Consultant | Coach | Trainer | Speaker
Six Exercises to Prevent
or Relieve Lower-Back Pain
It’s about giving these
athletes their identity back.
How Matt Nichol became hockey’s best trainer
Alumni Spotlight:
Matt Nichol
Owner & Coach
8 fitness tips from
a top NHL trainer
“Matt Nichol has the knowledge, the experience, and the dedication not just to train, but to teach athletes how to reach way past their current level and to achieve their dreams of performance. I worked with Matt for 8 years and he helped me to achieve my dreams of performance.”
“I began working with Matt in July 2018 after sustaining my second right hamstring tear in less than one year.
We took a holistic approach to our rehab plan and focused not just on the injury site but on maximizing my overall health and performance. He made it clear that we would treat the current symptoms, but more importantly we would fix the underlying cause.
Matt was in constant communication with my track coaches, my doctors, and my management team throughout the process which made it seamless when I was ready to get back to my regular sprint training.
Matt made it clear that our goal was never to just be “pain-free” or even to just get back to competition- instead the goal was to return to my sport better than ever before and we were successful in doing just that, setting a new personal record in the 100m one year later.”
“There is nothing like being around people who not only know what they are doing and love what they are doing, but who do so without pretense or a sense of privilege. Matt is one of those rare people. He is a teacher who cares. He sees in us what we did not know what was there and he makes us better.”
“Our organization sought out the services of Matt Nichol to help solve a very specific problem. For four consecutive seasons prior to Matt’s arrival, our team had finished with the highest Man Games Lost in the league- in addition to this being a competitive disadvantage on the field, this also came with a significant financial cost.
Matt completed a thorough audit of our medical and performance programs and devised a plan to streamline them and improve their efficiency. We gave Matt the authority and autonomy to assemble and lead our entire medical and performance staff.
By his second season with the organization, Matt had helped to effect a 58% decrease in Man Games Lost due to soft tissue injuries, and we went from the highest Man Games Lost in the league to the lowest. In the following two season we were able to sustain this improvement in health and combine that with an even greater amount of success on the field, setting the All-Time Franchise record for wins in a season and reaching the Grey Cup Championship two years in a row.
The systems, processes, and team that Matt was able to put in place have reduced our medical costs, kept our players on the field, provided more roster control for our coaches and key decision makers, and most importantly have resulted in our most successful season in the history of the franchise.
Overall it has been a very successful relationship.”
“Federal Policing investigators and criminal analysts are responsible for tackling the highest level of criminal enterprise operating across international borders. These men and women are responsible for combatting the most sophisticated and determined of criminal organizations. The investigations undertaken are often long-term, complex, and require a high level of national and international coordination- individual excellence within a team environment is essential to success. As the officer in charge of Federal Policing Operations and Intelligence for Nova Scotia, it was my task to ensure my personnel were supported and inspired to perform. I recognized Matt Nichol as a highly credible person to deliver that message as a guest speaker at our federal policing training conference P.O.W.P.M. (Fox Harb’r, 2018).
Matt was the only non-law enforcement speaker among experts flown in from the US, the UK, and elsewhere in Canada. Matt dynamically spoke about the common denominators amongst high performers, regardless of sport or profession. The depth of his experience and accomplishments with individuals (not just athletes) at the top of their field were clearly key to establishing his credibility. An important component of his presentation was the recognition and attention to mental health and wellness, all part of the process of breaking down the stigma attached to this issue. Matt concluded with a thought provoking investigation of high performance teams and shared key insights into how they, not only built, but maintained success. Matt is a natural speaker and feedback on his presentation was overwhelmingly positive. Police personnel are a skeptic all bunch, so winning over the audience was no easy feat. Job well done!”
“Not only is Matt the best trainer with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of working, but he is an amazing person who truly cares about his clients! He does not believe in trying to fit a square peg in a round hole – what works for one person may not work for another. And with me, a generic approach would not have worked, so I’m lucky to have found him! I didn’t actually start lifting weights until I joined the bobsleigh team in September ’05, and the following year I started to struggle with some nagging injuries. Fortunately, it was then that I was introduced to Matt and we started working together between my various tours. My primary goal at that time was rehab, as it continued to be as I broke my shoulder in a rugby game the following spring. However, I needed to continue to train within the context of two very physically-demanding sports, and traditional rehabilitation would not have cut it. I needed to be more than simply “pain-free”.
I needed to be able to push a 400-lbs bobsleigh and tackle the biggest girl on the rugby field without hesitation. I needed to go from 6 seconds of power in bobsleigh to 80 minutes of endurance in rugby. Besides formulating an exciting, ever-changing, challenging, sport-specific training program for me, I was blown away by Matt’s talent at modifying exercises for my injuries to achieve the same purpose, without compromising the intensity required for my sports! Matt has been a critical part of my successful return to World Cup bobsleigh and will continue to help me improve as an elite athlete. He is an amazing trainer and a genuine person, and I consider myself very lucky to have worked with him.”
“Matt Nichol is undoubtedly one of the greatest strength and conditioning coaches in the world. His ability to help athletes perform at the top of their game while simultaneously maximizing their health is truly world-class.”
“Training with Matt Nichol was one of the best decisions of my career. Matt not only helped me play some of my best basketball as a pro but helped me to stay healthy and extend my career…”
