In this episode, we talk with rising boxing star Eli Garcia and Dr. Marc Burdorf on how lasers have become an integral part of Eli’s training protocol. Some have questioned whether or not laser therapy should be banned in professional sports due to its performance-enhancing effects. Dr. Burdorf discusses the main reasons behind why Eli gets laser therapy and why Eli considers it a must-have part of his routine.
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Transcript
Dr. Chad Woolner: What’s going on everybody? Dr. Chad Woolner here with Dr. Andrew Wells. And this is Episode 21 of The Laser Light Show and on today’s episode we have with us, Dr. Marc Burdorf and Elijah Garcia, an up-and-coming incredible boxer. We’re going to be talking with him about his career about the role that low level laser has been playing in his experiences. So we’re really excited to get into this one. So let’s get to it.
Growing up in Portland, Oregon, I used to love going to laser light shows at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. They would put on these amazing light shows with incredible designs synced up to some of my favorite music. From the Beatles to Pink Floyd to Jimmy Hendrix and Metallica; they were awesome. Little did I know then that lasers would have such a profound effect on my life decades later. As a chiropractic physician, I have seen first-hand just how powerful laser therapy is in helping patients struggling with a wide range of health problems. As the leader in laser therapy, Erchonia has pioneered the field in obtaining 20 of the 23 total FDA clearances for therapeutic application of lasers. On this podcast, we’ll explore the science and technology and physiology behind what makes these tools so powerful. Join me as we explore low-level laser therapy. I’m Dr. Chad Woolner along with my good friend Dr. Andrew Wells and welcome to The Laser Light Show.
All right, everybody. Welcome to the show. We are so excited. This is gonna be an awesome episode, because we have the opportunity to chat with our good friend Dr. Marc Burdorf and Elijah Garcia. Thank you guys both so much for taking time out of your schedule to be here with us. We’re super excited to chat. And for those who can’t see, we also have another guest with us again. Name again, Dr. Marc.
Dr. Marc Burdorf: This is Dr. Duke.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Dr. Duke. we have Dr. Duke with us.
Dr. Andrew Wells: And Duke is a I don’t know of born that way, but as a cat with no hair.You think of Austin Powers and Dr. Evil that’s what that looks like which actually makes Dr. Marc Dr. Evil.
Dr. Marc Burdorf: That’s one way of looking at it. He is a Canadian Sphinx and he will be two years old this October 11. Actually, not only has all my professional athletes like Eli benefited from laser but Duke decided to eat a couple year plugs last December 7 to celebrate Pearl Harbor and he cost me about five grand to an emergency surgery. And we lasered him six times in the first 24 hours after the surgery. And his incisions were completely healed in five days for any veterinarians out there that are considering getting lasers in their practice. It’s a game changer.
Dr. Andrew Wells: Wow. We actually just interviewed a veterinarian. It’s such a cool story. And actually we have slated at some point not on the calendar yet but an interview with Duke and you to talk about his healing process. But today, more importantly, we have an awesome opportunity to interview Eli Garcia. And Eli, you’ve been described as the next Oscar De La Hoya. How does that make you feel to hear that?
Eli Garcia: It’s cool. You know Oscar De La Hoya is a multi- world champion, and an Olympian, and he’s one of the best ever. But they kinda mean something different. It’s good. You have all the best.
Dr. Andrew Wells: I remember him. I was not a big boxing fan. But back when they’d had boxing on TV. I was I don’t know how old I was. I was young. But I remember. I remember seeing Oscar De La Jolla and my dad watching the fights and not knowing much about boxing. I just knew that he was amazing. And always won. And yeah, so that’s got to be humbling. And if it were me, I think that would make me feel a little bit nervous. But what an honor, what an honor to be compared to somebody who’s done amazing things in boxing, so maybe, maybe a good place to start. Can you tell us a little bit about your family history and how you actually got into boxing?
