Introducing Matt W, Professional Ballet Dancer and Personal Trainer

Matt is one of our ambassador trainers with over 10 years experience as a professional ballet dancer. This experience combined with his fantastic knowledge of human movement makes him an expert in improving flexibility, strength and muscle tone using only your body-weight.

Why did you sign up as a TruBe personal trainer?
I love the flexibility of the app. It allows me to choose the hours when I want to train. It also gives me the opportunity to train clients in a variety of locations including outdoors.

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What is your biggest client success story?

All of them are special and unique in there own way. I don’t just enjoy seeing the physical transformation in clients but also in the mental side. I had one particular client who became much more confident  and outgoing  after seeing the physical changes in their body.

What’s you’re favourite way to really finish off the end of a session?
You can’t beat a good circuit. Non stop work for 5 minutes switching between different body parts and different pieces of equipment.

What do you add your shake/smoothie to give you a boost?
Chia and hemp seeds are a nice addition to a smoothie.

What’s your favourite healthy rejuvenating post-workout meal?
EGGS EGGS EGGS in any form! Poached eggs with turkey bacon and avocado gives you everything you need after a heavy session. Complimented nicely with a true Italian espresso with some coconut oil.

What was your last health and fitness obstacle and how did you overcome it?

matt Q&A ballet

When I stopped dancing full time it was a big shock to the system. I needed something to fill that void. The gym used to be my stress relief from work and now the gym is my work. So trying to find a positive work life balance away from the gym has been quite a challenge.

What is your favourite instagram account you follow?
It has to be @RyanJTerry. He has a great physique and he is a great UK representative in worldwide competitions.

What is the best piece of advice you have received from a mentor?
Try not to overload yourself with too much stuff. Find out what you are good at and make yourself a master at that before you move onto adding to it. Perfect your business before adding extra things to it.

Where’s your favourite place to work out?
My hometown, Bognor Regis beach. It’s got everything you need. Fresh air, the sea and an outdoor gym. It really does rival muscle beach!

To book a session with Matt W, download the app and find him as one of our featured trainers.

Part 1: How to build muscle using your body weight: Upper-body workout

One of the most common misconceptions of working out is that lifting heavy weights is the only way to build muscle.  However, everyone from gymnasts to runners to breakdancers have been proving this wrong for years.

Heavy weights and machines are used to create muscle tension and while tension is needed to build lean muscle, you can lift your body weight through specific movements that maintain the tension along the full length of the muscle.

Try this upper-body workout in any London park. It has been design to build the chest, back, arms, shoulders and abdominal muscles.

  1. Wide press ups – 40 repetitions in as little sets as possible

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Wide press ups are a great way to create tension along the full length of the chest muscles. Try to complete the 40 reps in less than 4 sets, resting as little as you can in between sets.

  1. Chin ups – Four sets of five repetitions

chin-ups

If this is too easy, try making the negative (downward motion of the chin up) as slow as you can.

To make it easier, try jumping up to the bar and then controlling your self down.

  1. Suspension Trainer Pike ups – Three sets of 10 repetitions

pike workout

This is a great way to build and define the abs. For variation and to train the obliques, try pulling your feet up to each side. By pulling your hips over your shoulders they will be under the perfect amount of tension to incite muscle growth.

If you are you unsure about any of the exercises, why not order a TruBe trainer to come to your local park and show you how!