About Martial Arts Med

About Chuck Meyers

Excerpt from Trusted Health - trustedhealth.com/blog/chuck-meyers-nursing-self-defense

How I Got My Start in Nursing and Martial Arts

Nursing just came to me; I really fell into it. I went to Purdue University North Central in Indiana to play baseball. I started with pre-nursing and then applied to the nursing program. I got in, so I simply thought, ‘Well, I guess I’m doing it now.’ When I do something, I’m all in; I’m going to get it done no matter what.

Indiana

I got really serious about nursing after getting into the program. I continued playing baseball until my final year of nursing, but due to clinicals had to drop baseball and double-down on school. At this point, I realized that I truly enjoyed nursing. As soon as I finished my associates degree, I returned to school for my bachelors, making my way through the degree while still working as a nurse as well as the coordinator for residential student life on campus.

Illinois

Come graduation, I was ready to get out of Indiana, so I took a local travel assignment to Chicago. The staffing ratios in Chicago weren’t great, so I went looking for another opportunity. I didn’t realize how much greater working as a nurse could be, until I started a travel assignment at USC in Los Angeles.

California

It was a total culture shock having more resources at my disposal, a proper break,  as well as better patient-staff ratios. There was an emphasis on safety and employee satisfaction. A happy nurse equals a happy patient. Working in California renewed my love for nursing. When you’re being overworked, it’s easy to become jaded and feel burnt out.

While working at USC, I was living in Hollywood near a Krav Maga Worldwide gym. I’d never tried martial arts before but decided to give it a shot. I quickly fell in love with it and thus began my career in self-defense and martial arts.

Not so long after, I moved to Santa Barbara for another travel assignment. I maintained my Krav Maga training, but decided to start training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well. I worked in Santa Barbara as a travel nurse for a year before moving again, this time to San Francisco.

I lived in Noe Valley and worked at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, mainly in the Surgical/Trauma ICU. I have to say, I really miss the food and some of the city views in SF. While there, I joined a Muay Thai gym that also had a Jiu Jitsu program being led by instructor Renan Silva (Ralph Gracie Black Belt) who now heads Sunset Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This was 2017. From there on out, I trained strictly Jiu-Jitsu keeping in mind the self-defense components I practiced in Krav Maga

After about seven months, I moved to San Diego on another travel assignment, eventually finding a staff position at UCSD. When I arrived in San Diego, I just felt at home.

San Diego had everything I wanted. A facility that was going to take care of me as a RN, as well as having one of the largest concentrations of Jiu-Jitsu academies in the world. I currently train under Clark Gracie at Gracie Allegiance Jiu-Jitsu academy and continue to work at UCSD Medical Center. I’ve been at USCD for a few years now and feel so much support working there... the people, the resources, the location- incredible!