Eli Garcia: Yeah, so it or so on both sides of the family, you know, there’s been boxing. And my grandpa, he grew up in Soledad, California more like, you know, it’s kind of out there. And so where he grew up, you know, there’s lots of lots of boxing around. So he started fighting. And then he had my dad. My dad had about 150 amateur fights. He fought for the US Olympic team. He fought for the Mexico Olympic team. And then on my mom’s side of the family, my you know, my other grandpa he also fought and then my mom’s brother, his name’s Jesus Gonzales. You know he’s a familiar name out here. He was on the US Olympic team as well, the same year as my dad. And so you know, like, he’s won a couple of titles, Pro. And then you know, now it’s my turn. It’s my turn to carry on legacy.
Dr. Andrew Wells: I’m just picturing. I’m picturing your dad’s family and your mom’s family, like plotting to get together and have a marriage and create the greatest boxer of all time. Apparently, you! This is a purely genetic experience, and it’s working apparently. That’s awesome. Now, so was this with your dad, and your mom, were they training you in boxing when you were a little? Like I do this. I have two young boys and I have no idea how to boxer train, but we like to punch each other’s hands and things like that. Were you guys doing that at a young age?
Eli Garcia: My dad didn’t want me to fight at all. He tried to keep me away from boxing. So I grew up playing like, since I was like four years old, three years old, I played T ball. I played baseball, football. I played soccer, played basketball. But I was mostly good at…I wrestled for a little bit too. But I was mostly good at you know, football and baseball. And then, you know, I started boxing. I was 12 years old. For my first fight, I was 13. And then, you know, I won nationals a couple times 14, 15 and 16. So, you know, know why he didn’t want me to fight. It was clearly not for everybody.
Dr. Andrew Wells: So yeah, what do you mean? What do you mean by that? Yeah. When you say, now, you know why he didn’t want that. Tell us about that.
Eli Garcia: That’s hard work. You know, you have to dedicate your life to it. You know, I didn’t I didn’t graduate high school. You know, I don’t have a Gantt like, I don’t have a backup plan. And you know, that’s all I got full time. I workout three times, twice, three times, maybe two times a day, you know, every day. You know, this is my job. You know? I work out every day. You know, I stay in shape. I eat good. What we’re here at the doctor’s with Dr. Marc is a lifestyle. You have to make it a lifestyle. You want to go somewhere with it.
Dr. Andrew Wells: I gotta imagine, like, yeah, I have to imagine saying that. Like, obviously, you’re rising to the, to that pressure you put on yourself and I’m sure external pressure that you feel not having a plan B. And it’s interesting you say that? Having known a lot of successful people in the business world, in the health space, in athletics. It’s interesting that across that spectrum, you find a lot of people who achieve success never had a B plan and they had it like, burn the boats. This is what I’m doing. No one’s gonna stop me from reaching my goal and that’s typically the people who become like Oscar De La Hoya.
Eli Garcia: Yes, that’s the way it is, man. Like if you have to be like mentally mentally you know, Dr. Marc’s helped a lot with it. But mentally you have to be strong. Mentally you have to see yourself and that’s what I do. And it’s worked for me and I’m not going to quit so I feel like people will say oh, I needed a backup, I need a backup plan well, that’s that’s cool. You know, maybe you do but, I’m determined.
Dr. Chad Woolner: And your and your record so far, you’re 11 and 0, and 0. And you…all of those wins have been all by knockout correct?
Eli Garcia: No, I’m 11 and 0, but nine knockouts. You know, the fights I didn’t knock the people, or the fights that I didn’t knock the guys out, you know, weren’t my best camps. Like the last fight, you know, last fight is kind of tough. I was a little heavy coming into camp, you know, so I lose a couple pounds, I was more focused on losing weight. I didn’t get the knockout in that fight. And then the other fight I didn’t get a knockout and I fought the guy who was about 12 pounds heavier than me. So it is what it is. It’s still a learning experience. You know, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t change it, you know? Yeah.
