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Mark Personal Training

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Mark Personal Training

Premium weight loss and lifestyle transformations which create long lasting, dramatic results to you

I help busy men and women overhaul their health & fitness using a combination of tailored exercise, nutrition, lifestyle and mindset systems that are holistic and sustainable forever

So they can...

✔ Feel confident and attractive around their friends, family, and out in public
✔ Feel full of energy throughout the day
✔ Fit into the clothes they want to wear
✔ Stop worrying about getting diseases and dying young
✔ Do day-to-day activities without getting out of breath and tired such as playing with their children

Without having to....

✘ Starve themselves - No diets!
✘ Count calories or weigh foods
✘ Give up the foods they enjoy
✘ Spend hours cooking or exercising
✘ Share a gym with others

► 100% Money Back Guarantee
► Free Transformation Session
► www.markpersonaltraining.com

☎ Phone me: 07743346007
✉ Email me: mark@markpersonaltraining.com

★ Success Stories:

DR NATASHA EMIN
❝Mark has been a true inspiration and gift to my life!❞

ADAM THRUSSELL
❝I knew I could either wallow in self-pity, or do something about it.❞

DEAN SCHOLEY
❝I don’t have to breathe in anymore when someone takes my photograph. My 38” trousers are seldom worn and only with a belt.❞

LARISSA
❝The “new” body gave me quite an ego boost and I'm not feeling bad any longer if I look in the mirror.❞

21/10/2025

What client check-ins really show about successful comebacks

When I look back over months of client check-ins, two clear patterns always show up after time off.

Pattern one is the heroic return. Monday is a long, hard session to “make up for” lost time. Food goes ultra-clean. Steps are high. Sleep gets squeezed because everything else is crammed in. By Wednesday the legs are heavy, by Thursday the back is tight, by Friday the session is skipped. The week ends with guilt, not momentum. The following check-in reads: “Good for two days, then fell off, will start again next week.”

Pattern two is the floor-first return. Two forty-minute full-body sessions are booked in the diary before the week begins. The plan is familiar lifts, one or two accessories, and finishing with something left in the tank. A simple first meal is repeated so breakfast is not another decision. A short walk happens most days, even if it is only around the block after lunch. Bedtime sits within a one-hour window so energy is stable. The check-in reads: “Not spectacular, but I hit everything. Feel better than I expected.”

Here is what happens next. The heroic return spikes soreness and steals sleep, so the second week starts behind. The floor-first return protects sleep and confidence, so the second week starts level or slightly ahead. Add two more weeks and the gap widens. Heroic return: three or four total sessions across a fortnight, inconsistent food, motivation dipping. Floor-first return: four to six sessions completed, same simple breakfasts, walks ticked, calm head, quiet progress.

It is not just the numbers that are different. The feeling is different. People in the hero approach talk about chasing their old self and feeling annoyed when the weights do not match. People in the floor approach talk about finishing sessions wanting to come back tomorrow. One mindset is repayment. The other is rebuild.

Why does the floor work so reliably? Lower intensity reduces next-day fatigue so you show up again. Repeating the same anchors (training slots, first meal, short walk, bedtime window) removes hundreds of tiny choices so you are not mentally exhausted by Thursday. Consistency lands before ambition. Then ambition has something solid to stand on.

If you want a simple blueprint to copy, make it this. Put two strength sessions in your calendar before the week starts - same days, same time. Choose a repeatable first meal with protein and keep it the same on workdays. Walk most days, even if it is ten to fifteen minutes. Keep lifts you know, leave one or two reps in reserve, and do not chase your best numbers until week three. If you hit that for two weeks, add a third session or extend two walks. That is the whole strategy.

Be honest with yourself. Which pattern did your last comeback follow - the heroic return or the floor-first return? And if you were to set your floor for the next two weeks right now, what would it include?

17/10/2025

The three-act comeback we all know too well

Act 1: You say you’ll start Monday. You buy the food shop. You even save a couple of workouts on your phone.

Act 2: Monday arrives with meetings, traffic, and a late night. You push it to Tuesday. Tuesday becomes Wednesday. You decide a fresh start next week will be cleaner.

Act 3: You feel annoyed at yourself and convinced you need a dramatic reset to make up for lost time.

Here is the plot twist most people miss.

You do not need a dramatic reset.

You need one small win today that proves you are back in motion.

A fifteen minute walk.

