EDITORIAL
Helping champions squeeze out that last one percent Matt Dickens of Atlas Health Performance For over a decade Matt Dickens has been working with professional athletes ranging from rugby players to the Olympic elite. Associated with the very finest athletes, his work has been accredited with helping these remarkable individuals reach their remarkable standards. THE COMMON DENOMINATORS Having identified the common denominators required for individuals to reach their optimal performance Matt also understands the importance of these elements being applied in a personable and tailored fashion. An accredited coach with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association, Matt also has an MSC in Strength and Conditioning from St Mary’s University and his approach to training and coaching is backed by the strongest scientific evidence and research into human performance. His business, Atlas Health and Performance has grown from this fertile background and is the go-to for the industry. ONLINE Very present online, Matt believes in communicating with his audience, finding that with the savvy use of social media his lessons and experience can benefit a far wider community of people. With this in mind he creates as much content as any influencer online although he says he does not consider himself a vlogger or a blogger.
“I just like to share good quality training content and engage with my audience via Instagram,” Matt explains, “I’ve been a lot more active in that space over the last year and have seen general engagement
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grow. It also is helpful to my clients to see this content online.” His main profession is strength and conditioning coaching, and he explains that his success rate with many athletes from many different areas has been the real factor of his business growth. Having successfully coached and worked with athletes such as Chris Mears who earned an Olympic Gold in the 2016 games, and Matt Miles who is the captain of the England Counties Rugby. The influence that he has had on these careers has made him a very strong name in the field. Of course, thanks to the current Lockdown, things have had to evolve, and he has seen a significant increase in the engagement from his online audience. Everyone’s main escape at the moment is via the internet and for those sporting people who are looking to improve their training when Lockdown ends, they’ve had more time to do research and to ask questions about who will help them get that extra percent out of their training. Matt has around 4300 followers on Instagram and 1,500 on Twitter and while this is a modest number in comparison to some vloggers and fitness bloggers it is an audience of real relevance to the sporting industry.
