He had the luxury of growing up with music at his fingertips and then his drive and passion were able to push that to the limits.  I have been able to connect on a deep level, as well, but through different mediums.  My background in martial arts, mathematics, and athletics are all seen in my dancing.  I’m choreographing a new rumba piece now and it’s exciting what you can do with music when you understand all the intricacies of an artist, math, and the emotions behind life.

I often tell my students, “every aspect of your life can be seen in your dance.  Whether you are an overworker who always has to be the best or if you’re a single mother struggling to pay bills – we can see that in your dance and that is what makes it beautiful.” 

As I sit here, now listening to “Sunny Came Home” by Shawn Colvin – I really look back at who I am and see Matt in the Mirror.  I think this is important in life and the only thing we can ask of life.  Do we love what we’ve accomplished and the journey we’ve taken?  If the answer is yes, then continue down the same path.  If the answer is no- this is not a reason to weep or to feel guilty.  Yet, it is a time to simply switch paths.  Just as Sunny came home to get her tools , you may also need to use your tools to create some new structure in your life.

I’ve taken the road less traveled so long now that it is easy to accept the unacceptance of others.  They are in awe and confused all at the same time in what one can accomplish when you put your mind to it and give no excuse for not achieving your dream. 

“Day & Night” by Kid Cudi is now on.  Believe it or not, my favorite music is rap.  Those that know me from my childhood know this.  I am a big fan of Tupac.  His music, philosophy, and passion in life.  Kid Cudi isn’t exactly about passion, but mentioning I’m listening to this made me think of that.  Kid Cudi is very easy going and playing a good tune to dance to. 

My playlist is moving on to Gotan Project.  I recently watched the new Tom Cruise movie where they are trying to smuggle a battery with endless power.  I really hope the days of “endless” energy are close for us.  Some bacteria eating battery that produces energy as it eats itself or lives off nitrogen in the air.  Gotan Project is a wonderful tango band and they seemed to been the entire score in the Tom Cruise flick.  I couldn’t help but flash over to a tango scene in my head since this music is so familiar to me in my dancing.

Speaking of tango, everyone recently has been calling me Buzz thanks to Mr. Lightyear’s performance in the new Toy Story 3.  I think because I’m the only pro dancer they know, they associate his attitude with me.  Or maybe when he gets his switch flipped and becomes a military man they associate that side with me?  Ha.  You’ll have to watch the movie – it’s pretty good for kids and adults.

It’s amazing how much you can tell about someone by their music.  I’m now listening to Boyz II Men – “I’ll Make Love to You.”  I love this song!  I’m a hopeless romantic and can remember listening to this years ago.  Boyz II Men have always been at the top of my playlist.  90s Motown Philly overall is great in my opinion.  This song is also a beautiful (but fast) Viennese Waltz or nightclub 2 step.  Some people only see the side of me who is the strict “Technician” as they call me in the ballroom.  I’ll admit, I get pretty technical on my lessons.  Though, the side nobody sees loves the waltz over other dances and the grace it brings to life. 

Speaking of Tupac, “Dear Mama” just came on.  I have my mp3 player on shuffle and it’s finding what it knows I want to hear.  Even though I’m on the other side of the country from my Mom, I feel we’re really close.  As I was growing up, I hung out with the guys all the time – going mountain biking or boating or playing football & baseball.  Tons of sports and getting in fun trouble.  Then I wasn’t too keen on having girlfriends or going on dates.  Though I had a blast going out to movies with my mom or going on a run with her.  I’ve yet to meet a woman who appreciates cooking, athletics, education, morals, and everything else she stands for.  For this same reason, I’ve yet to introduce someone to my family as even a potential for “the one.”

At this previous Christmas, I was with my girlfriend’s family.  They all wanted to sit inside, eat food and watch TV.  This is not much different than my family, but my mom is different.  I called her and said “We’ve been inside for 3 days straight!! I’m going to die!!”  She said she felt the same way and wished she had someone to go running with.  I hope to host a Marathon around every Christmas in the future and be surrounded by more people who understand how fun athletics are and consider it a vacation.  I can’t wait to meet a girl who lives up to everything my mom stands for and more.

Ok, I guess I should get some work done today even though it’s a nice beach day.  What does your playlist look like and what does it say about you?

For those of you who have purchased items & services from MOVFitness – we thank you.  The following is just one example of what your money is going towards.  This is an implementation we are doing with the site & my perspective on the situation that I am sending to my wonderful progammers:

We currently need to create a “Local” page on our website.

In this local section, it will show local business vendors, local butchers, local personal trainers, a local article, local events, etc.

