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The latest blog posts, fitness news and events from Andy Vincent PT.

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

3 Tips For Engaging Your Core

One bit of insider info that isn’t often shared on social media is that if you learn how to breathe and brace, you will be automatically training your “core”.

May 4, 2023 No Comments

Master the Basics – Hitting Your Daily Protein Target

Protein has been a hot topic for the last few years, so much so that every food company under the sun now labels products as “high protein”.

May 1, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

Is Too Much Cardio Stopping You From Adding Muscle?

When it comes to cardio causing issues with building muscle, coaches often refer to something called the interference effect as the reason, due to certain situations where cardio causes problems with the pathways involved in recovery.

April 27, 2023 No Comments

Master the Basics – Building Your Strength Training Sessions

Organising your week is up to you and will be based on the number of sessions you can do and how vital strength training is to you.

April 24, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

How to Overcome A Plateau In Strength Training

An uncomfortable truth might be that you have been too impatient in your journey, adding load to the bar and not focussing on ensuring you have mastered every incremental load increase that came before this top weight.

April 20, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

What Are The Best Exercises To Improve Posture?

I wish it were as simple as just listing a few exercises to fix any perceived issue with posture but you have to appreciate the complexity of posture.

April 13, 2023 No Comments

Master the Basics – Breathing & Bracing

One piece of insider info that isn’t often shared is that if you learn how to breathe and brace, you will automatically train your “core”.

April 10, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

Does Progressive Overload Mean You Have To Be Hitting Personal Best To Improve?

It’s a fairly complex question to answer in short form, but here are some of the most common reasons.

April 6, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

Why Are My Hips Shifting When Squatting?

It’s a fairly complex question to answer in short form, but here are some of the most common reasons.

March 30, 2023 No Comments

Master the Basics – Align Your Diet With Your Training

The classic “I train so I can eat what I want” sentiment can only get you fa, so I want to come at this from a slightly different angle.

March 27, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

Does Exercise Order Matter?

When performing strength training, in my opinion, YES, it does.

March 23, 2023 No Comments

Andy Vincent Personal Trainer Online

When Should Supersets Be Avoided?

Exercising pairings are common and a smart way to organise your workout. But, I constantly see poorly paired exercises being performed in the gym.

March 16, 2023 No Comments

Categories

NEWSLETTER

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We do not have all the time in the world, so somet

We do not have all the time in the world, so sometimes you might need to do your cardio and strength training in the same session. What you need to ensure is that your body is properly fuelled to deal with these demands.

In this week's episode of The Smart Strength Training Podcast, I am answering the question: Does Cardio Affect Your Ability To Gain Muscle?

🎧 Subscribe and Listen wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Or watch the episode on my YouTube Channel

#AndyVincentPT #SmarterStrengthTraining #trainsmart #podcast #fitnesspodcast #strengthtrainingpodcast #avpt #onlinepersonaltraining #Cardio #fitnessmyths

Enhance Your Fitness Journey: Personalised Online

Enhance Your Fitness Journey: Personalised Online Training

As we move forward in the year, I will be taking on a limited number of new clients every month for my bespoke online personal training program. If you’re looking for a tailored approach to fitness designed around your needs, let’s connect.

🌟 What to Expect:
- Personalised Movement and Mobility Screening - a comprehensive assessment to ensure your mobility, strength and conditioning program are designed specifically for you.
- Bespoke Program: Are you training one day at home and three days in the gym? Do you want to do your first pull-up or push-up and need a program designed to meet you where you are and progress you forward as you get stronger?
- Nutrition Coaching Tailored Around You—Nutrition is more than calories and macro percentages. Nutrition coaching needs to be tailored to you to ensure that nutrition becomes a pillar of your success.
- Continued Education: Insights and knowledge-sharing sessions will empower you with a deeper understanding of training and enable you to maximise your results and understanding.

💡 Join me in this focused and personalised approach to fitness

💪🏼 Link in my bio to apply online, or drop me a DM for more details.

#smarterstrengthtrainingcommunity #AVPT #AndyVincentPT #strengthtrainingforwomen #womensstrengthtraining #girlsgonestrong #womensstrength #weightliftingwomen #thisgirlcan #functionaltraining #onlinecoaching #onlinefitness #movementmatters #strengthandconditioning #Workoutmotivation #getstrong

Watch as I show you how to Warm Up your Lower Body

Watch as I show you how to Warm Up your Lower Body in 5 to 7 minutes to get ready for any gym session. Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful and if you want to see an Upper Body Warm Up plan.

#StrengthTraining
#SmartTraining
#ProgressiveOverload
#WorkoutWisdom
#WarmUpRoutine
#FitnessGoals
#StrengthCoachTips
#WarmUp
#buildstrength

In this week's episode of The Smart Strength Train

In this week's episode of The Smart Strength Training Podcast, I am answering: Does Cardio Affect Your Ability To Gain Muscle?

