Matt’s Fitness Journey and Natural Product Recommendations

Matt (00:00)
But I remember it was, ⁓ I was competing in Novice, so I’m competing with a of guys who’ve never done this before. And that’s my first competition, I’m nervous, you all these guys have been dieting for 12, 16 weeks, however long, and it’s gonna kinda come down to this. And we had no idea how everything was gonna be ran and it wasn’t communicated to us. So as soon as we get there to the show, we immediately start warming up, not realizing how long it’s gonna be till we actually go on stage.

Right. And so you gotta think I am hungry. I am dehydrated. I am tired. I’m anxious ⁓ You know kind of a whirlwind of emotions and I start pumping up backstage thinking I’m being called out anytime again I’m dehydrated and so I essentially work out for like two hours before they even come up, you know call us out and So I’ll up on stage at this point. I’m absolutely fatigued. I’m tired. I’m drenched I go out to stage and they and tell us do our first pose and the right half of my body just completely cramps up

So I’m just standing there just awkwardly trying to turn because I can’t move my right side to the sole just it’s locked up So my abs my laps my chest my shoulders, everything’s just completely like gone to fit on me So I’m just over there just frozen on my right side and trying to like show off my left side And so it went absolutely awful So that one actually didn’t finish too well in but a little learning experience and so here I am like cramping up in front of like a thousand people in the auditorium Just watching me just like trying to like fight through this

Clint (01:22)
How you doing, Matt? I’m good. Make sure I’m clear on this. This is your first official podcast. Have you been on the radio show with Ed and I?

Matt (01:23)
How you doing?

First official podcast.

I have not.

Clint (01:32)
Okay, well, ready? Go ahead. I direct at the camera. No. So this will be fun. Just 20 minutes or so of us talking. You work here at Nutrition World, and I was kind of setting this conversation up before we started how we’re gonna go through this. Let’s start with that. First of all, how long have you been working at Nutrition World?

Matt (01:33)
I’ve

six months are six years last month

Clint (01:54)
I’ve known you longer, I know how that right, man. Just do a palm warp in there. Where did you work before and how did you get to nutrition?

Matt (02:01)
So I’ve worked at, this is actually my fourth nutrition store I’ve worked at over the last 10ish years. Like a lot of people, got my start working at a GNC. ⁓ there, up helping a friend of mine who opened up a small business in North Alabama. ⁓ Met my wife, we got engaged. She lived here in Chattanooga. She was going to UTC at the time and started looking for opportunities to be up here with her.

We moved to Chattanooga, so from this small business I went to Vitamin World where I worked with Adam and Scott and worked there for a while and then one thing led to another and now I’m here.

Clint (02:36)
Between you, Adam and Scott, who was the first to move over here? Adam. Okay, I was getting ready to give you credit now. By the you did really well, because there’s a long version of that story and it’s short. And you did the short version.

Matt (02:45)
I appreciate

it. appreciate it. Uh, but- What’s most difficult thing I’ve ever done? Well, uh, comment.

Clint (02:49)
Wait, keep it short, yeah.

So let’s do this, because I want to get into how you got into wellness and fitness and get your opinion on some stuff and supplements, but the transition over from other supplement vitamin, air-quote, health stores to nutritional world, this is a surprise question. So, you know, we’ve got a great master editor over here. We’ll see if he can work with this. But what’s the difference? In other words, the difference in atmosphere, the difference in culture, how do you see the difference between

nutritional world since you’ve had experience in other places. And it’s not talking bad about anybody. Every place has got their own little niche, but what’s the difference for you?

Matt (03:25)
Us, it’s really no competition. Unfortunately, a lot of companies, I think, incentivize to sell certain products. So there might be someone coming in and they’re like, you know, well, you need to sell so many of these every week or so many of these products like every day. And when I came here, like there was none of that. So, I mean, I remember having my interview with Ed and Katie and they’re like, no, we don’t track any of that stuff. Like we want you to sell what you think is going be most beneficial for that person. So there’s no incentive for me to sell a $5 product versus a $50 product if I feel like that $5 product is going to work.

So I can be completely honest and if I just talk to someone like me you’re talking now so like I’m talking to my parents or my siblings I can just recommend that I think is most optimal for them.

Clint (04:05)
You’ve done this with me in the past and several of the folks up on the floor have. I say, I’ll use an example, like magnesium. If I’m tight on a budget, y’all go, hey, now this is the best one we got. And I’ll say, yeah, but, and you go, well, this one’s pretty good too. You’ll give me options. And I’ve never seen you try to, I’ve never been felt pressured by anybody. And I’ve been shopping with Ed since 1989-ish, right? So I never felt pressure to buy something because they said it was, this is the best. And if you don’t buy it, these other ones aren’t great.

