Lockdown has been tough for so many people, in so many ways, but Senior Coach Matt Roberts, has used his time wisely, by setting himself many ‘crazily tough’ challenges and raising money for charity.
For those of you who do not know Matt, he is a current WAKO GB athlete, having competed at the 2019 World Kickboxing Championships. He is also Head Coach of EPiC Martial Arts in Yate, and is one of the most popular Fitness Instructors and PT’s at EPiC MA & Fitness, Bradley Stoke and EPiC Gym, Portishead.
By getting to the top of his sport and representing his country, he is used to putting his body to the test, but some of his challenges have really pushed the barriers, physically and mentally.
The first challenge on a very sunny Easter Sunday 2020, saw Matt complete the 1,000 burpee challenge in a 20kg weighted vest. EPiC Fitness member Sam Sowden, accompanied Matt from her garden, matching him burpee for burpee, but without the weighted vest. Matt raised £345 for the NHS for this challenge, which he said was the toughest of all he has done.
May Day weekend saw challenge 2, ‘3,000 in 3’, 1000 press ups, 1000 sit ups and 1000 squats in 3 hours. The chosen charity was the NICU Department at Southmead Hospital. This raised an incredible £1022 and again Sam accompanied Matt throughout, from her lockdown home.
‘Death Row’ in June was challenge number 3, using a rowing machine to row a marathon. Matt completed this challenge on his own in 3 hours and 48 minutes, and raised a further £730 for Southmead Hospital, once again, a tremendous achievement.
Challenge 4, ‘Capital Gains’ was for a charity very close to Sam’s heart, Mentoring Plus. This saw them cycle 117.7 miles (the equivalent of cycling from Bristol to London) on an assault bike, in under 7 hours. Anyone who has ever been on an on assault bike will appreciate just how horrendous this was. Over £3200 was raised by this incredible challenge, which will help to support young people facing challenges.
The next challenge is called ‘Peaks of Fitness’, so please watch this space to see what this will consist of and how much it will test Matt and Sam. We can all agree that Matt, has more than made the most out of his lockdown experience and definitely embraced fellow coach and EPiC Gym co-owner, Rakan’s catchphrase ‘Get comfortable with the uncomfortable’! Matt, you have made everyone at EPiC very proud.