Dr. Andrew Wells: I’m just curious about how your dad feels now that you are where you are? Has he? Do you feel like he’s his opinion of you, wanting to be a boxer has changed.
Eli Garcia: You know, he always tells me like, we’ve gone so far, it’ll have gone so far, you know, every day, for years, every day, you know, we spend time together and he says, you know, like, the end of the day, like if you don’t want to do this, you know, like, I’m not going to be mad because the goal is time we spent together all these memories we have you know. And but but yeah, I’m sure he’d want these things. Of course, he wants to see me become successful in boxing, you know, so you want to see me do something he’s never done before.
Dr. Andrew Wells: You know, as long as your dad sounds like an incredible guy, I’m sure it’s I’m sure that makes you feel good to have support either way, that’s not many. Not everybody gets that opportunity. And that’s, that’s pretty cool, man.
Eli Garcia: Yeah, very lucky.
Dr. Chad Woolner: So I’m, I’m curious in this whole process to…this is kind of a two part question. What are these fight camps look like? Kind of gives us an insight as to what the preparation looks like. And then kind of along those lines, how have lasers kind of fit into this whole model? Because I’m assuming that lasers are definitely a part of both pre fight preparation as well as post fight. Maybe give us a rundown of that. And then we can kind of dive a little bit deeper into the laser side of things.
Eli Garcia: Yeah, all right. So you know camps…we usually want our camps to be five, five to six weeks long. You know, so my dad’s my nutritionist. He writes my meals down. I eat like, every two hours, right. So I have a very strict diet. I’m working out three days, three days a week, I’m doing strength conditioning Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. And right after strength conditioning, I’m over here with Dr. Marc, either Mondays, and Fridays, or just Mondays.
And, you know, I lift my weights, I do my cardio or whatever I do. And then I’m over here immediately right afterwards, so you’re treated, whether it’s I know, he’s popping my backs, or he’s treating me with lasers to help me get rid of my soreness or, or whatever, whatever the case may be. And, you know, I do that for six weeks straight. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays, those are my sparring days and my sprint team days. You know, and, you know, it’s been a long process, but over the five, six fights, we’ve done it, we’ve, we’ve had no problems like mentally and physically. I mean, my dad, you will see, you know, like, Dr. Marc is a game changer, a hundred percent, you know, like mentally and physically. It just helps me out way more.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah, I would imagine that that is a really kind of almost like Razor’s Edge type balancing act that you’ve got to kind of accomplish in terms of training at the highest possible level without overtraining, right. And I’m assuming that that can sometimes be a hard balance to find. And I can only assume that kind of Dr. Marc’s role, and particularly since we’re talking about lasers, here, the lasers can really help with some of that balancing act, whether it be that perhaps maybe you’re trained a little bit too hard, and maybe push the envelope a little bit too much. Lasers can help maybe, you know, assist in some of that, and or, obviously, boxing being a fairly heavy contact sport, injuries happen, things like that, I’m assuming that lasers can kind of help in that, maybe talk a little bit about some of your experiences, in terms of how the lasers have kind of assisted in some of these areas.
Eli Garcia: You know, it’s the lasers, and the brain exercises that he helps with, you know, mentally it clears it out, you know, mentally it keeps me strong, like, you know. I spar three days a week, you know, I try not to get hit. Last thing I want to know, on the days to get hit, you know, it’s good to come in here and get the laser check out on my head, because mentally just helps me feel the difference. And, you know, I come in sore afternoons and hard sprints.
