The Gym Advisors Podcast

Andy is joined by Ellen Johnston, an incredibly bright young Personal Trainer who is going about her work the right way and already changing lives.   Get matched with your ideal Personal Trainer or Online Coach in as little as 24 hours: https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/matchme   Spotify playlist: CLICK HERE

A fascinating conversation with Julianne Mead about how she helps new and yet to be mothers feel supported in their fight to regain a sense of self through community and support. - Get matched with your ideal Personal Trainer or Online Coach in as little as 24 hours: https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/matchme - Spotify playlist: CLICK HERE

Andy is joined by Meg Brady to discuss her own fitness journey, from being mistaken for sharing her rally suit with her father to struggling with nutrition to eventually falling in love with healthy fitness so much that she turned it into her career.   Find out more about Meg: https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/megbradycoaching

We announce another incredible partner for members of thegymadvisors.ie with the addition of Lifting The Numbers aka Orna Daly, a virtual assistant and all-round admin/excel guru.   Orna walks us through what a Virtual Assistant does, as well as letting us in on the secret that is the one thing you *have* to track in order to have a successful business.   IG: @liftingthenumbers

Lesley Bratty of Serenity Yoga Newtownards recently wrote an article titled Physical Inclusivity in Yoga for The Gym Advisors Blog that you can read (in just 7 minutes) HERE   In this episode we dive deeper into some areas of that blog, expand on some others, and go off on tangents, some relevant and some not so relevant.   Lesley's profile: https://bit.ly/36ofBW7

**BONUS EPISODE**   A quick update on where we are with our own podcast and then we give you the chance to listen to the first episode of our very own Kelly Casey's podcast - Nothing Stays the Same.   Kelly's profile on The Gym Advisors: www.thegymadvisors.ie/kellyfitanddance    Full series: https://spoti.fi/3gxw2RN 

We kick off 2022 with a vehemently anti-new year, new me leisurely conversation with the incredible Dale Murphy Butler.   Since his last appearance on the podcast Dale has hopped aboard with the Wexford GAA set up and, in this chat, he gives us an insightful look at what's involved in putting your team in the right position to succeed from a strength and conditioning perspective. Spoiler – it's not just about the strength and conditioning.   We also discuss the current state of the industry as well as adding 3 more bangers to The Gym Advisors playlist on Spotify.   Dale's profile: https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/sprinterfitness/

We're ending the year with a bang with this chat between Andy and Mark Nealon, which was recorded in person a couple of weeks ago.   The bulk of the conversation is about how and why Mark decided to open his own facility in the midst of a pandemic, the roadblocks he hit, and how he overcame them, as well as highlighting some red flags to be aware of when seeking out help with an injury, something Mark has extensive experience with.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/mnpt www.thegymadvisors.ie/mnptgym  

Catherine Ryan is a fitness fanatic and the founder of Ryan Marketing Solutions. In this episode she expands on this ARTICLE she wrote over on The Gym Advisors blog to bring great clarity to the murky world of fitness marketing.   Members of The Gym Advisors got exclusive early access to this podcast over on our COMMUNITY. If you are someone who works in the fitness industry you can become a member of The Gym Advisors by clicking HERE.   www.ryanmarketingsolutions.ie www.thegymadvisors.ie/partners

Frederico Lopes grew up in the Azores and has an incredibly intriguing fitness story.   From finding kickboxing "by accident" to being featured in Men's Health Magazine to trying to create a friendlier and healthier fitness industry after moving careers from his time as a member of cabin crew. And he's only just begun.

Andy is joined by not one, but two incredible guests today as Kate Maher and Adam McCarthy of Nebula Coaching take us on a deep dive of Online Coaching, how it's changed due to the pandemic, how it can potentially be seen as a progression from one-to-one training for both the client AND the coach, and the skills necessary to be a successful Online Coach.   We also add three more tunes to our Spotify playlist and hear a little about our incredible update, including our all new community for Fitness Professionals.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/nebulacoaching

Andy is joined by Gary Austin to chat about ways to stay active outside of the gym and how finding non-gym activities can actually help support your fitness goals.   We add three more bangers to our spotify playlist and get the lowdown from Gary on gym etiquette.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie   https://wwwthegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness    

Andy is joined by Orlaith O'Brien to discuss her life with celiac's disease, how it affects her daily life, nutrition and even her career. We discuss what you should be looking out for if you think you might have celiac's disease and why going gluten free might backfire if you don't need to.

