“You’ve got this!!!”

Hey, how’s it going! My name is Morgan Bellinger. I am the owner and lead strength and conditioning coach at Edmonds CrossFit. As well as the head instructor at Natural Spirit International; Warriors Edge. I have been training in the martial arts, running, and lifting iron for the last 28 years. I fell in love with the martial arts at a very early age and found strength training, track, and cross country running in Jr. High School, imidiately I understood the value and impact that strength training, sprinting and cardio endurance traing would have on my art. These obsessions have been forever intertwined with one another and with my life. I found CrossFit much, much, much later but quickly realized that many of the ideas perpetuated in Crossfit regarding health, fitness, and training mirror the concepts and philosophies found within many of the martial arts that I teach, study and practice.

I have been fortunate to have been able to train under and with some of the greatest martial arts instructors in the northwest, some only briefly and others at length. Eventually I found my home with Datu Kelly Worden and his organization Natural Spirit International.

I am a dreamer and a strong believer in the powers of motivation and perseverance. We all have dreams, goals, and aspirations; I truly believe that we can accomplish anything so long as we believe in ourselves and we never give up. After all, if we are not here to live life in the pursuit of our passions, what’s the point?

For me the martial arts are my passion: studying the history and cultures surrounding this diverse range of systems and styles, training with my teachers, my friends, or my sun, ( yes I know you are thinking I spelled that wrong, we will come back to that soon;)) and teaching or just sharing the arts with my students or anybody who shows the slightest bit of interest. Really there is nothing else that comes close for me.

Many people separate the martial arts from strength and conditioning training both in their training program and in the way they view things. For me there is no separation; the beauty of the art and culture surrounding the Russian kettlebell or Olympic Weightlifting is just as intriguing as the culture and art surrounding any martial art whether it is Aikijitsu, Bagua, Boxing, or Arnis.

The martial arts are firmly rooted in the art of human movement, as are the disciplines of gymnastics, weightlifting, and sports performance. In my mind strength, conditioning, and the martial arts are complementary and truly interdependent.

Full Instructor Natural Spirit International; Renegade Jeet Kune Do

4th Degree BlackBelt Worden Defense Systems

1st Degree BlackBelt Modern Arnis

CrossFit Level Two Trainer Certificate

CrossFit Level One Trainer Certificate

Underground Strength Coach Level One Certificate

USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach