Where?
Starks Fitness, Bristol.
Who?
Who is Andrew Tracey?
Andrew Tracey is the founder of The Nomad Way and youarenotyourgymmembership.com. During his school years, Andy was never into anything competitive and wasn’t involved in any organised sports. At 16, he left school and took a job in a bodybuilding gym where he fell in love with health and fitness. He would work from dusk till dawn, talking to everyone he could and absorbing all the knowledge they’d pass on. He then went on to complete courses to become a PT, as he knew that was the route for him.
Background:
Andy is from a relatively small town where there was just one small commercial gym at the time and said that he was probably 1 out of 4 PTs there. He then went on to work in bigger commercial gyms in London but found himself burnt out. He stopped enjoying the fitness industry and found that as a result he didn’t want to keep learning and going to seminars. Andy then left the gym sector and started working in the events industry, something his dad had been working in for years. This career move allowed Andy to create a strong network and a good reputation, making him fortunate enough to start his own family business.
You are not your gym membership.com:
Andy says that he’ll have days where his alarm will go off at 4:30 am, he’ll travel up and down the country and either stay in a hotel or not come home until 9/10pm. For a while, he didn’t train and because he didn’t have the time, and then he got into the habit of not trying to find the time! He then thought to himself “you’re a qualified PT, you love the industry, you’re up to date with all the methods and principles, so there’s no excuse to not be adaptive!”, and this is where youarenotyourgymmembership.com came from.
People tend to see it very black and white. You either go to the gym or you don’t. But if you define your fitness to just being in the gym, you’re missing out on so much, because when you don’t go to the gym, you won’t do any fitness at all. But Andy believed there’s so much more you can do if you apply some simple principles and methods outside of the gym.
Training:
Andy programmes his workouts, but not in a “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday” style. He maps out what he wants to complete within the month and follows that instead. He doesn’t plan his rest days either but takes them when he feels they are needed. For example; Andy could be on site doing manual labor for 14 hours straight and feel that he doesn’t need or want to go to the gym. Doing it this way means that his rest days feel more natural too.
3 Best bits of equipment Andy suggests buying:
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Gymnastic Rings
You can take these anywhere and they’re extremely versatile. They’re excellent for beginners but you can also continuously progress with them.
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Bands
Bands are a quick and easy way to add resistance. They can also help with assistance, which can be really useful for someone just starting out.
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Kettlebells
A lot of people think that all you can do is swing kettlebells, but there are lots of different things you can do with them. Similarly, to the rings, there are not a lot of exercises that you can’t recreate with these.
When Andy creates his programmes, he prefers to use the phrase “overhead press”, rather than saying “machine press” or “barbell press”. This is so that you are able to interpret the movement for yourself, using the kit that you’ve already got. He says that he definitely prefers to look at it in terms of the movement and pattern rather than the actual exercises. Andy also says that “there’s no programme in the world that you can’t recreate with these 3 pieces of kit.” So there you have it, if you don’t want a gym membership, you now know what to invest in!
Want to check it out for yourself? Watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel!
