059 – Part II Interview with Steve Maxwell – Don’t Put Your Hero on a Pedestal
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Have you ever met someone who changed your life forever?
Four years ago, I’m driving to work listening to this jiu-jitsu master on Joe Rogan named Steve Maxwell, and I hear him casually mention the name of the man who inspired him and changed the course of my life 15 years ago.
I think I’m hearing things, and I nearly drive off the road trying to hit rewind. How does a jiu-jitsu guy even know who he is? I’ve been waiting four years to ask that question, and I finally get my answer.
Our returning guest to The Hollow Tube is Steve Maxwell. He travels the globe with everything he owns in a 30 liter backpack teaching Gracie Jiu-jitsu, physical fitness, and functional mobility. My brother, Pat and I connected with Steve while he was in Moscow for part two of our interview, and Steve opens up with complete honesty when he tells us what the minimalist airport-to-airport lifestyle has cost him.
Then he takes us back to the mean streets of Philadelphia in the 90’s, the early days of his jiu-jitsu gym, “Maxercise” and how some of the tough guys of the City of Brotherly Love would come in off the street and challenge him to fight. Spoiler alert, they all lost.
Steve also teaches us about exercise physiology and shares some fitness and mobility alternatives for older athletes, like Pat and me.
He’ll then explain the difference between goals and intentions, and how we can shape our reality with our thoughts. And finally, Steve reveals how he came to know of the man who changed the course of my life. Now friends, we bring you part II of the Hollow Tube podcast with Steve Maxwell.
Topics Discussed Today
[03:48] Steve shares how he wasn’t meant to be a father and how his family dealt with him leaving. He’s still close with his son, but not as close with his daughter.
[06:08] His daughter is a power lifting champion and deadlifts 335.
[07:13] He started teaching his son grappling with a teddy bear. Steve started a children’s program at a gym called Maxercise.
[10:20] Jiu-jitsu is really about survival, not beating someone up, but surviving.
[11:37] The tough guys of the City of Brotherly Love would come in off the street and challenge him to fight at Maxercise.
[12:52] Steve was one of the original investors in the UFC.
[17:21] An exercise regimen for guys like Pat and Michael. You don’t need to do multiple sets, what is important is the intensity of effort and producing muscle fatigue.
[22:40] Steve teaches mobility exercises in his workshop.
[26:17] One sport doesn’t make you better at one sport. The higher level of skill an exercise takes, the lower the transfer to anything else.
[29:24] You don’t have to destroy yourself to stay strong and healthy. Once you’re over 50, your days for PRs (personal record) are done.
[30:40] The mobility program is a great way to keep in shape and avoid stiffness.
[31:49] Systema and Russian Martial Arts. You can apply these principles to self-defense. Steve is in Russia to learn.
[33:36] Steve trains as a discipline which comes from intention. He is not particularity motivated, but he intends to be as good as he can be at every age. This includes sleep,eating, and exercise.
[35:16] People is Russia are really friendly, and the lifestyle they have is excellent. People are more alike than they are different.
[37:58] Steve heard of Stuart Wilde because he had always been in the new thought movement, and he stumbled across The Art of Meditation.
[41:33] Stuart Wilde’s philosophy of meditation and theta waves.
[43:05] The importance of the feeling of gratitude. We need to be grateful for something to attract something better.
[46:42] 15 years ago, Michael was at one of the lowest points in his life. He made a decision to ask for help.
[47:25] He prayed with all of his heart for health.
[47:31] He stumbled upon work by Stuart Wilde. Michael decided to go to Brazil and meet him.
[48:33] After being around him for about six hours, Michael was convinced that Stuart Wilde was a raving lunatic.
[49:15] If it wasn’t for this trip Michael never would have met his Shaman friend Jose who saved his marriage and his life.
[50:32] Michael has yet to meet his perfect guru.
[51:32] Now get out your Hollow Tube Notebook and put on your thinking caps. Make a list of the people you look up to in life- People I admire They don’t even have to be living or real. It could be Nelson Mandela or Maximus from Gladiator.
[52:49] Shout outs: Jason Matthews@ProPodcastSolutions, Professor Enrique Villegas at Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Oro Valley, and My shaman friend – Jose Fernando Bravo Montenegro and the rest my Colombian family.
Links and Resources:
Uncle Michael @TheHollowTube on Twitter
Uncle Michael @TheHollowTube on Instagram
Michael Bays on Facebook
The Hollow Tube Facebook Page
Steve Maxwell on Facebook
Steve Maxwell on Instagram
@SteveMaxwellSC on Twitter
Steve Maxwell Strength & Conditioning
Gracie Challenge Fights
Nate Zigler
Gracie Arizona Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy
Copperhead Crossfit
Colonel Mikhail Ryabko
Systema Headquarters
Systema
Nelson Mandela
Maximus Decimus Meridius- Gladiator
The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
Toxemia Explained: The True Interpretation of the Cause of Disease (Revised Edition)- By J.H. Tilden, M.D.
Health Via Food by William Howard Hay
Stuart Wilde
New Age
Life Was Never Meant to Be a Struggle
The Journey Beyond Enlightenment: The Next Step in Your Personal Transformation
Silent Power
Infinite Self: 33 Steps in Reclaiming Your Infinite Power
The Art of Meditation
As a Man Thinketh: by James Allen
John Randolph Price
Ernest Holmes
Joel Sol Goldsmith
The Infinite Way
Florence Scovel Shinn
The Game of Life and How to Play It
Louise Hay
Neville Goddard
Your Faith is Your Fortune
Rhonda Byrne
The Magic
Viktor Frankl
Tony Robbins
Quotes:
“We are products of our thinking and our thoughts. If you don’t like your reality, then change your thoughts” Steve Maxwell
“Jiu-jitsu is really about survival, not beating someone up, but surviving.” Steve Maxwell
“I’m not motivated at all. I train and eat properly because I know it’s good for me, and because I know it’s what I should do. I do it as a discipline. The discipline comes from intention. Do I have goals? Not really, I intend to be the best I can be can be at every age.” Steve Maxwell
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