Dr. Marc Burdorf: One of the things we do as we like to call it stacking therapies together. So well, sometimes you haven’t done an eye exercise. Or a memory exercise of some sort while we’re doing brain laser with them. And, you know, it’s just like you said, I mean, it’s anything you can do, especially, we use something called Focus Builder app and give accolades to Cedric Manuel, he’s a cardiologist in North Carolina that’s been around for about a decade with this therapy. And I’ve been using it quite extensively the last five years. And it’s just these eye exercises, it’s, it’s kind of like you put dots on the wall and do it. But if you use the Focus Builder app… those dots in the wall are like a Model T and the Focus Builder app is kind of like a McLaren or Ferrari, it turbo charges you. And that’s a big thing. There’s a little app on there, too. We can measure hand-eye coordination. Obviously, this guy can destroy anybody just because he’s that good. And it says practice makes perfect. And that’s why he is as great as he is and will continue to get better.
Dr. Chad Woolner: So this is like that’s, that’s a hold on one second, I was just gonna ask. So this Focus Builder is both not only kind of a therapy tool, but also kind of a somewhat diagnostic end or or objective tracking tool. Correct. Am I understanding that correctly?
Dr. Marc Burdorf: Actually, no, I use something called Right Eye which is actually an eye tracking software. And I’ll have had it for four years in October and I use it on everybody but especially for my combat athletes like Eli. The Right Eye measures your eye speeds as far as pursuits to COD’s, fixations. And as well as I hand-eye coordination, and then the Focus Builder app is…we put it on iPads. And actually I have, I’ve got a dozen iPads I rent out to all my patients for the first month. And that sells them on them buying the product app itself to put on their own iPads moving forward. Okay, but it’s just it’s, it’s a big game changing thing is we have to stack everything together, you gotta make this stuff quick and fun. Otherwise, people don’t do it. So we can be doing laser while we’re doing an eye exercise just to get it done faster.
Dr. Andrew Wells: I’ve always wanted to ask this question of a pro boxer. When I watch boxing or fighting on TV, I can’t see what’s going on. It’s kind of like when I watch hockey, my eye isn’t fast enough to see where the puck is going. Like, if I remember, years ago, they added that little tracking light when you win for hockey games so that people like me can see where the pucks are going. And well, boxing like, I don’t know, anything’s happened until the crowd is yelling and cheering because I can’t see it that fast. And so I’ve always wondered, like from a pro boxer, what does it mean, what are you see when you’re boxing? Is it like, is it all like peripheral vision and an instinct? Is it more like, what did they just tell me? Kind of? I don’t know if you can articulate that? Or can I describe what that looks like?
Eli Garcia: So like, alright, so before I tell you what it’s like before Dr. Marc and after don’t?
Yeah. So before Dr. Marc, go in the ring, like, I was more focused on who’s in the crowd watching. Who’s in the crowd, right? And then you hop in the ring. And it’s just you and the guy, right, you guys make eye contact, and it’s like, Alright, whatever. But then I’m like, I’m worried about what I’m doing for the fans, and they’re like, you know, I wanna make you proud of me, right? So then, like, not only that, like, you know, even when we’re in there fighting, whatever the case may be, like, I’ll be fighting him. And then I look at the crowd, you know, like, I look at the crowd, and we either like, even if I dropped the opponent, and he’s down, I’m not worried about finishing him, I’m more like, what’s the crowd, you know, that was me.
Even sparring or so then, you know, we, my dad, my dad noticed that my manager noticed that. So then they’re like, we have to do something different, you know, like, something’s not right here. So then we came to Dr. Marc, and started doing these eye exercises, doing these doing his brain lasers, everything.
Now when I’m in the back room warming up, mentally, I’m just worried about my opponent. Like, I don’t care about anything else besides my opponent, because mentally it’s all I’m focused on. I hop on the ring. I don’t care about who’s in the crowd, you know, I’m looking at my opponent the whole time to keep my eyes on, you know, like, that’s, that’s all I’m worried about. Because, you know, like, it’s, it’s either him or me, you know, I’m saying, I’m just, I’m just focused on him. Even when the fight starts, you know, like, it’s the guy’s trying to… he wants to fight me. He wants to knock me out. Like he wants me to be embarrassed, you know. So mentally that changed. Like, I’m not gonna get knocked down in front of my kids. And I think and I come in front of my lady. I’m looking to whup this guy’s ass, you know? That’s what I’m focused on. And so this is a mental game changer. It’s something you’ve never experienced before. And you have to do it, you know.