The idea here is that people who want to buy healthy food & meet yoga teachers, personal trainers, etc have no where to go to do so.  I’d like one page on our site that encompasses all of this.  So that when I go to Atlanta, GA – all I have to do is go to the Atlanta page & I can find a local butcher, a local florist, and there is a schedule that tells me when the farmers market is, etc.  I feel that going “local” is hard for people & they give in to corporations by just going to shop at Wal-Mart.  I want to get back to our roots and help people out.  This should work in every city & should be ran by the community – though MOVFitness will help monitor and keep big businesses off the site. 

Users will be able to comment on each piece & also rate everything they see – rate the businesses, the events, the trainers, everything with a simple 5 star rating tool.

People should be able to set their local area based by default on their zip code, but also be allowed to customize this & choose any zip code they wish by default.  Once on the page, they should also be able to change how many results are shown based on changing the range or they can choose a different city temporarily from a search bar.

Could you give me a price quote on this?

We currently already have the following:

Events Table
Articles Table
Users Table (plus zip code)
Zip Code Search Code (with over 60,000 zip codes – all of US)
5 star rating tool

What we don’t have:

The page template for this. 
A business table
Integration of all this into one location

Thanks! Matt

If you followed that, you should see that we’re creating a cool local section for small businesses to reconnect with their customers.  It will be our own little online bazaar!  I’m trying to create things on the site that I personally want and I see lacking in our society.  We are growing rapidly and it’s all thanks to everyone out there who has worked with us.  Thanks again! 

Now back to programming…

I was really excited when I first set him up.  This is one step closer to teaching everyone about health & fitness in a fun environment.  Then I got a strange feeling as if Lawnmower Man was taking over my business!  I hope that’s not the case.  So far he’s quite helpful and he’ll even chat with you about the weather, ask how your day is going, and give you great fitness tips. 

If you need help finding a race, want to know the best way to make a protein shake, etc – FitMatt is your answer.  You have to be a member of MOVFitness to talk with him.  We are already talking with our partner company, EsaliBirth about having a lady bot as well to teach people about pregnancy, birth, and all information there.

FitMatt in no way replaces the incredible personal & social network we have in place, but he adds just another element to what MOVFitness offers our clients.  We’ve already eliminated all excuses for why you aren’t taking care of your health – but we’re also making it that much easier to get in shape and enjoy the process.

Log into MOVFitness for a free account and start getting in shape.  If you have suggestions for questions FitMatt should answer, simply post them on the forum on the website.

Also…. I’ve changed names in all testimonials since I’m not asking these people for permission. If you recognize your story on here and don’t mind your real name being used, let me know!

George worked out with Jessica about 2x a week for a few months. His first workout was a grueling 3 sets of stadium stairs. Fast forward six months and George wasn’t so Jack Black anymore. He’d trimmed about 15lbs and could get in 15 sets of stadium stairs in one workout. But he wasn’t finished yet. George got involved in 5k runs and boxing heavily with our company. I continued to train his trainers and coach them for his success. Another 6 months went by and George had lost an additional 20lbs. Now looking pretty good, I asked George to help out with our bootcamps. By now, we also had started joining each other at the gym. I was using this for my own personal workout, so I would stack some heavy weights on for myself and then ligthen the load once he did his set.
Then by mid 2009, George took over one of the bootcamp programs entirely. He was also even with me at the gym with how much we lifted and had shed another 8lbs. He only had about 15lbs to go before he was in tip-top shape.
George went further to become a certified trainer, published some articles on health and fitness, and now takes clients of his own.

“Planks? What will this do for me. I want to lose weight. Women’s health says that planks are great for stability, but not weight loss!” She said with disgust.

I smiled, “Plank position, please.” I was happy to see Jessica had finally took the initiative to start learning health & fitness on her own. Who cares if she was right or wrong – at least her head is getting filled with better info than the gossip in those other junk magazines. After a few years of continually making her research her questions, she got to the point she didn’t have questions anymore and she started teaching more thank asking. This is exquisite success, in my eyes.

I have a few more success stories coming up, but they just aren’t finished yet, so I want to hold off on them. I only take a few personal clients per year and it’s my pride & joy to watch them blossom into forces within the wellness industry & become leaders in their own lives & others.

For the next chapter of my life, will I be writing about you? Are you seeking a little more success in your soul & want some guidance? Get in touch – you never know what we could create.

We’re breaking new ground for what companies should be expected to offer their employees and the resources they make use of. You can see a lot of what we use in our staff training video.

That isn’t for clients to see, but I want to share it with everyone anyway just to show you how incredible our system is. I absolutely love it. And that was taken over a month ago before much of it was implemented. Now that the employees have seen all of that, they are making use of it and things are growing even faster.

