One thing that I’m really happy with is my toolbox - now this isn’t any reference to Linford’s Lunchbox (Mark’s toolbox doesn’t have quite the same ring to it 
No - my toolbox is basically my list of options for when I’m training. I’m not stuck with one or two routines. I now know how to train all my body in one session, or how to focus on certain areas when required.
I can train with or without weights, indoors or outdoors, cardio or strength or stamina or fat burning. It is really important to understand the different effects of the different training schemes. It is also super important to make sure you change the scheme every few weeks so you don’t plateau. Also, if you have an injury you can avoid training or damaging it until it heals - just by understanding what each specific exercise is doing and which muscle groups it is using.
My toolbox gives me confidence that I can tackle anything.
So today I did a new plan, with 1 good 1-1.5 mile run, then picked a good hill and did sprint training on it. This involved sprinting 20 yards uphill, walking back (repeat 3 times), then take 20 seconds rest. Then I sprinted 30 yards, walked back (repeat 3 times). Rest for 30 seconds. Then I sprinted 60 yards, walked back (repeat 3 times). I then ran home again (1-1.5 miles).
It felt great - the sprinting felt really powerful. Previously I’ve only really sprinted on grass but this was on tarmac. I could feel a real benefit from the upper body strength I’ve been working on as well as the hip flexors (pulling my thighs up really high). I actually felt like Usain Bolt - OK so a slightly deluded 35 year old version - but honestly it looked really good.
I wish I had discovered all this ten years ago - I can only dream of how much more I would have enjoyed beach holidays and summers in shorts and T-shirts. But there is no point in looking back - it is all about the NOW! and the NOW is WOW. How bloody cheesy is that… I should be in marketing
OK - so it has been a bit quiet on the site recently - a month off to be precise. But I’m back and super motivated.
I had 2 weeks in the South of France which were amazing. Had a series of exercise plans worked out before I went to make sure I kept up some of my muscle strength whilst away. I planned to do at least 3 sessions a week. Here are the main points:
- It was bloody hot so daytime training wasn’t really an option. I had to choose morning or night. In the end it worked out much better at night (5ish) - the sun had cooled and I had at least an hour before eating dinner and getting tucked into the red wine. Morning time was too hard as I always woke up dehydrated (partly from the heat and partly from the red wine).
- The training sessions were either upper body (with various press up and core exercises) or lower body (with various squats). They could be done without any weights or equipment which was great.
- Managed a couple of decent 7K runs too.
- Plus lots of swimming.
- I ate a fair amount - some days more than others - and had loads of thin crust pizza (my biggest treat).
- I drank most nights (totally required when on holiday in France).
When I came back I was measured for weight and body fat percentage. My weight was actually down by a few hundred grams but my body fat percentage was up by half a percent (to 18.25%). This basically showed a drop in muscle mass and a bit of fat gain. But I’m happy that I now know what damage a 2 week holiday can do and how much work it requires to put it right - because let’s face it, we all need a blow out occasionally. I can’t go the rest of my life without eating pizza.
So all in all I’m really happy that I understand what I can do with my body. This really helps to motivate you when deciding whether to sneak a treat or not.
Since being back, I have trained really hard 5 days a week (1 upper body, 1 lower body, 1 core, 1 run, 1 cycle). I also had a big drinking weekend in the middle which added a bit more fat again! But I feel amazing - really in control. Now I’m going to push on for the next few weeks with a tight diet, good sleeps and not too much drinking. That elusive 6 pack is only a few months away. And Australia is looming….
I am in a great mood today - I’m going away for a couple of weeks to the South of France. I’m really ready for a break. I’ve been training hard for the last month or so and am looking foward to a bit of a rest from the very early mornings. However, I do have a set of programs to take with me (they should last around 30 minutes or so and will keep my fitness at the same level over the holiday period).
I don’t think I could go for 2 weeks without doing exercise now - I would be bouncing off the walls. Plus, I actually enjoy doing exercise whilst on holiday - diving in the pool after a good run feels fantastic.
