E46: More Than Fitness w/Coach Ellis and Coach Moore

Episode 46 of We are Open Circle’s Beyond Listening Podcast saw Adam and Miriam join in conversation with Coach Ellis and Coach Moore from More Than Fitness, to learn about their motivations for delivering fitness programs and experience-building training for adults, young people and adjudicated youth.

For the full podcast, check out the episode here.

In this episode, we cover... 

  1. The experiences of inequality and compassion that forged the mission for their work.

  2. The ‘art form’ of mentorship: receiving and instilling the potential for growth.

  3. Collaboration, community and change - the foundational ethos of More Than Fitness.

More Than Fitness is an organization founded in 2018 to address mental health issues in young people through mindfulness and fitness. Based in Delaware, founder Coach Moore works alongside Coach Ellis to serve their local community and change lives.

Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...

  • The rewards of coaching young people ignited Coach Moore to transform his life.

” When it came to some of the more sensitive areas of their life, some of the more traumatic experiences, some of the stuff that they don't teach in school... like resiliency and failing and overcoming obstacles... that was all we did. That was it. That was really the foundation of this program that I have right now, as I started to recognize how much power I had to influence these young men... I was really motivated to make some changes in my own life.”

  • More Than Fitness is a safe haven for personal development.

” I really feel like our program can set young people up pretty well as far as their resilience and learning how to deal with failure. When you're in the gym, you're going to fail. I don't care how good you are, you're going to fail. Whether it's your energy, your strength, something's not going to work. But how do you come back tomorrow? How do you finish your workout for the day? So I guess the theme for me is just building the culture and the safe haven that we have here and continue to push that forward, is what it's all about for me.”

  • Coach Ellis and Coach Moore make great sacrifices to serve their community.

”Another thing that I know about Coach Ellis, and it's difficult to ignore... is that he has chosen this life, which comes with changes in the way that you live financially. There are other things that Coach Ellis could be doing. And myself too. We bond over that quite often - how we choose to live this life. And he is constantly choosing to make those sacrifices for himself in an effort to protect this community.”

The best place to find More Than Fitness is here.

See you next week! 

Support More than Fitness: https://www.morethan.fitness

Contribute to Listening Circle Training and Wilderness Programs for the MTF community: https://opencollective.com/the-open-circle-foundation

Enroll in Listening Circle training in Delaware with the MTF community: https://weareopencircle.com/new-events/delawareoctlisteningcircle

Jamie Slevin