Greenock: Andy Armour opens up on Inverclyde impact

Strength and conditioning mastermind Andy Armour, who owns the popular Urban Fitness Centre gym on Campbell Street, lives and breathes all things health and wellbeing.

And while he feels fortunate enough to make a living whilst working within an industry he's so passionate about, Andy says he is just delighted to be able to help have a positive impact on the people around him.

The gym owner told the Tele: "It all stemmed from me going to uni at the age of 22 to do sports science. I then followed that up with a Masters degree in strength and conditioning.

"I've always been coaching people in some way. I've always seen it as a way of helping people rather than making money. I enjoy helping make people better and reaching their goals.

"My philosophy behind everything was to help people with their health and their fitness. 

"It seems a bit weird saying that now, because you see these sorts of gyms and challenges popping up all over the place. But I genuinely do this to help improve people's lives within the Inverclyde community.

"It's nice to create a community within an even bigger one."

The gym offers a range of differing fitness classes, but Andy's expertise has also helped budding sports stars of the future.

Scottish rugby chiefs were so impressed by his sessions that they took him on to help prepare the next generation of youth rugby stars.

Andy Armour runs the Urban Fitness Centre gym in Greenock. (Image: George Munro)

And it wasn't long before St Mirren turned to Andy to help introduce a new-look sports science programme into their youth academy - one that has since produced the likes of Lewis Morgan, Ethan Erhahon and Ethan Sutherland.

He added: "I initially volunteered within the Scottish Rugby Union before eventually working for them at their hubs both in Kilmarnock and Glasgow.

"Working within the youth set-up of the SRU was really interesting. I was working with athletes and learning all these new skills.

"It was part of the youth programme where you'd be invited to train at a pre-entry phase to see if you were good enough to get into the squad.

"St Mirren would've been about 12 years ago. It was just one season that I did with them, and it was at a time that the club were trying to create a whole sports science set up for their youth academy.

"It was at a time where sport science wasn't really as prominent within football as it is now.

"I still do strength and conditioning with football teams in the local area and one-to-one sessions with up and coming players to this day.

"St Mirren were down in the gym during pre-season and I still do sessions for football teams in the area."

Andy's knowledge and commitment saw him called upon by yet another Inverclyde institution, Greenock Boxing Club, where he rubbed shoulders with some of the finest talent to come out of the area.

"After doing a year at St Mirren I began dipping my toe into boxing," he said, "and trained a few of the pros coming out of Greenock boxing club as well as the amateurs.

"I worked with John Simpson, Tony Orr - who's still fighting now - and Callen McAuley. It was a great experience.

"John was just naturally gifted. Unfortunately his lifestyle was just a bit off at times, but in terms of talent, he was just such a natural.

"I had some great experiences with him going to support him at his fights.

"He was on Ricky Burns' undercard when Terrence Crawford beat Ricky at the SECC to win his first world title.

Andy Armour runs the Urban Fitness Centre gym in Greenock. (Image: George Munro) "I remember seeing Terence and his team, and how they operated. It was frightening in a way.

"I remember him being on the same undercard as Anthony Joshua. He naturally knocked the guy out in the first round or something like that.

"He'd only done one round, so he had to go back down next to where we were prepping John, and he was just skipping for ages trying to get all of his work done to add up to his number of rounds."

Despite seeing such dominating athletes in their pomp, Andy's just grateful to soak up any knowledge that he can.

And he wants to continue to use that knowledge to serve the people of Inverclyde and the people that they care about the most.

"It's good to just be in the position to have all of this knowledge through working with different people," he said. 

"But it's working with the guys here at the gym that really satisfies me.

"I know for a fact that there's a lot of people who come in that would never have attempted to get into fitness the way that they have if it wasn't for this gym.

"We love pushing folk to try and achieve their full potential. It's all about getting people out and about.

"We do loads of charity events, it could be something like donating fees for a class to a charity like Mary's Meals or going to take part in events like Beat Cancer challenges. There's always something going on.

"It's all about finding a way to have an impact on the community in one way or another."