Maeve Donohue joins the podcast to discuss her own fitness journey and why she made the decision to change career to help people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s discover the joys of health and fitness.   We also discuss exercise during and after the menopause, avoiding yo-yo dieting and of course Maeve adds three bangers to our spotify playlist.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness/  

Chris Sheridan joins the podcast to tell us why he thinks the weighing scales are demonised and how they can be used in a healthy way to aid whatever your goal is.   The chat also touches on Chris' fitness journey, how he thinks the content we consume shapes our thoughts, and of course he adds 3 tunes to our Spotify playlist!

Shane O'Grady joins Andy to chat about why less is sometimes more when it comes to achieving your health and fitness goals and how holding back can get you where you want to go quicker than going all out.   Shane also chats about how he combines online coaching with life on the gym floor, why he's not a pushy salesman, and what new clients can expect when they begin to work with him.   We also add another three bangers to our spotify playlist.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/ogradycoaching   www.thegymadvisors.ie   www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

Andy is joined by Jay Vicente, a recent transplant to Limerick from London, who says he was saved by the gym.   Listen to find out how Jay loved competing and losing in his school sports days, how he found fitness, and why his passion is now helping others get the same “buzz” from training and eating well.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/hyper-endurance-fitness   Find a Gym or FitPro near you: www.thegymadvisors.ie   Find an online coach or class: www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

Andy is joined by Ali Murphy to chat about anxiety and the affect exercise and fitness can have on it.   Ali had tried all the fads, followed all the social media fitness influencers and found her anxiety was much worse than when she had started trying to get fit.   Hear how she woke up one morning and said "Enough is enough" and turned her life around.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/alifit   Find a Gym or FitPro near you: www.thegymadvisors.ie   Find an online coach or class: www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness  

We've (somehow!) made it to episode #75 and to celebrate we're tackling one of the most popular topics with Sean Fitzgerald who works exclusively as an online coach.   Sean brings a bucketload of knowledge and experience working with all kinds of people who are looking to reduce their body fat, making him the perfect person to answer Andy's questions and tackle the language we use around fat loss.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/adaptivehealth   Watch on YouTube, search The Gym Advisors

Sharon Williamson joins the pod to chat all things Strongwoman training and competitions. As a society and as an industry we believe that we need to move away from goals that are solely weight based and move towards training and activity that generate performance goals instead.   Strongwoman is the perfect starting point and Sharon is the perfect guest to help us take a dive into the sport by bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience as well as having the craic along the way.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/swcoaching

After a week off from the podcast Andy is joined by Luke Walsh, owner of Prime Performance Dublin.   Luke is now putting his successful martial arts career on pause to dedicate himself to running his own gym at the ripe old age of 23. With wisdom beyond his years, an uncanny ability to get his knowledge across in conversation, and a refreshing view of the industry this episode with Luke is a must-listen.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/primeperformance   www.thegymadvisors.ie/primeperformanceluke

On the week he became a father Andy is joined by the incredible Gemma O'Hare to talk about pilates, the importance of individualising plans and classes, how to track progress during your fitness journey, and much much more. www.thegymadvisors.ie/gemmaohare www.thegymadvisors.ie www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

Cathy Grant joins Andy to discuss her impressive sporting background, how activity and sport have helped with her anxious tendencies and how she has ensured, even with an incredibly busy lifestyle, that activity is kept at the forefront of her life.   We then make sure to utilise Cathy's knowledge and experience by drawing up a blueprint for introducing movement and activity into our lives sustainably.   As always, we also added three more bangers to The Gym Advisors Playlist on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eJm4fN   www.thegymadvisors.ie/cathygrant  

Andy is joined by Johnny Tierney, a class instructor, PT, and gym owner from County Limerick. He tells us about his time as a League of Ireland footballer, the transition into the fitness industry and making the leap from working in a hotel gym to opening his own facility.   We also dive into how he runs his classes to cater for all sorts of people as well as why he believes fitness classes are here to stay, despite what many people in the industry believe.   Find Johnny: www.thegymadvisors.ie/jtfitnessservices   Find a FitPro near you: www.thegymadvisors.ie   Find an online coach or class: www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness  

Andy is joined by Dylan Black, a Personal Trainer from Cork who also suffers from Narcolepsy, a condition most people are not overly familiar with but one which has implications on the daily lives of those who live with it.   In an incredibly intriguing episode, Dylan tells us what narcolepsy is in easy to understand language and, more importantly, how it affects his life and his fitness.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/dylanblackfitness   www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

Andy is joined by Jess Banaghan who is blazing a trail in the online fitness industry to discuss mindset, confidence, and self-care.   We also hear about Jess' idea to compete in a bodybuilding event before she had ever really set foot in a gym in any serious sort of way, and why her life's mantra comes from one of her favourite movies, Finding Nemo.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/selffitcoaching   www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