Listen to a snippet where I talk about how all cardio is not created equal.

🎧 Subscribe and Listen wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Or watch the episode on my YouTube Channel

#AndyVincentPT #SmarterStrengthTraining #trainsmart #podcast #fitnesspodcast #strengthtrainingpodcast #avpt #onlinepersonaltraining #Cardio #fitnessmyths

Your ability to recover from training, specificall

Your ability to recover from training, specifically hard/progressive training, is crucial.

When we train we push the body beyond its current physical capability, then we adapt to that training bout. We adapt through recovery. So without sufficient recovery, training only gets you 50% of the way there.

How to recognize the signs:

1. Persistent Fatigue: Feeling unusually tired all the time, despite getting adequate sleep, can be a sign of under-recovery.

2. Elevated Resting Heart Rate: An increased resting heart rate in the mornings can indicate that the body is stressed and struggling to recover.

3. Poor Sleep Quality: Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, despite feeling tired, can be a symptom of being under-recovered.

4. Mood Changes: Increased irritability, depression, or lack of motivation can all be signs of insufficient recovery.

5. Decreased Performance: A noticeable decline in performance during workouts, such as reduced strength, slower reaction times, or decreased endurance. It’s key to log and know your metrics so you can measure this.

6. Increased Muscle Soreness: Prolonged muscle soreness that lasts for several days post-exercise may indicate inadequate recovery.

7. Frequent Illnesses: If you’re getting sick more often, it might be due to a compromised immune system from not recovering properly.

8. Appetite Changes: Under-recovery can also lead to changes in appetite, either increased or decreased, which can affect nutritional intake and further impact recovery.

One of the challenges is some of these issues will overlap with life as a whole, being a parent, work stress, etc. So trying to recognize these signs can be tricky, but it’s important to pay attention to how you feel and not to try and mask fatigue with caffeine, soreness with ice baths and therapy guns, etc.

The world of 2024 fitness often promotes tech and recovery aids instead of focussing on adjusting training and sufficient nutrition - too often people are under-fueling with the aim to lose weight while training hard. Which is why it’s so important to focus on training for performance so you can see the signs that you might be under recovered

😱 CARBS 😱 The big scary carbohydrate, here t

😱 CARBS 😱 The big scary carbohydrate, here to ruin your diet and make you gain weight.

It's time to separate the facts from the fiction, such as why you should not be cutting a whole food group out of your diet and why we need carbs. Swipe through and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

#trainsmart #strengthtraining #womenthatlift #AVPT #StrengthTraining #FitnessGoals #carbs #nutrition

Guilt 🤝 Dieting Why do these things keep getti

Guilt 🤝 Dieting

Why do these things keep getting put together?

My latest episode of the Smarter Strength Training Podcast discusses how to lose weight without tracking, how to maintain weight loss, and, more importantly, how good habits with low-hanging fruit could be the key to starting to make impactful changes.

🎧 Subscribe and Listen wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Or watch the episode on my YouTube Channel

#AndyVincentPT #SmarterStrengthTraining #trainsmart #podcast #fitnesspodcast #strengthtrainingpodcast #avpt #onlinepersonaltraining #dietculture #diets

When you encounter a workout prescription of 4 set

When you encounter a workout prescription of 4 sets of 4 reps, how do you load each set?

A common misconception is to interpret this as 4 sets at your 4-rep maximum. While not inherently incorrect, this approach is exceptionally demanding and, from a strategic standpoint, questionable.

If your goal is to enhance strength, it’s unnecessary—and arguably unwise—to lift your maximum weight across all four sets. Such an approach limits your potential for progression, leading primarily to excessive fatigue rather than the desired outcome: progressive overload.

A more intelligent strategy involves gradually increasing your load. Begin with lighter weights in sets 1 to 3, ramping the weight up a bit each set while reserving the final set for your maximal effort. This methodology not only safeguards your technique but also increases the likelihood of consistently lifting heavier weights.

Alternatively, as in the example here: I perform two sets at approximately 75% of my max, concentrating on speed. Then, I proceed with two “heavy working sets,” incrementally increasing the weight so that only the final set reaches the peak load.

To complement this, I include a single “back off” set performed at a lighter weight for higher reps. This serves to build endurance and capacity, offering the dual benefits of mental challenge and physical “pump.”

Over a decade of discussions with fellow coaches has yet to reveal a compelling argument for performing all sets at maximum load for improved strength. Therefore, this post aims to broaden your perspective on low-rep training, providing alternatives that balance intensity with smart, sustainable progress.

