Andres Fitness - Personal Trainer

When push comes to shove, so many of us have excuses.

I’ve been there and done that myself, be it to lose weight, make a change at work or take a leap of faith somewhere.

The idea of becoming a millionaire is appealing to all, but when people find out just how much work has to be put in in order to achieve it, they become demoralised and back out, into old ways.

The same happens with a body transformation.

If you asked every single person you know if they’d like to change something realistic about their appearance (weight loss or muscle gain), everyone would point to something. If they say no, they’re lying. But how many people are actually willing to act on it?

It means you’d have to change the Friday habit of beer down the pub, Saturday habit of takeaway, and Sunday habit of monging out on the sofa.

That all sounds like hard work, doesn’t it?

To quote the legendary Uncle Ron - “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.”

The same theory applies to everything you want to achieve. You can’t achieve it if you’re not willing to work for it.

When push comes to shove, so many of us have excuses.

I’ve been there and done that myself, be it to lose weight, make a change at work or take a leap of faith somewhere.

The idea of becoming a millionaire is appealing to all, but when people find out just how much work has to be put in in order to achieve it, they become demoralised and back out, into old ways.

The same happens with a body transformation.

If you asked every single person you know if they’d like to change something realistic about their appearance (weight loss or muscle gain), everyone would point to something. If they say no, they’re lying. But how many people are actually willing to act on it?

It means you’d have to change the Friday habit of beer down the pub, Saturday habit of takeaway, and Sunday habit of monging out on the sofa.

That all sounds like hard work, doesn’t it?

To quote the legendary Uncle Ron - “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.”

The same theory applies to everything you want to achieve. You can’t achieve it if you’re not willing to work for it.

Who burns more calories? Someone overweight or someone of healthy weight, both during exercise and at rest?

A question that was asked by one of my clients.

Overweight people actually tend to have higher metabolic rates than those of average weight.

If you set fire to a garden shed and a house simultaneously, the house will burn with a lot more heat and fire, because it has more contents.

Rough analogy but it kind of works.

The body of someone who is overweight will have to work harder when exercising than that of someone lighter and smaller. Imagine training with a backpack weighing an extra 10, 20 or 30kg. That workout is going to become a lot tougher isn’t it? Well, when someone carries that amount of body fat in excess, their workout is going to become a lot harder also, because they’re having to carry that with them.

And at rest it’ no different because a larger body requires more calories simply to maintain itself and survive.

The bigger you are, the higher your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) actually is. These are the calories you burn simply in survival (heart beating, breathing and organ and tissue health).

However if you have two people of the same weight, both say 80kg but one is a muscular 80kg and the other is an overweight 80kg, then the person with more muscle mass will be burning more calories both at rest and when exercising, as muscle requires more calories to maintain than body fat, this is why I promote muscle gain, because it’s a hack to burning more calories idling and working.

Picture above is me at the same bodyweight of 80kg.

2012 & 2014

Who burns more calories? Someone overweight or someone of healthy weight, both during exercise and at rest?

A question that was asked by one of my clients.

Overweight people actually tend to have higher metabolic rates than those of average weight.

If you set fire to a garden shed and a house simultaneously, the house will burn with a lot more heat and fire, because it has more contents.

Rough analogy but it kind of works.

The body of someone who is overweight will have to work harder when exercising than that of someone lighter and smaller. Imagine training with a backpack weighing an extra 10, 20 or 30kg. That workout is going to become a lot tougher isn’t it? Well, when someone carries that amount of body fat in excess, their workout is going to become a lot harder also, because they’re having to carry that with them.

And at rest it’ no different because a larger body requires more calories simply to maintain itself and survive.

The bigger you are, the higher your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) actually is. These are the calories you burn simply in survival (heart beating, breathing and organ and tissue health).

However if you have two people of the same weight, both say 80kg but one is a muscular 80kg and the other is an overweight 80kg, then the person with more muscle mass will be burning more calories both at rest and when exercising, as muscle requires more calories to maintain than body fat, this is why I promote muscle gain, because it’s a hack to burning more calories idling and working.

Picture above is me at the same bodyweight of 80kg.

2012 & 2014

5 things I wish I knew when I first made the choice to be fit and healthy;

1. Changes occur when you pay attention to things outside of the gym. Step count, takeaway frequency, food logging, active lifestyle, alcohol consumption, late nights, etc.

2. If you skip mastering the basics, you’ll struggle to progress with your training. A 400Kg leg press isn’t impressive when you’re half repping your squats.

3. The best supplements are anabolic steroids. Stop wasting money on supplements other than whey protein, vitamin D, fish oil, magnesium and a multivitamin.

4. The majority of “scary” people in the gym are too lost in their own eyes on the mirror, don’t let them make you feel insecure.