Dr. Chad Woolner: That’s, that, to me, I think is a really fascinating answer that you share there. Because, for me, I would have just assumed that okay, yeah, we’re using lasers on the brain. And the assumption I would have thought was, it helps to speed up brain healing, which we know that it does that. It helps to maybe improve hand eye coordination, and or speed and or power and all of that.
But the angle that you took the first thing that you noticed in terms of the outcome, and I’m sure you notice those things, too, but what you shared with us there is that it helps your mental state, you know, in terms of your ability to focus and to stay focused on the task at hand. And that kind of caught me off guard a little bit in terms of that answer, which is really fascinating, right? Because it just goes to show you the diversity of the things that these lasers and therapies that you’re doing, can can have the outcome, the positive outcomes is not only can it help with performance and help with recovery and all of that, but also just from that simple standpoint of your mental state being in the right headspace to be able to to engage in that and no doubt that that is going to help give you a really powerful advantage moving forward and all of your fights especially if you’d previously had…I could have I guess I can’t even imagine what that would be like number one to be standing in a ring. I’d be pissing my pants more or less more than likely. But number two…exactly that I hadn’t even thought about. That’s like a holy cow. Like what? What’s an average fight attendance look like for you in terms of crowd size? What is it? What do those look like?
Eli Garcia: Most of it’s like around 10,000…
Dr. Marc Burdorf: I mean, well, It’s kind of like UFC, all roads lead to UFC. So you started out with the Thunderbolt boxing. And that was at the Dutch…little Dutch theater downtown outside the Federal Reserve, whatever.
And, I mean, you know, he’s kind of when I first met him, he was like being the headliner. And now that he’s going in now, he’s at the Footprint where the Phoenix Suns play. And so it’s kind of like he’s working his way back down. But when everything’s going on at the flight, I mean, the lower…there’s 18,000 people, you know, the capacity and for the, for the basketball games, when you got to realize boxing, a whole floor filled, and that whole lower level spilled. So it’s gotta be, like, you know, he’s used to it now. But I mean, you know, he’s a celebrity. He’s the main liner, he’s sure, you know, people see him. So he’s got a fan base.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah, that has got to be a potential distraction, no doubt, you know, what I mean, how to stay focused in terms of that. And so I hadn’t even considered that aspect of it. You know, let alone the, the, again, the jitters the nerves ahead of time in terms of that, that’s got to be something that requires a certain level of mental headspace conditioning and preparation and all that stuff. And so it’s cool to hear you share that lasers and the therapies you’ve been doing have helped. In that regard. That wouldn’t have been what I would have thought your answer would have been, I would have thought like, oh, yeah, I can notice my speeds improved and my coordination with the speed bag and that which I’m assuming also has been helpful as well. Correct?
Eli Garcia: Yep. So like, another another thing, right? Like, when the crowd…right? Whether it’s his crowd, or my crowd, like if someone gets hit, you know, the crowd goes crazy. If I hit him, and I know I’m gonna finish him like, I’m just worried about the fight. I’m not worried about the crowd going crazy, because I know I’m gonna knock him out. I’m worried about like, Alright, I got him hurt, but even in the end, a hurt man’s the most dangerous man in the ring. And, so… even the jitters? Like you said, the jitters? I figured out like, if you’re not nervous, or you don’t got the jitters, then you got nothing to fight for.
Dr. Marc Burdorf: I think one of the things that’s really been kind of fun for me in this last year working with Eli is, you know, different therapies and stuff that we’ve done with him. And one of the things is, you know, yes, this guy’s got massive muscles and strength and hidden potential, but it’s kind of like Tom Brady. And one of the gifts they have is rendering a lot of these boxers you need professional combat athletes, as they literally see things unfold like a second before the rest of the world does.
