This PVD Based Trainer Is Talking His Formula For Living Your Best Life - Just In Time For Pool Season
Meet the popular Providence based trainer who might just change how you think about fitness. Now with the release of his brand new book, he's talking how he got started, inspo, his formula for living your best life this Summer and beyond, and more.
Muscle Motivation
Back in the day, I was considered one of the muscle heads that you saw in the gym, all pumped up and smashing weights around. I loved it. The environment, the feeling of being one of the bigger guys in the gym, pushing heavy weights, and always trying to get bigger and stronger. I had every issue of Flex magazine, and Muscle and Fitness, took all kinds of supplements, and ate meat and pasta by the pound. There was a small group of us that always competed with each other and pushed the limits. We would all workout at the same time and would stand around making fun of the skinny guys. You couldn’t walk by a mirror without stealing a glance of the biceps or snapping a quick tricep flex. It was a memorable time, but it wasn’t sustainable. We were a bunch of young “know it all” guys with attitudes. Combine ego, testosterone, and lack of knowledge, and you get trouble. That's when I had to make the decision that hanging around such an environment wasn’t a good idea. I had to make a move, or I would have surely gotten into deeper trouble. I was definitely heading down the wrong path.
Personal Training Life
The good thing that came out of this experience was that I saw personal trainers in action for the first time, and thought to myself, I can do that, and do it better than everyone else I saw doing it. So, I studied and became a nationally certified personal trainer. I worked for 20 years as an independent trainer in a big box gym. And I was one of the only trainers I could see furthering my education and going to conferences and seminars on a regular basis. I loved seeking out knowledge and motivation from the gurus, the guys who had been in the industry for years. They were teaching me so many techniques I was clueless about. It was then that I started seeing the gap in my training techniques open up and accelerate past the other trainers who were still putting people on treadmills to warm up, and on leg extension machines to develop leg strength. I realized that training out of a modern box gym was outdated and ineffective, so I ventured out west for the next big thing. That’s where I discovered Fit Body Boot Camp.
Before finding the business model I loved and wanted to be part of, I struggled for a few years. The economy took a down turn, and I lost all of my working-class clients. The gym I worked for changed their structure, and no longer gave independent trainers referrals, so I needed to make some changes. I started by hiring a PR person. She helped me land some writing gigs, and that helped me build a platform to write a book. She also had me do some public speaking events, and that helped me get my message out to more people. The process was slow and steady, but everything accelerated once I got involved with FBBC. From that point on, my focused changed.
Light Bulb Moments
I started attending conferences that were more self-development and business focused over exercise and training techniques. After 20+ years of learning how to train the body, I felt I had a good arsenal of material to get - and keep - people fit and healthy. All my knowledge was useless, however, if I didn’t get the people in front of me to share in all I was learning. I also realized that only teaching people how to eat and exercise was useless - I'd have to change their mindset and get them to realize why they need to eat healthy and move more. That’s when my writing started to shift towards the mindset techniques I was learning on how to be a better leader and businessman. And that’s how I developed my book.
About Unleashing Your Full Potential (Matt's New Book!)
The first section is the most important part. I try to get in people’s heads and help them realize they are capable of living a pain and medication free lifestyle. I also tell them that it isn’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline, and it will only work if you program your mind to succeed. I compare success in fitness to success in business because you have to implement a lot of the same strategies and principals to do well in either. I compare this a lot in my writing because business is something I am struggling with, and although I have the fitness aspect down, I can relate with others and their struggles to maintain great health.
The second and third sections of the book relate to nutrition and exercise. To me that’s the easy part because once you get your mind right, the physical component is just following the fundamentals and basic principles - eat clean food, stay hydrated, get quality sleep, and move 30 minutes a day (what I use for a formula). At my Providence Fit Body Boot Camp location, I have helped 100’s of people transform their lives through mindset, exercise and nutrition, and it’s been very rewarding.
My goal is to help thousands take their lives to new and more vital levels. I love when people get favorable results on the scale, and hearing how people’s lives have become more productive the healthier they get. I have over 250 members at my boot camp, with goals to exceed 500. I have a small local audience that reads my articles and writing, with a goal to reach people worldwide. With hard work, studying the experts, and applying what I learn from the people who are smarter and have more experience than I do, I feel like I can continue to make a difference in people’s lives and put them on the path to healthier living.
Find Matt Espeut's book, Unleash Your Full Potential, here.