Matt Reynolds has nearly 20 years of experience competing in strength sports and coaching barbell-based strength and conditioning. He first totaled “elite” in powerlifting in 2004, won his professional status in the sport of Strongman in 2006, and founded one of the strongest and largest pure-strength gyms in the country, STRONG Gym, (PowerliftingWatch Gym of the Year 2013 and 2014).
Matt’s strength articles have been widely published since 1999, and he has been interviewed by some of the world’s most popular podcasts, including Art of Manliness, Order of Man, Art of Charm, Starting Strength, STRONG Life with Zach Even-Esh, Barbell Business, PT Prophet, and Power Athlete.
Matt is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through NSCA, and holds his Starting Strength Certification. Since 2010, he traveled throughout the country serving as staff coach with Mark Rippetoe for Starting Seminars. He also has served as an adjunct professor for Exercise Science at Bryan University.
Matt founded and owns Starting Strength Online Coaching, a company built on bringing premium strength coaching from Starting Strength Coaches to those who don’t have a Starting Strength Coach in their area. Although he now coaches almost exclusively online, he still loves coaching single-session, in-person, out-of-town clients each week.
Matt also co-hosts the popular strength podcast, Barbell Logic, with fellow SSC Scott Hambrick where they systematically and progressively walk through the journey of strength with their 100k+ listeners each month
Some of the topics we discussed included:
How did you come to your faith? How has your faith impacted your lifting/competition life? Barbell Logic - how did that start? What got you into powerlifting? What got you into Starting Strength? How is the Starting Strength Online Coaching company working? What are your and Rip’s thoughts on online vs face to face coaching? What other sports/strength sports have you done? What was it like founding and running STRONG Gym? What did you love most about it and what do you miss most? What are some of your pet peeves as a gym owner? What do you like most about not being a gym owner anymore? You hold many championships. What are some of the highlights from competing as a powerlifter and as a strongman athlete that stick out to you the most? You went pro in 2006- what was the process like of going from an amateur to a pro? As a professor for Exercise Science what are some of your thoughts of the online powerlifting community with the mix of bro-science and actual research that is being spread by those like Dr Israetel, Dr Baraki, the folks at JTS, RTS, and of course Starting Strength? Any interesting meet stories? Where is the coolest place you’ve competed? What do you enjoy more about a powerlifting meet vs a strongman competition? What are your best lifts? What programs do you recommend over others after a beginner has advanced through the Starting Strength program and can be considered an intermediate lifter? What counts as an intermediate lifter? Recovery - what is your personal go to for general recovery after training?