In 2022, Mike Agassi lost 40 pounds in a month while in hotel quarantine. The actor-entrepreneur, also known as Michael, exemplifies the adage “What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve.”
Once living in the shadow of his brother, actor-rapper Carlos Agassi, Mike took time to carve out a name for himself.
“In 2000, ABS-CBN reached out to me. I was launched as a part of Star Circle Batch 9,” Mike recalled. Fast forward to 2022, his latest TV appearance was in Widows’ Web, a crime drama series on GMA Network.
These days, Mike expresses interest in doing long-term shows. He said, “What’s difficult about guestings is that they are usually on short notice and that’s hard because I love traveling and free diving.” Planning his schedule ahead of time is crucial as the actor explores the world and teaches water sport. Mike is now a certified freediving instructor.
Handling the family businesses is also keeping Mike busy. “Our family has properties so I manage the leasing, selling, buying, and developing buildings.” For his side hustle, Mike also fixes and modifies cars.
While taking up an entrepreneurship course in college helped Mike in getting his business know-how, the constant need to connect with people has been key to his success.
The deep dive
“When I travel, every time I get on a small boat when I’m island-hopping and I see the floor, I would ask the boatman to stop and I jump off the boat. I’ve always loved diving. In our [family-owned] resorts, I’ve already done breath-hold swims in the past. I had no idea that breath-hold swimming is part of freediving.”
“When I started freediving in July 2021, I excelled and trained overseas. It took me 11 months from introduction freediving to instructor level,” Mike’s eyes lit up as he shared this milestone. There is a chance that he is holding the fastest record for transition from introductory to instructor level in freediving in the Philippines or the world.
”I always tell people that freediving is natural for humans and that it’s a lot safer than scuba diving. We’re born to dive,” he introduced. There is no gear, no breathing apparatus in freediving as explained by Mike. Participants are on their own. “It’s breath-hold. Once we’re doing that and our faces get wet with water, our bodies adjust,” Mike explained.
Mike emphasized, “Aside from breathing, you also have to train the mind. The battle is there. My contemporaries usually take two to four years to become an instructor.” Apart from his rigorous 14-day training in Bali, Mike also stayed in Camotes Island in Cebu where the head of the World Class Athlete organization was based, in Batangas, and Panglao. The training equipped him to teach professionally.
Born out of passion, Mike’s teaching stint is still very personal. In 2022, he set up a Facebook page called “Freedive with AquaMike Michael Agassi” where clients can schedule bookings. Partner hotels in Anilao also tap him to teach at times. “It’s really by schedule,” Mike explained. “Every weekend, I’m in Batangas.”
Asked what got him hooked on the sport, Mike had a quick answer. “For me, one of the benefits of freediving is getting to know yourself. The main challenge is that it’s a mental game. You discover things about yourself,” he said.
Passing on the passion
The passion for freediving rubs off on others. “When they train, they easily excel. Their progress is accelerated. I find satisfaction in that,” Mike spoke about his friends, students, and own children.
Mike’s three sons – Miks (14), Kel (7), and Youseky (5) – also know how to freedive.
“We started with a swimming pool. [Training took place] in our resorts in Pansol, Laguna. My kids were eventually doing breath-hold,” shared Mike. He proudly added, “My eldest son, at 14, he dove last week into around 35 feet [deep water] with one breath. Their progress is quite fast.”
“I can dive up to 145 feet with one breath. [That’s] breath-hold of four minutes and ten seconds,” Mike said. To date, he is thankful he has not encountered any problems underwater. “For me, as long as you’re calm and with a safety freedive buddy, nothing can go wrong. Usually, accidents occur when you’re overpushing, when you have surpassed your mental capacity
“Even if one doesn’t know how to swim, I can teach freediving. It’s a natural thing,” Mike shared. “Plus, we have safety equipment like floaters. It’s more of a mental game. You see, I have students who had trauma with water. After a couple of sessions, they conquered and overcame the trauma and are now freediving.
Mike seems to be aversive to failure driven by giving up. He expounded, “I want to show that when I’m dedicated to something, I could do it. When I became a father, it changed my life. From there, being dedicated became easier. This is my fifth time developing abs from being out of shape. Every three years, I was doing it for certain projects.” Mike expressed hope to maintain his physique this time.
Given he’s now in tip-top shape which the cameras love, is Mike open to doing sexy projects? After all, his recent primetime TV stint entailed a love scene and one that made him appear in just underwear. Mike simply responded with a smile and said, “It depends on Nay Rams.” He was referring to his manager Rams David, head and founder of the talent management agency Artist Circle.
The passion for traveling and freediving comes out effortlessly. In terms of wandering, he wishes to see Greece and Maldives and aims to revisit the Czech Republic and Croatia. For diving, Mike is scheduled to go to Deep Dive Dubai, the home to the world’s deepest indoor swimming pool. With passion, discipline, and grit combined like his, there is no doubt that he will continue to go places.