Just like Tom Brady can walk in, come up to the line, do a bunch of audibles, read the defense. And that’s what Eli’s gift is he’s given me he just keeps getting better at it, which I’m gonna take the accolade I think the laser is helping reduce inflammation and obviously improving cognitive function. But the big thing is, we sat there with a different eye and balance and eye-hand coordination stuff and that’s why it’s like, it’s kind of fun. And I’m his dad even made the comment to me, it’s like he just is punching. It’s just his style. It’s changed. We’re just like, he’s like laser. He’s like, he’s he’s an assassin.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah, right now. Yeah, I can’t help but think there’s a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Have you guys heard of that book before?
Dr. Marc Burdorf: I read all of Malcolm Gladwell. Yeah, Outliers…
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah, he talks about that whole idea of like, decision making in split seconds. And this whole idea of this intuitive nature of things. And he was specifically talking about baseball players in the major leagues to where the ball was moving so fast that so much of the hitting process batting process is this instinctive process, it becomes instinctive. And my guess is it has to be the same in boxing as well. You know, in high school, I studied martial arts. I still do jiu jitsu, but back then I did Kempo karate, and I remember a lot of the techniques we learned at the time were so just quite frankly, unrealistic, you know, especially with like, okay, the guy’s gonna punch and your block looks like this. And it’s this perfect, pristine block.
And my guess is that in boxing, especially if you’re dealing with for crying out loud, that’s we’re assuming this is somebody who doesn’t know how to box if you’re going up against a boxer. These have got to be some crazy fast punches that are being thrown there. And so my guess is yes, technique plays a role in this whole process, but also, what it sounds like you’re alluding to as well as there’s got to be this certain level of like, almost like Sixth Sense intuition that’s taking place in this whole process. Is that correct as well?
Eli Garcia: 100% It’s 100%. Yeah. Because you got to be if you’re going to be a step ahead, yeah. See, ya got to be a step ahead. To be better, you know, you have to, otherwise you’re just an average guy, you know, and these brain exercises are no joke, you know, that whatever Dr. Marc has been doing no joke. 100% Like, I go, even these local fighters, like, they can’t compete with me, because, you know, it’s I don’t wanna sound cocky, but it’s true.
Dr. Chad Woolner: No, no, that’s no, that’s it’s a very honest, very self aware statement. That thing, the question that I was going to ask is, do you feel at times, like, when you watch those movies, where you’ve got like, the hero who is like, you know, watching everything, like, I think it’s like The Matrix where everything is unfolding in slow motion. Have you been in fights like that? Where it feels like they’re going in slow mo, and you are just, like, not just one step ahead, but 10 steps ahead of them in terms of the process?
Eli Garcia: 100%.
Dr. Marc: Yeah, like, that’s why he’s 11 and 0.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah, you don’t get you don’t get records without having some serious skill under your belt. And in terms of that, so yeah, that’s incredible.
Eli Garcia: Obviously, nighttime, nighttime, generally, I can break them down, you know, once I break them down, like, I can break, I can break them down mentally, I breaked them down physically and once they start going down, like everything just is can’t compete, you know, maybe compete for a couple seconds. But, you know, mentally I’m just stronger. You know, like, they might, they might be stronger than me. They could be faster than me, they get more skilled and the road gets really wet. You know, once I figured them out once I break them down, I could see, I could just se…I’m a step ahead.
Dr. Chad Woolner: They talk about in jiu jitsu in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, specifically, it being they like, and oftentimes when you get to these high levels, it being like a chess match. Right? And kinda like what Andrew was saying, for somebody who doesn’t know anything about grappling or jiu jitsu, watching a match can probably be pretty boring. And I would say that there’s probably a lot of misunderstanding surrounding boxing that people who don’t know about boxing, probably might think of it as almost like this very caveman esque you know, archaic, okay, it’s just these two idiots that step in the ring and just trade blows and bludgeoned each other.
