Matthew “Mateo” Cisneros started CrossFit with a group of Arvada High School coaches and teachers in 2009. His first WOD (burpee broad jumps, lunges and bear crawls) was a humbling experience that left him wanting more. Mateo hasn’t stopped since, including a six week stay in Salamanca, Spain. His favorite movements are the clean, the snatch, muscle-ups and kettle bell swings. The training and studying of CrossFit then lead him to The Paleo Diet, The Paleo Solution and The Primal Blue Print, which in turn has changed his lifestyle dramatically.

The passion for CrossFit stems from a long history in Mateo’s life. In high school, he played football and to help prepare for the seasons he would not only train in the weight room, but he also worked for his father’s cement company. The long, hot summer days and the constantly varied and functional movements associated with being a cement worker combined with evening Olympic and power lifting sessions helped him achieve a high level of fitness. In college and in a handful of “Globo Gyms” Mateo never was able to reach that same level. After trying CrossFit, he saw a parallel

between it and his high school experiences and was completely sold. His father always told him, “Construction workers don’t get a day off from their legs or arms, and they’re some of the strongest men that I know.”

Athletics and coaching have always been a foundation in Mateo’s life.  Aside from CrossFit, Mateo is beginning his seventh season at Arvada High School as a football coach and his third as the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator. For the past five years, he has headed up the after school and summer strength and conditioning programming, which focuses on Olympic lifting, power lifting and metabolic conditioning. Mateo has also coached track and field for six seasons (shot put and discus).

Mateo teaches Spanish full time at Arvada High School and lives with his best friend and fiancée, Kendall, in the Berkley neighborhood of North De

nver. They love spending time in The Highlands and are big foodies that are not afraid to make Paleo requests/ substitutions on the menu or teach a bar tender how to make a “NorCal Margarita”. Mateo is a big game hunter and fisherman while he and Kendall both love to hike, camp, and backpack. When at all possible, they also love to travel abroad.