Andy is joined by Ryan Quinn to talk through his experience of postponing his hopes of joining the fitness industry due to external pressures, how and why combatting “fitness fake news” is something he dedicates a considerable portion of his time to, and we finish with some recommendations, including adding three more songs to The Gym Advisors Playlist on spotify.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/ryanquinnfitness   www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness/   

Andy is joined by Keith Grainger to talk through his career as an online coach, how important it is to have an exercise schedule, why sometimes you just have to suck it up and show up through slumps in motivation and much more, including why Keith thinks we over emphasise the “dangers” of exercise and why doing nothing is worse than doing something with poor form.   Use our online fitness finder to discover and contact the perfect online coach for you in just a few clicks on thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness

In the second of a series of episodes celebrating the launch of our online fitness section, Andy is joined by Sorcha Cleere who tells us about how, after she saw her life plans turned upside down, she had a negative experience of a Personal Trainer which eventually lead her to deciding she could do their job better. Their loss is the fitness industry's gain as Sorcha is now a fully qualified PT with an incredibly bright future ahead of her in the field.   As always, our conversation meanders and goes off in tangents where we touch on mistakes Sorcha made as a fitness beginner, how she keeps fit while travelling (store that for next year!), and we add to our Spotify playlist with Sorcha's top three workout tunes.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/sorchacleerept   www.thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness/

In the first of a series of episodes celebrating the launch of our online fitness section of thegymadvisors.ie, Andy is joined by Cillian Lewins, an online coach originally from Dublin but living and working in Sligo not far from The Gym Advisors HQ.   In a wide ranging chat, we touch on Cillian's definition of online coaching, the differences between online and in person coaching and also why he monitors multiple variables when it comes to tracking progress rather than rely on just one indicator.   Check out thegymadvisors.ie/online-fitness/ to find the perfect online coach or instructor for you in just a few clicks

Andy is joined by Ryan Fitzpatrick, a fitness instructor and a student of Exercise and Sport Science to discuss what it's like to be a student during times of Covid and how his own personal difficulties keeping his mental health in check have lead him to become keen to use his expertise in fitness to help people who may be going through the same battle.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/scifittraining   Samaritans: 116 123   Pieta House: 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444

Andy is joined by Virginia Canvaroue to discuss her story and how she came to combine her two loves and areas of expertise of yoga and aromatherapy, a quite unique proposition on the Irish fitness landscape.   We also discuss Virginia's “secret addiction” of cycling, how she's managing to keep it up during lockdown as well as a few laughs about who inspires Virginia – or should that be who doesn't inspire her?   Find out more about Virginia's facility Mayo Yoga with Aromatherapy on thegymadvisors.ie

In today's episode Andy is joined by Hayden Canning, an online coach with a penchant for following his gut and trying new things that few others would try.   The chat takes in a variety of topics, from Hayden's path into the industry, to how our attitude to online coaching has evolved in the past 12 months, and on to the idea that online coaching may provide more opportunities for coaching and getting results than face to face personal training.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/hcfitness/

Andy is joined by the gentleman that is Gavin Synott to talk through the article he wrote for us over on The Gym Advisors Blog about the GAA pre-season.   Gavin talks through his thoughts on how players should approach the off season and pre-season, as well as giving us his take on what athletes and regular people can do during lockdown to keep them as prepared as possible for when sport and regular life resumes.

Andy is joined by Ellen Quinn to talk about her relationship with diets and how she now sees herself as The Anti-Diet Personal Trainer.   We discuss the affects of diet culture on individuals as well as society as a whole and get some awesome tips on how to implement a very simple self-care regime to keep us as calm as possible during these mad times and beyond.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/barbellefitness/   Ellen mentions a study in the chat and here it is for your own perusal: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/

On the first episode of 2021 Andy is joined by Sean Ryan, a young up and coming Trainer in the fitness industry, if there are more like him coming through then the industry is in good hands for a long time to come.   The chat takes in Sean's personal journey, the ups and down of fitness and stress while he worked in busy bars and why he finally backed himself and decided to change career to become a Personal Trainer.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/srfitness/

Andy is joined by Tana Rondz to talk through a mentally tough 2020, including all the normal stuff every FitPro went through as well as pursuing her dream of setting up her own private facility which is set to open very soon.   Lots of great nuggets and craic in here that are not to be missed as we head into Christmas and onto 2021.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/shayomega

