Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Close.
Matthew, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Where do I begin. There is so much to talk about. For the people who know me, they know I like to talk a lot. The minute I start talking my passion and energy get fired up and it is hard for me to stop. So, with that being said, I will give you the condense version. Sports has always been a part of my life growing up. My parents were an influential part in helping me shape my childhood through sports. They gave me the opportunity to play multi sports from baseball, soccer and roller hockey. You name a sport and I did it. Baseball was my passion, I started playing when I was 6 years old. I used to sleep with my baseball glove in my hands dreaming about becoming a professional baseball player one day. Playing sports in general, brings so many wonderful aspects to your life from belonging to a community, character building and developing your athleticism. All of these elements have a substantial influence during your childhood development and into your adulthood. The list can go on for what sports has helped me but to summarize it, sports has helped me to gain self-confidence which in my view is the most important thing. I can elaborate on this topic for hours. It has also allowed me to find my identity as human being and developing the qualities needed to succeed in this crazy world. Sports not only developed my physical being but, it also helped me to develop my mental state of mind and become more aware of living a healthy lifestyle. Throughout my childhood, I kept playing sports and in high school, is when I really started to take my athletic career to a new level. I played on the freshman and JV baseball team my first two years. Then I ran track & field my junior year and played on the varsity football my junior and senior year of high school. Change of events to say the least. In college, I played division three football. After two years of playing collegiate sports, I had a severe injury to my lower back where I developed a herniated disk. Due to this injury from over training, lack of proper movement and recovery, I had to rehab my body and mind back to health. During this time my younger brother who was an elite junior golfer introduced me to a physical therapist who was training him. Specialized in holistic health and golf performance. He really opened up my eyes to an entirely new world from training to health and wellness. And it’s naturally that, I pursued my career to golf fitness training and graduated from the professional golf management program at Florida State University. In parallel, I did others fitness training to complete my certification and I started to work as personal trainer in elite private gym and public facilities around the country. After 5 years of gym experience, I realized that the reality of the fitness facility training was not in line with my perception of training: information overload, reductionism, lack of quality training methods. One of my biggest revelation was during one of Ido Portal’s interview and the art of movement. The things that the human body can do is pretty amazing. Just think about all the different movements out there from sports, dancing, marital arts, yoga, gymnastics, arts and crafts the list goes on. I, thus, decided to take a lead and start my own company. My purpose is to promote the proper way to train, live a healthy lifestyle and live life to the fullest capacity. This allowed me, every day, to share my knowledge and experiences with others to not only improve their performance but also to improve their quality of life through health and wellness.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No way, can anyone honestly say there were no bumps or hurdles in the road along there journey in life. Life is one exciting and fun roller coaster ride. There are the highs and lows in life and how you balance them is all individual. I am a firm believer in perseverance and overcoming obstacles. The biggest obstacle with the current way society functions, in regards to my profession, I have faced is with poor nutrition, stress management and lack of consistent exercise with the general population. My major difficulty has been an ongoing process to bring awareness and provide a real long term life sustainable lifestyle. This is not transparent with what social media yet alone the fitness industry has portrayed. This had led to many fad dieting, one size fit all approaches to training , and information overload to the consumer. As an entire society we lack daily movement and proper nutrition which is at the core of our DNA. Daily movement and proper nutrition is an essential part of life. The human body comprises of matter and energy. The universe around us consists of matter and energy. The energy that we humans produce is through movement and nutrition. So, why are we lacking these important elements if this is part of our DNA. This is what I am so passionate about. The journey towards helping others achieve optimal health for themselves.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Pure Health and Fitness – what should we know?
My business is called: Pure Health and Fitness. I am located in Boca Raton, Florida. I am fitness professional who live and breathes my motto everyday, “ Movement is Freedom”. I offer personal training, online programming and consulting where I specialize in movement and golf performance. My company is geared towards maximizing everyone human potential by helping people along their lifelong journey improve their overall health and wellness. During this process, I believe that we are all teachers to one another where we can all learn something new from everyone around us. My formal educational background and with my extensive training with top-notched fitness and medical professional along with numerous certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, CHEK Institute, Titleist Performance Institute, NeuroKinetic Therapy and USA Weightlifting has helped shape the path to growth and provide my clients with the highest quality service possible. Personally, my formal education and certifications are not the true makeup of what makes me so passionate. I get a high from helping others. By being able to share what I have learned and been through in my life with others, to empower them to make the best choices for themselves is a very rewarding feeling inside.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
There are numerous amount of people who deserve credit to my success. But, I would like to take the time to express some special people. My parents Svetlana and Richard Close. My two younger brothers Daniel and Zachary Close. My close friend and colleague Eli Goodman. The love of my life and girlfriend, Elodie Garnier. My mentor’s Kellen Milad, Paul Christopher and Ruben Serrano. To all of my current and former clients: Mike Sloup, George Sacks and Judy Cash who have been with me since day one. I am grateful and humble for you to be in my life.
Pricing:
- $100 1 hour personal training rate
- $300 for 1 month online programming
Contact Info:
- Website: https://purehealthandfitnessfl.com/
- Phone: 561-929-2160
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjclose/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.close.9
- Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/mjclose23/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-close-0504aa65/
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