Andy Jackson

About

I have always had a passion for sport and exercise, and have played football, water polo and table tennis at club level. At age 17 I began fitness training with a small set of weights and over a couple years had a small gym set-up at home.

Training at home perhaps hindered any initial progress as I wasn’t too sure what to do. However, it made me hungry for information and I spent many, many hours reading everything from fitness magazines to sports journals to discover the best way to workout. Not having the influences of current trainers/enthusiasts at a gym meant I could trial and error my own interpretation of my readings and formulate my own theories on correct exercise practice.

Not long after my 19th birthday I decided to watch the local bodybuilding contest, the Mr Plymouth. Immediately I wanted to compete and set about training for the contest the following year, focusing on winning the junior (u21) category. That year I not only refined my training practices but spent much time learning about nutrition and again discovering a system or combination that worked best. I entered the contest aged 20 and won the junior category with unanimous votes from all judges. I also entered the men’s category and won that, giving me the title of Mr Plymouth 2005. I believe my success was due a refinement and understanding of adaptation to exercise.

At this time, I was working in a fitness equipment showroom and gave advice to customers on ways to get the most from their new exercise machine. My time at the showroom gave me insight into the fitness market and all the specialty and niche training products. While working here I also worked part time on a gym reception. I was amazed at how confused people were on the subject of training. I was also amazed by the number of “know it alls” who to me seemed to be training oddly or wrongly. I gave advice to those who asked and was rewarded when weeks later they came back happy at the progress they had made. After some time I seemed to be the “go-to” man for advice on training and diet, and as I loved the subject so much I was happy to deliver.

With this experience and reward I felt from helping people train, I decided to obtain my personal training qualification. Since then I have trained over 100 clients. I am passionate about training and exercise, and continue to research, ever refining the best way to workout…