1) I shot the Karma Sutra and Tantric books for Dorling & Kindersley
Matt Hodges
It was back in 2008 when I was just leaving the ‘fitness modelling’ era of my life when I was approached by my agent to potentially shoot a very well-paid modelling job for the publisher Dorling & Kindersley. At the time, they were shooting a load of sex/self-help books, and they wanted to shoot a 365 positions edition. Bingo… I thought. One last hurrah before I leave to become a personal trainer. After a few auditions, yours truly gets the job and within two weeks I’ve got a sock down my nether regions, twisting and contorting like a game of Twister with a 10-man crew ogling the crown jewels. It gives stage fright a new meaning.
2) I’m what they call a Super Recogniser
They say everyone has a talent. Mine is normally telling people how broken their bodies are or finding out after I’ve put my fingers in a plug socket that it’s probably not the best idea. However, a few years ago I managed to fall upon an online exam that tested the participants ability to recognise faces. Now, I’ve always been god-awful at remembering names, but weirdly I never forget a face. I do the exam - Cambridge Facial Recognition Test and get 98%. (One percent of the world’s population are SR’s and most SR’s only get 70%). What follows is years of me aiding Greenwich University in their facial recognition program, including an interview with MI5. Suffice to say I’m no James Bond, but I do now have a relatively useless superpower.
3) I once won a god-awful reality show
Before the days of Love Island and celebrity this that and the other, I found myself on a reality show (Living with Kimberly Stewart) on the now ironically, not so alive - Living channel. I’m fairly sure it was this show that ended that channel, but no one can be sure. Suffice to say it was diabolical, but I ended up winning it. It had nothing to do with the fact that most of the contestants walked off the show but anyway, I still have the badge of honour as winning one of the worst reality shows known to man. I think I got asked for my autograph in Costco once. Says it all.
4) I once had a small part in Eastenders
After the heights of living with Rod Stewart’s daughter, my agent at the time put me up for an on-screen audition for a small part as ‘Neil the barman’ of the ‘R&R club’ in Eastenders. Low and behold I had to get my kit off in this too, but fortunately no naked Twister. I ended up doing this for two years which actually allowed me to start my personal training career in the film industry.
5) I’ve trained the Russian Mafia
I think I’ve probably trained over 800 individual clients in my career. The number of actual sessions would far exceed 12,000 hours. In that time, I’ve been lucky enough to train some of the biggest stars in the world, millionaires, billionaires and star footballers. Most have been great, but there is a bunch that always sticks out for me just because they are so surreal – The Russian ‘mafia’. Among weird cling film stories, deranged martial arts practices, lavish chandeliers and a penchant for everything gold, they are a league unto themselves. I document one of the most surreal meetings I’ve ever had in Behind Gym Doors where I train one of their biceps for a very special Russian crescendo.
6) I turned down a 70,000 watch from a female client for ‘favours’
It’s no surprise that hairdressers, personal trainers, and therapists gets close to their clients. Whilst I maintain absolute professionalism, there are trainers AND clients alike who do try and tip toe the grey boundaries. I’ve had my fair share of opportunities presented to me, but one that always gets me berated by my friends is the fact I turned down a 70,000gbp Audemars Piquet watch from a Danish billionaire client I had. I was wined and dined and then taken to Watches of Switzerland to try on a ‘present’. She must have witnessed my Dorling & Kindersley 15 minutes of fame expecting something. Who knows? Annoyingly though, I probably could have done with that watch when I bought my first house.
7) I’m a detectorist
If no one has ever seen the nostalgically brilliant Detectorists on BBC, then I thoroughly recommend you do. If you’re up for a warm English hug of the good life, then feel at ease watching a merry band of innocent men scan their ‘coils’ over lumps of mud in order to find Long John Silver’s lost parrot’s toenail. A close second to bird watchers and train spotters are probably metal detectorists, and we just can’t shake the stigma. I can think of nothing more perfect than spending the day out in the countryside, in the peace and quiet… with my OAP mates.
Behind Gym Doors paperback version is a sneak-peek inside the secret, strange, and sometimes shocking world of health and fitness in the elite circles. As the owner of one of London’s most exclusive studios, personal trainer and authorMatt Hodges has seen it all – and has the sweat-drenched t-shirt to prove it
Behind Gym Doors is out 1st December 2022
Tagged in Books author facts