I had my body fat checked yesterday and it is now down to 17.75% (from 18.3% last month). I’m fairly happy with that - it is steady progress. I also dropped a kilo in weight. Most of the fat shifted from my waist which feels good too. I’m going to get measured as soon as I come back from holiday to see whether I did myself some damage
Cheers, Mark
Yesterday I ran the Men’s Health Forum Scotland 10k (in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow). It was phenomenal. I haven’t been doing too much running recently - certainly not distance training anyway. So I wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to go. I ended up with an official chip time of 51.05. That is 13 minutes faster than the one I did last October. The best part is that I feel I could have gone faster in the middle bit - I could feel my pace dropping and my feet becoming very heavy but if I really tried to stay light on my feet my pace would improve instantly.
I have been having achilles issues whenever I’ve run more than 3 miles recently but a new pair of running shoes seems to have cured this - I think the cushioning had just worn thin.
I have been training 5-6 days a week throughout June and it seems to have paid off - I am totally used to getting up at 5.45am everyday now and it feels great. I have been doing quite a bit of sprint and Fartlek training which obviously appears to imporved my speed and stamina.
My weight is now regularly 87.5KG first thing in the morning. This means my BMI or Body Mass Index is now under 25 (which means I am officially a normal weight) but to be honest I think this is a bit of a dodgy tool for really measuring how fit or fat you are - it is a good starter for 10 but as you get into training you need to look at other things. This includes your body fat percentage. My last reading for body fat was 18.3% but I’m hoping to get that down again by the end of this week.
Anyway - I’m feeling on top of the world with my race result and can’t wait for the next one so I can work on getting below 50 minutes.
Cheers, Mark
I trained 5 days last week (Mon-Fri). I planned to do 6 but wasn’t feeling well over the weekend - due to a lot of booze on Friday night. But I got stuck in again this morning and plan to do a full 6 days this week.
- Mon: Upper body - chest and shoulders only
- Tues: 5 mile run, including hills, plus 3×30sprints at the end, core work afterwards
- Wed: Leg training - usual sets including steps/lunges etc
- Thurs: 7-10 sets of sprints (35 seconds sprinting, then walk the same distance to rest)
- Fri: Upper body - back and biceps, plus some core work
- Sat: Core session
- Sun: rest
I’ve got 2 weeks and 5 days before going on holiday and want to really push it between now and then. I plan to still workout most days whilst on holiday but I know I will be eating and drinking more too.
OK - so the headline is a bit cheesy but my new watchword is ’sustainable fitness’. I wanted to register the domain name sustainablefitness.com but it seems there is a bootcamp in the states using this name - shame! That could have been the name for my new company in Australia.
I’m really beginning to have some success with my fitness and weight goals - It has been just over 2 months since starting and I feel like a different person (lots of energy, MUCH better body, stonger, more confident). Sounds like a sales pitch but it isn’t - I don’t have anything to sell except my personal story 
But the most amazing thing about it is that I feel like everything I am doing now is sustainable - it isn’t just a blast for a couple of month to lose a bit of weight - then slowly let myself get fat again - then another blast next Spring. I could carry on doing what I am doing for the rest of my life and not feel like I am sacrificing anything. When you do have treats you really enjoy them - I went to the pub last Wednesday and drank 6 pints of lager and had chicken pakora on the way home - not exactly ideal for the body beautiful but I know I ma working bloody hard for the rest of the week and that it shouldn’t really affect me. The key is being able to control it so I don’t do that every night.
I had my body fat percentage measured last week and it was down from 20% to 18.3% over a month. That is great progress I think. I have not lost any weight during that time so have obviously put on muscle mass and stripped fat, which is exactly what I;m supposed to be doing. A sustainable and realistic goal for body fat percentage for me would be 10-12%. That will give me the full six pack without having to devote my life to my body (getting below that is cover model territory and I’m not sure I will be going down that route).
