What would you expect a Bondi Beach local to be doing with any free time in their busy schedule? While ignoring the risk of sounding cliche, if you said surfing, you’d be spot on. In fact, our M8 of April’s passion for surfing is only superseded by his love of fitness. To say fitness and wellbeing is a way of life for Mitch Fuller is a massive understatement!
At a mere 25 years old, Mitch is already a business owner in the industry that he loves so much, and this adrenaline junkie hasn’t even scratched the surface. He pushes himself to extreme limits and chases the incredible experiences life has on offer.
From diving with humpback Whales and Skydiving to being pushed to the absolute limits in TV’s SAS, whose sole purpose is arguably to break you, our M8 of the month takes every experience as an opportunity to grow, develop and to better his life. For Mitch Fuller, we think the sky’s the limit, literally.
- Sport seems to be what you love the most in life. Can you tell us about your journey from being a personal trainer to becoming a gym owner?
Sports have always been at the foreground of my life. Growing up with 2 older brothers, everything was a competition. No matter the sport, I had the equipment in my hand as a kid and landed on golf for the later part of my teenage years. Growing up on a golf course, my older brother was insanely good, and I just simply wanted to be better.
Since finishing school, I got more into the fitness side. Weightlifting and running were just hobbies in Canberra, slowly consuming my life. Since moving to Bondi, the world of CrossFit/ functional fitness became obvious. So, my housemate's brother had started a gym focused around functional training, I fell in love and soon got qualified to become a trainer. After a couple of years of working as a personal trainer/group trainer, falling in love with the early mornings, the friendly faces and the community that was built, the opportunity to open a second gym in Surry Hills (a Sydney suburb) arose and there it is, I became business partners in that studio.
- Owning a gym implies leadership and business skills. What challenges did you face with Locals, your functional training gym?
There’s many leadership and business skills yet to be acquired, though I developed most of my leadership skills before becoming an owner. In the gym, leadership comes in the form of mental fortitude, fitness level and fitness skills. It's a very ‘lead by example’ situation. Give the people a benchmark to chase, lift, run etc. And give them enough confidence and mental strength to complete the workouts.
As far as business decisions go, I am very lucky to have two people with me who are both very switched on, so business decisions can of course be tough on certain things, but the chemistry we have, communication and trust makes everything so far non problematic.
- In our pre-interview, you mentioned your love for surfing and CrossFit-competitions. How do these activities sit in your agenda?
Surfing and CrossFit competitions both require a lot of time for each activity. The way I manage to fit these into my agenda is based off that surfing is a hobby, while my fitness and competing side is basically my way of life so every day, it's a checklist to do my fitness and the competitors that pop up, and once I’m done with that for the day, I treat myself to a surf! Also, the early mornings of a 4am wake up to go to work allows for extra time in the day, more than the average person.
- How do you stay motivated and maintain a healthy work-life balance?
Staying motivated while maintaining a healthy work-life balance comes easy when you genuinely do what you love for work. It's something that is always spoken of, but I believe I live that dream. If I didn’t work in a gym, I'd still be up early in the gym or going for a run. Like I’ve mentioned, fitness is the main point in my life currently, so once I finish work for the day in the morning, the rest of the day I must go do my hobbies like surfing, hanging with mates, or working on my modelling career.
Staying motivated is sometimes hard, when things seem to get on repeat, though if you treat it more of a discipline factor, then it becomes easy to get up and do it no matter your current state of mind.
- What was your best “extreme experience” and why?
My best extreme experience, I can’t put that down to just one, so I’ll have to give you two. First one would be my experience with free diving with humpback whales in Tahiti. It has always been a dream of mine to do so, one of the biggest things existing on earth, being submerged in their environment, completely at mercy to them. Being isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in the deep blue hearing their harmonious singing, and their beautiful way of moving through the waters, dancing and frolicking. The notion of them acknowledging you and understanding who we are is something I will never forget, looking at them in the eye from metres away.
And secondly, my skydiving, no words needed, is its own beast. Sensory overload with adrenaline bursting, just makes for the best experience. I will never forget the moments I’ve had up in the sky, flying around.
- You participated in SAS Hell Week, which is a reality quasi-military training TV Show. Was it easy for you? Keen to do it again?
SAS hell week was a very interesting week of my life. I don’t think anyone could find it easy, no matter with the amount of preparation you could give yourself. The idea of the show is to break you down physically and mentally, and trust me, it does just that.
My strengths going into the show were the fitness components and the ability to handle most scary moments with stunt like situations. But even then, the DS staff know how to take it to another level. My body and mind were tested like no other, and I'm very grateful for the experience and character building it gave me. I would absolutely do it again if I was ever invited back on. I was 22 when I did it, so I'm hoping with a bit more maturity and growth I can do better than I did last time!
I am definitely very happy that as a 22-year-old I could put myself in that situation.
- As someone who enjoys experiencing unconventional moments, what lessons have you learned from these experiences?
Not only have I experienced unconventional moments in my life, but I’ve done them at a very young age. So, with that, there’s a fair few lessons that I’ve learned from those moments. The one that speaks loudest to me is that your life is meant to be lived. Life goes beyond making sure you get to work every day and making other people happy. I feel as though when you experience some of the better moments in life that place you at a high risk or high vulnerability, that life gets simplified.
Pushing boundaries, stepping out of the comfort zone, and growing as a person is so important to become the person you’re meant to become.
And the quicker you do this and learn from these experiences, the better appreciation you’ll have for life. I feel that the best thing that has happened to me is that I’ve matured and grown in ways that I couldn’t if I wasn’t going out and placing myself in vulnerable situations, this growth and maturity then translates to your personal adventures in work or business.
- Have you planned your next adventure? What do you have in mind?
My next adventure is always on my mind. I have things that I need to focus on, like modelling and gym business. But like I’ve said, the most important thing in life is to give yourself these amazing experiences.
There's a few that come to mind, Jellyfish Lake in the Palau, Freediving with Orcas (killer whales) in Norway. Going back to Bali for surfing, renting a boat and travelling around the islands surfing the southern coastline of Sri Lanka. Another trip back to Hawaii to swim with the sharks. The possibilities are endless!
9. Modelling is also a significant part of your life. What can we wish you good luck with in the future?
Modelling has become a bigger part of my life in the last year, a work in progress but super excited for the opportunities it can bring to my life. I really would love to take it to the next level in the editorial space, travel to New York or London to work there. I love being creative and creating amazing images. But for the meantime I’ll focus on the national scale and do as much as I can there!
