You can get in the best shape of your life at any age.
Andrew has proved this at the age of 45 training online with Ultimate Performance.
Business owner Andy’s goal is to be a better version of himself year on year – stronger, leaner, bigger and more mentally sharp than the last.
Training online with UP has helped him achieve that with an incredible 13-week transformation and build a body most guys half his age would be proud of.
Andy’s discipline and motivation working alongside his PT have produced spectacular physical results.
"The progress I've had from working with my UP trainer Chris has been unbelievable.
"Prior to joining UP, I still trained. I've trained all my life. I thought I had a good awareness of what I should be doing, but I've never had results like I've had since I've joined UP and for now I'm never going to go anywhere else.
"Every year I set new goals for myself, and we work towards those goals. I never stop learning. I'm 45 years old now, and I've never been in the shape that I'm in in my entire life, and I've trained all my life, so UP has done that for me."
It’s four years now since Andy started training with his online UP trainer and every year he sets new goals and his physique has developed, he’s pushed his boundaries and kept on learning and progressing.
Being able to access UP’s world-leading personal trainers from anywhere in the globe fits around his busy life running a successful coffee business in the North East.
Every workout is expertly programmed, his nutrition is dialled in to the gram, and his progress is constantly monitored and tracked – so he can give 100% focus to getting the maximum results possible in the gym while running his business.
It’s something that fits around his busy life and enables him to get the knowledge and advice he needs to get the body he wants.
"The benefit I have via the online training is that it enables me to get the best coaching that I can in a somewhat remote area.
"I live in the North of England with many commercial gyms but no gyms with the quality that I find that the coaches at UP have.
"If I can have UP quality coaching anywhere around the world that's fantastic for me.
Having a world-class personal trainer on hand for guidance, advice and support has proved invaluable.
No more fitness magazines, no more trawling through the internet for the right information and no more hassle programming his own training and nutrition.
Online training has set Andy up for success and given him the confidence and motivation to achieve the results he wants.
"UP has given me confidence in the gym and confidence outside of the gym to get the results that I wanted I feel a sense of achievement in my work in UP.
"I've achieved those ongoing in the process of the journey of UP, and I've loved it."
Here he explains how he made his 13-week transformation…
What motivated you to start doing online training with Ultimate Performance?
I did some research going back maybe four years now through a little bit of social media.
I did some research, saw some coaches who were getting great results, landed on UP’s website, did the homework through their website and basically the results that they were getting made me go to UP.
When I called them and spoke to UP in London at the time, I liked what I heard. I liked the mannerisms, and the honesty of the guys and it was back to back results I'd seen on the website, so I thought I'd give it a go.
I went online because I live in the North East and there were no gyms of UP-type quality in the area for me, so the best I could do was go online.
I went and visited UP, initially at the start I trained with my PT, did a session and went to online coaching from there.
How did the online training really work for you then?
It was good for me. I met the PT, had a good chat with him, the initial consultation when you join UP I had a big questionnaire that really enables the coach to understand what type of person you are, what works for you, what you like, what you don't like and then they can formulate the first programme and nutrition specific for you.
After 4-8 weeks’ worth of that, then they really start to dial in more and to what worked for me.
I started to see results. So monthly, I receive a programme for training and an update on my nutrition on a monthly basis.
I check in with him every week on a Monday. I’ll email him with what I've done over the last week, what I haven't done over the last week and my body weight and photographs so he can keep an eye on what's going on. Then he can adapt things according to that.
How important is the relationship between you and your trainer and how does that work online?
I have a good relationship with Chris, my PT, although now he's based on the other side of the world.
I've worked with him for three years now and have genuinely become quite friendly with him. It's unusual in the sense it's all down an email and we've met two or three times and trained together.
What's the standard of programming like then? With your workouts you say you get every month, are they constantly challenging?
So, I get a new programme every four weeks, sometimes six weeks depending on the results that I'm getting off the month before. It's constantly changing; it's never the same whether it's the reps or the sets I'm doing.
He's always changing things depending on what goal we're working towards. Whether I'm adding some size or whether I'm cutting weight, he'll programme accordingly.
I'm never bored with what I've got to do and it saves me having to do any research of any magazines anymore about what workouts to do and stuff like that. All my information comes from Chris at UP. I've got great results because of that.
It sounds like you already have a great knowledge and a good pedigree for training. Has it enabled you to learn more with working with the online training?
Yeah with the online training programme, anything I'm not sure about I’ll email Chris, and he'll explain it or he'll forward me to a link he recommends so I can visualise what that exercise is.
Also, I like to come down to UP maybe once or twice a year; I’ll visit Manchester or London just to work with a PT and fine tune information Chris has given me.
Basically, I never stop learning and it's made me become a lot more aware of technique and everything regarding the training aspect of body transformation.
Is it something that helps with developing discipline, knowing you've got somebody to be accountable to?
The accountability with Chris keeps me on track. I know that I need to send him photos, there’s no hiding from the camera.
I've got to send him photos once a week and, like I say, an update on what I've been doing, and that does keep me motivated and keeps me on track.
As I said, you can't hide from the camera and if I don't send him information over he will be onto me asking 'Is everything okay? Have you had a good week or a bad week? Is there a reason I've not heard from you?' It's an ongoing relationship where if I have questions for him or he has questions for me we just talk via email. We're both accountable.
What do you enjoy most about the training and about the way we do things here?
For me, the thing I enjoy the most about training with UP is that I've come to realise that they are genuinely the best in the world with what they do.
If I want to get in the best shape, then I need to go with the best in the world.
It's back to the results I've had and the results I've seen with other friends and clients that have been within the group that it's black and white what these guys are.
All the trainers that I've worked with at UP, whether it's Manchester, Chris my coach in Singapore, or visiting UP in Marbella, all have the same standard of training. It's consistently brilliant.
