Testimonial By Shaun

Meet Shaun:

Shaun got over a bad back and neck injury from a car accident while training with me. It was a very slow process. Shaun ended up having such a drive and passion for exercise after getting over his injury that he I made him exercise partner. For a short while we tried making Q&A fitness youtube videos. Later on as I got over booked with clients I would call upon Shaun to assist me with personal training some of my clients.

Shaun's Words:

"Hi, My name is Shaun. I just wanna tell you people out there that my life has changed for the better. I was once a kid that was really small when I was growing up. I have tried everything to gain lean muscle over the years and nothing ever worked. I realized that I was doing things wrong until Mathew started training me. I learned that hard work and dedication can take you very far in anything you do in life. My nutrition and diet was very important so he made a chart for me. I never would have thought I would be squatting 300 pounds. Elevation in the mind made me focus on building up my attributes such as confidence,focus, and intensity through the strict regimens bodybuilders achieve. My goal is to be the best athlete I can possibly be. The more I train, the more I feel healthy and energized to handle all the rigorous obstacles this world offers. So that the beauty of peace and longevity nourishes the body, mind, and soul. I wish everyone luck and I hope this inspires others." -Shaun

Shaun's Video Testimonial

Testimonial By Joel

Meet Joel

Over the years Joel has become a good friend as have most of my clients. Joel is unique in that his story wasn't about losing weight, he just wanted to get in better shape.  Physically, he was my weakest client and today, with the help of my training methods, he truly is the strongest client. As I like to say Joel is a deceptive power house.  Based on the feats he has accomplished, he lives up to the saying, 'age is nothing but a number'. My personal hope & goal is to be as strong as hm when I get older. I find it funny that I train him yet somehow he has become my inspiration for what I want to achieve in the years to come. I'm starting to realize that as I'm typing out his intro, that even though Joel is writing a testimony for me, it sounds like I'm writing a testimonial for him. itone for me. I truly feel thankful to have met and trained him.

Joel's Words

"I've never thought I could get back into shape. With Matt's expert guidance, I've been able to lose weight, meet my goals and gain far more strength then I imagined possible. Matt takes a personal approach, designing a program to meet your goals. I am continually impressed with his depth of knowledge, and ability to adapt the fitness program around my personal goals and needs. He combines health and fitness passion, knowledge of physiology and how the body responds to exercise. Matt's a rare and uniquely skilled trainer who I do not hesitate to recommend to anyone looking to get into shape"  -Joel Plaut 

(For a real trainee's perspective on what it's like training with me you can email Joel  Joelplaut@gmail.com)

Joel's Video Testimonial

Joel was kind enough to make a video testimonial for me as well

Testimonial By Danielle

Meet Danielle

Danielle got leaner for her wedding and looked great for it. She is now a proud mother.

Danielle's Words

"I'm not a person that is normally motivated to workout. I have a gym membership and for awhile I was going 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately I was not seeing results that I wanted so I eventually stopped going. I started comign to Matt with my sister because I was getting married and wanted to look fantastic in my dress. What suprised me the most was that I enjoyed every session. I went home each time feeling like I accomplished something. The exercises were creative and different every time. I noticed result immediately - even small result like being able to do an extra push ups with every session. Over the course of my sessions I lost 13.8lbs, 5" in my waist, and over 10% of body fat! Now I look slimmer, I feel great, I have more energy....... and yesI I look absolutely stunning in my dress : ) I can't wait to continue after my honeymoon! Thanks!!!"  -Danielle

Testimonial By Lou

Meet Lou

Lou is a great friend, that I met while attending St. John's University  In this picture you see what a solid a one month transformation can look like.

Today Lou has maintained his weight loss and soon will be a proud father. If you are in the Queens/Long Island area you can meet Lou when he is performing with band Hard Drive (a local cover band). He is a great guitar player and you will enjoy the show.

Feel free to ask him any questions you might have about me.

Lou's Words

"Matt saved my life (no BS). He taught me about nutrition & proper exercise (which other "Personal Trainers" & experts never did). Before I signed up with Matt, I was 285 lbs, eating 3400 calories a day, a smoker (Marlboro 100s) & depressed. Well, Matt changed all that. I'm not getting compensated for this testimonial. This guy pushed me until I puked my guts out from years of fast food abuse. I kept coming back for more. I did not quit. His 12-day plan pushed me mentally, emotionally & physically. It's now 2 months later. I'm bordering on 265, I can now run a mile in 15 minutes, AND after 11 years, I quit smoking. I eat 1600-1800 calories a day, I still walk everyday, and I can do 3 1-hour sets with my band on a nightly basis. Thanks, Matt! I'm coming back for round 2! YOU SAVED MY LIFE!" -Lou Mavroudis

Testimonial by Genine

Meet Genine 

Genine was on of my first clients and she certainly kicks butt on a punching bag. At the time of this photo she had three children. Now she has another son and she is looking just as good if not better then before. She knows what she needs to do to keep in shape and keep kicking butt.

