swimming out to them. Yeah. You're not supposed to do that here in Hawaii. I'm not supposed to do it here either. You're supposed to leave him alone. So you're in the Philippines and Thailand. It's a little different. They're like, Yeah, have fun at the back. So like with whale sharks and all that, you get so mild to them and they're, you know, as long as you're not harassing them, it's a little it's generally okay. Yeah, I've been on boats where I see a whale shark and I'm like headfirst up again. She they're just, I don't know, they're just so cool. I find it absolutely fascinating. So as a dive instructor, do you teach groups of divers or do you individuals? How do you do? Yeah. So right now I'm not doing for work. It just volunteer through the VA. Oh, the building and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm adaptive scuba. So people who may be paraplegic or have trauma from war, maybe it's an amputation or maybe it's brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries or whatever it may be. We'll be there to guide them because they need help to, you know. Oh, I didn't mention this with you, too, but there's an organization I volunteer for out here called Access Search, where we get physically, mentally disabled kids out the water on surfboards. So, yeah, it could be anything from congenital deformities or just, ah, cognitive abnormalities, spinal bifida, cerebral palsy. And they're they're wheelchair bound. And you get them in the water for the first time. It's just magic. I don't know. Something about the water overwhelming with emotions. And I want to, like, cry, talking about, oh, my God, those kids, like, they they spend their whole lives just in a wheelchair and you get them in the water for the first time. It's like magic. It's so sorry. That's a drop off now. That's great. Yeah. Scuba diving is the same. You're. You're weightless. You are just re most people are so afraid of it. But once you get in there and you realize you're totally safe, it's you're flying through all the different environment. You're out of this world. Like, literally, we don't belong there. And it's sad because it's like, once you get comfortable, it's like walking through the forest. Yeah. And there's no noise. You just. It's quiet. Peace. You get time to think and you're just staring at this coral and marine life and it's just it's like a walk in the woods. But spring bliss, the nice thing, a lot of beautiful places to go scuba diving there. Hawaii is unique because it's mostly volcanic, right? So there's not a lot of coral reefs. And that's why people mostly travel to our Philippines or Indonesia, Australia for for the Great Barrier Reef or I've been to Belize and yeah, Mexico for these things. But yeah, Hawaii it's, it's, it's volcanic so it's not very beautiful on the bottom but the marine life attracts is appealing. So dolphins. Yeah the variety of tropical fish that we'll see out here have your favorite spots to go to. Yeah. So it's called shark's Cove. That's on the north shore of Oahu. And you can only go in the summertime because the winter season waves are way too big, just not safe. And there's all these little lava tubes and columns that you could swim through. And so you'll be diving and you just get to swim through these like, oh, 5 to 6 foot wide lava tubes. And there's all sorts of eels and lobsters, octopus and all kinds of cool things to check out. And you're just exploring. It's a cool. Yeah, it's like the coolest thing that yeah, I fell in love with it when I started in Miami. Gosh, there was already like 16 years ago. I've been doing it now 16 years diving. So yeah, it's taken me around the world. So I can only speak about my passions, but I encourage everyone to find something out there like that, whether it's hiking, biking or whatever, something that can take you around the planet. That's smart. Yeah. Yeah, that's my excuse. Anyway, I'm going to. Sounds like a good excuse to me. Go for it. Right. I got to go to Mexico. I I'm going to go scuba diving in this remote areas which are like ground water caves. They're awesome. But yeah, I just really want to go to Mexico now. Follow my friends. There's tattoo style. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Well, all right. So is there anything else that you would like to add to our information here for our listeners as far as surfing or diving goes, they're not specific, but in generalities, surfing can be one of the most liberating things you can do. For me, it changed my life. I never thought I'd be out here in Iraq in the middle of the ocean surfing, but here I am. You know, So if you have any fears or questions or concerns, I mean, you can reach out to me directly. But it's all about just being comfortable to grow in life. And the surfing is definitely one of those things that will make you uncomfortable. And people always think you have to be young. Now, I'm not sure at all. I mean, there's people out here who are starting in their 60, right? So they see it all the time. People come out here and their one dream in life has been the surf. Waikiki. Well, because I was really trying to remember, Oh, yeah, we go now Google does. That is the movie. Oh, man, I got I got to look you got to like. But anyway, these these movies, they grew up watching and they want to come out here. It's a lifelong dream, so it's never too late to start something new. That's my only advice for you out there is that if you have something they want to do, you know, today's the day. I'll wait it out there and do that because we don't know what it's going to bring us. Really enjoy your life, you know, try your best week. Well, you and I were talking about diseases, you know, sometimes life loss plans. Well, yeah, they get disrupted by injury or neurological conditions or, you know, I don't want to say the big C word, but it happens right now. Yeah. So I try to be healthy