5. Education and knowledge is what put me off trying many things, so, if you want to do something, speak to the right people and learn (ie: a PT)

Pic of the early days 😂

5 things I wish I knew when I first made the choice to be fit and healthy;

1. Changes occur when you pay attention to things outside of the gym. Step count, takeaway frequency, food logging, active lifestyle, alcohol consumption, late nights, etc.

2. If you skip mastering the basics, you’ll struggle to progress with your training. A 400Kg leg press isn’t impressive when you’re half repping your squats.

3. The best supplements are anabolic steroids. Stop wasting money on supplements other than whey protein, vitamin D, fish oil, magnesium and a multivitamin.

4. The majority of “scary” people in the gym are too lost in their own eyes on the mirror, don’t let them make you feel insecure.

5. Education and knowledge is what put me off trying many things, so, if you want to do something, speak to the right people and learn (ie: a PT)

Pic of the early days 😂

There’s a reason why coaching is such a rewarding job, and it’s because of days like today where I received a notification from Alice’s app that she’s accomplished a goal she first came to me with.

Alice came to me in October 2020 with one main goal, to lose body fat.

She came to me having already lost 16kg over the earlier part of 2020.

When we started working together she was at 100kg, and I knew that for her to hit her target it really would be a life changing journey.

Over the next 12 months we worked together in a manner in which she found sustainable, with of course periods of ups and downs, like life likes to throw at us.

She lost a further 17kg in the 12 months I’ve known her but her big change hasn’t come from just her appearance. She’s become tenfold more confident in herself, wearing clothes she wouldn’t have even considered before and by taking more chances in life such as better career opportunities and participating in sporting events. ��This is what happens when someone adopts a positive attitude and a can do approach.

I’m so proud of you Alice, you’ve flipped your life 180 degrees towards a much happier, healthier, confident and rewarding future.

Share this post and tag your friend to win you both a spot on the course.

Winners revealed this coming Friday.

How❓

- Like it ❤️
- Share it ▶️
- Tag the friend you’d like to participate with in the comments.

Unlimited entries per person so get tagging!

❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️

PRO6RESS starts in one week and for many past entrants it was a great investment to make.

1️⃣You’ll LEARN how to manage your calories and NEVER have that feeling of being on a diet again.

2️⃣ You’ll LEARN how to break through plateaus, how to always progress by making simple changes.

3️⃣ Exercise library with video explanations for every exercise. The AndresFitness app will help guide your workouts.

4️⃣ I want you to ENJOY and look forward to being active, so there’s fun and varied challenges to be done. Forget hours and hours of exercises every day. No one wants to train daily for hours on end.

5️⃣ Twice weekly group check-ins where all questions answered live.

6️⃣ Private Facebook group where we can share support and I’ll also be documenting my very own 6 weeks of participating.

7️⃣ Incredibly affordable coaching. 6 weeks of group coaching for the cost of just a few hours PT.

8️⃣ You can take part from anywhere in the world, you do not have to be a member of any gym even!

Link is in my bio for you to sign up!

Share this post and tag your friend to win you both a spot on the course.

Winners revealed this coming Friday.

How❓

- Like it ❤️
- Share it ▶️
- Tag the friend you’d like to participate with in the comments.

Unlimited entries per person so get tagging!

❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️

PRO6RESS starts in one week and for many past entrants it was a great investment to make.

1️⃣You’ll LEARN how to manage your calories and NEVER have that feeling of being on a diet again.

2️⃣ You’ll LEARN how to break through plateaus, how to always progress by making simple changes.

3️⃣ Exercise library with video explanations for every exercise. The AndresFitness app will help guide your workouts.

4️⃣ I want you to ENJOY and look forward to being active, so there’s fun and varied challenges to be done. Forget hours and hours of exercises every day. No one wants to train daily for hours on end.

5️⃣ Twice weekly group check-ins where all questions answered live.

6️⃣ Private Facebook group where we can share support and I’ll also be documenting my very own 6 weeks of participating.

7️⃣ Incredibly affordable coaching. 6 weeks of group coaching for the cost of just a few hours PT.

8️⃣ You can take part from anywhere in the world, you do not have to be a member of any gym even!

Link is in my bio for you to sign up!

In less than 2 weeks there’s the final PRO6RESS course before 2021 closes.

Guilty are those who miss out on a last hoorah before the year end.

Sing up, the link is in my bio (and there’s only 5 spaces left!)

The self inflicted wounds caused by the everyday people who make random social media users “influencers”.

You like their content, comment “oh boo look at’chu” and share their posts.

You then compare every aspect of your life to theirs and feel fat, ugly and poor when you see their best angle on a beach in Dubai.

I’ll never under the praising and making of people who doesn’t contribute anything useful.

I understand there’s a niche for everyone and everything, but at almost 31 years of age I can see through most of the forgery that some people have nailed to a T.

