BASE Lowdown: Personal Trainer, Coach Matt

Getting the Lowdown on BASE personal trainer and group class coach, Matt.

Matt has degrees in Civil engineering from Chulalongkorn University but finds his passion lies in health and fitness after years of pursuing a way to optimize his health and helping others achieve their health goals.

Matt has been working with people who struggle with losing fat, gaining muscle and maintaining their physique after achieving their goals. His approach is to find the right tool for the individual to encourage a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

Matt believes that strength is the foundation of all other health aspects such as mobility, flexibility, power and even fat loss. His focus is on getting his clients stronger on the principle of “Do as little as possible to elicit the most amount of change”.

Learn more about Matt’s training style on his BASE Team profile page.

What’s non-negotiable for you when it comes to fitness and health?

Mindset. Having the right mindset is essential to get to your goals, especially the long-term one. I don’t think I can cover all the detail about the “right” mindset here, but I’ll give you an example. Chasing health over aesthetics. If everybody focuses on improving their strength, feeling better, moving better and not so much on how they look, the success rate would be sky high. If you are healthy, you are going to look pretty good.

What’s a typical breakfast for you?

I typically don’t eat breakfast. But when I do, It’s A big jar of overnight oat with milk, honey, yogurt, berries, Cacao powder, Chia seed and the list goes on and on…

How do you manage your training and diet when you’re on holiday?

Just enjoy your holiday and try to make as best the choices as you can, but don’t stress out too much. When you come back, just get right back on track and you are going to be fine. For the training, TRX is your friend.

What’s your best strategy to stay motivated?

I don’t rely on motivation because It’s a feeling and feeling can go up and down. What I rely on is good planning and discipline. Discipline is a skill, and you can practice a skill. It will get easier each time and when it becomes so easy, it turns into a habit. When the habit forms, you are going to fly toward your goals and a lot more.

The best thing we can do for ourselves is…

Workout and eat better because you LOVE yourself and not because you HATE yourself. Both can motivate you, but only one of them can sustain you and point you in the right direction forever.

What’s your go-to snack?
Tempeh and honey. But typically, I don’t snack much.

What do you do to relax?

Reading. I love reading so much that I can be relaxed even when reading scientific articles. But if I want to be super-duper relaxed, I will just listen to the audiobooks.

What’s your post-workout routine?

Sauna and cold shower after.

Sum up your dietary approach in a sentence?

Real and whole food and focus on the nutrients.

Being a good personal trainer means…

Knowing that everybody is different. Everyone has their own goals and conditions. So, a good personal trainer must be able to provide the right tool for the right person. And realizing that what’s going on outside the gym is as important as what’s going on at the gym. So, a good trainer should be able to provide good advice that fit the clients’ lifestyle and focus on encouraging good behaviors.

What’s the biggest diet mistake or misconception?

That Healthy eating is “not enjoying your life”. How is it that bettering yourself, feeling less stress and improving your health is not enjoying life? You can indulge from time to time if you want, you just have to be smart about it.

What are your top tips for how to keep your energy levels up?

The most important thing is getting enough sleep, But I know that sometimes we have a bad night. So, the next big tip is to use the movement to sponsor the movement. Don’t believe me? When you feel like you don’t have the energy just do some quick movements like some light bodyweight or band exercises and see how you feel.

I believe everyone should…

Get more sunlight.

3,2,1… GO!

● Best Bangkok Healthy Eatery? My kitchen with ingredients from Paleo Robbie.

● Favorite Cheat Meal? KitKat.

● Favorite Exercise? Turkish get up.

● Most-hated exercise? Jumping exercises.

● Weird fact about you? I have a lot of weirdness, but to give you an idea; I sleep with my mouth taped shut, with eye mask and earplug so if you see me while I sleep it’s going to look like I’m being taken hostage

● One thing you can’t live without?Coffee in the morning…literally.