Genine's Words

"Matt is a miracle worker! I did the package that included 12 sessions and I will be doing it again! I went to Matt to get back in shape and lose all the baby weight that adds up after 3 kids. In that time I lost a combined 11 inches, 10.21% of my body fat and about 48 lbs. He's got unbeatable rates, exercises and workouts that really work and best of all it was always fun so the time flew by! (which for someone who absolutely hates exercising is saying a lot!) I highly recommend training with Matt!"  -Genine Wightman



Genine Video Testimonial 

Genine was even kind enough to make me a video testimonials when I was first starting out.

Me And Future Plans

How It Started 

First I was a little embryo then I was born. Ok we aren't around going that far back. I found fitness in a time of deep depression. I had no hope at that time I felt like I was just existing. In a way I was the walking dead (awesome show). I remember thinking what the heck am I doing with my life wallowing in misery. This was going on for years at this point I didn't know how to change it, I just knew I needed to move as sulking and moping around wasn't doing much for me. I didn't feel good not only mentally but physically. At this point I was 119lbs because I didn't eat I was to depressed to eat. My knees and joint hurt probably from malnutrition. I was in my mid 20's with what felt like the body of an 80 year old.

Me at 119lbs during my height of my depression
and  years after exercising.

I started working out, figured I would do this daily just to say I did something. I didn't think it would save my life. After about 2 months of forcing myself to exercise which I didn't like doing at the time. I started to notice I was feeling much better physically and mentally. Than fitness started to open up doors I couldn't have imagine for myself. Suddenly I found myself having goals and ambitions again. I started making goals and breaking goals. While I couldn't control the outside world which at the time, I swore was out to get me I could control my own personal being in this world.

Exercise carved in me discipline and it harden me to the outside world. I taught me that there is no such thing as a perpetual victim. We make ourselves victims or we can rise above.

This is why I am a personal trainer to pay this fitness world forward. It gave me a second life.  

More Details

While I could have wrote a long winded detailed bio filled with accomplishments. I just felt I should come from the heart where it started for me. You can go here to find out a little more details on me as a personal trainer Alphaflex About Me. It is dated as much has gone on since than but it will give you more of and overview. I will talk about my building up and various accomplishments in fitness in later post. 

For those wondering yes I do still struggle with depression. I don't think you can ever be fully cured but thanks to fitness I will never be in that depressed hole again. If you are depressed but looking for a way to fight or have questions feel free to send me an email. I'll try to answer it as soon as I get a chance. 

 For those that know me or are interested in my future plan check out whats it going on below.

Present Day Moving Forward

Most recent pic from my phone on Instagram

Currently I am private studio owner of Alphaflex Personal Training. My goal originally was to set up a small private one on one personal training studio in hopes of later on expanding to a bigger place. I'm blessed for all the clients I have trained at my private studio. I'm at a turning point now, business is good but the idea of expanding is overwhelming for so many reasons. 

The truth is I just don't like the idea of it. While in theory it sounds great I feel like the quality of service that I offer, which I feel no other trainer in the area can compare to will faultier as a result. I'll have to start hiring other personal trainers whom I don't know if they can deliver what I can. I'll also have to take a step back and step away from training people. I would now need to oversee a bunch of employees.

Call me crazy but I became a personal trainer because I actually enjoy training people. I didn't realize at the time that I went into business for myself, how much of a great impact my clients would make on me as a person. I don't want to give up my job of training people one on one, its where my passion is. Still I must expand my goal is to help as many people as I can, just like fitness helped me. I remember when I first became a trainer I did so because I felt like fitness saved my life and I wanted to pay it forward.

Using The Internet to Help People Around The World

As stated in the above paragraph. I don't want to give up my job of training people one on one its where my passion is.  I got this crazy idea of using the internet as a tool to help people, which will allow me to also keep my passion going in the real world. This idea for me is really exciting plus I can express myself in other ways outside of fitness as well. Hence why the blog is named after me and not Alphaflex Personal Training.

As of right now I don't really want to go into details about my plans it'll just sound boring. Just know that I'm working on a new web-site which I'll transfer my blog over to. I hope that everything I come up with will help people. I'm going to emphasize more on quality rather than quantity. So I'm not going to promise a post every week. However please feel free to comment, ask questions or let me know anything you would like me to do to make things better.