👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
Hi! I am Morgan Mitchell. I was born and raised near San Diego, California and currently live in Santa Monica, California. I’m 33 years old.
I’ve been a personal trainer for the last eight years. I worked at Equinox for six years and decided to open my own training business two years ago.
One of my greatest personal accomplishments since getting into fitness is finishing two full marathons.
I got into fitness because I wasn’t feeling good about myself. I was hit by a drunk driver when I was eight years old and a result of that was not being able to play sports or be active growing up. I hadn’t done anything active until I was in my early 20s.
I fell in love with learning about the body and I loved the way I was feeling physically and mentally when I started working out consistently. After a few months of working out I realize how passionate I was about fitness and decided to make it a career.
When I’m not training I love to be on the beach. Paddle boarding (and coffee) is one of my favorite ways to start the morning. And I live for my meditation class that I go to pretty much every night.
What I like most about fitness is the way I feel and the way I help others to feel. It’s so rewarding to see those changes in my clients and Instagram followers.
To hear how they have been inspired to be better and see results from my training/diet advice it’s so amazing. To know that I had even a little bit to do with bettering someone’s life is the best feeling in the world.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I love being out in nature and feel like I get better results when I’m outside.
I train five to six days a week for 1.5-2 hours a day. I start with foam rolling and light stretching before I left. I save deeper stretching for after my workout.
My typical work out schedule looks like this:
- Monday: full body
- Tuesday: lower body
- Wednesday: full body
- Thursday: upper body
- Friday: full body
- Saturday: yoga
- Sunday: rest
After each workout, I do a 20 to 30 minutes of cardio. I like to change it up each day. One day I’ll do the stair-master, the next I’ll do the elliptical, sometimes I like to run or walk on a treadmill.
Every few months I like to change it up. When it gets closer to summer I will separate muscle groups (splits) and my program will be focused on hypertrophy to gain some muscle.
Whenever I can train outside I do. I love being out in nature and feel like I get better results when I’m outside. But for the days I need to be in the gym I prefer Equinox. They have all the equipment I need to get a great workout.
I’ve never been someone that can work out with your partner. I prefer to work out on my own with some great music. Lately, I’ve been really into working out with movie scores by Hans Zimmer. It really gets me in a zone and I feel like I’m in an action movie ???? I love it!
Some of my favorite exercises are squats, deadlifts, renegade rows and burpee’s. It’s the exercises that are hardest that make me feel like I’m changing my body in that moment. Love that feeling!
And before each workout I make sure to do my activations especially when I’m working lower body. I love using a mini band for all of my activation exercises.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
When I have low energy or am not very motivated to workout, what keeps me going is knowing that if I don’t workout I will feel worse. I never regret working out but I do regret not working out. So even if it’s not the most intense training session, it’s better than nothing at all.
I have had situations (because of my car accident) where I have had to take weeks and sometimes months off from working out because of health issues. It has made me so appreciative of the times that I am healthy and can be active. That’s what keeps me going. I do it for those that can’t and for the times I can’t.
I love to push myself to be better. I never thought I’d be where I am today, however I don’t want to stop here. I want to always push myself past my limits to improve physically and mentally.
My schedule can get pretty crazy so I have found that scheduling my workouts like I would a clients or a meeting works for me. I can’t cancel on myself. EVER!
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I want to reach more people and change more lives.
I have definitely had some ups and downs these last few years with injuries. Because of my accident, I’ve had some issues with my back so I can no longer run marathons or lift as heavy as I once did.
However, I have found really fun ways to stay active and my training is going better than ever. I feel the best I’ve ever felt and I feel I look the best I’ve ever looked.
In the next five years, I would love to take my training to the next level. I’m working on developing my own podcast that will talk about longevity, fitness and overall health and wellness.
I want to reach more people and change more lives. I want this podcast to be something that people will hear and walk away with more knowledge about how to live their best lives.
As far as my physique goals for the next five years, I want to continue to get better every day. I feel that there is always room for improvement and I want to continue to gain knowledge in order to be my best self.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
The best thing I did was find a holistic doctor that helped me tremendously with recovery.
I have had to deal with quite a few setbacks over the last few years. I’ve had a back injury that sent me back about 10 months. That recovery was very difficult not only physically but mentally as well. I also battle with diverticulitis, which can cause set backs as well.
The best thing I did was find a holistic doctor that helped me tremendously with recovery. I continue to see him every week to prevent injuries from happening again. I also go to a physical therapist and find that massage really helps with recovery as well.
I found tremendous importance resting and recovering by going to my doctor and doing PT every week. I have learned over the years that if you were going to put your body through so much activity you have to also put it through a lot of recovery or it will break.
It’s not just about lifting/working out but it’s also about getting enough sleep (I get 7 1/2 to 8 hours a night), taking the necessary supplements like Garden of Life Iron Complex – Vitamin Code Raw Iron Whole Food Vitamin Supplement, Vegan, 30 Capsules, Microbiome Labs MegaSporeBiotic, and Thorne Research 5-MTHF 1 mg, and lastly, doing an active recovery day of yoga and meditation every Sunday.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
I think the key is to find a diet that works for you long-term.
