HEIGHT : 6′ 1″
WEIGHT : 280 LBS
COMPETITION WEIGHT : 255 LBS
OCCUPATION : Personal Trainer
Bodybuilder, Personal Trainer
Amanda Latona
John Nguyen
Jennifer Ronzitti
Brett Kahn
Jasmine Fernandez
Matt Pattison
Kass Gillis
Aaron Futel
Carla Garthwaite
Josh Wade
Charisse Briguera
Matt Kouba
Virfa Fernandez
Vince Wawryk
Allison Taylor
Michael Anderson
Ashley Blair
Matt Cardona
Ashley Wiens
Marcus Perry
Cathy Norris
Anthony Tumminello
Eric Broser
MEET MATT KOUBA
I played many sports growing up such as football, baseball, basketball, track, and swimming. In high school I continued as a 3-sport athlete but my clear passion was football. My junior and senior year I was voted “Most dedicated in the off-season” by my teammates due to my intensity in the weight room and desire to do whatever it took to improve. During my senior year after football season I committed to attend a division 3 college to play football – But as I continued to workout and started attending a local gym, I began to realize my passion for football was shifting towards a passion for seeing how far I can push my body. I’m the type of person that when I do something, I’m going to give it 100% effort so I knew if I was going to do this, I had to be all in. So at age 19 I decided to do my first bodybuilding show – It was a 12 week diet with zero cheat meals and very basic foods – With no teen class, I placed 5th in the light heavies at the Mid-State Natural NPC show in Rockford IL at about 179 pounds. I continued to focus purely on improving myself from one show to the next and knew I had a long way to go until I reached the ultimate vision I had in my head. It took 11 years of competing until I won my first Men’s Bodybuilding Overall title earning the title 2015 Mr. Illinois. The next year I placed 3rd in the super-heavyweight class at the 2016 NPC USA’s and I’m currently preparing for the 2017 NPC USA’s with a goal of earning my IFBB pro card.
ON BEING AN ALLMAX ATHLETE
I first got “introduced” to Allmax supplements about 3 years ago by my wife Jessica Kouba. When I tried the Isoflex Chocolate Peanut Butter protein, I was blown away by the taste! Being a competitive bodybuilder I only put the best quality products in my program – and when I researched Allmax Nutrition further it was clear the quality was top-of-the-line with proven ingredients that work in ALL the products. I had been competing for 7 years already, but the first year competing when I exclusively used Allmax products, was the year I won my first Bodybuilding Overall title as Mr. Illinois and went on to place 2nd at a National show. They have a very comprehensive and quality product line with amazing tasting products – I couldn’t be more excited to represent Allmax Nutrition as an athlete moving forward!
Photo Gallery
Question & Answer with Matt Kouba
The 2 main priorities when training should be keeping a laser focus on working the intended muscle on every set, every rep. The other priority must be to train with a high level of intensity. I only do sets that I truly believe serve a purpose at stimulating growth so I don’t do a ton of volume or fluff exercises – High intensity and keeping reps between 6-12 while taking the last 1-2 sets of each movement to failure or past failure with the use of assisted reps from a spotter.
A big DMK burger and sweet potato fries with some frozen yogurt from Red Mango for dessert! I think it’s important to not overeat when having a cheat meal – Have a good size portion but don’t stuff your face til you can’t move.
I would say my favorite is scallops and rice but I only eat scallops for periods of time during contest prep (eating a pound of scallops per meal gets expensive lol). I never get sick of my diet food and am a big fan of using seasoning and low calorie condiments to make my food taste good!
Nothing better than a maximum effort set of Hack squats.
Spending time with my wife Jessica, having lazy days hanging out with family, watching and attending my favorite NFL team — the New York Giants, taking nice long vacations after contest season each year, and hanging out with my Frenchie named Stitch. I also have quite the Jordan/Nike shoe collection as well as a sports memorabilia collection I’ve obtained over the years.
I trained to get better for sports in high school and shortly after high school my passion shifted from football to bodybuilding. I think I saw bodybuilding as something I could continue to do for many years and I knew I was willing to put in the work to be good – But if I played Division 3 football I would likely be done with that in 4 years since I never had great speed despite my best efforts.
It varies, but I am always listening to something.
My Allmax shaker bottle with Aminocore, Creatine, Leucine and Glutamine that I drink during my workout. I also have a towel (I sweat a lot when training hard), my wrist wraps, some rubber bands, chalk for deadlifts, and my fully charged wireless Powerbeats headphones.
When people are sitting on a machine scrolling through their phone – Especially if it’s a machine I want to use!! I wear wireless headphones and never take my phone out of my bag!
- Isoflex
- Aminocore
- HVOL
- ACUTS
- CVOL
- Carbion (this I mainly use during the off-season)