I have also hired a few ghostwriters. I know, some of you bookworms think this is unethical but c’mon! I have a lot of books to publish and I really want to get my message out – that is my ultimate goal. In addition to the ghostwriters we have a few full time personal assistants now. I have one assistant, Jane, who’s job is to hire people only. No, not fire them, just hiring. We are hiring soooo many people I had to get an employee just for this. What’s even better? We’re moving away from traditional forms of hiring. In order to work with us, you must do a few things:

1. Create a profile on our site like facebook
2. Read our books and pass our tests
3. Enroll in our internship program and study with us for 6 months

You must do all of those before even having a chance to come on board this ship that is moving at lightning speed.  We are that competitive and that elite.  I really think this is the future of business and other businesses should jump on board.

So instead of just gloating about what we are doing, I have decided to do something about it.  A few years back I was a personal trainer to CEOs and they always complained about having too little time on their hands to take care of their health.  Well, I now manage over 50 employees… I do it all from a coffee shop, bed, the beach.. or wherever I feel like being at the time.  I’m usually wearing a fitness outfit and have a Naked Juice sitting beside me.  And what else?  I still have enough time to spend with my lovely girlfriend, go out dancing a few hours a day, workout at least 1 hour a day, write more in my books, and I’m even knitting a new project (which I’ll reveal soon!).  So, what is this BS about not having enough time to workout and take care of your health just because you’re a CEO?  I don’t sympathize with them at all.  I plan on being the living example of what the perfect CEO should be.

Ok, so I said I wasn’t going to gloat.  So on one level, I’m going to be a role model to these CEOs and what they should be doing for their businesses.  But if you notice my entrepreneur division of the site you’ll see that I also have a tour coming up.  On this tour, I will be traveling around to Fortune 500s nationwide in 2010 teaching businesses how to free the minds, bodies, and souls of their employees.  MOVFitness is the perfect example of what I think all Fortune 500s should strive for.  We mandate great health in our company just as the Lakers mandate it.  Our employees are our team and we must give them the tools and motivation to take great care of themselves which will in turn push forward our incredible company.  What does this mean?  They work when they want to work.  They have projects, not hourly duties.  They all work where they want to work – in their pajamas if they want, at midnight, or while rocking their baby to sleep.  We’re global and make use of resources everywhere.  We require all employees to be part of our social network, upload a photo, and participate in our online classes.  They further their education with health tools like “The Fire Within” and business tools like “The Summit of Success.”

Once they have learned quite a bit, we apply the SHEEPP-C principle to their work and make them managers.  Even if it is just managing interns.  This means everyone who is with us for 6 months or longer is a manager.  This is constant progression in the company and relieves people of mundane tasks and puts them in positions of authority and provides the satisfaction of teaching others that our hearts yearn.  My tour around the country teaches these philosophies and shows how MOVFitness has employees who are well rounded in their mind, body, and soul.  And how other companies should listen up – start hiring employees who are balanced in these areas and do what they can to train their current employees to come into balance.

I hope this helps you in your business.  We are currently talking with private investors.  Feel free to message me if you’d like to invest into our company.  We don’t plan on going public as we believe our shareholders are also a reflection of who we are and we want to make sure they are also in balance of mind, body, and soul.

God Bless,

Matt

In these cities, I will be hosting dance workshops at various ballroom studios and also be giving corporate wellness seminars at Fortune 500 corporations. 

To learn more about each, I’d advise to check out my videos on both.

Corporate Wellness Seminars
Ballroom Dance Workshps

Looking forward to teaching others about health, fitness, dance, and business.  It’s been a pleasure building our business into the empire it now is.  We have plans to extend our travel into Asia for 2011.

2010 Travel Schedule

March 12-16 – Las Vegas
March 15-16 – San Diego
March 17-18 – Los Angeles

April 5-7 – New York
April 8-9 – Pittsburg
April 12-13 – Los Angeles
April 14-18 – Hawaii
April 19-20 – Seattle
April 21 – Portland
April 22 – San Francisco
April 23 – Santa Barbara

May – Europe

June 1-3 – Atlanta
June 7-8 – Miami
June 10-11 – Washington, DC
June 16-17 – Columbus, OH

July 6-7 – Las Vegas
July 8 – Phoenix
July 9 – Scottsdale
July 12-13 – Los Angeles

August 3-4 – New York
August 6 – Washington DC
August 10 – Seattle
August 12 – Portland
August 13 – San Francisco

September 1-2 – San Diego
September 6-7 – Dallas
September 8 – New Orleans
September 9 – Atlanta
September 10-11 – Miami

October 4 – Los Angeles
October 6-10 – Hawaii

November 3 – Las Vegas
November 4 – Phoenix

December 1-2 – New York
December 3 – New Jersey
December 6 – Washington DC
December 15 – San Francisco

To offset this problem, we are implementing a new program with our companies. Anyone interested in working with HardMagic, TheSBON, or MOVFitness will now be required to make a profile on MOVFitness.com.

