Photo by Collin Richie
Age: 32
Hometown: Sulphur, Louisiana
Occupation: Athlete and entrepreneur
By Faith Dawson
For Matt Vincent, being in shape isn’t about looking good.
Signature: Highland Games champion Matt Vincent
Age: 32
Hometown: Sulphur, Louisiana
Occupation: Athlete and entrepreneur
By Faith Dawson
For Matt Vincent, being in shape isn’t about looking good.
“For me, the definition of physically fit has very little to do with how pretty you are. Function beats form,” says the Baton Rouge professional athlete, entrepreneur and web personality.
His personal function? To defend his title of current World Heavy Events Highland Games world champion this June in Bressuire, France.
The Highland Games is a Scottish tradition that includes feats of strength competitions—lifting and throwing heavy and often unwieldy items for distance and height. Stone put, hammer throw, caber toss—participants are really strong and disciplined to send those weights sailing. And they wear kilts.
Besides Highland gaming, Vincent works a 9-to-5 job as a sales rep for a construction company, affably hosts a web series called “Drifta Lifta” that highlights the people he meets during his travels and operates an apparel company called HVIII. Through it all, he seems to maintain a cheerful attitude and is happy to discuss his travels and the benefits of rigorous exercise.
The bad news: Even world champions need motivation to be active and train every day—in his case, one to two hours.
“By nature, I would prefer to lie around and be on the couch and be a bum,” he admits. “It’s overcoming that human nature in me to be lazy and eat terrible things and not work out … [It’s] for the greater good, to hit my goals, to be able to see the world.”
The good news: Vincent doesn’t think that in Louisiana we have it any harder than in less flavorful states, even amid the tempting mountains of beignets and boiled crawfish.
“I don’t think it makes any difference where you’re at,” he says. “People like having a good time anywhere. There’s good food in the South, but there’s good food everywhere.”
In his travels, he meets interesting people, including celebrities. One such encounter that turned into friendship is with Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the Icelandic strongman who plays The Mountain on HBO’s Game of Thrones. The two see each other at competitions and have trained together.
“Training with him is fun. He’s truly one of the most impressive athletes I’ve ever met,” Vincent says.
But back to the Games. As a top professional athlete in his field, Vincent is paid to travel around the world to compete—sometimes as many as 20 weekends per year. He goes to Iceland a lot, sometimes Canada, and the East and West U.S. coasts. Last year he won his world title in Dunfermline, Scotland.
His favorite event is the stone put, or “throwing the stone.”
“I’m a shot-putter by trade,” he says, harking back to his days on LSU’s track and field team.
Vincent counts among his other current titles 2014 U.S. National Highland Games Championship and 2014 North American Championship.
And in his spare time? Mountain biking and spending time outdoors with his wife.
“I’m trying to stay a little bit more active,” he says, completely serious.
It’s a champion’s attitude, down to the details.
