To achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. For Ashton Hall it was these elements that took him from a gym trainer in April 2020 to one of the world’s most influential fitness trainers today. We sat down with Ashton and learned more about his story and his secret to success!
MuscleTech: So, after college first, first thing I noticed about your you went through your own transformation. How much weight did you put on after college? And what was that defining moment that kind of turned you on to kind of getting back on that grind and training from an athletic standpoint?
Ashton: I was kind of down. My focus was to play pro football, which was always my dream. So, when that ended I probably took like a year, maybe almost two off of working out. Then I went to go see some of my homeboys and long story short, you know, they just kind of suddenly I fell off, you know, I’m saying, so I started looking at some pictures.
And then from there, I was like, “Man, I gotta get back to it”. So, I just started grinding it out. Once I got back to my physique that I was, you know, wanting to get to I was getting even better and that’s when I wanted to share how with the people.
MuscleTech: Were you doing fitness things in terms of social before the pandemic? What kind of transpired? Did you decide to start one day and see where it went?
Ashton: So now I wasn’t doing anything. I was at a major gym chain and I was a personal training director there. I was there for probably about like, maybe eight months and we all got laid off due to the pandemic over in Florida. So, with my business partners at the time, we just decided we’re going to start online training business. We started posting pictures, left and right.
So you know, my followers loved the motivation and they kind of wanted to know my workout routines. And then the pandemic. I was working doing a lot of bodyweight exercises, hip training and stuff like that. So when I started posting those, that’s when we started blowing up, everything started moving fast. We started to be exact, April, 2020. Yeah, it was April 18 2020.
MuscleTech: So what was that first moment where you realize this was going to turn into something that could almost become its own sustainable career?
Ashton: Um, almost instantly, you know. I’m saying I wasn’t just thinking about like the money at first, honestly. But so, after I got into shape, I moved from Jacksonville, my hometown to Orlando. And I kind of just moved there just thinking, “I just want to go to Orlando – a little bit bigger of a city”.
And I kind of had an idea eventually that I want to push what I do, like do social media, because everybody asked me like, you know, “How do I do this? How do I do that?” I want to be able to tell them, “Hey, here’s the link, just go to it.”
So, I wasn’t really thinking deep into that. But then I start working at a gym. And I got laid off because you know, the gym closed down. And then from there instantly I was aware that it could be something big, but I wasn’t thinking too big.
And then we went back to work two months later. And my heart just wasn’t into working at the gym anymore. And I was doing sales – I was selling training memberships. I was never training people in person, but I was selling memberships. And my heart wasn’t there fully. And you know, the gym they could see like a lot of people were coming in asking about, you know, like my Instagram and stuff like that.
So, it’s kind of like a conflict, and they told me, I needed to close down everything on social media and stop doing my own little thing online. That same day, I just quit. Walked away. And then I just started my own thing. We knew that it was going to be something. But I had a plan to wait for at least like three or four months to build a little bit more security because I wasn’t making any money from Instagram at the time.
MuscleTech: Are you based in Florida now?
Ashton: I’m in Los Angeles now.
MuscleTech: Did that move have anything to do with your ascension to stardom?
Ashton: No, I just moved to LA six months ago. When I was in Orlando I came to a point where I felt like, you know, “I made it!”. You know, I was getting a lot of pats on the back. And I was getting comfortable. But when I visited LA, I felt very small, you know – I felt like a little fish in the big ocean.
And I like to have that feeling. When I was playing football coming up, I was always second or third string. So, I like to be the underdog and that turns me into the hardest worker. I wanted to move out here to make life harder and capture that same motivation.
MuscleTech: Has there been other advantages with LA being so connected, and so social that you’ve picked up on? Any advantage as to who some of that clientele might be?
Ashton: All of my business is online. Me being out here in LA, for me, I like the mountains out here, I like the atmosphere. And I get my motivation, just looking from outside. Just seeing like people making a large impact from a distance. That’s all I need to see to go home and just work harder.