Once they’ve made a profile, we have added a new section to registration that says “What is your interest in signing up?”

Answers to this question are as follows:

•Weight Loss
•Run Races
•Bootcamp
•Meet People for Fitness
•Ballroom Dancing
•Work for MOVFitness
•Work for HardMagic
•Get Published
•Get Interviewed as a Model

In addition to this, we will have a place on their profile where they may upload their resumes. Instead of writing a cover letter, applicants should get involved with our company by reading our books and such. Those with the most badges will have a much better chance at becoming interns with us and eventually employees.

Staff & Human Resources will have exclusive access to see resumes of those who upload them.

In the future, we’ll open this up to other fitness companies to use our website to find quality personal trainers, models, etc as a paid service.

This is enough info on it for now!

Here’s an excerpt: “This is that story and it brings light to ideas and thoughts on another side of health and fitness that the masses don’t see. The media has convinced our country & world for generations that baby formula is healthy, your child must be vaccinated, taking pills from doctors is the answer to migraines, and so much more.

Hackneyville never seemed to get that message. Maybe it was because we only had 3 TV Channels which never got reception? Maybe it has something to do with my mother’s desire to be the best for her children? Whatever the reason, I see how others treat their health and their idea of proper care and I can’t help but think it’s Donkey Business.”

There are also videos available on the websites & more to come in the future.  We are designing our very own dance syllabus that is geared more towards “Show Dance” than any other format.  There are American Dancing Syllabuses, International Syllabuses, but nobody has a “Show Dance” syllabus.  This pretty much means we will teach people how to look good on camera with our classes.  A “Show Dance” is able to capture the audience’s attention and focuses on footwork, expression, and music identification.

Dancing is taken too seriously in my opinion and if you look at the top professionals – sure they may be technically sound in their dancing, but is it honestly entertaining?  If the end result isn’t entertaining then I think they’ve wasted all their training.  We’re approaching dance from the entertainment perspective and making sure that even from day #1 you will find yourself entertained and also the audience will be in seeing you dance with our method.

For example… a typical lesson with another syllabus will be technical and teach you a salsa basic & a tango basic on the first day.  They will tell you to bend your knees, watch how you lift your toes & where to place your heels.  They will repeat this process for the first few weeks.

In our syllabus, you will learn how to connect to your partner on the first day as a high priority and then we will give you expression in your face and body that resembles the dance.  From day #1, the audience should be able to see what is going on with the dancer based solely on expression – we teach as if our audience is deaf and can only see movement to depict emotion & personality from one dance to another.  The first day you will most likely do at LEAST one full 8 count in a dance with points, dips, and spins.  Not too bad, eh?

Sign up on the new MOVFitness site to see our free tutorials.

There is a classroom section that you can download the book from after you become a member. If you read the book and pass a test on it, then you’ll receive a “Health Badge.” This badge will show up on your profile for others to see & they’ll know that you are furthering your education in health & fitness. Once you pass that test, other classes will become unlocked. Want to learn ballroom dancing, boxing, or use our nutrition software? Once you pass your first test, you get access to an introduction to all of these. The more tests you pass, the more classes will become unlocked for you. Once you have passed 12 of our dance classes, you’ll receive the Twinkle Toes badge just as one example.

In addition to this, you can write in an online journal and keep track of your weight loss, or use it to have your favorite recipes, or maybe just tell your buddies how much fun you’re having in your new workout routine. You’ll have access to all your friends fitness journals and even be able to see personal trainer profiles.

Interact with Trainers

The trainers have a different style of profile and they publish articles on the site for everyone to view. If you have questions about health & fitness you’ll not only get access to all of our tutorials, but you’ll be able to see the tips trainers provide on their page.  If you have a specific trainer you like, simply save them as a favorite & their journals will show up on your profile automatically when you log in.  In the Discussion section of the site, feel free to ask any question about health & fitness and see a number of trainers provide feedback all for free.

Special Guests & Celebrities

WIth MOVFitness training top professional athletes, models, and CEOs and having some of the best trainers around the world on our staff, we will also have open chats periodically where you can log into a chatroom and speak with a celebrity on health & fitness.

As a trainer for years I’ve found the #1 success seen in someone’s health & fitness comes when they surround themselves with friends who have like-minded goals.  At the new MOVFitness website, we’re offering people to interact and meet new friends who are interested in getting in the best shape of their life and helping them connect with others who they won’t feel ashamed to go out to a party with & drink a glass of water.  The cool factor at MOV is in how many Healthy Badges you have and how much you take care of your health.

I hope you’ll join us and Get on the MOVE!!