David Morton The CrossFit Convert
With almost 15 years at MH and three transformations (at least that he can remember) under his ever-tightening belt, executive editor David Morton’s change has been constant. But it was 2014’s weight-loss challenge that had the biggest impact on his long-term outlook
– and it still fuels his motivation today
My second transformation, in 2014, came at a good time. I was getting married that summer – I’d turned 30, so I couldn’t get away with not training or eating correctly. I’d also stopped playing rugby due to concussions and I had no real drive. I’ve always needed a structure to my training. I need a goal.
I’d see my trainer Bobby Rich, David Haye’s strength and conditioning coach, once or twice a week, often on a Saturday for a mega sesh. He’d WhatsApp me my sessions for the other days. He put the onus on me to look after my own training.
I spent a lot of time training on the Versaclimber. After the first month, I started doing half an hour of fasted cardio five days a week before work. The movements weren’t particularly advanced. The key was consistency and lifting progressively heavier. The first three or four sessions with Bobby in Haye’s gym (which is now closed), under the arches in Vauxhall, south London, were hard. At the end, I had to lie on my back with my feet up on a box because I felt so sick.
We didn’t set too many dietary rules. Bobby just said, ‘Don’t eat too late, don’t eat too much red meat, don’t eat too much dairy.’ My then soon-to-be wife is an extremely good cook and at that point was a pescatarian, so we ate a lot of fish. Once I started doing the fasted cardio, I wasn’t eating until 9am, so I was having a proper 12-hour fast – before it was cool.
I was pleased with the result. I got accused of being a different person in the Daily Mail comments. A little while after that, I spent a few months at 3 Aces CrossFit in Kennington, south London, for a story and I loved it. It combined my love of training with the community element of rugby. That helped shape how I trained on my own.
For my third transformation, in
2018, I didn’t have a coach. I used the movements from Men’s Health’s Primal 9 training programme. I’d had two kids, moved out of London to West Sussex and lost all my hair, so I looked more like Jason Statham and I wanted the body to match. That transformation was the easiest. I got the train to and from the office, and went to the gym at lunch. I feel better when I exercise. I’m better at work, I’m better at home – to the extent that if I don’t train for a few days, my wife will send me out to do it. During lockdown, I followed one of our fitness editor Andrew Tracey’s free plans, OB-30: 30 workouts to be done with one bell. I had a 16kg kettlebell and I trained in the sun as a break from work. I now have a pair of 22.5kg dumbbells, a bench, a sandbag, a pull-up bar on the side of the house with rings and a rope that my kids use. I’ve also been vegan for two years, although I recently started eating eggs again. So I’m ‘veggan’.
I’d take on another challenge, but not a body transformation. I’ve been fitter, but I’m fitter now than I was at 29. I’ve got some abs. And I can do a lot more movements: clean and jerks, snatches, pull-ups, double-unders, handstand press-ups, very bad handstand walks, pistols. I’m more into skill acquisition than lifting for the sake of it. I’m 40 next year and I have a quiet ambition to compete in local-ish competitions as a ‘master’. That could be fun.
‘I feel better when I exercise.
I’m better at work, I’m better at home’