My background as a strategic Information Technology leader for a fortune 500 company at first does not seem to lend itself to a passion for fitness, until I tell you that I have been active all my life, enjoying extreme outdoor activities as a child. At an early age I fell in love with cycling and spent my school boy and junior years bicycle road and track racing in England. To date I have enjoyed a variety of activities and sports ranging from skating, skateboarding, rollerblading, road biking, mountain biking, snowboarding, martial arts, paddle boarding, yoga, dancing and I am sure I have missed a few.
So how did a corporate man and weekend warrior decide to build a Fitness Blog and become certified as a "Foundation Training" trainer. The journey started in 2008 one afternoon with a chance meeting in the office café on a particularly stressful day with a visiting chiropractor. He set my wife and I on a course that ultimately changed our diet and allowed me to lose over 50 lbs due to diet alone. She has since gone on to become a certified holistic health coach. Little did I know at the time though that my life was heading towards a train wreck that would change my perspective on life forever.
The first knock was a serious knee injury during Marital Arts training that resulted in surgery. Recovery as we age is not what it used to be and my recovery was slow with repeated minor injuries. 98% recovered and I received a snowboarding injury. Strong once more and about to test for my 2nd degree brown belt in martial arts when I slipped and ruptured my other knee resulting is 3 months in a leg brace. I was starting recovery exercises when a mundane movement caused a spasm in my back that resulted in a herniated disc. I had herniated a disc back in 2004 and following a spinal injection and PT I had not had any recurrence until now. This time however the pain was something I would not wish on my worst enemy and it did not go away. I was optimistic that the spinal injection would fix me like it did before, only this time it did not. I was in pain for months with my options limited to another injection followed by surgery.
Following the injection I worked with my physical therapist, acupuncturist and chiropractor and I am eternally grateful for the effort and support of those trusted professionals. Progress was painfully (literally) slow then during a particularly low period my wife found the "Foundation Training" book and with nothing to lose I decided to add the exercises to my recovery program.
Slowly through a combination of PT, acupuncture and Foundation Training I was able to get "normal" motion back. For those who may not know normal motion to an athlete is a pretty low bar but I was excited to get that far. At that point I left medical care and used Foundation Training on a daily basis. The Foundation Training helped me control the flare ups and allowed me to start focused personal training with 1:1 Yoga instruction. I started to drop Foundation Training in favor of my progression in Yoga, however I found that some of the Yoga moves caused my back to flare and I just did not understand enough to know what I could/should do and what I should not. One thing I was sure of was that the Foundation Training moves helped me.
When I learnt of the instructor training I jumped at the opportunity to learn more for myself. The information was invaluable and I use the techniques every day to stay strong, control the inevitable flare ups and allow me to return to the highest level of activity I have been at for years. It has allowed me to understand the yoga moves that work for my condition and what moves to avoid. It has allowed me to strengthen my paddle boarding technique and avoid repeated injury and it has allowed me the confidence to return to competitive cycling after 20+ years. I still have problems but I now have a way to manage them without them dictating my actions.
I have always had a passion for teaching and when it was suggested I teach others "Foundation Training" the decision was easy as I feel the information is too important to keep to myself.
My goal is simple, to help others through my knowledge and experience to become aware of how they can empower themselves to think and move as we are intended too and to exceed in whatever their chosen sport or activity is.
I am now thankful for the experiences life has provided me as they have made me understand that we are responsible for owning our health and doing everything we can to give ourselves the best quality of life possible. No amount of career or money can fix what we do not take the time ourselves to fix.
I hope I get the chance to meet you in person but if I do not I wish you a the ability to Max your life out.
Matthew
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