Author Archives: Andy Morgan

About Andy Morgan

I'm an online nutritional coach and trainer. After seeing one too many people get ripped off by supplement and training industry lies I decided to try and do something about it. The site you see here is the result of a lot of Starbucks-fuelled, two-fingered typing. It's had a lot of love poured into it, and I hope you find the guides to the diet and training methods I use on this site useful. When I'm not helping clients you'll likely find me crashing down a mountain on a snowboard, riding a motorbike, or staring at watches I can't afford.

A Little Japanese Commercial Gym Rant

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Hamster in a wheel

Forgive me friends, I am going to depart from the usual friendly, helpful articles this time. There’s something I need to get off my chest.

Three weeks ago I quietly walked out of my gym with a mixed feeling of disgust, sadness, a sprinkling of embarrassment, and I vowed to never go back.

Rog was with me at the time and we were considering the best way to work round my knee injury (MCL tear – snowboard + tree). Routine set, we got into it.

A trainer walks over during one of our between top-set rest periods. Surely, about to ask a sensible question about this style of training, I turn, smile and say hello to Louie between breaths. – I wanted to introduce my friend anyway. Before I get chance however…

Andy: Our racked deadlifts are too noisy. Can we please be quiet? Continue reading →

Why would a coach get coached? – Interview with Rog Law

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Rog Law - Leangains - Balcony shot

I first met Rog at an industry conference in the US last summer. It was good to meet people in the industry outside of Japan and confirm that, contrary to my suspicion, internet people are actually real. A likeable fella, I invited him over to Japan to stay if he ever had chance to visit, which he did just last week. Continue reading →

What Makes a Good Diet Coach?

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The greatest things in your life won't happen by chance, they'll happen by choice.

The greatest things in your life won’t happen by chance, they’ll happen by choice.

In the article What is the Value of an Online Diet Coach? I talked about the specific benefits I think working with an online coach holds vs one you can hire locally.

This article focuses more on the specifics of what I personally do and my thoughts on what I feel a good coach does. Continue reading →

Delicious or Dangerous? Spotting Bad Science

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IS693041Home visiting my family for a couple of weeks, I’m in the kitchen rustling up a delicious, super-sized omelette when mum comes in. I cringe and expect the usual criticism of my cooking skills but get something different.

Mum: “Five eggs!? Don’t you know that they will give you a heart attack?! I thought you would know about such things.”

Me: “I do. I’m fine mum. It’s fine.”

Mum: “Didn’t you see the headline in the paper?”

[Mum sets this incontrovertible evidence on the counter. Looks smug.]

How do you think I reacted? Continue reading →

What is the Value of an Online Diet Coach?

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Online Diet CoachingThe online diet coach/trainer is a new concept. There are very few online coaches, each with their own methods. I can’t speak for them. I only talk here about my own views. 

Most personal trainers you’ll meet at your local gym want you as a customer for life. I don’t. I think that is a shitty business model. – Keep you confused, never explain things fully, always make it seem difficult so that you feel that you need them and keep coming back… Reminds me of the Hostess industry here in Japan where the hostess will drag out the relationship for as long as possible to get the most money from the client before she either sleeps with him or he gets bored and moves on…. It has to end somewhere and invariably that ending is not a happy one. Continue reading →

Why Training Hard, Rather Than Smart, Will Keep You Fat This New Year.

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***** Republished and Updated for the New Year 2013.                 
                                  Lots of Useful Links Listed at the Bottom *****

A Little Story: All around the world people are waking up hungover, gulping down gallons of water, looking at the holiday damage in the mirror and thinking, “Gotta get in shape!” [You have that moment this morning too?] The problem is though people’s intentions are good, the plans they make are doomed from the start and I don’t want yours to be.

A very good friend of mine, Keith, spent years trying many different diets before eventually losing 100lbs (45kg) made the following observation.

“There are two voices inside every fat mans head. They both whisper in your ear, and they both screw with your dieting, only in different ways.

“The ‘skinny man’ is the one that orders you to get your arse off the couch and exercise 6 days a week, eat only broccoli and chicken breast and not touch a drop of alcohol.

“The ‘fat man’ is the one that decides you you’re not making progress, convinces you what you’re doing is futile anyway, and makes you say “Ah screw it!” eat a whole pizza and quit your diet.”

Both these voices will screw things up for you, the former less obvious than the latter, so today I would like to talk about how the ‘skinny man’ does this.

Continue reading →

Client Story: Rich – “Dieting Without The Drugs”

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Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates

In most gyms you go to nowadays you will find a few of the membership take steroids. It’s a fact of life. Though sometimes it’s obvious, rarely will anyone admit using them so you end up guessing who is on them.

The unfortunate side of this is that many members look up to these guys at the gym. They may ask about training or diet advice, or simply copy what they do, inevitably leading them down a path of frustration. Why? Steroids allow people with even the shittiest diet and training routines to gain muscle and lose fat. – Their advice is irrelevant and their size doesn’t make them qualified to give it to a natural trainee. Continue reading →

If it ain’t broken…

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Intermittently-fasted Lambo

Let’s say your rich uncle dies and leaves you his Gallardo. On your first track-day you get spanked. To make matters worse it’s by guys in cars half the price. They are laughing. Do you get out your spanners and start fiddling with stuff in the hope this will make it faster, or do you learn how to use what you are given?

Same logic doesn’t seem to apply with dieting. Have a look at the following comment:

“Hey, so I’m going to lengthen my fasting window and add in a couple of 24 hour fasts and go all paleo for my carbs. Do you think this is a good idea?”

Is this person looking to experiment with the method out of curiosity to compare results with the ones that have already had, or are such ideas spawned out of frustration with their own lack of results and nutritional understanding? Having patience is not as fun as thinking up wild ideas of course.

Sometimes you may need to deviate from the standard plan. If you’re going to do that though, then you need to have a little wider understanding.

“Can I lengthen my fasting window?” “Can I do fasted training without BCAAs? I’ve heard they spike insulin and are bad for the fast.” Two consistently reoccurring questions. A few points need to be considered. Continue reading →

Patience: A Key Tool for Diet Success

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Patience for a Kendoka: Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 
                           Shot by George McCall. kenshi247.net

Patience. When to wait and when to make a change? As a coach this is the hardest part of the job. Everyone wants results now. There’s pressure to make the change, but you can’t bow to it. You have to stay objective. Have to choose the right moment. – That’s what the client pays for.

Lack of patience leads to rushed decisions. Left to their own devices many do stupid things. Throw in a couple of 24 hour fasts, add in come “metabolic conditioning” work, throw in some more lifting days, go “all Paleo” for carbs. The list goes on.

  • Patience, unless on a strict competition deadline, is your friend.
  • Rushed decisions can cost you hard earned strength and muscle mass, at the minimum.

I can’t give you definitive rules on when to make a change. Regarding the value of patience, alll I have for you is a client story of mine and a quote from a coach with way more knowledge and experience:

Continue reading →