#StrengthTraining
#SmartTraining
#ProgressiveOverload
#WorkoutWisdom
#MaxEffort
#LiftingStrategy
#FitnessGoals
#StrengthCoachTips
#GymScience
#buildstrength

Are You Lifting Heavy Enough? 💪🏋️ When pe

Are You Lifting Heavy Enough? 💪🏋️

When performing unilateral or split stance lower body exercises, people are often, and quite rightly, cautious not to push themselves too hard. However, as you apply the rule of progressive overload over time and consistently practice the exercise, you should become more skilled at the task and more capable of managing the force. 📈

This progression will naturally lead to a point where you can push the movement extremely hard.

Exercises like:

1️⃣Split Squat
2️⃣Bulgarian Split Squat
3️⃣Split Stance RDLs
4️⃣Split Stance Hip Thrust

are the ones I specifically expect people to be able to handle heavy loads with. They are much more stable than unilateral movements. And because of this stability, you’ll likely physically and mentally need a break before switching legs. 🦵🔄

Of course, if you’ve had a specific injury at a joint the movement loads through, I’m not advocating for reckless loading. ⚠️

But, on average, I don’t see nearly enough people in the gym pushing these types of movements hard enough.

I expect some comments about how "if you're super fit, you won't need to rest" - but that wont be enough, if you can automatically switch, you're still not pushing hard enough for the goal of strength or increasing muscle. Certainly, a fit person can manage their heart rate better, but that’s not the only thing you’re trying to recover from between sets. Split squats are notoriously taxing because the neuromuscular demands are huge. When taken to the point you don’t have a single rep left in the tank, it won’t matter how fit you are. You will need a moment to psych yourself up to go again. 💥

Takeaway: If you have good experience with split stance and unilateral exercises, don’t be afraid to go a bit heavier and embrace the challenge of taking these close to failure. 💯

#FitnessJourney
#StrengthTraining
#ProgressiveOverload
#SplitSquats
#HeavyLifting
#GymMotivation
#LegDay
#PersonalTraining
#FitnessGoals
#WorkoutTips
#StrengthAndConditioning
#MuscleBuilding
#GymLife
#HealthAndFitness

I had a direct message about this topic, specifica

I had a direct message about this topic, specifically asking whether they should reduce rest periods, increase their reps or sets, or do more exercises in a session.

The answer is a resounding “No!”

It’s essential to understand that some cardio sessions, like VO2 Max, Sprint Intervals, and Met-Cons, will inherently feel very different from strength training sessions.

Do not fall into the trap of believing that ending a session in a puddle of sweat signifies a successful workout. Yes, some sessions per week can focus on conditioning and capacity, but this should differ from the goal of your strength sessions.

What’s Your Goal With Lifting Weights?

The objective is to build muscle and get stronger, right? For this, leaving the gym utterly exhausted isn’t the objective.

During weightlifting, your focus should be on progression with load or volume. This means having sufficient rest to maintain or even improve your output level for the next set. If you can’t match or exceed your previous set’s performance, you likely need to recover adequately between sets, which can impede your progress.

Turning weight training into cardio sessions has been popular for a while but needs to be revised. While Weight Training Intervals (WTI) can benefit those already strong and muscular, they are ineffective at building strength or muscle mass.

However, integrating WTIs at the end of your sessions is an option, provided most of your lifting is gradual, methodical, and progressive.

Consider structuring your week like this:

Day 1️⃣: 5k run - a timed, hard run. #sweatymess

Day 2️⃣: Full-body lifting, leaving you feeling fantastic and pumped after hitting some personal bests.

Day 3️⃣: 60-minute Zone 2 cycle - slightly sweaty but overall energised.

Day 4️⃣: Full-body lifting with a 10-minute WTI - your session is primarily gradual and structured, with the WTI added for that hard training feeling.

Day 5️⃣: Yoga and mobility.

Incorporating different modalities throughout the week ensures a well-rounded program that avoids burnout and facilitates consistent progress.

A lot of people need this mindset shift within their training.

Everyone is out here trying to lose weight, but wh

Everyone is out here trying to lose weight, but why is no one talking about maintaining that weight loss? In this week's episode of the Smarter Strength Training Podcast, I will discuss how to lose weight, maintain that weight loss, and not let fear mongers get you down.

🎧 Subscribe and Listen wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Or watch the episode on my YouTube Channel

#AndyVincentPT #SmarterStrengthTraining #trainsmart #podcast #fitnesspodcast #strengthtrainingpodcast #avpt #onlinepersonaltraining #dietculture #diets

Overtraining? As much as it’s possible to trai

Overtraining?

As much as it’s possible to train and recover fully with 6x per week. The question is: is it necessarily or optimal?

If you love to train, know how to program to optimise your workouts then crack on.

Just remember more isn’t always better?