A simple dinner with protein and veg.

A thirty minute full-body session instead of the big one you are avoiding.

If you wrote your own Act 4 right now, what would today’s small win be?

07/10/2025

The minimum-effective routine (made for real life)

If you have had time out, the fastest way back is not a heroic six-day blitz. It is a floor you can hit on your busiest week. A minimum-effective routine keeps the habit alive, rebuilds confidence, and stops you burning out by Thursday.

Here is how it works:

For the next two to three weeks, set a realistic floor and refuse to go below it.

For example:

- Two full-body sessions you can finish in forty minutes.
- A daily walk, even if it is only fifteen minutes between meetings.
- Protein in each meal and one sensible swap you can keep without thinking, like taking a packed lunch instead of grabbing pastries.
- A consistent lights-out time within a one-hour window so you are not fighting sleep every night.

That is it. No perfection. No marathon sessions. No “I’ll make up for it” days.

This approach matters because momentum, not intensity, gets you out of the hole. After a layoff your head wants to erase the gap in one week. Your body disagrees. A hard restart spikes soreness, steals sleep, and makes the second week harder than the first. The floor protects you from your own enthusiasm. You finish sessions feeling like you could have done more, which is exactly how you should feel in week one back.

Give it a simple shape you can see in your diary: Monday and Thursday strength, short walks daily, protein at breakfast, lunch prepped the night before, phone down and in bed within your chosen window.

If you hit that for three straight weeks, raise the floor a notch - add a third session, extend two walks, or tighten one more meal.

Small, boring upgrades beat grand resets every time.

19/09/2025

When a short break quietly becomes a long one

Holidays, colds, kids, deadlines. Real life happens and training slides.

At first it’s a week off. Then a second. Then you blink and it is nearly a month. You keep telling yourself you will “get back on it Monday,” but Monday arrives with a diary full of meetings, a half-empty fridge, and the sort of tiredness that makes the sofa sound more sensible than squats.

When you do try to restart, you aim to erase the gap in one heroic week.

You copy the version of you from three months ago and expect to match it straight away. Six sessions. Early alarms. No treats. Perfect meals. It looks decisive on paper and lasts about three days in real life. By Thursday you are sore, shattered and negotiating with yourself. By Friday you are promising next Monday will be different.

That is not a lack of discipline. That is an all-or-nothing plan that only works on perfect days.

What makes this worse is the quiet guilt that creeps in.

You avoid the gym because you do not want to see lighter numbers.

You put off food prep because “there is no point until I am fully back.”

You wait to feel ready and the longer you wait, the heavier it feels.

The setback is no longer the missed sessions; it is the story you build around them. “I have lost it.” “I am miles off.” “I need to make up ground.”

Those thoughts push you towards extreme fixes, and extreme fixes are exactly what break again when work, family or fatigue gets loud.

There is also the reality your body is trying to tell you and you are ignoring. After time off, your sleep is a bit off, your appetite is a bit off, your joints feel a bit stiff, and the weights feel a bit rude.

That is normal. It is not failure. But if you read every signal as proof you are “behind,” you will chase intensity instead of consistency and end up right back where you started - sore, frustrated, and searching for motivation.

Ask yourself what actually turns two weeks out into two months out.

Is it the pressure to return at full speed?

Is it the late nights that make morning sessions fantasy?

Is it the “perfect plan” that collapses the first time a meeting overruns?

Be honest about the pattern before you blame your willpower. Until you see the pattern, you will keep repeating it.

If this sounds like you, I would love to know the specific moment where it slips. Is it the first session back, the food side, or the all-or-nothing push that wipes you out. Tell me the one thing that makes your comeback harder than it needs to be.

19/08/2025

The sales rep who stopped losing five days to two

He travelled, entertained clients, and told me weekends were “impossible.”
We agreed not to chase perfection - only to protect momentum.

He set a standing Saturday morning walk before anything else, chose either drinks or a takeaway but not both, and kept his Sunday bedtime within an hour of weekdays. Nothing fancy.

Eight weeks later his Monday trend line was finally moving down instead of yo-yoing. Clothes fit better, he’d added weight to his main lifts, and his words:

“Mondays don’t feel like punishment anymore.”

He didn’t change who he was. He changed how he handled forty-eight hours.

If you did nothing else, which single tweak would make your next Monday feel lighter - movement, food, or sleep?

