My experience working with John Mitchell was one of those almost dreams come true deals. Hi, I’m Alex Crappell born November 1983 in a small place called Morgan City, La. I have resided in Gonzales, La for most of my life while experiencing the fruits of being able to travel doing things that you are good at. I am now 25 years of age and have been molding my physical body into what it is today for five years now. It was a real treat to be able to work with someone such as John since growing up in this small town made me believe that being unrecognized was my life-long destiny. John Mitchell showed me how you can take someone who has what it takes to be that person that they always knew they were but didn’t know how to achieve it. A few adjustments to the lighting and body angles showed me that it really takes experience to do what he so obviously knows how to do.
All through school I was short and very skinny. All the girls called me cute but I never achieved the title of being sexy or hot. I pressed on with my less than popular life cause I figured there had to be a real good reason for me not being in that group. Entering into middle school I was introduced into playing a musical instrument like my dad did back in school, every young boy wants to do things that his dad did you know? Ending up being pretty damn good at playing the trumpet in various bands such as blues, jazz, classical, big band, and small groups like duets and such, showed me I could really do great at something I loved. Soon after winning lots of trophies and ribbons I entered high school. The being unpopular and still just the cute guy pressed even further into my head. Headed into what I thought was going to be a very un-enjoyable next four years of school, I got to travel all over the place. I ended up in Germany, France, England, and so many states I can’t remember them all. Graduating in 2002 from East Ascension High School was my exit into a world that I thought was going to be easily handed to me because I was now making money and I liked it, a lot. I worked through many jobs over the next few years while experiencing life as a young man recently released into the world of work force. Finding out that there were lots of things that I thought I wanted in life that cost way more than what I was making working for someone else wasn’t getting me what I wanted. Some changes had to be made.
Life finally started to take a turn in the right direction. I grew up down the road from Felix’s Family Health and Fitness 24 hour gym; I could literally walk there in four minutes. Having found friends who were into working out I started reading about nutrition and weight lifting. My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree every time the new issue of Men’s Fitness Magazine came in. I would read this from front to back numerous times throughout the month till the next one came in. I spent two years just finding out what could possibly go wrong in the gym, I was a little dummy. All the magazines had these workout plans for these guys who were already huge and nothing in there catered to someone like me who had to eat six thousand calories a day to gain a pound a week in muscle. So as you are starting to understand it was not an easy road for me. Finally I started asking questions to the people around me and putting what they had to say to the real test on my own body. Something started to happen, I gained more weight. Learning that I had to take in lots of high protein like fish, red meat, and chickens, made a lot of difference in my daily routine. I became the peanut butter king, always having a container of peanut butter in my work out bag or on the weight floor next to my bench. Water also became a good friend of mine, because I was always drinking it. I was gifted with the super fast metabolism that sometimes seems like a real life size curse that is the reason I have the killer six pack. I can basically eat whatever I want when I want to. I just have to make sure that when I do eat whatever I want that it does involve the things I just told u about. I have never been too big on salad until I found out that the fiber proteins that you get from the veggies was worth putting up with the taste, just add ranch please. Taking my weight lifting to the next level I had to learn to love working out legs as much as I did the tri’s and bi’s. My long journey took me from 137 pounds leaving high school to 163 pounds with less than six percent body fat. I have always been strong for my size but being strong wasn’t going to win me a competition at six foot one inch tall. Opportunity of a life time for me was summed up in two words John Mitchell. So yeah this is me the small town guy who on a small scale went from zero to hero in five years. Patience is a virtue, learn it, live it, love it, but don’t forget to eat and work out.
Currently I am pursuing my NETA personal trainer certification that I am already registered to take this fall. I work out daily at one of two locations, Anytime Fitness on Juban Rd in Denham Springs, La, and Bally’s Total Fitness at Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge, La. Full time personal training is where I truly belong because I have made so many mistakes of my own along the way that I have truly seen how hard this journey can really be. My goal in life is to show others how to achieve what they want to with their bodies and in doing so they will be more knowledgeable, healthier, and more confident about overcoming speed bumps that life creates for all of us.
My current workout schedule is one that could only be described as, spontaneous. I pay very close attention to what my body wants and needs. I can however give u a brief breakdown of some of the workouts that I do on a weekly basis, such as……..
Monday: Chest
Olympic bar flat bench press: 155 lbs. warm up
Smith machine 225 lbs. five sets of five reps flat bench
Smith machine 225 lbs. five sets of five reps incline bench
Smith machine 245 lbs. five sets of five reps decline bench
Tuesday: Legs
Smith machine 250 lbs. five sets of five reps high chair squats
Leg Press 450 lbs. five sets of five reps
Leg extensions five sets of five reps as heavy as I can
Leg curls five sets of five reps as heavy as I can
Seated calve raises superset with standing calve raises five sets of 20 reps
Wednesday: biceps
Dumbbell curls 55 lbs. five sets of five reps standing
Preacher curl 115 lbs. five sets of five reps
Standing cable curl bar five sets of five as heavy as I can
Pyramid burn out from 25 lbs. dumbbells to 45 lbs. up and back down 5 reps each
Thursday: triceps
Cable pull downs five sets of five reps as heavy as I can
Dumbbell kick backs 35 lbs. five sets of five reps
Cable rope pull downs lower weight five sets of 20 reps
Scull crushers 130 lbs five sets of five reps
Friday: back
Cable seated rows as heavy as I can five sets of five reps wide grip
Cable seated rows as heavy as I can five sets of five reps close grip
Good Mornings in squat rack 135 lbs. five sets of five
Dead lift 225 lbs. five sets of five reps
Saturday: shoulders
Arnold press dumbbells 50 lbs. five sets of five reps
Lateral raises 30 lbs. five sets of 12 to 15 reps
Seated military press 185 lbs. five sets of five reps front
Standing shoulder press 135 lbs. in squat rack five sets of five reps rear
Sunday: Lats
Wide grip cable pull downs five of five as heavy as I can front
Wide grip cable pull downs five of five as heavy as I can back
Close grip cable pull downs five of five as heavy as I can
Pull ups burn out to finish myself off
I work calves almost every day and I work abs everyday