But I would have to imagine that very similarly, when you get to the levels that you’re at, it’s every bit as much, if not more, so a chess match. In terms of the mental game, like you were saying, like, you got definite strategy in terms of the way you’re going in with your opponents in terms of the way that you’re planning on breaking a particular opponent down. You gotta know what he’s thinking or assume what he’s thinking you’re thinking or, or that sort of thing. And so, you know, kind of what you’ve been saying here, a lot of it, do you find that a chess match is also a good comparison in terms of this whole process when you go into these fights?
Eli Garcia: Yeah, 100% it’s, it’s a chess match, because one punch can change the fight, right? So if I have one game plan, and I’m going in there to put pressure right, and I get caught, and I have to fight, I have to fight in a different style. You know, I gotta be adaptable, right? I can, I can fight one way, you know, I can’t be one dimensional. That’s where I see a lot of fighters lose, because, like the beat the beat mentally they get outsmarted.
Dr. Chad Woolner: Yeah. Yeah, I don’t have a whole lot of experience in boxing, but some of the best UFC fights that you see, aside from like, the spectacular knockouts that everybody’s always looking for. Besides those, some of the best fights that you see, and I’ve seen it in boxing, too, right. But just not as much as UFC are the ones where a particular opponent gets forced into playing the other opponent’s game, right where all of a sudden they’re like crap, and that was I think that was a big theme behind the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight right that everybody saw that everybody was like, kind of sort of quasi rooting for Conor McGregor, they wanted him to beat Floyd Mayweather. And yet, the reason Floyd Mayweather largely won is he forced Conor McGregor to fight his fight rather than…and that should kind of go without saying, right, Conor McGregor is an MMA fighter first, you know, and so props to him obviously, for stepping in the ring in the first place. But you know, so much of that…and my question to you would be, do you find that that tends to be kind of your your kind of general we’ll call it a general strategy is when you get into the ring forcing the other opponent to fight your kind of version of the fight and and or do you find that they’re trying to, obviously vice versa do the same with you and how do you how do you kind of approach that?
Eric Garcia: A lot of our game plan is to fight our fight, you know, whether that’s boxing… you hear it all the time in the boxing gym, going to fight your fight, you know, and because honestly, you know, you can’t fight. Like if you can’t fight your fight, you’re not gonna win at all, you’re like, or even, even if you can’t fight and fight, then you have to mentally you just have to figure it out, you know, like mentally you have to go in there, you gotta do what you got to do to win. And I don’t think a lot of people have what it takes to do that. But you see the greatest, the greatest can come back from adversity than they can come back and win. And I’ve seen it happen multiple times. So I know it’s possible.
Dr. Marc Burdorf: Yeah, I like one thing Eli said early in our interview here is, it’s about fear. And the thing is, the whole definition of fear and hope…this kind of applies to war, and I see combat warfare, but you know, people hope that things are gonna get better and stick their head in the sand. But you have to have fear. And just like you said earlier, it’s like, you got to fear that you’re gonna die. So you’ve got to do something to prevent that from happening. And same difference, you said, you know, the most dangerous person is the injured boxer fighting in the ring.
And the gift that Eli has is these two words called executive function. And so that means when you have your frontal lobe working really well, and that’s where it ties back into all the therapies, he trains heart out for all this stuff. He trains like his camp and all this stuff, you know, not just here on… not just six weeks here on. I mean, he’s so dedicated to his trade. And that’s what makes him way better than anyone else. He gets that way.
Dr. Andrew Wells: Dr. Marc, that is amazing advice. And Eli, another reason why we appreciate you doing this interview is because it’s a lot of…when you see people competing at your level and talking like Marc said about like when you engage in in in fear and just like operating at a hundred percent it’s very inspirational to a lot of people. And that’s one of the cool things about sports is when you see people doing these things that are are almost superhuman it captures our imagination.
