Meet Matt, Your Physical Therapist
Hi, I'm Matt, a physical therapist and coach who shares your passion for endurance sports. My life's mission is to help endurance athletes of all levels reach their peak potential and become the best version of themselves.
Growing up, I was far from an "athlete." I was never quite fast enough to race a varsity track or cross country race for Waterford High School, but in the words of Forrest Gump, I just “kept running” and my passion and love for the sport grew exponentially. One fateful day in August of 2011, I was sitting on the sofa in my parent’s living room, days away from starting college at Carroll University, when I tuned into the Ironman World Championships coverage on NBC. Needless to say, by the end of the hour-long recap of the race, I was no longer sitting on the couch, but standing as close to the TV as possible, absolutely hooked with my vision set on completing an Ironman Triathlon. Over the next 7 years, I went to work studying the intricacies of injuries in physical therapy school and pushing myself on roads and trails while trying to figure out how to add the new sports of swimming and biking into my training plan!
And that journey was quite an adventure. The highs of purchasing my first road bike and competing in my first sprint triathlon, complete with a pool swim as I was not ready for the open water, gave me a taste of the pride endurance sports have to offer. The lows of dealing with a nasty two-year battle of Achilles tendinitis gave me a new appreciation for endurance athletes dealing with injury, unable to perform the sports and activities they love, while trying to find a solution as quickly as possible.
Finally, on September 9th, 2018, a perfect weather day a few weeks after the “100-Year Flood” in Madison, Wisconsin, I accomplished my dream. Mike Reilly proclaimed, “You did it Matt! You are an Ironman” as I crossed the finish line. While I’ve never been an emotional person, that day gave me appreciation for all of the friends and family that made the journey out to Madison to cheer me on and support me throughout the day. It allowed me to realize not only the sacrifices I made, but those that the individuals closest to me made as well throughout the entire 7 years leading up to race day. We were truly able to celebrate the hard work, sacrifice,and adventurous journey.
Since that day, my focus has shifted to help other endurance athletes on their own individual journeys as I’ve realized from my own experience, the level of support it takes. I trained with world-class mentors in a residency program to become a board-certified PT, specializing in sports medicine as a Sports Certified Specialist (SCS). The residency director and one of my main mentors, Teresa Schuemann, exuded the values of knowledge, empathy, and commitment when working with athletes and I strive to embody these myself as a PT. Ultimately, this journey provided me the skill-set to truly understand the demands of endurance sports, to analyze proper movement biomechanics, and help athletes develop a solid foundation to tolerate races of all distances.
I'm a passionate (sometimes to a fault) PT and endurance athlete who sets big goals and works tirelessly to achieve them. I'd love to work with you if you share a similar mindset. We all take on a multitude of journeys throughout our life and these journeys greatly add meaning to our lives. I would love to help you on your own journey to overcome lingering injuries, training plateaus, or to accomplish something you once deemed impossible. So let’s all be athletes, take on daunting journeys, and strive to “Be Our Best.”