The story of how The Daily Push began

I’d recently got back from a year travelling in South America – a trip I’d begun looking like a human, and finished looking like a goat that had been stranded in the desert for months with no food.

I’d stopped eating meat on the trip with no knowledge of nutrition and as “no meat” in latin america back then got you a plate of chicken, I spent almost a year eating just potato and rice with no protein. Due to the lack of spots and crew, I’d also been having much more chilled sessions, making my body progressively weaker as the year went on.

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As soon as I got back, I was hyped to skate. I planted my little twig legs onto my board and got back into it hard; skating as I did before my trip.

But something was up, I felt terrible, I was constantly hurting and my body kept giving me signs that it still felt like a malnourished goat. But as a good old stereotypical skater, I just kept pushing it ignoring all the red flags that something was up.

Then suddenly at the end of the session, it happened. I popped the frontside flip and snap! I felt a shooting pain in my back and fell to the floor.

Fast forward after a week of being in bed unable to move I was diagnosed with two protruding discs in my back, patella tendonitis and a hip issue that ended up needing surgery. Long story short, my body was destroyed and the skate gods summoned me to a year off my board.

To make things worse I was fresh in Portugal still with no crew, staying with my ex at her mum’s house (ooph!) and now without the only thing I really did in my life.

My mind was racing, imagining life trapped here without skating. Wtf was I going to do?

The next few months were emotionally tough as I wondered if I was ever going to skate again. I kept thinking about everything that had happened and the more I thought, the more it occurred to me that maybe I could have avoided these problems if I’d made different choices and taken better care of myself.

So I started Googling to see if there was anything skating and health related online. There was nothing. Literally nothing. Just some random online doctors recommending that it’s probably best to just not skate.

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I started thinking about all the other skaters that have been in exactly my situation, or might end up in it because of this lack of knowledge in our industry, made worse by the way our culture looks down on things like taking care of yourself, especially back then.

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This triggered something in me and I felt a strong feeling that I had to change this. It was at this moment that The Daily Push was born.

The idea was to make this ultimate resource where skaters could find everything they need to feel on point and avoid time off their board and the situation I was currently in.

After some more intense Googling I was faced with the next problem...

The realisation of “Shit! I’m really not qualified for this!”.

I thought I would just need to chuck a few stretches online, maybe recommend people eat an apple. Little did I know how much there actually is to learn about this stuff.

But anyway, I was 1000% committed and motivated so I started planning and researching heavily. I started eating better, working out for the first time in my life and ended up bouncing back stronger than before my injuries.

I started getting proper certifications and taking courses around things like training, nutrition and biomechanics and working with a mentor in a gym training people. And over the years slowly started to believe in myself and believe I could do this.

Fast forward 6 years and many more challenges later and here we are. The Daily Push has grown to not only help skaters skate and feel at their best but also to help countless skaters avoid time off their boards and the same situation I was in.

Alongside the content I drop here and on thedailypush.com, I train skaters 1on1 and do online coaching - to be completely honest, things I never thought I'd be doing.

Now I'm not saying this to toot my own Johnson, I'm saying it just because with this whole journey, there's been so many more massive challenges along the way. So many tough times, insecurities, fears to face, struggles, etc, that led to now.

And I feel like that's important to say because people aren't often aware of what goes on behind the scenes. I also want to say it beause if you have a project or goal you believe in, I want you to know you can 1000% make it happen.

There'll be a lot of challenges, a lot of tough times, but you've got the power to get it done. Even if you don't have all the strength on day one, you'll develop it over time by facing the discomfort and challenges that come your way.

So in a weird way, I'm super grateful for the year off my board and the other challenges that followed, because without them The Daily Push wouldn't be here today.

So for the future of The Daily Push I'm just going to keep going, keep trying to get this info out to the skaters, and hopefully make this stuff more accepted in our industry.

Cheers.

Matt