Dr. Michael Donovan

I’ve spent most of my life chasing performance.

As a PhD physiologist, I learned everything there was to know about how the human body works - the science of energy, metabolism, stress, and recovery, but somewhere between the research papers, the race results and the relentless pursuit of “optimization,” I lost the very thing I was studying: aliveness.

I had the data and the discipline, but I’d lost my spark.

The long hours, the ambition, the constant push for progress — they were supposed to lead to freedom.
Instead, they led to fatigue.

That’s when I realized: I wasn’t burned out. I was misaligned.

So I rebuilt my life -not around metrics, but around meaning.

I started training for joy, not just performance.

I started using science to serve my purpose, not control it, and in that process, FitSpan was born.

My Journey

Why I built FitSpan

FitSpan is my calling - the intersection of everything I’ve lived, studied, and fought to understand. It’s where physiology meets purpose.
Where science meets soul. Where performance meets play. I believe every man deserves to feel the way his body was designed to feel — strong, clear, and fully alive. Not just for a season, but for decades.

My mission is simple:
To help high-performing men stay in play for life - to keep skiing, surfing, climbing, lifting, loving, and leading long after the world tells them to slow down.

Because success without vitality isn’t success...it’s survival.

The FitSpan Promise

When you work with me, you’re not getting another trainer or health coach. You’re getting a scientist, a father, a lifelong athlete and a man who’s lived both sides of the equation - peak performance and burnout.

I know what it feels like to lose energy, clarity and purpose — and I know exactly how to get them back.

FitSpan isn’t theory. It’s practice - lived, tested and refined through thousands of hours of science, sweat, and soul-searching.

Contact Us

Reach out to Dr. Donovan with your questions.