Matt Lamarque - Owner and Head Trainer at Garden Health & Fitness

Born and raised in Monterey, Matt’s love for health and fitness started when he was only 13 years old when he started working out with his dad Tony. Only 3 years later he was introduced to the sport of power lifting and from there his competitive spirit has never slowed down. Over the next 19 years Matt was fortunate to win State, National, and World Titles in the bench press. So far the pinnacle of his career was when he set All-Time Records in the 220lb. weight class with a bench press of 771lbs. and in the 242lb. weight class with a bench press of 801lbs. At that time he became the lightest man in history to bench press 800lbs. doing at a bodyweight of 228lbs.

Given an opportunity to work with a local doctor Matt was exposed to de-conditioned, post surgical, and pre-surgical patients whose quality of life had been compromised. Helping these people gave Matt insight into how important keeping a good strength training regiment is to maintain a healthy, injury free life. While Matt was employed with the local doctor he was also employed as a Correctional Officer through the State of California at Soledad State Prison. Although Matt enjoyed the satisfaction of helping injured patients get better, he saw the need for prevention. Matt wanted to reach out to healthy injury free people and assist them in maintaining that status. Matt branched out on his own in a private facility located in Sand City where he continued to train clients for the next six years. In 2005 Matt and his wife Deanna bought Garden Health & Fitness and he moved his private training facility to the Garden Road location. Matt and his wife Deanna operate the clubs together, and the duties of the gym’s have sidelined Matt’s competitive training temporarily, he plans on regaining that competitive edge in the very near future. When not running the gym’s Matt and Deanna can be seen doing there first full time job, raising their two beautiful daughters.