Meet Michael
For this week “what he eats in a day”, we met up with Michael Brits, a personal trainer and certified tennis coach with over 10 years’ experience working in the fitness industry and elite level sport who blazes his own path through life.
Michael is unapologetically secure, confident and assertive and lives each moment by his own rules. His life motto: Be passionate and Inspire – Michael likes to show passion in his teaching and inspire his students and clients to better themselves. He spent 8 years in Dubai, a city that he loves for its eternal sunshine, luxury cars and lavish hotels where he excelled as a professional tennis coach.
Back in Cape Town, his hometown, he uses his passion for training, nutrition and experience in competitive athlete protocols. These personal training services have been honed so that his clients can reach their full potential. Michael believes in living a life filled with adventure, love, fun and laughter where serious training and delicious, balanced and nutritious foods are a must. Michael’s dynamic approach, outgoing personality, endless energy and drive to succeed made him widely recognised for his expertise in strength training that can be applied from the gym floor to everyday life.
We caught up with this inspiring athlete and asked him what he likes to eat in a typical day:
On a training day (five days a week) I will eat an average of 3500 calories and slightly less, around 2500-3000 calories, on rest days. Here’s what it looks like:
5:30am – coffee. I start with a caffeine hit to kickstart the day. I am not a big fan of eating at that time because it means losing out on few extra minutes of sleep! So when I tumble out of bed, I quickly blitz 30g of whey protein powder, a handful of frozen berries, same amount of fresh spinach, some antioxidant green super-food powder and 40g oats in a food processor. I drink it on the go on my way to the gym and know that this is fuel to the engine…my muscles!
From 6am, it’s all action, training clients until around 10am when I will have a proper breakfast.
10am – porridge with peanut butter and berries or scramble eggs made with 4 eggs with wilted spinach and ½ avocado on toasts. My mid-morning breakfast means that I am ready for more sessions with my next clients. I drink 3 to 4 liters of water a day too.
10:30am-1:00pm – Training clients
Lunch – 200g meat-that usually consists of two chicken breasts, a large ostrich or beef fillet or some tuna fish, a large portion of potatoes/rice/pasta or quinoa and a mountain of steamed or stir-fry mix veggies such as broccoli/spinach/peas/red peppers etc. or a large portion of salad.
1:30pm-2:30pm – Admin and/or meetings
2:30pm-3:30pm – workout
Mid afternoon – protein packed shake that often consists of protein powder, two spoonfuls of organic peanut butter, almond milk, ice, frozen banana and Greek yogurt
3:30pm-5pm – tennis coaching
Dinner – similar to lunch and if I have extra time to cook I love making spaghetti bolognaise, or bangers and mash with plenty of veggies to go with it. I always try to leave at least two hours between eating my evening meal and going to bed.
I take high quality multivitamin and fish oil, Vitamin D in the winter, Zinc and magnesium supplements before bed to help with sleep and a casein shake if I haven’t hit my protein levels for the day. Job done. And repeat!
Weekly exercise routine: I prioritise fitness over everything and incorporate it in my daily routine. I just treat it like an appointment, put it in my dairy and make sure nothing clashes. And when I am at the gym, I put 110% effort into every workout to see results.
Staying motivated: I set goals and celebrate when I hit them.
