Gretchen M. Ashton is a multi-faceted professional with extensive credentials in fitness, scuba diving fitness education, dementia care consulting, acting, and athletic accomplishments, and her career spans over three decades, highlighting her expertise as a fitness trainer, author, speaker, and community contributor she’ll be revealing the Octopus Workout at the Long Beach Scuba Show in May.
Ashton is the owner and founder of ScubaFit and FitDiver, focusing on fitness for scuba divers since 2000 and presenting at the Scuba Show for more than ten years. She is a prolific writer and contributor to various publications, and has authored a fiction book titled Heart of the Yucatan and served as Fitness Editor for California Diver Magazine since 2011.
She has contributed health and fitness articles to Scuba Diver Life, X-RAY MAG, and Scuba Diving Industry Magazine, among others. Her writings cover topics such as scuba diving fitness, nutrition, and dementia care, and she maintains active blogs including dadanddementia.com and scubafit.com.
Ashton holds numerous fitness certifications, including Elite Trainer from the International Sport Sciences Association, Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning, and is a Certified Personal Trainer by the National Board of Fitness Examiners. She also trained as an Arthritis Foundation PACE Instructor and Biomechanic Strength Trainer.
Her scuba diving fitness credentials include co-authoring and instructing the PADI ScubaFit Diver Distinctive Specialty Course and holding advanced scuba diving certifications such as Advanced Open Water and Nitrox Diver. Additionally, she is an Independent Dementia Consultant since 2020.
Ashton is an accomplished athlete in powerlifting, inducted into the Amateur Athletic Union Power Lifting Hall of Fame in 2001. She has achieved multiple national and world championships and set 21 world records and 21 American records in bench press, deadlift, and powerlifting categories. She has coached athletes to world-level competitions and record achievements in powerlifting and strength training.
She also owns The Fitness Coach, a personal training and consulting business active since 1996. Her experience includes managing a private training facility where she developed corporate wellness programs, authored fitness curricula, and mentored other trainers. Ashton has delivered over 60,000 hours of one-on-one personal training and has been recognized for her comprehensive approach to fitness and wellness.
The Octopus Workout – Health, happiness and longevity from mask-to-fins
This presentation shares the benefits of physical fitness for the mind, body and spirit. Personal experience and professional expertise bring to life connections between specific workout techniques and fitness for scuba divers and watersports enthusiasts. Learn how to train the brain along with the body to improve executive function, develop peak performance, delay aging and be a FitDiver. Take home the Octopus Workout. Participate in the ScubaFit raffle for fitness prizes. This presentation is appropriate for all ages, abilities and diver training.
Long Beach Scuba Show
The Long Beach Scuba Show, this year sponsored by Divers Alert Network, is celebrating its 39th anniversary in 2026 (30-31 May), and it represents the first show under the banner of new owners Rork Media Limited, which also runs the GO Diving Shows in the UK and Australia, and publishes the global-multi-edition Scuba Diver magazine, as well as being behind the Scuba Diver Magazine YouTube Channel, and long-established website Divernet.
Fans of the long-running event will be delighted to hear that Rork Media plan to retain everything that made the Scuba Show such a staple on the West Coast diving circuit, and enhance it with new and improved elements, including a Main Stage with a huge video wall right in the exhibition hall itself, a new layout designed to stimulate exploration around the hundreds of booths, and additional interactive attractions including a VR dive on a deep-water shipwreck in the Baltic Sea.
The three seminar rooms have been organised into themes, to make it easier to find speakers/topics of interest, so prepare to dive into Adventure, Inspiration, and UW Imaging.
Whether you’re an experienced diver, a new enthusiast, or just curious about the underwater world, the Scuba Show brings together everything you love about diving under one roof.
Greg Holt from Scuba Radio will be entertaining the crowds on mornings before and as the show opens, offering plenty of fun and games, and the chance to win some amazing prizes.
Explore hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest scuba gear, dive destinations, underwater photography equipment, training programs, and ocean conservation initiatives. Attend inspiring seminars led by world-renowned dive experts, explorers, and photographers, and connect with dive professionals, travel operators, and fellow divers from across the country.
There is also the opportunity to expand your skillset. The PSI-PCI Visual Cylinder Inspection course is open to everyone who wishes to inspect high-pressure breathing gas cylinders, or just know about the process. These specialty courses support the inspection process with formal function specific training on valve maintenance and repair, and Oxygen Cylinder Cleaning. Inspectors who are at the three-year renewal mark and want to attend the PSI-PCI Update course will be able to take care of it at the Scuba Show as well.
PSI-PCI offers the only training that is formally endorsed, utilized, and referred to by the cylinder manufacturers. The training has been created with the input of industry professionals and experts in each field to provide you with the best training available to meet the Federal requirements for the associated processes. You can join the team of PSI-PCI Professionals at the Scuba Show. Don’t wait, seats will fill up quickly! Click here for more information and to book a slot.
The Scuba Show offers two full days of ocean adventure, hand’s-on experiences, and exclusive show specials, and is where the US dive community comes together to celebrate the underwater world.
Get your tickets now!
Tickets are on sale now for the Scuba Show, and new for 2026, there is a change to the cost of entry – there is now one ticket price, which gets every attendee full access to the Exhibition Hall, and entry to all seminars.
With many of the speakers in the dedicated Adventure, Inspiration, and UW Imaging seminar rooms either only presenting on one of the days, or giving two different talks, plus with the headline acts on the Main Stage, and the plethora of booths, interactive elements and much more, there is plenty to keep you occupied on both days, so why not make a weekend of it?
Tickets are available now – click here – priced at $33 for a day ticket, and $60 for a weekend pass. There is also the option of a VIP Pass, which includes a weekend pass plus 6 issues of Scuba Diver magazine and 6 issues of California Diving News (Magazine delivery US & Canada residents only), and a Scuba Show Dive Team T-shirt, for $100.
Under 16s go free – bring the family and let the kids dive into the fun as well.
Join us for two incredible days, 30-31 May 2026, celebrating the world of diving at the Long Beach Convention Center!
