A video from an influencer showing off his wild morning routine has gone viral, and not everyone’s buying it.
The clip shows Ashton Hall going all-in on his daily grind. Here’s what you need to know about him.
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Who is Ashton Hall?
If you’ve ever fallen down a fitness rabbit hole on Instagram, you’ve probably seen Ashton Hall pop up.
He’s a former LA fitness trainer, and the guy behind a viral morning routine video.
The 29-year-old posted the clip on February 8, 2025, and it exploded, with 669 million views on X and over six million likes on his Instagram Reel.
The internet had thoughts with some folks who were totally fired up by it, calling it motivational.
Others thought he’d gone off the deep end.
But before becoming a fitness instructor, Ashton was gearing up for the NFL.
He played as a running back at First Coast High School in Jacksonville, Florida and then signed with the Ravens in 2010.
But after some offseason workouts, the team ended up letting him go.
The Colts gave him another chance later that same year, but it didn’t quite pan out as he never made it onto the field for a regular-season game.
According to Essentially Sports, when things didn’t work out Ashton admitted the struggles come along with it.
He told the outlet: “I was feeling quite depressed. Being in the NFL was all I could think about.”
Fitness ended up being what got him back on track and that now-viral video is a reflection of that whole journey.
After college, Ashton took a break from working out for a year or two, which felt totally off for someone like him.
Mentally, he was struggling with the realization that his football dreams had come to a stop.
He pivoted and started working as a personal training director at a gym.
But then 2020 hit, the pandemic shut everything down, and like so many others, he was at a crossroads.
I saw the insane growth in support and saw how many lives I was impacting.
Ashton Hall
Instead of sitting still, he got creative. “I just decided to launch an online training platform,” he explained.
He began posting workout videos with no fancy equipment, just bodyweight routines to help people stay fit at home.
He said people loved it: “You see, my fans appreciated the inspiration, they adored my athletic journey, and they wished they knew what I did to get to where I’m at.”
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It didn’t take long before Ashton realized he was onto something.
“I saw the insane growth in support and saw how many lives I was impacting.”
The gym job quickly lost its shine, especially after management told him he’d have to delete his social media.
That was it for him. “I simply resigned and left that day,” he said.
What is Ashton Hall’s 4 AM morning routine?
Ashton’s now-viral morning routine kicks off with him dunking his face into a bowl of ice-cold water right after waking up.
The video starts at 3:52 am, with Ashton staring into the mirror before peeling tape off his mouth.
Mouth taping is a trending sleep hack some say helps with snoring or mild sleep apnea.
But experts have raised eyebrows, pointing out it can actually interfere with breathing and lower oxygen levels, especially since there’s not much solid science backing it up.
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After that, he brushes his teeth, downs some bottled water, and jumps straight into a workout around 4:00 am.
By 4:20, he’s already done, and moves on to journaling, watching what looks like a motivational video, and then dunking his head into more ice water.
By 6:00 am, Ashton’s dressed in athletic gear and heading to the gym.
The video shows him grinding it out on a treadmill, pushing hard until about 7:30.
Ten minutes later, he’s in the pool swimming laps, followed by a quick dip in a plunge pool.
At 8:20 am, he’s back home, showered, snacking on a banana and, in a pretty unexpected twist, rubbing the banana peel on his face.
Around 9:00 am, there’s another round of ice-water face dunking, then it’s laptop time at 9:15, getting into work mode.
Breakfast is served by someone else just 15 minutes later.
While Ashton’s routine definitely had some people inspired, others weren’t quite convinced.
Plenty of users on X (formerly Twitter) chimed in, questioning just how real or sustainable his morning actually is.
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One person summed it up with a blunt take: “This is not life.”
Another person added: “I am a lot more impressed by the dad of 2+ kids, who meal preps on Sunday and gets to the gym 5-6 days a week while working a full-time job.
“What you showed me here is a dude with no responsibilities rubbing a banana peel on his face.
It comes as influencer Nikki Farah left people in shock after revealing that she wakes up at 3:55 am to clean her whole house and fit in two workouts before she goes to work at 8:30.
The YouTube video has garnered 9.5million views as a result.
Users raced to the video’s comments section, to share their shock at Nikki’s intense morning routine.
One person said: “I’ve gone back to bed exhausted just watching you.”
Another person said: “I would literally rather do anything than get up at 4am.
“That’s insane, that’s the middle of the night.”
A third person said: “This discipline is another level.”
Content shared from www.the-sun.com.