This week I am training 6 days out of 7. One extra personal training session to replace a missed one when I was injured plus one good run. I’ve done 3 days so far and am feeling the difference (not in a good way - I am really tired). But I put that down to not getting enough sleep. I’ve only had 6 hours sleep a night for the last 3 nights and I should be getting 8 hours when I’m training hard. I’ll go to bed early tonight and see where that takes me.
I went for an early morning run with a couple of friends this morning. They run marathons and I don’t - so it was always going to be fun
Anyway - they were realy good and I was having a great run, various hills, new route, gorgeous morning! After around 30 minutes I could start to feel a dull ache in my achilles tendon. It got progressively more sore over the next 10-15 minutes and I had to call a halt to the run. To be honest, I was only planning on a 45 minute run anyway so the time and the pace was perfect. My breathing was just fine so I should be easily OK to do the 10K in 4 weeks.
I got home and put ice on it for 20 minutes but it has been stiff and tender for most of the day. I’ll try to rest it as much as possible and re-ice it tonight. Hopefully it should be a problem. It may be a sign that I need new trainers (I’ve been thinking that for a few weeks anyway).
I’m doing upper body training tomorrow so I should still be able to rest OK.
Cheers, Mark
I did sprint training this morning and it was going well except I kept getting a very sharp pain in my head at various points - I used to get this during basketball training when I was in my 20s. It turned out it was low sugar and drinking a sports drink or eating a Mars Bar fixed it. However, I had my usual porridge and banana with a smoothie this morning before sprints so I would have thought I would have enough energy on board - but not this time. So I’m going to try half a bottle of lucozade before the next sprints session to see how I get on. I had my Maximuscle Cyclone after the session but was still getting pains for at least 30 minutes afterwards.
I did improve a little on my times from last week though (roughly by 1 second for each set of sprints). We also did some acceleration training (just over a 10 metre track but concentrating on ‘bursting’ and keeping a low posture - as if I was a 100 metre sprinter - as if!).
I’m due out on a run at 6am tomorrow with a friend of mine who runs marathons - I’ve not run with him before (I usually prefer to just run by myself). However I think that a run once a week with him may be a good motivator for me - he likes to run early in the day so it’ll give me a good reason to get up in the morning. I’m doing upper body training on Wednesday so even if I do a hard run tomorrow it won’t affect the rest of my training.
Cheers, Mark
This week has been pretty positive - I managed good interval sprints on Monday:
- 1 sprint (approx 36 secs), then 1 walk (same distance) - repeat 6 times.
- 5 sprints up and down very steep small hills, running between 4 points of the compass
- 1 sprint (approx 36 secs), then 1 walk (same distance) - repeat 4 times.
My thigh strain was a little sore so I put ice on again afterwards but I was really happy that I made it through the session.
On Tuesday I went for a full round of golf which is a pretty good way to keep your muscles warmed - my standard of golf is pretty shit though so I need to get some benefot from it!
On Wednesday I was back to the original upper body session which went really well - I can feel myself getting much stronger (especially my chest and shoulders). I’ll lay out the full workout here for you to see exactly what I’m doing. I felt a bit of a twinge in my left hip as I was doing the exercise where you stand with legs apart and weights in hand, then stretch down to each side for 15 reps. It has been a bit nippy since then and I think it is my hip flexor muscle - it is buried way deep inside and wouldn’t really benefit from ice.
It was twinging again this morning during my boxercise session but I manged to push through - I think it’ll be OK by next week. Boxercise was fantastic - I haven’t done it for 4 or 5 weeks and it was unbelievable how much more stamina I have now. I could have gone on for longer than an hour which is incredible.
Also, the 10 minute warm up run hardly even registered which makes me feel good about the 10K on June 15th in Bellahouston Park. This weekend I’m going to go out and do a proper road run to see how my stamina is for running - if I can do a good 40-45 minutes without dying I’ll be happy. Then I’ll build it up over the next couple of weeks.
Cheers, Mark