Frans Morela

RSA Kickboxing 2010 - Gold medal

RSA BJJ 2012 - Gold medal

Seventeen years experience as a trainer.

I started fighting and training people at the same time. I was looking for a gym to compete professionally, so I found a gym where I did more training people than training myself to fight.

I enjoy both.

It’s not a thing where I can say I’m going to teach someone how to fight if I can’t fight. It’s more like I’m training myself than working.

I try to add any martial art that I see. If I see a Kung Fu move that I like I try to qualify it then add it to my drills.

What do you love fighting so much?

Fighting is like a drug. Whenever you go inside the ring and start fighting, everything disappears. It’s freedom.

You can breathe. The only thing you can see is the person in front of you. The world goes quiet.

Same with training, I don’t want to be disturbed.

That’s the same thing I’m giving my clients. When they train their brain shuts out because you have to be here, focusing on what you’re doing now. No distractions, nothing.

Aren’t you scared when you compete?

Ah, I’ve been scared all my life so it’s like if you die you die. Same as walking in the street, you never know if you’re going to get robbed.

I cracked my leg in a fight in 2008. And I still continued fighting. The doctor told me after the fight that the bone was cracked.

I’ve popped both my knees doing BJJ. One was my fault, one was my partner’s.

Shoulder blade was dislocated. Jiu jitsu.

That’s when I was done. I’ve had lots of injuries. My back, my hips.

You train every day, despite all the injuries. Why?

That one is for my mental health. I know weekends I need to relax.

Growing up I didn’t have any friends, all I did was go to the gym.

That’s also how I started fighting.

Even now I have this thing in my head of “gym... gym... gym... “ Whatever I do, I think if I do something, how will I train tomorrow? Whatever I do still rotates around training. It’s not competition, just to feel good when I train.

Why do you train others?

Some people want to start training, not because they are fat or upset about their body or how they look. Most of my clients' reasons are for mental health.

Whenever they come to the gym it’s to offload. For them it’s a get-away.

I enjoy telling people what to do, and then they feel good about themselves when they’ve done it. They have a sense of accomplishment. When someone is struggling to do something and then finally they do it.

Then they get surprised. Then I tell them just one thing, never doubt yourself!

My clients all know I practice what I preach. I’ll never tell someone to do something I can’t do.

I give people freedom and to break through that doubt. It’s not “I can’t.” It’s “I can’t yet.”

I won’t say you can if you can’t. But I will say you can’t yet.

Then they gain hope.

What do you give clients?

Quality. Professionalism. AMP*.

I’ll show you something, tell you why you’re doing it, and you’re going to master it.

I don’t just hold pads. I’ll teach you, listen to the rhythm, why you’re throwing your jab cross, why you have to move sideways. And you’ll be able to do everything on your own without me saying anything.

I put the groups together in a way that everybody works well together, and everybody respects each other. There’s competition and support within the group. They challenge and help each other.

So instead of counting every rep, they do twice as many as they were supposed to because they’re having fun.

And they end up breaking their own boundaries, and they didn’t even realize they were doing it.

The gym was home for me, so now I make it home for others. It gives me freedom & family. Everyone gets on with everyone. Everyone engages and socializes.

Who do you work best with?

I’m so good at dealing with injuries. First hand experience. I have a certificate in deep tissue massage. And I’m still learning about injuries, I binge-watch rehab and prehab videos.

My clients that come to the gym and feel weak, “Oh I can’t do this,” for them to do something that they think they can’t, that’s results for me.

I change mindsets. To see they don’t seek someone’s approval to tell them “you are skinny” or “you are fat.” It’s a confidence thing.

If you need someone to uplift you, if you can't tell yourself what you need, you have a problem.

What goals and outcomes do you help your clients achieve?

Achieving things that they couldn’t do.

Aashah came in weak and full of doubt. Two days later she came back to tell me how much she enjoyed the session.

Suddenly she was picking up heavier weights than she thought she could. And I told her she would pick it up.

Aisha pushed from the first session. She said she didn’t think she could do it, “I’m enjoying this. I’m going to start doing it.”

The thing is that you must always remember if you want to reach a goal don’t put pressure on yourself, like by this month I have to be like this. If you stress you won’t gain anything. If you stress yourself you stress your body. Then you overload yourself, break down and start missing sessions.

So in order for you to reach your goal, move at your own pace. Don’t compete with anyone. Don’t stress yourself.

Melanie was shy. She would come in the gym and sit in the corner busy on her phone until we would start training. Now she’s communicating, engaging with people. Less on the phone. That’s how I know confidence is up.

How often do you need your clients to come in and how hard do you push them?

It depends how active you are. Your lifestyle matters.

If you know your lifestyle is sitting, then three times a week is better.

If you are busy, up and down, in and out, twice is good.

During the session, I pay a lot of attention to breathing and eye contact. I learn your tells to know when you’re tired.

My oldest client is 72. I know whether to push you for an hour or twenty minutes.

High-intensity sessions don’t go longer than 40 minutes. Ten minutes warmup. Ten minutes active stretching. Twenty-minute workout.

When it’s enough it’s enough. You don’t need to push a bit harder. The youngsters you can push. But with elderly people, you can’t push them beyond a certain point. You have to know your people.

I don’t push my clients hard two sessions in a row. One session easy, one session hard. The reason for that is if you do two sessions hard, the second session if it’s hard you’re not working. Your body is tired. The easy session is to help you recover for the hard session. Sometimes I switch it around. Every week is different.

Because if you go hard every session, you’re not giving your body time to recover and then it breaks down. Overuse, joint pains, everything is going to be sore.

I usually do the hardest sessions on Thursdays and Fridays because I know the weekend is around the corner and you are going to relax.

Working hard on a Friday stops the galavanting. It’s changing their mentality. “I’m going to be stiff so I’ll stay at home, no partying for me.”

What makes you different?

I call it like it is. I don’t like bullshitting people.

I get the most satisfaction from helping my clients break their own mental boundaries. I’ve been doing this a long time, and my clients are breaking boundaries all the time.

Clients that come in willing to listen and commit to the process are clients that are capable of breaking their own boundaries. Doing something they said they can’t do.

I don’t like doing the same thing over and over. So if today I lifted 1kg, I don’t want to lift the same weight again. I must move forward a little.

I don’t just run training sessions. You come to me with a problem. I fix your body first before I train you.

I call it like it is. I don’t like bullshitting people.

I get the most satisfaction from helping my clients break their own mental boundaries. I’ve been doing this a long time, and my clients are breaking boundaries all the time.

Clients that come in willing to listen and commit to the process are clients that are capable of breaking their own boundaries. Doing something they said they can’t do.

I don’t like doing the same thing over and over. So if today I lifted 1kg, I don’t want to lift the same weight again. I must move forward a little.

I don’t just run training sessions. You come to me with a problem. I fix your body first before I train you.

I know what I’m doing. I will never tell you to do something that I don’t know about.

I stick to what I know. I won’t tell you I can teach you Kung Fu, I don’t know Kung fu.

I can adapt. Come to me with a back problem and I’ll make you work without using your back. I can make you work with one leg.

I enjoy working with people with injuries because I can deal with it nice and smooth.

I enjoy working with old people. Ten minutes working, thirty five minutes talking. There’s wisdom.