and realize that health is the greatest while. Right. So I try to remind myself of that every day like you and go to the beach, you can go to the gym. There are some people out there excuse me, there are some people out there who don't get that opportunity. They get the wish to do a push up or a bench press tour and you're looking at it like work. It's like now you get to do this. This is your privilege. You should be grateful. Yeah. So I hope there's a consciousness collective shift in America now because the benefits of exercising far outweigh a sedentary lifestyle. So and I'm sure you've seen this trend in recent years too, on just lack of activity, all the factors that come along with being unhealthy. Uh huh, yeah. Laziness. Get off the couch. Not good. Yeah. I mean, there's so many variables to consider and everyone wants to talk about diet, nutrition and vitamins and supplements. But the other day about moving a little bit more, so finding whatever it is makes you happy. And yeah, maybe it's a walk around the park with your dog. That's why, you know, I think animals are so important to everyone. Just getting us up and moving. Yeah, they like to do. They like to the animals, right? They. They like their walks. I know. Mine does. You have dogs? I have a Dalmatian sitting beside me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I saw him walking around. I know it's not my girl, you know, It's a jogger walking around. Yeah. I mean, domination. And in terms of exercise, they do a lot of energy, especially the first five years of their life. They're still on a puppy stage. She hit six years old and finally decided to slow down a little bit. But she still likes her walks, you know? Yeah, we are constantly roomies for five years, right? Uh huh, Yeah. Yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah. Well, what's your dog's name? Many, many. Aly. Aly. Okay, there is some talking about you tail's wagging. Yeah, the. I was telling my business partner, I, uh. One day I'll get a dog here again. So it's just nice. I had one for a while. He passed, but it was, you know, I had him at my clinic and he's a therapy dog, so he just wag it down. Say hello to everyone at once. We just let him go around on the beach. I mean, that was that was a happy. Yeah. He lived the probably the best life I think any dog could have, you know. Yeah. Come in and work with you every day and getting to the beach and even when I went back to work you just stay out there and everyone knew him. So it was just like uses like this local dog that got the hang out with surfers all day and people's feet come back to the clinic when he was tired or wanted water. All right. Yeah, true, true. Hawaii dog Manu. Yeah, but yeah, Mondo means bird out here, so I'll use free bird for sure. Yeah, it was great for that, you know, And there was only in like the tourist areas do they have restrictions on like leashes and all that. But typically everywhere else you can just let your animals go free. Really? Yeah. So just Waikiki and. Yeah, Honolulu. Waikiki. They have. You have to dog on a leash makes outsiders. Some dogs are nice, some aren't so nice. That's true. Yeah. The responsibility of the owner, right? I mean. Yeah, especially with all the tourism. You just want less stress. But for the most part, any other island that you go to, you'll just see dogs out there on the beach playing Frisbee, having fun. So. And their element, I don't know how it is in Florida, I can't recall. But I think they have strict laws, right? Oh, yeah. Most of Florida. Yeah. You have to have your dog on a leash or they have to be trained very well. Right. And even as far as taking them on the beach, there is restrictions of where you can take them. I mean here it's a little bit better than down south. Down south was only a small portion of the beach, only certain times of the day. And here we can be either ten blocks north or south from our pier. And you can walk your dogs on the beach, play with your dogs on the beach. But they they ask for you to have a leash on the dog. Yeah. Makes it a little easier to play, but. Yeah, yeah, but if I know you, you've trained your dog well, and she's a good girl. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Brian, this is great. Thanks for coming on again. And. And talking with me and giving your insight to everybody. Yeah, we're my local surfers are going to find some interest in our topic today. Yeah. If you have any specific questions related to pathologies or injuries, I didn't want to go too specific because, you know, there's all sorts of ankle need pull it back shoulder like people got hurt weird ways. And if your listeners have any questions about that, you can always reach out to me directly. I questions about, well, what we typically do or maybe even how to tape up an injury. There's a lot of resource available online to reference. So yeah, yeah, please free to reach out. Yeah. And believe me, everybody, Brian, we'll get back to you. He really cared about people. He's a great Yeah I think I think I mentioned this last time on your podcast. There's this book I read called Ikigai. Yeah. As in Japan and it's by purpose and for whatever reason, people call me all the time for injuries. And usually I have pretty good advice. Yeah, pretty good. Yeah. And most people less and they get better. So I'm happy to share about with the human body. It's complex. So your best that is to get in front of your physician or physical therapist locally so they can actually take a look at what makes great advice. Yes. All right. Thank you, Brian. A pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me again. Hope you have a great tournament coming up and everyone has a fun time. That's all we can hope for. Absolutely. Aloha. This is Angela Grayson from The Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It’s all possible. It’s time to wake up. Here we go.