Andy is joined by Kelly Mulligan to discuss whether yoga can benefit your mental health and if so, how?   The chat starts with finding out how Kelly fell in love with yoga half way around the world, why she has turned it into a career and we finish on an optimistic note of discussing a potential boom in yoga's popularity in Ireland in 2021.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/yogabykelly

Do Personal Trainers really just copy and paste one program for all their clients?   Andy is joined by David Feehan to dig through this opinion that people outside (and inside!) the industry might have.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/Feehanfitness

On National DOMS Day, Andy is joined by Malachy Kelly, a true gent with an amazing background and a unique approach to life and fitness.   Whether he is stilt walking in Westport or helping people young and old remain fit and healthy, Malachy has one mission: To put the grin back on our faces.   With his performance in this episode you can see how he can do that with ease.   www.thegymadvisors.ie/thebalanceguy

Andy is joined by Kelly Casey for a chat around mindset, taking an holistic approach to health and fitness, and how to approach going back to the gym when they re-open this week.   As always, there are tangents and we even hear the best piece of advice Kelly has ever been given. It's something we can all take something from.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/kellyfitanddance

Andy is joined by one of the OGs of The Gym Advisors in Alan Devane who's making his 3rd appearance on the podcast. The chat starts with some lockdown learnings before turning to the future when gyms will (hopefully!) re-open and how not to let December go to waste.   Usual end of show shenanigans ensue with a game of word association and Alan gives his best piece of advice to help you get through the next few months.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/adf

In this high energy outing, Andy is joined by the one and only Anthony Clavin to talk us through how and why he tested one of the many meal plans currently on sale by social media influencers.   Anthony is dedicated to the coach led strength and conditioning model but wanted to test this meal plan as fairly as possible. Listen in to find out how he did that and what the results were.

Andy is joined by Maeve Fitzgerald to hear her amazing story from award winning actor to newly qualified personal trainer and the ordeal that inspired the career expansion.   We're not one for hyperbole but Maeve's story is truly inspirational, and her attitude towards life is one we could all learn from. Add to that her talents and you have the recipe for an amazing podcast guest.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/bodyconnectfitness

In this solo episode of the podcast, Andy tells the story of going through some old family diaries and discusses how it illustrates the point that "right now" is really all we have.   Planning is great, planning is what allows us to achieve our goals, but planning can also lead to procrastinating and putting off the actions that could potentially lead to happiness and a better life.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie https://store.thegymadvisors.ie

Andy is joined by Jonathan Nolan, a Personal Trainer from Dublin who has had plenty of time to formulate his thoughts on the current situation and how the fitness industry has been treated over the past number of weeks and months.   The two lads have a good conversation on where we are now and what can we do to ensure we are in a better position going forward regardless of what life and the government throws at us.

Andy is joined by Niall Harty of All Real, a company that makes protein bars from natural ingredients and that is on a mission to change the world.   Niall and Andy chat about the idea for the brand, why they feel it is necessary, and how they are both carving out a niche in an industry by creating something real and different to what's currently out there.   Lots of common-sense wisdom from Niall in this episode from business to mental health and we round out the episode with a game of word association.   www.eatallreal.com

Andy is joined by Niamh Doyle who is a Personal Trainer with a big passion for Powerlifting.   We start with a bad pun but it gets better from there with Niamh diving even deeper into her love of powerlifting than in her articles over on The Gym Advisors Blog, giving us plenty of reasons why we should try powerlifting and giving us a few ways to get started before the gyms re-open.   https://www.thegymadvisors.ie/niamhdoyle

Andy returns with his tail between his legs after missing two episodes due to smashing his laptop. Luckily, he's joined by Brian Carr, one of the nicest men in the business to chat about gym closures and adapting to lockdown 2.0. It's not all doom and gloom as the lads keep it light and end with a quick game of word association. Stick around until the end when you can get Brian's 10% discount code for the all new Gym Advisors equipment store Listen ad-free on thegymadvisors.ie/podcast www.thegymadvisors.ie/bcfitness

Andy Gordon has been through a lot and now he's helping others crush their fitness goals. Listen to Andy's story, how he's recovered both mentally and physically, and how it's affected how he approaches health & fitness   Andy lets us know what he thinks about the fitness industry as well as letting us know what he thinks of “influencers” in a game of word association.   Listen ad-free on https://thegymadvisors.ie/podcast

Andy is joined by Eimear Murphy to chat about the most recent Covid-19 restrictions and how they've drastically impacted her life and her career.   We also talk about her love of rugby, varying levels of motivation that even PTs experience, and how our self-talk affects our self-esteem. It's not all doom and gloom though as craic is had and we hear Eimear's favourite part of her job as well as the proudest she's ever been of a client