"I might have cerebral palsy or hemiplegia and there might be people with limb difference, but we keep pushing the same as everyone else."
Matt Elson is proof that physical fitness is for everyone. A bodybuilder with cerebral palsy, Matt has not let his disability hold him back from succeeding on stage.
I recently travelled to Bristol to train with Matt at his home gym, Anytime Fitness Clifton. His usual training split follows a typical bodybuilding routine with a separate day for chest, back, legs and so on.
However, on our training day we hit a full-body workout with one exercise for each body part:
- Chest Press
- Pull-Ups
- Leg Press
- Seated Row
- Pec Flyes
- Shoulder Press
- EZ Bar Bicep Curls
Sourcing inspiration
His journey into fitness actually began quite early, and was spurred on by becoming a dad.
"It started by wanting to lose some weight and stay trim so I could run around with my family."
But when Matt first began working out, there was no disability category within bodybuilding. Athletes with a disability had to get up on stage with everyone else if they wanted to compete.
Matt sourced inspiration from his peers who went down this route.
"My good friend Josh Goodfellow, Paul Dean Betts and Jay Vincent - they were the ones that went up on stage with able-bodied competitors regardless of having a limb difference, cerebral palsy or another disability.
"These guys went up there and showed they had the same training capabilities and the same drive and determination to get up on stage. That really spurred me on to do what I do here."
This inspired Matt to embark on a bodybuilding journey that he has since succeeded in. He
placed in the top five in the PCA World Mixed Disability category in October 2018.
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Matt's ride to the upper echelons of his category was not always a smooth one, however. Training with cerebral palsy has not been without its struggles, he says.
Fighting fatigue
"Beyond the actual physical adaptions, fatigue plays a part."
Matt has to perform the leg press at a slight angle so as not to injure his hip, but he hasn't taken that as a reason to skip leg day.
He also needs longer to recover generally and in between sets. That said, when it came to pull-ups, the father-of-two showed no signs of tiring as he completed full sets with ease.
When he was a child, Matt's parents were told their son would walk with a limp and wouldn't be able to run.
He has since smashed this perception to smithereens. Being told he couldn't do something was all the motivation Matt needed to follow his dreams.
"It almost kickstarted from there because my parents, as you can imagine, said
'nah, he'll get over that!'"
His Mum and Dad were onto something. Matt didn't let anything hold him back when he began to hit the gym.
Moving mountains
"About four or five years ago I thought - you know what? I
can do that, I
can get up on stage.
"I wanted to prove to myself that I could get into a physical condition where I could stand on stage - with the lights, the crowd, the music and the posing and say
'I've done it'."
Matt's motivation for stepping up onto the bodybuilding stage is really no different to the Mr. Olympias of years gone by.
The Bristolian says it has changed his life far beyond the mere muscle gain and fat loss that comes with competing.
"It's not just the physical aspect of transforming your body. It's about having more energy, more clarity, the ability to get yourself into the right focus and mindset.
"That transcends what you do in the gym."
There is a real community spirit within disability bodybuilding, Matt says, which makes all the effort worthwhile come competition day.
"You're with a group of people who know what you've been through and how much you've pushed yourself.
"No matter whether it's the people in the audience, the staff at the federation or all fellow competitors. There's a great community spirit in the disability category."
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You'd be forgiven for thinking that competitive bodybuilding is a dog-eat-dog world, but Matt says the disability category shows no signs of resentment.
"It's not just the stage shots where you see our faces, but backstage we have a really good laugh! And it's fun. That is the massive high point.
"You know what - the disability bodybuilding community is absolutely growing."
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