So yeah, it’s made a big difference for me mentally, but not really like the, you know, one-on-one encounters that I’ve had with people. And that’s just how I kind of maneuver business, all my businesses online as kind of like, I get motivation, just seeing other people do good.
MuscleTech: When you’re playing college football and you’re very much in tune with what you were putting in your body. Did that change after you left the sport? Did it stay the same? I’m just curious, what that journey looked and your mindset during that period of time where you kind of let go a little bit.
Ashton: So, you know, growing up, I always ate whatever I wanted to, and I would brag about it, right? I’d have ice cream before practice and say, “This isn’t going to do anything to me.” I just, I don’t know, that’s who I was. Because I didn’t really think it mattered.
And then it was after football and I was getting into the healthy lifestyle that I started counting my macros – just studying and doing research on what different foods and supplements would do for me – and then from there, it was a change like night and day.
Like I was ‘in shape’ when I played football in high school, but I definitely was never under like 12% – 13% body fat. So, I was in shape thanks to genetics, but I’ve taken it to a different peak. Now. I feel like I’ve peaked as far as speed and agility and my overall talent – athletic wise.
MuscleTech: How on that note, how have you been able to incorporate different MuscleTech products into that routine?
Ashton: Well, for me, I’m big on protein – so I love to have protein right by my side. I always tell clients, when I have clients (or anybody) come up to me and ask “how can I get protein in, you know, without any supplements and stuff like that?”
I tell them, “Yeah, you can. That’s cool”. But, you know, most people are working 60-70 hour weeks, even 40, or they have two kids, which are working like 100 hours a week. So, you know, you want to get four to five meals in a day, and you want to make sure you’re hitting your macros day to day – but is it realistic for you to be able to sit down and just do that every single day?
I mean, this is what I do for a living. And I have days where I miss my macros. So, it’s good to have it right by your side, if you’re missing, your protein, your greens, or whatever it is that you need to supplement for – I’m definitely a firm believer in supplements.
MuscleTech: So Ashton- describe your style. If I hadn’t paid attention to you on social before, and you’re trying to convince me to do it, what what’s your style been? Tell us a little bit about your style, and how you found your winning formula.
Ashton: My winning formula number one is to have fun with it. I believe first, to see results, it has to be something realistic. It has to be something that you’re gonna want to do and wake up and have fun. So high-intensity style more so came from combinations of movements and doing a lot of stuff together.
You’ll see on myonline video channel, also training to be an athlete, so I do like a lot of sprints, jumping, stuff like that. And then you know, I’m open to everything. So, for me, I feel like you never want to just get comfortable – because once you get comfortable to routine you’ll usually reach a plateau.
So, I’ll switch it up. Sometimes I do time under tension, and sometimes HIT training and sometimes add super sets. Sometimes I’ll have more so focus. So for me, it’s just like being open to all styles of training. That’s my style.
MuscleTech: You know, we get a lot of people in the Muscle Tech comments, or Direct Messages on social media, ask us, “How do you become a MuscleTech athlete or a fitness influencer?” “How do I you know, how do I enter this world?” So now that you’ve been through it and done it, is there any advice for people who would like to be the next Ashton Hall?
Ashton: You definitely want to be authentic, because, you know, if you’re doing something that you don’t believe in, is going to feel like a job at some point. And you’re never going to do a job as good as you’re going to do something that you’re passionate about. That’s number one.
Number two, you know, when you get into it, you want to do it every single day, you want to do it consistently. Why our stuff took off is because I posted every single day, and with no days off for 16 months straight. Literally, I didn’t take one day off. And then right when we had a million followers, I took the next day off, but I’m saying that because you know, anything that you’re doing every single day, you’re gonna learn – and it’s gonna be trial and error. “Okay, this is good.
This didn’t work that well, let me cross this out. This did good. Okay, let me do an evaluation. Why did this one do good and that one didn’t?” So, the more you’re practicing, you’re learning what to do more and what to take out. So – if they are trying to reach that journey, and you know, inspire people through social media, to be consistent, it has to be an everyday thing.
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