Matt MacDuff - Enjoy the bad times too

Matt MacDuff - Enjoy the bad times too

 

For me, it all started with a personal injury. All I wanted to do was ride, and all I ever did was ride my bike, but of course, that would lead to some heavy-duty risk-taking, and sometimes those risks would lead me to the hospital... LOL. So basically, I found myself breaking so many bones so often that I had to find ways tospeed up my recovery so I could be back on my bike, shredding hard again ASAP.



That led me down this insane rabbit hole of personal health and well-being, which I'm now so far down there's no turning back. So to answer your question, no, I haven't always been this health-conscious. In fact, when I was younger, I might have been the most unhealthy dude ever! But through all my injuries and recoveries, I explored and learned a bunch of techniques that I found so powerful, I decided I can't live without them.

Yeah, so I'm deep into personal development. I believe one must grow all aspects of one's life as evenly as possible, or all sorts of upsets and setbacks will occur that will hold you back from your best performances. So I practice a number of things, from healthy eating to reading, big parties with friends, meditation, and exercise—all things that can help balance my savage lifestyle so I can continue to grow as fast as possible and love life!

Yeah, so when it comes to exercise, my approach is pretty simple. But let me first say that I am no professional, and I have two personal trainers at the moment showing me very different ways because there is just so much information out there. I believe that the body can only be as strong as the mind, so you gotta work on both. I also believe that you should stay out of routines and change up your movements because comfort kills. I also think that you must do a heavy evaluation of why you are in the gym in the first place... or you may become really good at "exercise" and start sucking at life, haha.

My training takes place every morning. It takes about 2 hours and consists of:

- cold shower
- drinking water
- yoga/movement (30-60 min)
- meditation (10-30 min)
- workout (20-40 min)

Then I kick the day's ass!



For the most part, I don't do anything right before riding. Usually, after my morning routine, I am ready for anything! I do try to wind down, though, when the sun goes down and switch it up from ass-kicking mode to "chillllllllllll mode".

A lot of people train way too hard and cause damage to themselves by hitting the gym too hard. I think the main thing is just to keep yourself strong and flexible so your chances of survival are highest if things were to go wrong. Damage control is definitely my main priority and why I spend so much time taking care of myself. Unfortunately, shredding mountain bikes for a living is hard on you, so the more I can stay on top of the "damage," the longer and harder I can shred and do more cool shit!

So regeneration is the name of the game! And I am no master; this stuff is actually kind of new to me. I've become very interested in breathing and how it controls your parasympathetic nervous system. So I've been studying guys like Wim Hof! Your parasympathetic nervous system allows you to recharge, but unfortunately, stress can inhibit it from kicking in, even at night when it is most needed. Unfortunately or fortunately (depends on the dude, haha, or lady, haha), mountain biking can cause a lot of this! And life too! So I have been practicing resting, haha!!! Sleeping more and winding down before sleep to get the most out of my "recharge time" so I can go hard AF when it counts.

For the muscles, there is nothing better than stretching, cold therapy, and rest, but I take a more 360-degree approach to regeneration. I get my engine running in the morning (body and mind), kick ass during the day, fuel up with awesome foods, shut my engine down slowly, and rest hard—always keeping the dream close and making decisions accordingly.

When it comes to food, I do the best I can. There is a lot of stuff out there about food and a bunch of crazy diets you can experiment with. I do my best to just listen to my body, although I'm no master, that's for sure, and I still do a lot of emotional eating—i.e., grabbing for snacks at 2 a.m., haha! But I make an effort every day, and small efforts compound into big things over time!

I'm all about low-inflammation foods. I've broken a lot of bones, so I try not to ingest anything that's going to cause me any more inflammation than I already have to deal with. I do my best to eat only organic and consume "clean foods".

The way I look at it, the body is how you experience this life, so make sure that thing is working the best it can to increase your chances of enjoying your time here! So eat well and enjoy it! The food is awesome!

When it comes to mindset and staying "positive," nobody is perfect, and even I find myself in some dark spots at times. Usually, it's because I have forgotten my "mission" or "dream," or maybe I have accomplished a "big goal" or "dream," in which case I try to refocus. If you have a dream and you are taking steps toward that dream, odds are you are going to be happy. That's what I credit my happiness to. I have big dreams, and I suffer a lot... I am constantly growing, and that means I toss myself into a lot of "stuff" or "difficult" situations... But I take full responsibility for it all! Because I understand that there are no good times without the bad, and nothing is forever... So if I tough out the bad times, I know there will be plenty of good ones in my future!

Lately, I've taken it a step further and started to enjoy the bad times too, haha, because I'm a weirdo. But hey, sometimes you have to laugh at your situation, you know!

At the end of the day, I understand that each day is a gift, and you have 24 hours to do what you want with it.

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