I went vegan three years ago and feel amazing. Before I went vegan I would weigh out all of my food and my diet would consist of protein shakes, chicken, rice and greens. I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted to see and I wasn’t sure why because I thought I was eating healthy and working out harder than I’ve ever had before.
I went to a holistic doctor who told me that he believed in the blood type diet. I am type A positive, which according to my doctor means I should be vegetarian if not vegan. So I gave it a try and I felt and continue to feel amazing.
I know this is not the typical trainer thing to say but I completely stopped counting calories and macros and listen to my body.
I eat when I’m hungry and everything I put in my body is 100% from the earth. I’m not going to say this work for everyone but for me counting calories and macros just stress me out more and my body did not like all of the animal products I was putting in it.
With that said I still want to make sure I’m getting all of the nutrients I need. I use Thorne Research VegaLite Vegan-Friendly Performance Protein Powder in Chocolate Flavor and start my day with a protein smoothie.
I like to add a frozen banana, a handful of spinach, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and one date. If I snack throughout the day I usually have some fruit like a banana or apple.
For lunch and dinner, I like to change it up with vegan tacos made with almond tortillas and beyond meat, salads with all kinds of vegetables, fruit and beans, homemade soups and stuffed onions with potatoes and mushrooms.
I love to cook and create new fun ways to keep my diet healthy but delicious and something to look forward to. On Sundays, I will have my “treat meal“ which is usually gluten-free waffles with peanut butter and syrup or Paleo pancakes with vegan chocolate chips peanut butter and syrup.
I think the key is to find a diet that works for you long-term. If you can’t make it work as a lifestyle it just won’t work.
As far as drinking goes, I love water and drink a little over half a gallon a day. I love black coffee and I start my day with it, and sometimes have another cup in the afternoon.
I used to occasionally have a whiskey or a glass of wine until I cut alcohol out completely about a month ago and feel much better for it.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
A book that has really inspired me is Kate Hudson‘s book called, “Pretty Happy” I have read it a number of times and keep a journal each time I read it.
Pretty Happy really helps you to realize how amazing you really are just being you. It’s great to want to improve yourself and Kate gives great tips on how to do that but you will never feel perfect and that’s OK. As long as you always strive to be better that’s what matters.
Another book that has inspired me is Medical Medium. This book has really helped me decide to go vegan and he has an amazing cookbook with lots of recipes that I make every week.
There are also some podcasts that I find very inspirational like Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert. He always has the best guests that inspire me to be better and know that no matter what you’ve gone through you can always use it as the lessons learned and you can grow from it and better yourself from it in someway.
There are some very inspirational people I follow on Instagram that keep me motivated every day. Kelsey Wells, Kelly LeVeque, (also love her book Body Love) Autumn Calabrese (who is my colleague at Equinox) and Ainsley Rodriguez. These women are so beautiful, strong, hard-working and smart business woman. They inspire me to be better everyday.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
We are all different and we are all at different stages in our lives.
My advice would be to first ask yourself why you want to improve yourself. What’s really important to you? Make a list of the things you want to improve in yourself and look at it every day.
Do something every day to make the changes you want to make. For example, if you want to lose weight and you don’t know where to start, I would suggest you get a personal trainer or if you can’t afford one find some sort of online program or something you can follow.
This will help you stay accountable and teach you how to be comfortable in the gym. Set a goal for yourself as far as how many times realistically you will work out per week.
As far as your diet goes, make little changes at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself but make a change every day until it becomes a habit and then move onto the next thing you know you need to change.
Listen to your body when you put something in it and if it doesn’t make you feel good don’t need it. It’s really that simple.
Make sure you get enough rest and self-care. Don’t feel guilty for spending time and money on taking care of yourself.
My last recommendation for improving yourself is to not compare yourself with others. We are all different and we are all at different stages in our lives. Stick to your lane and you can’t go wrong.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
I am currently excepting new clients. I offer a one-on-one training both in person or over the phone, FaceTime or Skype. I also have an online six-week training program at sixweekswithmorgan.com
My first session is complementary and this is why: I want to make sure that my clients and I connect and will work well together. I expect a lot of my clients. I expect them to show up on time and ready to work. I need my clients to care about their goals as much as I care about their goals.
I feel I’m different than I feel I’m different than other trainers that I know because I individually program for each client based on their goals, lifestyle and injuries.
I also help with nutrition advice and meal plans. I take the knowledge I have learned from doctors and nutritionist I have worked with to help create a plan for my clients that will get them the results they want.
I also have testimonies from clients that I’ve had from the very start of my training career. Most of my clients have been around for the last six to seven years and continue to train to this day.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
You can learn more about me by visiting my Instagram account @morganmmitchell, emailing me if you have questions at [email protected], or signing up for my six-week program at sixweekswithmorgan.com
