MATT FEALEY
MY JOURNEY
Ok so what do you need to know about me, my weight has been an issue for me for as long as I can remember. I never saw myself as fat, I was always big, but my body image wasn’t fat, or at least that’s what I told myself.
Growing up I had a healthy relationship with food, I liked it and I was well looked after and cooked for by my parents and grandparents. Traditional British was pretty much on the menu at all times. I lapped it up.
I started strength training at about 14, I remember getting injured at rugby and started down the local gym to kill time until I could start playing again, I had no routine just tried to smash more weights that my mates, and that was about it.
In 2003 after University, I started training with my boss, who was into the gym, we had our own programmes and did our best to lift mainly mirror muscles and a bit of cardio 3x a week, that was the first time I had any structure and I managed to lose 2 stone pretty quickly and started to bulk out.
I continued along that path until about 2012 when I moved to Cornwall the gym here was good, and allowed me to progress, by then I was bar far the strongest guy in the gym, but I stood out, after a while one of the PT’s spoke to me and said if you want to get really strong go to this gym, the gym I go to.
After that I joined Plymouth Performance Gym, it was a powerlifting and Strongman gym it was like nothing I've ever seen before, it was simple but effective, the equipment was great but there were no bells or whistles, you came there to lift, and the support and community was amazing. After a while it became a second home I learnt to squat bench and deadlift, and all the other main compound lifts. Within weeks, I was getting coached for strongman, and had pending competition Cornwall’s Strongest Man.
By then I was about 128kg at 5 foot 10. For the next 4 years I travelled up and down the country competing in strongman. During this time the competitions got heavier, the more advanced I became. In terms of nutrition, I had little clue other than the basics, but they didn’t concern me, I needed to get stronger, I needed to eat. The blinded closed off mentality saw my weight shoot up, but mass moved mass, so that was ok right…. With the additional weight came more physical limitations, I had bad back pump from over worked muscles, and it limited my movements I couldn’t walk for more than 5 minutes without needing to stretch it out. It was debilitating and I didn’t see it at the time but I fully do now.
The eventful day came when my friend Lorne came around to my house on movie night, and while I was cooking and, in a flap, he looked at me, and said you look like shit mate, what’s going on. That was my light bulb moment that I needed to make a change, by this point I was a 145kg, with a resting heart rate of 100 BPM. I needed to make a change, and that’s exactly what I did, but before I could make a physical change, I needed to be mentally prepared for the challenge, I needed to be ready for not being the strongest person in the gym, I had to go backwards to come forwards, for my own health.
This was unchartered territory for me, and I was scared I feared failure. It took 18 months of the hardest graft I have ever had to do; I was rowing 21km before I was allowed to touch a weight some days, it was brutal people doubted me, but that fuelled the fire, people took the piss I let them, all I knew, I fucking knew I would succeed. I was unbreakable I was hell bent on achieving a healthy body I could achieve anything with.
That’s what I kept telling myself, 1km into 21km rows, what keeps you going, the thought of letting myself down. I don’t accept failure well, and I wasn’t going to start now. I went from 145kg to 113kg in 18 months, after which I have gone as low as 103kg just to see if I can do it, can I stick to a diet for months, feeling weak, feeling hungry, well I can. Today I am sat at 110.9kg and I compete under 110kg category. I am healthy, and my body has become an asset to myself, and a billboard screaming I’m fucking capable.
I say a lot in my book I am not special, I’m a normal guy that likes to lift weights. But don’t challenge me to achieve something, don’t question my capability because I’m warrior and I don’t quit, knowing how much you can pain and hurt I can take and keep moving forward is exactly the skill you need to learn. If you want to achieve your goals just like I have, you need your edge, the grit and determination to keep pushing when the head is saying no.
That mental fortitude is what separates good from great. This company was created to help the people that needed it most, boost themselves to achieve things they never thought were possible. If I can do it, you can too, bring your A game and whole lot of heart, and we will take this journey together.
