Michael Horton

About

Michael's world has revolved around CrossFit for over 10 years. He began coaching CrossFit with his personal training clients at the Y, making use of anything available to push his clients. He took a leap of faith and opened Spartan CrossFit, the first CrossFit affiliate in the Greater Lansing Area. Back then, you couldn’t just outfit a box with an online order. He used his creativity and resourcefulness to build an amazing fitness facility out of nothing. Michael found his passion for fitness and sports early in life but didn’t realize its true potential for providing joy and satisfaction as a coach and trainer until joining the rank and file of a 9-5 job after high school. Michael quickly realized that was not for him. He soon began pursuing a career in personal fitness training that was kick-started when he became an AFAA certified personal fitness trainer. Ironically, it was during his AFAA certification that CrossFit found him. He was finally introduced all at once to everything his previous fitness programming had been missing. It presented itself in the form of constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensities and it didn’t subscribe to the gym protocol of mirrors, TV’s and magazine racks that he had been exposed to for so long. Fran, Helen, and Annie (CrossFit benchmark workouts) revealed their beautiful yet hideous faces to him in garages, playgrounds, and anywhere else on the planet that he could think to make meaningful use of in order to push himself and his fitness level. He trained and competed in several triathlons. He was featured in Healthy and Fit magazine when he helped his client win a weight loss challenge through the magazine. He has been active in helping train athletes on local sports teams. He has worked with clients at all levels of fitness and loves to watch them meet and exceed their goals and begin the process again by setting higher goals! Michael is an original and he is often the first to try something new. He was the first to start a box in the area. First to host a CrossFit competition. First to host a CrossFit training certification. First to coach an athlete to Regionals. And first to coach an athlete to the CrossFit Games (four times). He isn’t afraid to try new things and he readily looks to explore and fix weaknesses. He is an expert in all things CrossFit and we are privileged to have him program our daily workouts.

Turning Point

Motivation & Passion