Andrew White

Online Fitness and Nutrition Coach, Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), Weight Loss Specialist (WLS), CF-L1 Trainer, Fitness Blogger

Bio

Hey! It’s Andrew.

First of all, thanks for being here. With approximately 99 billion “fitness experts” trying to market their services to you online, I don’t take it lightly that by some chance you’ve landed here with me. Thank you! Rest assured that you are in good hands.

But, before we get too far, I want everyone to know that I currently work for The Vegan Gym as a full-time, online trainer and weight loss specialist.

At this point, you might be thinking, “Wait, so what is this whole IVRY thing? I thought you worked for IVRY.” And that’s a great question!

Essentially, IVRY is the coaching company I founded in 2019 with my good friend Josh Meidel in order to help well-intentioned people build muscle and lose body fat.

But then, in 2022, an amazing opportunity came along to join The Vegan Gym - one of the biggest and more influential vegan fitness and nutrition companies on the planet.

And, as hard as it was to put aside my dreams of building my own coaching business into a fitness empire, I decided to follow my newly discovered passion for plant-based living by aligning myself with The Vegan Gym’s mission to help one million vegans get into the best shape of their lives.

So what has IVRY become now?

This website is now essentially a blog where I feature my thoughts and opinions on various fitness concepts. All of the information here is free! And my hope is that my articles bring clarity to those who have perhaps been confused and discouraged for far too long.

The good news is that you can still absolutely work with me one-on-one. All you have to do is apply at The Vegan Gym and let our team know that you're interested in working with Coach Andrew. It’s that simple.

Okay! Now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s my brief story, so you can get to know me.

I grew up in Missouri as a fairly normal, American kid that was fortunate enough to play a lot of organized sports. I played soccer, basketball, hockey, football, baseball, and even tried my hand at tennis camp one summer. In high school, I narrowed down my focus to soccer, basketball, and track & field, and it was during these years that weightlifting became a part of my life as well. But, being a slightly-above-average athlete at best, high school marked the end of my formal athletic career.

I think a lot of people have this story.

Fast forward through college and an overall lack of attention to all things diet and exercise, and I slowly gained around 35 pounds.

I lifted occasionally and hooped at the gym through my early to mid-twenties, but there certainly wasn’t any rhyme or reason to my training or nutrition. And because of that, I didn’t make any meaningful progress in the gym. I was just a guy spinning his wheels.

And then one night I stumbled onto the Revive Stronger podcast via YouTube while making a five-hour drive to Memphis to visit my fiancée. All I remember is that it was an episode with Steve Hall featuring Dr. Mike Israetel and that I was immediately fascinated by the concept of evidence-based training and nutrition.

From that moment on, I was hooked.

I started tuning in to every evidence-based podcast I could, reading articles on my own, and following successful fitness YouTubers to learn more about practical, real-life application.

Ultimately, this was a renewed beginning of an old journey, which later resulted in my desire to start studying for my certification and begin training people just like me.

And now I’m helping real people get real results.

MY Favorite way to train

Hypertrophy training is definitely my favorite way to train, which basically just means I like training to build muscle.

My all-time favorite exercises are barbell reverse lunges, Bulgarian split squat varieties, and the ab roller. If you stuck me on an island with those three pieces of equipment, I’d be a happy guy.

On the other hand, I really dislike any type of circuit workout that has me bopping around doing burpees, mountain-climbers, and all of those evil ab exercises, but I will say that my appreciation for true physical fitness has grown immensely since taking an interest in CrossFit in 2021.

When it comes to CrossFit, I excel in cardio-based workouts, which means I love to see rowing, biking, and running show up in our daily workouts.

But technical lifting is my kryptonite! That being said, I’ve made it my number one effort since starting CrossFit to improve my strength and technique in the squat, front squat, overhead squat, clean and jerk, and snatch.

I also really like supplementing my training by just walking our dogs, Kota and Brody.

MY favorite foods

I always tell my wife that if we’re ever on a couples game show that my favorite food is baked sweet potatoes smothered in cinnamon, peanut butter, or apple butter (which I could eat by the jar).

I also really like burritos.

And for those who may be wondering, I do eat a 100% plant-based diet due to my love for animals and a growing passion to become a more influential voice for their wellbeing.

I made this switch on May 22, 2021.

MY biggest regret in my fitness journey

My biggest regret is that I wasted so much time believing pop culture fitness myths, falling for scummy marketing, and relying on bro-science.

And, it really bums me out that it took me so long to start thinking analytically about my training and diet. I can’t tell you how much I wish I had known what I know now at 18 when I was a freshman at the University of Missouri, but I just do the best I can with what I know now and move forward as practically as possible.

Now I try to set my sights on being a fit, able-bodied, and slightly jacked husband.

I also regret eating as much animal protein as I did between 2019-2021. At the time, I was guzzling down 200-240g of animal protein per day because I had come to believe that animal protein was superior to plant protein for its “complete” amino acid profile and higher leucine content. In fact, a normal day of eating for me at that time consisted of egg whites, turkey sandwiches, whey protein bars and shakes, chicken and rice, and sometimes up to four individual containers of Greek yogurt per day.

Now I consume somewhere between 120-180g of plant protein per day while reaping the same (if not better) results in both hypertrophy and CrossFit-specific training.

what I want people to know

Hopefully, this comes off as humbly as possible, but I think I have a slight edge as a fitness blogger because I’m not “genetically blessed.”

In fact, I was a seriously chubby kid until eighth grade when I went on a grapes and grilled chicken salad diet as a three-sport athlete due to being insecure in my own skin. I’ve also been overweight as an adult, so I’ve pretty much walked the walk in terms of being a variety of fun (and not so fun) shapes and sizes.

I haven’t always been lean and I certainly wasn’t the kid growing up who had a six-pack for no reason. I’ve had to work hard for the athletic figure I’ve built (except for my calves), and now I have the privilege of sharing those lifestyle adjustments with other people who want the same story.

So to a big extent, I can really relate to a lot of people who aren’t as confident in their own skin as they want to be. I’ve been there, and it’s not a great feeling. But because of that, I truly think it gives me a unique and valuable perspective in terms of guiding “normal” people toward a healthier body shape.

If you’re willing to systematize your approach, exercise strategically, and eat intelligently, I fully believe my articles will lead you in the direction of living a leaner, more muscular life.

I also have a YouTube channel where I’m doing my best to create high-quality videos to help people with their body recomposition goals for free.

I took a brief hiatus from my content creation on YouTube once I switched to a plant-based lifestyle, but I do plan to revive that effort in full force when the time is right.

Oh, and the picture of me and my mom is just for fun! We have an awesome relationship, and that picture makes me smile.

All in all, my greatest hope for IVRY Fitness is that the articles I’ve written here would serve you as a free, non-biased source of helpful body recomposition information.