The world needs people that stand out of course, that’s how humanity progresses, but we really don’t need any more dancing millennials turned into celebrities.

Analyse who you’re following (surrounding yourself by). What positives are they actually contributing to your life?

Andres.

The self inflicted wounds caused by the everyday people who make random social media users “influencers”.

You like their content, comment “oh boo look at’chu” and share their posts.

You then compare every aspect of your life to theirs and feel fat, ugly and poor when you see their best angle on a beach in Dubai.

I’ll never under the praising and making of people who doesn’t contribute anything useful.

I understand there’s a niche for everyone and everything, but at almost 31 years of age I can see through most of the forgery that some people have nailed to a T.

The world needs people that stand out of course, that’s how humanity progresses, but we really don’t need any more dancing millennials turned into celebrities.

Analyse who you’re following (surrounding yourself by). What positives are they actually contributing to your life?

Andres.

Stop using this grip when deadlifting.

You’ve seen others use alternate grip, so decided to use it yourself.

Stop doing it.

It causes imbalances in your biceps, upper back and shoulders.

When you use alternate grip, it forces the shoulder joint on the supinated side (Palms up or out) to sit forward compared to the other side.

It forces the body to rotate towards the opposite side of the alternate grip.

It puts extra tension on the bicep tendon of the side that’s supinated (as the bicep tendon wraps around the lower arm when you perform the supinating action).

It forces the shoulder blade of that side to not retract as with the same symmetry and strength as the side using regular grip.

Unless you are a competitive powerlifter, stop using alternate grip (I know some powerlifters will back that up too).

If you struggle with grip, use straps.

Ultimately your legs will always be stronger than your forearms, so what do want. Strong legs or strong forearms?

If you can only deadlift 60kg because you’re limited by grip (alternate or not), your legs won’t ever get stronger.

So use straps when grip becomes an issue. Same applies to any pulling movement. Pull-ups, dumbbell rows, stiff leg deadlifts, etc.

I know some will share this post with their mates or PT’s and say “He’s saying to do the opposite of what you’ve told me to do”.

Yes, I am.

Coach Andres

Stop using this grip when deadlifting.

You’ve seen others use alternate grip, so decided to use it yourself.

Stop doing it.

It causes imbalances in your biceps, upper back and shoulders.

When you use alternate grip, it forces the shoulder joint on the supinated side (Palms up or out) to sit forward compared to the other side.

It forces the body to rotate towards the opposite side of the alternate grip.

It puts extra tension on the bicep tendon of the side that’s supinated (as the bicep tendon wraps around the lower arm when you perform the supinating action).

It forces the shoulder blade of that side to not retract as with the same symmetry and strength as the side using regular grip.

Unless you are a competitive powerlifter, stop using alternate grip (I know some powerlifters will back that up too).

If you struggle with grip, use straps.

Ultimately your legs will always be stronger than your forearms, so what do want. Strong legs or strong forearms?

If you can only deadlift 60kg because you’re limited by grip (alternate or not), your legs won’t ever get stronger.

So use straps when grip becomes an issue. Same applies to any pulling movement. Pull-ups, dumbbell rows, stiff leg deadlifts, etc.

I know some will share this post with their mates or PT’s and say “He’s saying to do the opposite of what you’ve told me to do”.

Yes, I am.

Coach Andres

2 paths. To the left you’ve got an active lifestyle, harder work but more rewarding, a habit that added up multiple times over the course of the day it makes a difference.

It’s called having high NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), a word that means you can tick the “active lifestyle” checkbox on questionnaires.

The word simply means that as often as you can, you keep the body burning calories by moving everyday in a manner that doesn’t involve you actually exercising. Be it walking to work, getting up regularly from your desk job to the printer or water cooler, taking the stairs instead of the escalator or lift, washing your car yourself instead of paying a tenner for someone else to do it, walking to the shops rather than driving, or parking at the other end of the car park if you did drive. All those extra steps count, and even sh****ng more often, that’s included in NEAT (although if you’re a 60 second bad boi then you won’t be burning much.....)

Don’t be lazy. Keep the wheels turning, always.

2 paths. To the left you’ve got an active lifestyle, harder work but more rewarding, a habit that added up multiple times over the course of the day it makes a difference.

It’s called having high NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), a word that means you can tick the “active lifestyle” checkbox on questionnaires.

The word simply means that as often as you can, you keep the body burning calories by moving everyday in a manner that doesn’t involve you actually exercising. Be it walking to work, getting up regularly from your desk job to the printer or water cooler, taking the stairs instead of the escalator or lift, washing your car yourself instead of paying a tenner for someone else to do it, walking to the shops rather than driving, or parking at the other end of the car park if you did drive. All those extra steps count, and even sh****ng more often, that’s included in NEAT (although if you’re a 60 second bad boi then you won’t be burning much.....)

Don’t be lazy. Keep the wheels turning, always.