Matt Chan
Matt Chan is a true Rogue original; a CrossFit legend and ambassador who has done as much as anyone to help educate and inspire the athletes who’ve followed in his footsteps.
A long-time Colorado firefighter, Matt first took up CrossFit in his late 20s as a way to help improve his endurance on the job. After five Top 10 finishes at the CrossFit Games, however (including the runner-up slot in 2012), the humble fireman had also become a full-fledged professional athlete, with his amiable personality and wealth of knowledge making him one of the most popular figures in the early years of the sport.
More than anything, it’s been Chan’s ability to overcome challenges that has really endeared him to the fans and his fellow athletes. Already 29 when he made his debut back in 2007, Matt pushed through various injuries to compete in seven consecutive Games, finishing first in six Regional events along the way. In 2014, a horrific bike accident threatened not only his competitive career, but his ability to walk. True to form, though, Chan battled back again and improbably produced a Top 10 finish at the 2015 Southwest Regionals.
While Matt continues to split time between firefighting and fitness coaching in Broomfield, Colorado, he’s always remained a regular visitor to the Rogue campus, filming many of our instructional equipment videos and co-developing his own Signature Series barbell, the Matt Chan Bar. He competed in the first Rogue Invitational in Columbus, as well, finishing 5th in the Legends Division.
If anyone thought Matt’s days of elite competition were behind him, the 42 year-old showed them otherwise once again in 2020, when he qualified as an alternate for the second season of Dwayne Johnson’s “Titan Games,” and ultimately found his way on to the show and all the way to victory as the men’s $100,000 prize winner. “It felt great to compete again,” Chan said after winning the show’s finale. “It took me a while to get back into that frame of mind but once I did it was fun. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
You can check out Matt’s favorite gear above, or watch a personal tour of the new garage gym he and his wife Cherie recently set-up in their Colorado home.