The techniques that they apply to get the results, I don't see anywhere else.
Tell me about the nutrition side of things then and how that works?
I receive all my nutrition from Chris on a monthly basis.
I get a breakdown of macronutrients that I should be using, and I have a good awareness of food anyway, which is fortunate, as I have a background in catering.
So I get my macros every month working towards a specific goal whether it's adding weight or cutting weight and I'm one of the few really. I do what I'm told, Chris tells me off and tells me what to do.
So this particular 12-week block of training, what was the goal coming into it?
This time when I did the 12-week transformation with Chris I went in quite heavy, quite high body fat for me, and the goal was to get down to a pretty lean condition at the end of 12 weeks, but still maintaining the size that I've been working on and gaining, because I am naturally quite a thin guy. So that was the goal this time going in.
When did you start seeing the progress and seeing the impact of what you were doing and in the gym?
So at the start of the 12 weeks, Chris changed my programming, changed my nutrition and, if I'm honest, the results initially seemed very slow, and it's always the case.
I started worrying and second-guessing, and ultimately I know it's going to come good at the end. It's very incremental the way Chris works with me. It is very incremental changes, small changes over the 12 week period.
He has the confidence and his ability to get me to where I want to go. Ultimately, it is quite a slow process at the start, even in the last week it just starts coming together to see the results I was hoping for at the beginning. So it's really for me, the hardest thing was being patient for 12 weeks and not wanting the results too quickly.
What were the results like when it all came together for the shoot? Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve?
At the end of the 12 weeks, I felt that we'd got to pretty much where I wanted to get to. It was a brilliant result. I got quite nice and lean.
I kept some of the size. That's the start of a new journey for me.
This is the start of a new journey now. I'm still enjoying the training, I still stayed in pretty much similar condition, I'm 12 weeks out of that now, and I still feel great in myself and working towards adding a little bit more size gradually and then next year maybe I do another weight cut and see where I can get to again.
Is it quite a straightforward process then? Training online and following the guidance and trusting the process and getting to where you want to be?
I think when you train online, for me, you’re training to a very specific goal, like a 12-week period. The key was trusting the PT, trusting what he says, following what he says and just having that belief in that they know what they're doing.
It is a very incremental process. It didn't happen overnight. In the last six weeks was when I started to see significant changes and even four weeks ago I was still a little unsure, but sure enough, you've just got to trust the PT’s advice.
If you do what you're told, it works. You will get to where you get to and that's my full honesty on training online.
All the information is there; the correct information is there, the food, the training, any questions you've got, everything's done for you. You just have to follow the advice, and you will get the results.
What is the benefit of online personal training? Some people have never tried it, what is the actual benefit of this?
The key benefits for the training online for me are: one; it takes out any thinking I have to do with regards to my training and my food. So I don't need to read fitness magazines and YouTube videos and all this.
There is so much information available. It just streamlines all of it. I have one source of information. I get that online; it comes every month so limitless questions can be answered over email, and that just streamlines.
For me, I'm a busy guy; I run my own business, I've other things in my personal life that I'm very busy with and for now I don't need to think about training. It just comes via email.
That's one thing less for me to think about. It just streamlines my life it takes one thing and makes it more simple.
If I follow what that email says, I’ll be where I want to be.
What do you think is the magic ingredient that makes this process so successful at delivering results?
There's no magic in what UP does other than it's consistent. The advice that I get, year in year out. It's never randomly different. There are no fashions involved. It's just good consistent advice.
When you train in the gyms themselves, I've trained with many different UP PTs, and I'm getting the same style of advice from everyone. The consistency for me is key.
Being so consistent, that does make me trust the brand. I'm going to get the results that speak for themselves.
What would you say to anyone who is on the fence about Online Training or whether they can do it, whether they have the motivation for it, whether it works?
The thing with the Online Training, if you're a busy person, and you don't live near a high-quality gym with great PTs that are showing fantastic results across the board; if you don't live in an area like that with a local gym to you achieving amazing results, I think training online with UP you will get the results that you require if you follow the advice your given.
If you don't like the advice you're given, speak to your PT and work it out with him. He'll dial into what will works for you. There's no right answer I don't believe. It'll work out what works for you, and I think Online Training will get you the results.
What are the most enjoyable things about the training and about the process really?
The most enjoyable thing about training online for me has been the results I've achieved.
It's self-rewarding. If you subscribe to UP, you follow the advice, and you will see the results and the reward. For me, that's why I do it.
Every year I'm going to be a better version I tell myself, and UP’ s helped me get there.
Do you feel on top of your game, does it keep you sharp focused and productive at work?
Yeah, I feel sharp. I'm a busy guy like most people now are busy guys. I'm 45 years old, and I don't think I could do what I do with my life if I weren't in good physical condition.
That really is down to me and my PT giving me the right advice. With that relationship between the two of us, I've got myself in the best condition I've ever been in.
I think that does help me in everyday life whether it's walking my dogs, running a business and it helps.
Some people maybe do need someone to shout and stand over them, and it depends on how much you want the results. If you want it enough, you will follow the advice. If you don't want the result, then that's half a result.
What are the most profound or powerful things you've learnt along this journey whether it's about training or nutrition about yourself?
Certainly, with the online training with UP, my technique in the gym has changed measurably. I thought I could do a bench press; I thought I could do a lat pulldown. Ultimately when you work with UP, they show you how to do it correctly.
Also on the food side of things, I did have what I believe to have a fairly healthy diet before I came to UP. I wasn't in the physical condition that I am now.
UP has just fine tuned my food and tweaked it and educated me on macronutrients and what you should and shouldn't eat and to get it good body composition which was my goal.
I think if you want something enough, if you want the results and follow the advice, then you will get them.
