How Sunrise host Matt Shirvington got his athletic body back during a six-week health challenge

The secrets behind newly appointed Sunrise host Matt Shrivington’s fit physique have been revealed in a re-surfaced fitness challenge that saw him lose 10 kilos in six weeks.

Eight years ago, Matt was the ‘fattest he’d ever been’ at 86.9kg, but he was determined to turn it all around and embarked on a gruelling six-week health challenge.

The champion sprinter, now 44, cleaned up his diet, stuck to a strict exercise regime and has managed to maintain his fit physique to look his best for his upcoming TV gig.

Matt enlisted the help of a top trainer who had him working out twice every weekday and would eat a strict low-kilojoule, high-carb diet to drop down to 77.7kg.

The 2000 Sydney Olympics sprinter said he wanted to ‘feel like a professional athlete again’ but thought his ‘best days were behind him’ before going into the challenge.

The 44-year-old cleaned up his diet and stuck to a strict exercise regime and has since managed to maintain his fit physique to look his best for his major new TV gig

‘That was my biggest fear, that my body had forgotten, that my body couldn’t get back to potentially what it had been in the past,’ told told Men’s Health when he finished the challenge. 

‘Particularly in six weeks, I thought am I going to be able to find that underneath it all when I strip it all back? Has it all disappeared?’ 

Before the challenge at almost 87kg, Matt was eating regular meals of lean meats and vegetables but indulging on white bread, milky coffees, schnitzels, pizza, cake and cola.

His exercise regime was erratic – on one week he could go for a run, lift weights at the gym or go mountain biking but the next he may do nothing. 

Enter celebrity trainer Greg Joujon-Roche who quickly identified what Matt needed to do to get back to peak fitness. 

‘You can tell he goes to the gym and knocks out his typical routine that works for him so he’s a little bit out of balance,’ he said. 

The 2000 Sydney Olympics sprinter said he wanted to ‘feel like a professional athlete again’ but thought his ‘best day were behind him’ before going into the challenge 

‘I said ‘Okay we need to disengage that and reengage that’ and really create a new symmetry for him, a new balance restructure for him.’ 

On weekdays, Greg had Matt doing interval sprint sessions at dawn then hitting the weights hard. 

Saturdays were for ‘rest and regeneration’ while Sundays were for ‘active rest’ where Matt would go on a casual bike ride or surfing. 

Matt barely deviated from his strict low-kilojoule diet during the six-week period but had a cheat meal of pizza on week two which he said sped up his metabolism and made him look ‘more ripped’ the next day. 

‘That might be “bro science” but that’s how it seems,’ he said.

He would alter his diet to add more carbs as he became fitter and stronger throughout the challenge. 

On weekdays during the six-week challenge, Matt was doing interval sprint sessions at dawn then hitting the weights hard

At the end of the six weeks, Matt was 9.2kg lighter, had built an impressive amount of muscle and lowered his body fat from 14.3 per cent to just nine per cent

On weeks five and six, his typical breakfast consisted of half an avocado with boiled eggs, quinoa, or chicken breast.

After a mid-morning snack of two bananas, he would eat chicken breast broccoli for lunch. 

In the afternoon, Matt snacked on a homemade organic trail mix and for dinner he had chicken seasoned with cayenne pepper and spinach or a chicken and vegetable soup. 

He paired the diet with four to five litres of water a day and admitted it was hard work. 

‘It has been extremely hard. Maintaining diet with a family is very difficult, with a work life is very difficult, but it’s doable,’ he said. 

At the end of the six weeks, Matt was 9.2kg lighter, had built an impressive amount of muscle and lowered his body fat from 14.3 per cent to just nine per cent. 

‘I had to be very focused on myself during the six weeks and it brought out a side of me – the introverted, competitive, single-minded side – that my wife Jess thought I’d left behind for good when I retired from athletics,’ Matt said. 

By completing the challenge Matt said he had overcome a mental barrier that told him he would never be able to be as fit as he was in his younger years.  

‘The biggest problem is not the physical aspect of getting old, it’s the mental aspect of getting old and the assumption that you can’t be what you were in the decade before,’ he said. 

‘You can’t be what you were in your twenties, I cant be what I was in my thirties – I don’t believe that, I think you can find that but you’ve just got to find it mentally.’