Everything you seem to have in the stores been vetted and it seems that they’re all good alternatives based off specific Maybe it’s the delivery system the size of the pill the budget how often you got to take them the strength or potency of the vitamin or the supplement, right? Yeah. All right. Here we go. Now we’re going backwards All right. What got you into fitness and health to begin with? Have you already been always been fitness guy?

Matt (04:56)
I’ve always been big into it. ⁓ like every guy, you want to be like their dad. Yeah. grow up and my dad was a big track athlete and Mr. Fitness and, ⁓ so what guy doesn’t grow up to be like him and, absolutely. Yeah. And, and then, you know, growing up, I remember watching pumping iron and seeing like our Schwarzenegger and I’m like, man, that’s so cool. You know, ⁓ but it’s always something that’s always been an interest.

Clint (05:10)
What a great compliment to a dad too.

Matt (05:25)
But Mon, I actually got my degree, a couple degrees. ⁓ have an associate’s in chemical operations and I have a bachelor in business management and human resources. ⁓ And it wasn’t anything that I truly enjoy. Like my first big boy job out of college is just, I didn’t get any satisfaction from it. It was just a job for the sake of having a job.

Clint (05:47)
Which by the way, you need when you get out of college. So I don’t want to discourage people from working, from just working. Right, you gotta do that.

Matt (05:53)
Yeah.

Well, anyway, but, my wife, was my girlfriend at the time. She’s like, encouraged me to actually do something I truly enjoyed. So took a leap of faith, started working, took a cut and pay, started managing a GNC and kind of the rest is history, but it’s always been something that’s always been of interest, even when I was little, little, like I’ve, I it’s always something that I’ve been very interested in.

Clint (06:16)
Didn’t

you say you competed a little bit on the fitness, the physique side of bodybuilding?

Matt (06:20)
Little bit I did. I competed in several shows. I was never big enough to be a bodybuilder. But I did some physique competitions. Did all right. I always finished like second. I was never going to be like professional at it. But I did all right. And I did a powerlifting competition which went well too.

Clint (06:37)
But don’t you think, and this is just me you talking, but don’t you think putting stuff like that on your calendar, putting stuff like that as a challenge, whether you’re in your 20s or teens or in your 50s and 60s and all in between, those things that challenge us, that make us nervous, it’s about everybody wants to win, but truly it’s really about challenging yourself just to do the best you can. mean, none of us are going to be the armless, right? Most of us don’t have that kind of genetics or that kind of drive. But we can put stuff on our calendars that make us nervous, that scare us a little bit.

Did that scare you when you were putting that stuff out there? Like, here we go.

Matt (07:10)
Um, Oh yeah. First competition I ever did was, I mean, it went awful. was actually, don’t like that was my worst competition easily. Oh, tell me about that one. And, but I remember it was, I was in competing in novice. I’m competing in a bunch of guys who’ve never done this before. And that’s my first competition. I’m nervous. You know, all these guys have been dieting for 12, 16 weeks, however long and, it’s gonna kind of come down to this. And we had no idea how everything was going to be ran and it wasn’t communicated to us. So as soon as, uh, we get.

there to the show, we immediately start warming up, not realizing how long it’s going to be till we actually go on stage. Right. And so you got to think, I am hungry. I am dehydrated. I am tired. I’m anxious. Uh, you know, kind of a whirlwind of emotions. And I mean, start pumping up backstage thinking I’m going be called out anytime. And again, I’m dehydrated. And so I essentially work out for like two hours before they even come up, you know, call us out. And so I’ll up on stage at this point. I’m absolutely fatigued. I’m tired. I’m drenched.

I go out to stage and tell us to our first pose and the right half of my body just completely cramps up. So I’m just standing there just awkwardly trying to turn because I can’t move my right side. It’s locked up. So my abs, my lats, my chest, my shoulders, everything’s just completely like gone completely on me. So I’m just over there just frozen on my right side and trying to like show off my left side. And so it went absolutely awful. So that one actually didn’t finish too well. But it was a learning experience.

So here I am like cramping up in front of like a thousand people in the auditorium just watching me just like trying to like bite through.

