FTHP 011: Bodybuilding the RIGHT way with Mathew Park

Bodybuilding has been Mathew Park's passion since the age of fifteen. Back then, his dream was to start a natural body building competition in Canada . It's remarkable to me, at that age, to have such a specific and lofty goal. At age fifteen, all I could think about was dating Rob Lowe. Unlike me, Mathew achieved his goal in 2006 when he founded International Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness Canada and has also reached the status of a Pro bodybuilder through the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation. Susan, my co-host, and I met Mathew at Derrick Shirley's P2P writing summi t, ( more with Derrick on Episode ) . I was immediately drawn to his stillness. There was no muscle shirt showing off impressive deltoids or lats and no hint of a 'look at me' attitude. Instead, he showed genuine interest in the people he interacted with and when they spoke, he listened, really listened. He is full of gratitude and it is obvious he is guided by his heart. When we found out what Mathew did, we realized that it was his show that Susan entered in 2011. We knew we had to have him on the podcast. He embodied a side of the sport that we had not encountered. Back in 2011, Susan, my co-host, and I both began training for a fitness show. I vividly remember obsessing about food and hating the daily baked chicken breasts, oatmeal, and ten almonds I glanced at my watch every few minutes trying to make time go faster so I could eat again. Hours were spent staring at my food plan, willing the words 'bowl of pasta', 'chocolate pudding' or 'pizza' to appear on the paper Physically, I was exhausted and mentally I was a wreck. Needless to say, I chose to stop the training. I just couldn't hack it. Susan and I have spent more time debating fitness shows than any other athletic endeavour. We analyze and criticize the industry. We wonder about the motivation of its participants. Are they enjoying it? Do they feel ok? Are they starving? Most importantly, why do the men pad around in bare feet while the women wobble along in clear plastic heels? And, I have to admit, there is still some anger towards the sport that with my brief encounter left me physically stressed and nutritionally depleted. The day before we spoke with Matthew, Susan warned me 'Don't come out swinging'. She was right. I wanted to attack. I wanted to get angry and tell him how fitness shows are simply a terrible idea, unhealthy, unnatural and why does anybody choose do them? But Mathew quickly disarmed me with his first words explaining why he does it. His approach to bodybuilding is all encompassing. It's not a sport for him. It's a lifestyle and it envelopes family, business, spirituality, and health. I hope you enjoy listening to Mathew's wisdom around competition and sport. He speaks passionately about his 'why' and believes we all need to identify our own 'why' before beginning training for a fitness show. I think it is broader than that. For any athletic goal (fake tan required or not), our motivation must be in the right place before we even begin.

You can listen to FTHP 011: Bodybuilding the RIGHT way with Mathew Park online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

FTHP 011: Bodybuilding the RIGHT way with Mathew Park is an episode from Feed the Human Podcast.

This episode is 01:10:46 long.

This episode was published on Aug 18, 2014.

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