We appreciate you doing this interview because there are a lot of doctors who are going to listen to this interview and they may not be taking care of professional athletes, but they’re also taking care of patients who have been hit in the head from baseball bats or car accidents or they fall and hit their head. And we’re talking here in terms of performance and becoming the next world champion boxer but the same principles also apply to brain health also work the same way. And I really appreciate you taking the time to do this because I hope it inspires other doctors and other chiropractors to take a look at low-level laser therapy on the effect that it has on the human body and the brain. That’s why we do this podcast, is to inspire other people and other doctors. So thank you for that. Also a question for you. You’re a young father now, at some point you’re going to be a former world champion 65-year-old Eli Garcia watching his grandkids box. Does it make you feel good to know that laser therapy not only has a performance benefit, but has a protective benefit on your brain?
Eli Garcia: 100%. I don’t want to fight forever, that’s something I don’t want to do. I don’t want to fight forever. Because I don’t want my brain to go to sleep. I know after I’m done fighting, I know what I gotta do in order to keep me mentally strong. I feel like a lot of people have mental health issues and that’s not something you can play with. If everyone had something like what I have, maybe it could help some of the issues they have.
Dr. Chad Woolner: That’s a great point. And you have another fight coming up in October? It’s August as we record this. So we’re two months, a little less than two.
Eli Garcia: 43 days away.
Dr. Chad Woolner: 43 days.
Dr. Andrew Wells: That rolled off your tongue.
Eli Garcia: I told my manager, told my promoter. Listen, if I can fight on this day, let’s make it happen. We are waiting today to see whether I can or whatever. I know mentally I have 43 days to get ready. 43 days to get better.
Dr. Chad Woolner: So we’re about ready to get into high gear for camp mode huh?
Eli Garcia: Mentally I’m ready. Physically I can improve.
Dr. Chad Woolner: That’s amazing. Well, Eli and Dr. Marc, we certainly appreciate you guys taking time out of your schedule. We know that you guys have a lot going on right now and Eli, we’re incredibly excited for you. You have such an amazing bright future ahead of you and again Dr. Marc that’s got to be such a fascinating and rewarding thing to be participating in and kind of seeing front row seats this whole evolution take place in this whole process of his career literally blossoming right in front of you. And so it’s exciting because I I know that you know a year from now, 5 years from now we’re going to look back on this podcast and and get to really see where things are at in no doubt I am confident that that that 11 and 0 record is going to grow in terms of those wins and those knockouts and so yeah it’s it’s exciting. Congratulations. And even more so than that, I do want to say congratulations on your family. Two kids, two little ones now and a house that you’re taking care of. Got you on your toes probably more than boxing does. And so congratulations on that as well.
Eli Garcia: Thank you, I like to say that two and through, you know?
Dr. Chad Woolner: There you go. Amazing. Well anything else you wanted to add Dr. Wells?
Dr. Andrew Wells: Yeah I just, congrats so far on your career, keep focused. We’re happy for you, we’re happy for your family. We’re happy that Dr. Marc and Eli, you’ve found each other. You seem like an awesome pair. And we wish you nothing but the best in your future fights and everything you do beyond that.
Eli Garcia: Thank you very much – we appreciate that.
Dr. Woolner: Alright. That is it for this episode we certainly appreciate Eli and Dr. Marc being here with us. And if you found this valuable share this with others that you think could benefit regardless of whether you’re a high elite level athlete or if you’re just a regular person who is looking to just enhance brain health and overall health and function check out what Erchonia is doing to have some amazing lasers and we hope that you found this valuable. We will talk to you guys on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to The Laser Light Show. Be sure to subscribe and give us a review. If you’re interested in learning more about Erchnoia lasers, just head on over to erchonia.com. There you’ll find a ton of useful resources including research news and links to upcoming live events, as well as Erchonia’s e-community where you can access for free additional resources including advanced training and business tools. Again, thanks for listening and we will catch you on the next episode.
