(Dr. Pete with BJ Penn, Jake Shields, and Bas Rutten. Props to SFGoldman.com)
A fighter’s body is a machine geared for top performance and every machine needs regular tune-ups. Peter Goldman, DC, is one of combat sports’ best mechanics. Dr. Goldman practices a rare branch of chiropractic developed approximately 80 years ago by Dr. Thurman Fleet called Zone Healing, the goal of which is to balance the six interconnected systems of the body: circulatory, eliminative, digestive, glandular, nerve, and muscular with an emphasis on mental strength.
A black belt in Oyama full contact karate and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt under John Machado, roughly 40% of Dr. Goldman’s practice are martial artists. Each week Fightmagazine.com will check in with the man BJ Penn credits with fixing his neck and Bas Rutten believes put an end to his asthma.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Dream veteran Darren Uyenoyama and Strikeforce veteran Nik Theotikos have stopped into Dr. Goldman’s office for regular maintenance—to be healed to be healthy for training.
Strikeforce veteran Nik Theotikos and Dream vet Darren Uyenoyama are visiting “Dr. Pete” for regular maintenance. Dr. Peter Goldman has a casual relationship with his clients, many of whom are fighters, partly because of his unorthodox methods.
Theotikos suffers from a long history of back problems but explains he’s training hard thanks to consistent sessions with Dr. Goldman. Like many of Goldman’s patients, he attributes the problems as much to mental and emotional issues as to physiological problems.
“I try to give the person something to kind of visualize to kind of reset some of those experiences the subconscious took in and I find it melts that stuff away and the body heals,” says Dr. Goldman. He’s a fast speaker, with a casual, friendly inviting tone. He’s not trying to sell anything—Uyenoyama and Theotikos are regulars.
“If your head’s not into it, then the body won’t be,” Theotikos states simply.
Uyenoyama couldn’t lift his arm before an early 2008 Strikeforce bout when he first came to Goldman. After some adjustments, Uyenoyama was healed and won the fight via guillotine choke in 87 seconds. In fact, Uyenoyama felt that Dr. Goldman was such an integral part of his success that he asked the chiropractor to corner him in his last fight—a November Strikeforce decision win over Brad Royster.
The proud owner of Faito Tamashii Combat Club in nearby Daly City, Calif., Uyenoyama relates that he’s more energetic even with an accelerated schedule due to Zone Healing, that he doesn’t have to “sip a coffee all day.” He says he doesn’t want to sound hokey but, “it kinda changes your life.”
The Ralph Gracie black belt recently returned from Japan, training with Enson Inoue and Rumina Sato. He’s negotiating with Sengoku, Shooto and Deep, while hoping his relationship with Dream gets him on the Oct. 25 event.
His training partner, Theotikos, is staying busy, training with the Ralph Gracie squad and Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez. He books his own fights since falling out with his old manager-trainer, which has made it difficult to find a bout, especially one worth taking. But that’s the fight game.
“I’m ready to do a carnival show—anything at this point,” says Theotikos. Despite the setback, he’s ready to compete, and that confidence is due in part to Dr. Goldman. “I know if I’m feeling good, I’m gonna take care of majority of the [opposition].”
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