Conversations with Brittani McNeal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittani McNeal.

Hi Brittani, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Fitness and athletics have always been a part of my life. It got me through some of the toughest times (depression, suicide attempts, anger issues.)growing up in Chicago. Playing basketball and running track made me feel like it was the only way to escape. I received a full-ride scholarship to Bowling Green State University for Track and thought my dreams of running and competing at the highest levels would suffice. Fast forward to today…I am a Criminology Professor at the University of West Georgia and a Certified PT, Nutritionist, and Glute Specialist.

Let me back up. During my Junior year in College, I was having debilitating pain in my ankle where I could not walk on my left leg. The doctors did not know what was going on until the following year – my ankle bone was chipping. The damage was done due to still competing while in pain. I got depressed, lost my love for running, and relied on pain medication to escape. The funny thing, I finished my undergraduate degree in criminal justice early and started the Master’s program. So, I put my heart and soul into my plan b – focus on a career in the criminal justice field. I never competed again and went off to get my Ph.d. at the University of Arkansas Little at 23.

While getting my Ph.D., I began to do more weight and resistance training to regain my strength and get the “runner’s high” feeling back. I started back running again and it felt great. It was at this time that my focus was on making fitness and health my outlet at the time when I was mentally draining myself getting my doctorate. I graduated at the age of 26 and ended up in Georgia in 2016, teaching criminology courses.

Professor life was really challenging at the beginning of my first couple of years and I relied on fitness to relieve the stress and anxiety. It was at that time I realized that maybe I can inspire others on how to balance their work life with feeling good about their health and fitness. In December 2018, this all crumbled when I was a passenger in a car accident where I injured my left knee. Now, I was still having ankle issues which are expected but I think I would experience issues with my knee on the same leg. Luckily, it was the day after the semester ended and I was able to focus on recovery before I taught in Spring 2019 semester. I was bouncing back fast but I got attacked by a dog in February 2019, where I re-injured the same knee. This began my down-spired and I became deeply depressed. It also did not help when I was in a toxic relationship that made me feel so alone.

After having major migraines induced by stress, losing weight because I was not eating, and having other symptoms of depression, I turned my outlook back to how I can help others and what I could do to get myself out of this tough situation. My motto since I was in high school has always been – ‘Tough Times Don’t Last, But Tough People Do – by Robert Schuller.” As humans, we always dwell on all the negative things going on instead of looking at the positives and the options we have to persevere. If it was not for the COVID lockdown, I would not be where I am today.

I got myself out of a toxic relationship and started to focus more on my mental and physical health alongside the stressors of everyday life. I wanted to show others how this can become a priority for them in everyday life.

Dr. Brittani Fitness is a reflection of how I became the woman I am today. I am striving to mentor and bring focus to why balance is so important; how you can focus on balance in your life, and how to go about it while keeping your mental health, physical health, and well-being in check. We will all experience tough times, but it is what we do during these times that weakens the negative effects that may come. I am only four months into my business using my skillset as a professor along with being a PT and nutritionist but I have so much more to come!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I outline some of my struggles, with the main ones being injuries and depression. To this day, I am still battling with pain in my left ankle along with some struggles from injuring my knee twice. Since my specialty is focusing on getting the lower body muscles in shape, it hinders me some days from working those muscles. But I have been able to focus more on what I can do as an alternative to working out and how to rehab these areas as well.

Another struggle has been working and life balance. Professor life includes teaching, service, and research, which takes up a lot of time. This can be mentally challenging when I want to focus in on building my brand. Granted, I did wait until I received Tenure but the struggle persists. I find that work stress and duties do get most of my attention and I wanted to build my brand with the other times I had away from professor life. But I have to make sure I find time to sleep and rest, which has been a major struggle in this process. During this time, I experienced burnout nowhere I became depressed, did not want to do any related to work, and just felt alone. This was magnified by the negative and racial culture within my college and University. There is no one to talk to, I could not trust anyone and felt trapped to where speaking up was useless. These struggles steered me more towards my goal of becoming a certified trainer and starting a business to incorporate balance with these very things.

Another struggle that I have had to deal with is individuals in my life that did not support what I wanted to do or doubted the things that I knew were possible. I really came to terms that I needed to change one trait that I have had my entire life – being a people pleaser. I always found myself focusing on or promoting other people’s endeavors while mines sat on the sideline. It was now time for me to focus on the things I wanted to do that made me happy. Thus, I had to reduce my circle and get out of a toxic relationship so that I can thrive.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a full-time Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of West Georgia. I started this position directly after I graduated with my doctorate in Criminal justice. My research focuses on juvenile delinquency and recidivism among adult offenders. My colleagues and criminal justice agencies know me as a Statistic person. This is where my nerd card comes in. I was always good in Math and data analytics is my favorite since you really have to critically think about everything. So, I teach statistics at the undergrad and graduate levels and I am doing reports for agencies in several states.

I am a newly certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and glute specialist. This is by far the proudest thing I have done for myself since I had people close to me tell me I could not do it. I have always had a passion for how the body moves and how to energize it. I always think to myself I got my degrees in the wrong field since this is truly my passion. I specialize in two things: growing your glutes and eating well without counting calories. First, I was always that skinny girl that could not gain an ounce of weight no matter how much I ate. This was even after my track and field years. I slowly transitioned my body from 125lbs to 148lbs with the most growth in muscle mass not fat. This was directly related to my eating by focusing on increasing my intake of protein and Omega fats while ensuring I was eating my greens and getting my fruits in. I try to make individuals understand that food is not the enemy and that you can learn to get the right intake of food with calorie counting. I tried it once and I would feel bad if I did not reach my intake or if I went over it.

Having my professor’s life clash with being a Trainer and nutritionist make me very unique from other trainers. As a professor, we strive to continue the process of learning while teaching others what we have learned in a manner to have them question things for themselves. Professors are also in the business of being mentors to those who want to pursue a profession in the same field. Lastly, we have to be able to balance all of these tasks while meeting certain milestones in the areas of teaching, research, and service. This translates well to being a personal trainer because we want our clients to also reach their goals while receiving the proper mentorship, guidance, and content to help them do it. In addition, we can also teach them balance between their life and how to stay fit. I always tell people fitness is a lifestyle and you have to be healthy even if it does not make you money. You cannot make money if you are not healthy and you cannot do both without having a plan to balance to two.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happy is knowing that I can impact someone’s life and in return, my life can be impacted as well. This is even true whether it’s good or bad. I love waking up every day knowing that I have to opportunity to interact with all types of individuals. It makes me happy to hear their stories, know their goals and dreams, and help them strive to be better. In return, I also am happy and very grateful to have these interactions because I can assess the things that I am doing right or wrong, and I can truly enjoy my clients and students’ joy when they meet their goals. Seeing other individuals succeed is the best feeling in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drbrittanifitness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.brittani
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084499835208
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.brittani8903

Image Credits
There are two images by Jai Jackson JzR Photography (The main photo and the photo of me in White).