First let me introduce myself, my name is Matthew Sulek.  I am 29 years old and am a descendant of Italians and Slovakians.  At the age of 17, I began weightlifting after school with my gym coach.  Coach Callahan was a monster and we all wanted to mirror everything he did to even come close to his size.  I remember Coach Callahan saying to us, "One day you will be as big as me."  I never believed those words that came out of his mouth but I haven't stopped since then.  I have surpassed my gym coach because of my consistency, hard work and determination.  At the age of 29 I am the strongest, the biggest and the healthiest I have ever been.

When I enter the gym, I am there for one reason and one reason only and that is to lift.  I wear my hat in front of my eyes so I can focus on what I am there to do.  I lift angry, no listen to me I lift angry.  I did not have the life people portray on the surface.  I have been through much tragedy along with pain, guilt and have lost many friends and family members in my life. Throughout those waves of darkness, a large part of me broke.  But then I found those weights and I learned to direct that anger towards that bar.  It didn't change me it saved me.  From 17 the amount of pain that has entered my heart has shattered me.  If I didn't have those weights I don't know where I would be.   

While working out I give it 100 percent every time. I am always the hardest worker in the room.  When I don't want to go to the gym, I go to the gym. If I have to drag myself into that iron house, I do.  I have had surgery on both my ankles, reconstructive surgery on my right hand, and have broken many bones.  I recognize the excuses are not valid.  If I could pick one workout, I would do for the rest of my life it would be pull ups.  I average about 300-500 pull ups a week.  The way I look at is life is like pull ups, when life is pulling you down all you got to do is pull up.     

My meals consist of 6 egg whites every morning along with a smoldering cup of coffee and a Chobani yogurt.  For lunch I meal prep a starch, vegetable and a protein.  Dinner time I usually eat another type of protein meal.  Protein shakes are drinking everyday but only after I lift.  Everything on me is natural and I have never touched anything to alter my body in any way.  I worked for everything I have acquired. 

On my off time when I am not working out, I am snowboarding the mountains in the winter time.  I love shredding some fresh powder on the top of the largest mountain and then hitting the gnarliest jumps to send me flying.  But when the sun is out you will see my on the basketball courts slamming it down.  I could play ball from sunrise to sundown, come catch me on the blacktop.     

John reached out to be via social media.  He left a comment on one of my photos.  I reached out to John and we drove up to Storrs, CT to John's secret grotto.  Working with John was an excellent experience.  Johns professionalism was outstanding.  John knew the positions to put me in and knew how to pull out my best features.  Johns camera experience is unreal.  To say I was impressed would be an understatement.  I was thankful to cross paths with John and can't wait to work with him again.