For athletes looking to make the jump into college sports or just a more competitive level, new NUTRISHOP-East Avenue owner Matt Sheppard is the guy to talk to. As a former collegiate football player, well-schooled in the business of training, nutrition, rehab and therapy, Matt knows the value of having sound advice and a solid plan when it comes to becoming a premier athlete.
But for Matt, there’s more to it than that.
“I want to make a priority of getting everyone a base of overall health. It’s my goal to make sure that anyone can go in and get free advice, the best advice, and to not be afraid of making positive changes,” he says. “It’s not just a bodybuilding place. I want NUTRISHOP to be the place to go when you need any kind of health advice, for any goal.”
Matt’s own goals have changed since he’s become a part of the Chico community. Now that he’s firmly embedded in it in a position to help others, that’s exactly what he wants to do.
“Now that I’ve gone to school here, live here and own a business, I want to make sure I’m a part of the community,” he says. “I want people to know we’re a part of everything. I’m home, and I want people to feel like we’re all in the same home, all in it together.”
To Matt, when you go into NUTRISHOP, you’re buying into a lifestyle. You start the path to living a healthy life, and he wants to promote that. And he’s not just all talk — he does it.
“I want people to go in and get motivated, any way I can. Girls and guys have come in and I’ll help them train myself, I’ll go run in the park with people to make sure that people are going to get what they came in there for,” he says. “If it’s to motivate them more on my day off, I’ll do it.”
Matt’s education includes an associate’s degree from Santa Barbara City College, studying in Spain and a communications degree from Chico State. Out of college athletics when he arrived in Chico, his quest to stay in shape was fueled by training in Brazilian jujitsu, which he is still involved with. Now more than ever, Matt understands the importance of focusing on nutrition and training discipline and specializes in sharing that mindset and knowledge with his NUTRISHOP customers.
“The best feeling doesn’t come from being in the shop, but being somewhere out around town and having people recognize you and going out of their way, saying that you helped them lose weight, or win an event, or just look good in their wedding pictures,” he says. “I helped a kid win a BMX event, and his dad came up to me and said, ‘Thanks for all your help.’ That’s what it’s all about for me.”
Whatever your goal is, Matt says, he has found that almost across the board, nutrition will be the key to achieving it — but not everybody has the same set of rules. Part of the challenge and the enjoyment for him is finding the perfect plan for the individual.
“Nutrition’s going to be 70 percent of anybody’s success. Your health is your base,” Matt says. “You want to get healthy and work up from there. If you don’t have your base, you won’t see results. Finding the right product for the right type of person is the key, and that’s our main goal: to help people figure out what’s best for them.”
MATT’S FAVORITE WORKOUT
Matt likes to mix it up, but almost always goes with something full-body to ensure that he gets a good sweat going. A good example is our former Workout of the Week, the Full-Week Circuit Training Plan.