1) Who is Matthew Grant? (where are you from, what do you do, a bit about yourself (hobbies, etc)
Hailing from Southwick on the South Coast of England I am a 6'8 Personal Trainer, Coach & Athlete. I love my work and don't really see it as work, so I really see myself as one of the lucky ones. In terms of hobbies, outside of the gym that is, I enjoy creating content to Youtube, Reading comic books And watching films.
2) How many years have you been training?
I started my training when I was 13 years of age with the Harlequins Academy. It was all foundational strength and conditioning training and taught me a lot about my body and my strengths and weaknesses. I have been addicted to training ever since! For the past three years i've training 5/6 times per week religiously.
3) Whats been the most challenging/hardest part of your journey so far? and how have you overcome them (set backs, rejections, injuries, basically anything difficult that you have had to overcome)
Well, where do I start?!
When I hit my peak of my Rugby career I suffered a PCL (Posterior Cruciate Ligament) tear in my right knee, around 4 months before my trial for the England team. After that my life kinda came crashing down, as I didn't get picked for England and was subsequently injured I was the dropped by my Academy. I was thankfully picked up in this time by an amazing College and taken in to continue playing the game I loved when I seemed like everyone else had given up on me. 10 Months later I took up Track & Field and became ranked 3rd in the Country at my age group for shot put after a mere 6 months of training.
As happened before I sustained another injury, in the same knee, this time, the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament). Boom back to the drawing board.
After a year or so of rehabilitation and training I got back into to training in the only place I could. The gym. This would be my home for the next 3 years, there I built myself up from the ground up. I then took the first step towards competing and began to train with my Body Building Coach, on our first session (can you guess where this is going to go?) I tore my pec major in half & not the nice kind of tear where you just carbon grafted back to your bone, nope this was straight through the belly.
So back to the drawing board, with my newly broken body I did the one thing I knew, rebuild, regrow & regather and get a game plan together. Now I am conditioning myself to compete in Classic Physique within the coming year or so (TBC)
4) What does your typical workout/diet routine look like?
I'll train chest and shoulders twice per week as these are my weakness (in regards to atheistically), I also train legs twice per week with a hammy and glute dominant day and a quad dominant day. Arms and back fits in where I fancy really.
Diet at the moment is sitting at around 3400cals and I'm three weeks into my cut, I'm taking my time and dropping a 100 cals each week-two weeks depending on how my body is responding.
5) What new knowledge have you learned over this past year regarding training, lifestyle and nutrition?
I am a big believer in listening to your body, as it always give you clues to success and failures in your diet and training. Thankfully i've had many failures in the forms of my set backs above, however this hasn't stopped me, if anything it's driven me even harder.
6) Whats your favourite cheat/Treat meal?
Burrito's, Fajita's and pretty much anything Mexican.
7) Whats one supplement that you could not live without?
Fish Oils, when your body has taken a battering as much as mine has, you need to give it all the help it can get to stay functioning properly.
8) If you had to start your Journey from scratch with your health & physique what would you do differently and why?
Nothing, absolutely nothing, I don't believe in regret as there is a lesson to be learnt in everything. I am who I am today because of my failures.
9) Who do you look upto in the fitness industry and why?
Jamie Alderton, he isn't just a boss but he is a mentor.
I also look up to guys like Calum Von Moger, not just for his physique, but because he uprooted his life and moved to the States, knowing he could improve his life and fortune there, regardless of the success he had back home. I find that commendable.
10) If you had to give one bit of advice to people starting out what would that be?
Slow and steady wins the race. Listen to you body all the time you are pushing yourself. Set backs aren't just an annoyance, they are detrimental to your progress, so take it from someone thats had plenty, just go slow and stay consistent. Do that and you will achieve more than 95% of other will.
11) What new goals do you have on the horizon?
Competing is a real focus of mine right now, that and building my YouTube following really!
12) Where can people find you? (website, social media accounts)
@mattalphapack on Instagram
@alphapacktraininguk on FB
Alpha Pack Training on YouTube