Clint (08:40)
So I don’t know how those competitions went where you called out or did you also have individual pose where you use music and stuff like that? Didn’t know what song you used

Matt (08:48)
⁓ I think it was I can’t wait I shaved it for today too. ⁓ think it was Rihanna’s umbrella I think there’s like introductory like where there’s like a slow piano So I’m trying to do something that’s kind of poetic and dramatic And so and I was trying to be really cool like a Frank Zane kind of poser and it didn’t go well at all like you’re going to Yeah, that was like the dude

Clint (08:51)
bald head’s gonna get red.

school Frank Zan.

Well he was in between right he wasn’t the 270 pound monster right and he also wasn’t 160 pound he was right he was the physique if only I was 60 pounds or 160. I was a pro bodybuilder back in the day he was well you had that you know the Steve Reeves of back in the day were further back than that even they had the body that a lot of guys could achieve.

How many Ronnie Coleman’s are out there? Are Rich Gaspare? Yes, thank you very much. And he’s not doing great now, but yeah, anyway. All right, so let’s transition. You’re back in nutritional, because these are designed to give us just a taste of the people that work here and their story. We were kind of alluding to this before we came and started recording. There’s a difference between being fit or looking fit, shall I say, and healthy. And you’re at a place now that encourages you to continually learn about that.

Have you always had that or has that been something in nutrition where you’re like, there’s a difference between somebody looking fit and being healthy?

Matt (10:13)
I think there’s definitely, yeah, cause it’s definitely, I mean, a separate category. So what diet, what exercises might be optimal for health is going to be different from like, if you’re trying to be a powerlifter or if you just want to look aesthetically pleasing, which I hate that word because it’s overused. And so, I mean, I think it’s all relevant. I mean, I remember seeing a interview with this Olympian, relatively recently, and he was saying that when he was competing, the Olympics was actually, and you think he was like the healthiest guy in the world. Cause he’s an 800 meter runner. think he actually went in at

ended up winning a medal and his name since escaped me. But he said at that time was actually the, he was the least healthy in his life when he was actually competing in the Olympics. even though like they’re, you know, have such like all this potential and they’re running like world record, like, you know, times and doing something no one else has ever done before. Like, you know, they’re not, especially just healthy just because they’re in the Olympics or they’re Olympic. I have boats.

Clint (11:03)
I have a friend that competed in the World CrossFit Games, like top 20 World CrossFit. I’ve had her on the podcast a number of times and she was talking about they were in the dressing room putting on the clothing, because you’re providing all the clothing there, And how she was crying because she was so unhappy with how she felt and looked. She was, the strongest I’ve ever been. I’m probably the most endurance I’ve ever had. I’m on the biggest stage. I’ve wanted to get here. I’ve worked here. I’ve competed to get here. And she was not determined as soon as I leave there, I’m going to change how I feel and

to be and I was like man we just we just all that judging book by cover the different

Matt (11:37)
Right. ⁓

I’ve tell people all the time and if they ever asked me about, you know, if they’re interested in competing, I’ve always said the best I’ve ever looked was the worst I ever felt. So it doesn’t go hand in hand. Yeah.

Clint (11:49)
Well,

that’s a good that’s a good way to put it and as you get older, how do you? That would not ever ask a female, you know, from the park. Well, I’m 20 years older than you. Right. So as you get older and you talk about words that are overused, a functional fitness, as you get older, you can poo poo that young people all you want to. It’s going to happen. Right. Getting up off the couch. You know, if I fall, can I get up with unassisted? Can I live with, you know, some joint pain without joint pain?

Matt (11:53)
37.

Clint (12:17)
Small things like that become your goals. I’m not saying I don’t want to work out and be strong. I go to gym as much as I can. I put things on my counter to scare me. But at some point, I want to be able to just go through life and be as healthy as possible. Fitness is a byproduct of that. I was asking beforehand, when you walk in the nutritional world, you have your supplements, you have your herbs, you have…

Matt (12:37)
I agree. ⁓

Clint (12:45)
the food, the pet, there’s all of these sections. And you’re pretty good. I’ve asked you about everything in the store. So you’re well versed on all of

Matt (12:53)
You’re welcome, sir. I didn’t tell him to that or anything.

Clint (12:56)
like the 20 over. But if I were to say somebody walks in and they go I’m looking for this type of product and it’s in your wheelhouse what do you what’s your favorite what’s your favorite aisle?

Matt (13:07)
sports nutrition, easy. Okay, no competition for me. That’s like my bread and- EXCLAIM-

Clint (13:12)
What

that aisle contains. I mean we go to protein and creatine. Right. What else is on that aisle?

