Matt Bourque: Living Radically, The Unconventional Journey of a Dreamer, Entrepreneur, and Family Man

Meet Matt, a man who lives life on his own terms, driven by dreams, family, and an unyielding desire for adventure. Happily married to his best friend, Renée, he is the proud father of twin four-year-olds and a self-made entrepreneur who has never shied away from ambitious projects. Since his early 20s, he has built a thriving career in real estate investment and co-founded CrossFit YQM, a venture that has profoundly shaped his life.

Health & fitness has been a huge part of my life since I can remember. It has evolved over time and probably will keep evolving as I keep learning and experiencing new things. In 2011, I discovered CrossFit and in 20213 I Co-Founded CrossFit YQM. This era changed my life forever. CrossFit made me discover discipline and hard work amongst other things along with the power of belonging to a community of like minded people, something I had never experienced before. Fitness isn’t something I have to think about too much. I don’t take a break from it and I don’t debate it. It’s become a way of life. It doesn’t matter if it’s a CrossFit class, a bike ride or just shovelling dirt for an hour; moving daily is a non-negotiable in my life. I found that moving always makes your day better, no matter what. Feel tired? Go for a run. Mind feels groggy? Lift some weights. Feeling stressed? Go for a bike ride in nature! Movement is medicine.

My mornings have changed since having kids; Reading is something I’ve always loved to start my day off with along with a cup of coffee. It used to be a peaceful way to wake up, now days with 4 year old twins, it can be distracting but if I get a few pages, I’m good with that. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day; a high protein and high fat meal to start the day has been my routine for over a decade.

Nutrition is both simple and complicated. At the root it is simple, however complicated by the modern society with trends, marketing and so many “professionals” directing you in all sorts of different directions. My wife and I find a lot of success with our nutrition by keeping things simple at home. We’re not big cooks, so we don’t try to overcomplicate meals with recipes and concoctions that take a lot of planning. Protein, Fats & Carbs; look at your plate and figure out a way to have all 3 on it. We’ve played around with counting macros and calories over the years but it’s not something we do daily, or ever for that matter. However, it has given us a baseline for our daily intake; so it’s not a bad thing to experiment with. If you have never tracked your daily intake, try it for a few days, you’ll learn so much! To summarize our theory on nutrition; we eat quality foods 90% of the time and we keep portions in proximity of where they should be for ourselves. (If you want to start somewhere, start by educating yourself about quality ingredients, there’s even apps that will rate products for you to make it simple)

I strive to live life and not just go through it. We all get caught up in “the rat race” once in a while. But the goal is to intentionally build a life that allows us to LIVE. To us, living means traveling, spending a lot of time doing cool things and living rad experiences with our kids. Living means not trying to “keep up with the Jones”, but instead chasing our own personal goals and following our hearts towards true happiness. My family is ultimately all I really care about; but as a bi-product of living the best life with them, I need to first and foremost put my own health & happiness first so that I can be the best dad & husband for them. And secondly, create (some) wealth as the vehicle to the freedom to experience whatever we wish to in our lifetime.

I believe the greatest power you possess as a parent is the act of leading by example. Whether we’re talking fitness or business, honesty or relationships; Your actions and the way you conduct yourself in your daily life will have a direct impact on your children. No parent should have the right to demand more out of their child than they themselves deliver. Our kids see us workout every week, they see us eat fresh and nutritious foods every day. They see us do hard things and they see how we treat others; therefore, they register this as the norm and adapt it in their own daily actions, and that from a very young age also. Our kids will find their own way, their own interests and have their own unique personalities, however the foundation of good ethics and a healthy lifestyle is laid down by us, their parents.

Life is only interesting with purpose. Your driving force, your guiding light, your “why”. My “why” always starts with my family. At my wife’s 40th birthday, I surprised her with a tattoo appointment (for her first ever tattoo). I picked the tattoo design and location it would go beforehand. We both got our family (in stick figures) tattooed on our wrists as a daily reminder and guiding light of what REALLY matters to us. My family is at the foundation of every decision and action I take daily and they keep driving me forward towards being the best version of myself.

I have no clue where life will lead us exactly, but I find comfort and pride in knowing I reside in the top 1% of the world’s population (Self proclaimed & a bit cocky maybe) by demanding more out of my self and not settling for “average” or “good enough”. I refuse to have a career I don’t like, surround myself with less than awesome people and live a life I’m not excited about most days. I’m healthier and fitter at 35 than 99.9% of the world’s population, can bike 100km and lift heavy’ish weights on the same day. I’m proud of the example I’m setting for my kids however am self aware enough to know I have some work to do to become the best person I can be for them, my wife and close circle.

Set bold goals, write them down, make a plan, tell everyone and then friggen DO IT! Everyone talks about doing cool shit they never do. The situation is never ideal but it’s always worth it in the end. Be weird, be different, be cool with not being average, cause that’s where the real fun starts.

Life is short, make it RAD!

I met Matt at my first CrossFit competition nearly 15 years ago and we have been friends ever since going head to head against each other in the workout Fran, he beat me on that workout but I did have to use a FAT bar for pull-ups and still got a time of sub 4 minutes, so it was not too bad! Matt is a true Dad, if you follow him on social media you will agree. His kids are his life. He also has a great YouTube channel named “Backyard and Beyond”(@backyrdadvntures). Give him a follow on socials @mattt.b and check the videos out.