Matt (13:17)
So creatine, amino acids, electrolytes, ⁓ thermogenics, fat burners. ⁓ Yeah, so it’s pretty diverse blends. whatever you’re trying to- workouts. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. I love talking about that.

Clint (13:31)
Do you take all those?

Matt (13:33)
Not all the time. So the few products that I take on a very consistent basis are protein, creatine, and electrolytes. Everything else is just kind of…

Clint (13:43)
When you say ⁓ consistent, do you take your protein shake daily? that a daily thing? ⁓ I’ve said this on a bunch of podcasts. I love asking people who know how much protein is a person supposed to get on a daily basis? Do we know?

Matt (13:48)
I some before I came in.

The number I keep hearing is, and I’ll kind of tweak it little bit. keep hearing one gram per pound of body weight, right? I’ll kind of think of it as one gram per pound of desired body weight. So if you’re trying to like, Leo, if you’re like, someone’s like, you know, trying to lose a bunch of weight, then maybe like the way you’re at now is not exactly the amount of protein you to be taking in.

Clint (14:17)
Okay, that’s good way to look at it now. Do you take creatine every day? And you say creatine or creatine?

Matt (14:23)
Now you got me saying yes, my so I know we do a creatine

Clint (14:24)
motto? about

the question mark there? We’ll do it at the editor where you say creatine and he’ll add in tin at the end. It’ll be weird on our mouth. Creatine. Yeah. Do you take it every day too?

Matt (14:38)
I’d at least take it six months out of the year. like with anything else, I’d give myself a little bit of a break here and there. But I’d say the one product I religiously take every single day without fail are electrolytes.

Clint (14:50)
Really? Yeah. Is it that cramping thing that you experienced?

Matt (14:54)
I never thought of it that way. Maybe your brain is stuck in my brain. I didn’t even realize it. But I mean, yeah, so that’s one thing I take religiously every single day. So I’m traveling, I’m taking it.

Clint (15:04)
How

do you take it? Powder, peel, liquid? Powder.

Matt (15:07)
Okay. I instead of just sitting on plain water all the time.

Clint (15:11)
But in there, do y’all sell the drink? How do y’all sell that up there? Is there a different one?

Matt (15:15)
All

the above. Really? So we have pills, powders, ones that are pre-made. We even had a tablet that you can drop in your water and it dissolves kind of like an azel.

Clint (15:24)
Do you take in your protein? Do you put anything else in your protein shakes on a daily basis or is it just protein

Matt (15:29)
I’ll mix my creating with my protein typically.

Clint (15:31)
and not in your electrolytes so you can put that your water. Do you drink coffee?

Matt (15:34)
Yeah, typically.

Of course. Love caffeine. You’re American, right? Exactly.

Clint (15:39)
Do you put anything weird in your coffee?

Matt (15:42)
No, nothing weird. I’m boring stuff. I’m boring. Okay, no, it’s like for me less is more kind of thing. So, um, I used to just drink it black and I never ventured out and I was, cause I never, I knew I’d love it if I ever tried it. Unfortunately, my twin sister, like I went to go visit her and she had all this creamer and like, you know, went to some fancy coffee for a food place and I tried hers on my, Oh, well this is good. I like it a lot. And so now yeah, I put creamer in my coffee.

Clint (16:09)
You drink a milkshake, that’s basically what I hear. You drink it. How much creamer is it really? You put a lot of creamer.

Matt (16:14)
No, actually I’m OCD so I’ll actually measure it out. If this is one tablespoon, I’ll literally get that tablespoon.

Clint (16:20)
So you’ll not learn how to just.

Matt (16:21)
No, no if I’m I can’t dab is Yeah, I I it’s if I’m pouring anything in there. It’s gonna be a lot So I need to measure it out now my wife she’ll put like copying her creamer. ⁓ so yeah, see the difference there.

Clint (16:34)
Yeah,

I see what you did there. Absolutely. All right, so let’s wrap this one up, but I want to ask you this. Other than the ⁓ muscle side or the performance side of stuff, do you take anything else a day? Are you a multivitamin day, Omega-3? Are there some other things that you like to take yourself?

Matt (16:50)
I like to stick with the fundamentals. ⁓ So for me, the ones that I take pretty consistently, ⁓ pretty much, I mean, every day for the most part, multivitamins, all of the questions, multivitamins, omega threes, electrolytes, ⁓ of course protein, creatine, someone else is escaping me. ⁓ Props. Probi-cells. Recording. Magnesium, I’ll probably take that right before I go to bed. So those are the biggies I take every day.

Clint (17:10)
Do remember as soon as he’s.

So

I’ve heard the reason I take it is because I’ve heard through you pit folks, but magnesium helps us sleep, right? There are a little bit. does. It really does. Do you have trouble sleeping?

Matt (17:24)
It helps me.

I’m very blessed. I’m fortunate.

Clint (17:31)
No, no, don’t say that you’re young. was very blessed too 20 years ago when life hadn’t set in on my question is, are you the guy that goes to bed as soon as your head hits the pillow? ⁓ People know she was. Hey, don’t go to Ed Jones. Because really, ⁓ and are you a straight eight hours, nine hours?

Matt (17:48)
⁓

usually seven eight hours most most days like I don’t necessarily need a ton of sleep But I have good quality sleep for sure. Okay

Clint (17:58)
Well, now, let’s, I don’t want end it not liking you. You go to the gym, what’s your favorite thing to do? you like chest, arms, legs, back? Let’s see if you’re like every other person I’ve talked to. What’s the one thing you hate to do? What’s the body part you hate to work?

Matt (18:10)
Only I hate

I wouldn’t say it’s a bite because I enjoy working everything. I hate stretching though. It’s a chore ⁓ I’d rather run like for an hour than stretch for 20 minutes. Really hate stretching

Clint (18:22)
But I know people say they work in legs and that drives me insane because that’s what people need to be worked.

Matt (18:26)
All right, so I let you work the legs this morning, but my favorite exercise, anything like body weight, but pull-ups are like my jam. That’s really, that’s my absolute favorite exercise ever.

Clint (18:37)
I used to do untied back shoulders. Now if I get five pull-ups, I feel like I should high five myself. That’s pretty good. Five pull-ups and then you’re 20 pounds overweight. My body’s like, hey dude, if you quit eating donuts, you probably could do more pull-ups.

Matt (18:50)
I blame my dad for the pull ups thing because I remember growing up it was a day before like, you know, the millennium, but it December 31st, 1999. I don’t know why I remember that, but I do. And so my dad had this bar measured in for the same width as our hallway and he went and bolted it in so we could do pull ups every night before we went to bed. So for years I was doing push ups, pull ups and crunches every single night and I didn’t miss a day for, I can tell you how many years.

And that pull bar is actually still at my dad’s house bolted to the walls. So anytime I ever go visit him, I can’t knock out like 10 pull-ups or something. Just a pull-

Clint (19:29)
great thing for a dad to do. the foundation. Set the foundation. You remember it. To him, it was just like, I’m going to do it to get good habits and stuff. I didn’t know he was building this foundation. As a dad or mom even, but as a dad a lot of times, we don’t remember. We’re making memories for the kids too. We’re making our memories. We forget that we’re building our little photo albums, our little memories too. You hate stretching. I say this the day. I used to be real flexible and I regret stopping.

Because now that I’m at this age, I am so not flexible that I started about two weeks ago trying to get back. It’s more painful than anything I’ve ever done. Getting back to having flexibility. So the reason I’m saying that is, you’re young, don’t stop, man. Once you lose it, it is horrible. And it leads to joint pain and joint damage. Keep stretching. Do you do it though anyway?

Matt (20:20)
It’s horrible.

I do it because I feel like I need to not because I want to so I understand the benefit of it, but

Clint (20:32)
⁓ no, you can say no, he’ll even add or totally. I know you get enough.

Matt (20:33)
Okay, can I say-

I hate it though. I did it today right after my leg workout this morning and I dread it. So I’ll make just enough time for it right before I leave. Okay. Ten minutes aside just to do a little bit of just to say I did.

Clint (20:48)
Now at least three days a week, I go workout for an hour, 20 minutes of it is stretching. Just trying to get it back. And then the other days I’m stretching with no workouts. All right, trying to get it back.

Matt (20:57)
I can almost touch my toes. Oh, I can? Oh, you can just sit-

Clint (21:00)
We’ll do that when we leave. That’s weird you can’t touch your toes. young, you should be able to touch your toes.

Matt (21:05)
Now I’ve been manacing to it, toes. No problem.

Clint (21:08)
Tough my deal right now. What the heck man? All right, dude. This has been fun. Very casual right first podcast. You did a good job All right. Thanks Matt. I appreciate it

Matt (21:14)
I it. Yeah, appreciate it.

Thank y’all. Bye everybody.