13/08/2025

The invisible loop behind “I’ll start again Monday”

If your goal is fat loss, feeling fitter, or just building momentum, here’s the hard truth: you can’t keep pretending the weekend doesn’t count. Two days with no plan, no structure, and no intention can quietly undo five days of effort - physically and mentally.

The problem isn’t what happens on Friday night. It’s what that one night turns into. A late one becomes a sluggish Saturday. Meals become “whatever’s easiest.” Steps disappear. By Sunday you’re promising yourself a reset and by Monday you’re wondering why you feel like you’re back at the start again.

When people say “I’m starting again Monday,” what they usually mean is this: I’ve lost control, I feel guilty, I went too far, I regret it, and I don’t know how to fix it - so I’ll wait for a clean slate. That isn’t discipline. It’s a loop.

You won’t break the loop by trying to be stricter. You’ll break it by building a weekend routine that doesn’t need rescuing - a consistent wake-up time, a plan to move (even if it’s just a walk), and food choices that make you feel good rather than like you’ve blown it.

Be honest: which part of your weekend causes the slide - late nights, food, drinks, or zero structure?

06/08/2025

You’re not lazy. Your weekends just have no structure.

You smash it Monday to Friday.

Meals are prepped. Training gets done. You’re focused. You feel in control.

Then the weekend rolls around and it all unravels.

You sleep in. Skip breakfast. Forget your steps. Grab whatever food’s easiest. Tell yourself it’s fine because you’ve “been good all week.”

You promise yourself you’ll reset on Monday. Again.

But here’s the thing no one tells you:

The weekend isn’t a break from your goals. It’s part of them.

And if you keep treating Saturday and Sunday like a free-for-all, you’ll keep waking up Monday feeling like you’re starting from zero.

It’s not that you lack discipline.

It’s that your weekends have no structure.

You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to count every calorie.

But you do need a loose routine that keeps the wheels turning.

A consistent morning routine (yes, even on weekends).

A plan to move your body, even if it’s just a walk.

Food that makes you feel good - not like you’ve blown it.

Because when your weekends finally start supporting your goals instead of undoing them, you’ll stop dreading Mondays.

You’ll stop starting over and you’ll start building real momentum.

Which part of the weekend is the biggest challenge for you - food, alcohol, motivation, or just lack of structure?

24/07/2025

Are your weekends undoing your weekday progress?

You stick to the plan all week. You eat well. You get your steps in. You make it to the gym. You feel in control.

Then Friday night hits and things start to slide. One takeaway leads to a bottle of wine. A late night turns into a sluggish Saturday. You sleep in, skip breakfast, graze all day, and tell yourself you’ll reset on Monday. Again.

The problem isn’t that you “can’t be disciplined.” It’s that you’ve never been shown how to build a weekend routine that supports your goals without feeling like punishment.

If your Monday to Friday looks nothing like your Saturday and Sunday, don’t be surprised when your progress keeps stalling.

Do your weekends feel like a reset button or a rewind button?

22/07/2025

The day I gave myself permission to stop overthinking it

There was a turning point for me in my own training when I realised I was spending more time researching what to do than actually doing it.

I’d watch videos on tempo, read articles on recovery cycles, compare one coach’s programming to another.

And then I’d skip my session because I felt unsure, unprepared, or like I was missing something.

Eventually, I gave myself permission to stop overthinking.

I committed to something basic and consistent and stopped looking for better.

That’s when I finally made progress that didn’t come with mental exhaustion.

Sometimes your breakthrough isn’t in doing more. It’s in letting go of the pressure to be perfect.

Has overthinking ever stopped you in your tracks?

10/07/2025

The plan that worked was the one that felt too easy

One client I worked with was convinced they needed to go “all in” to see results. They had tried every high-intensity programme, strict nutrition plan, and 6-day-a-week gym split under the sun. And every time, they burned out within three weeks.

When they came to me, I gave them something simple. Three strength sessions. A basic meal structure. Some guidelines around sleep and steps. Nothing complicated, nothing extreme.

At first, they pushed back. “This feels too easy.” But we stuck with it.

Three months later, they had lost weight, built muscle, improved energy, and - most importantly - hadn’t missed a single week. That was a first for them. And the only thing we did differently was take away the pressure to be perfect.

If it feels simple, that’s not a sign it won’t work. That’s a sign it can.

Have you ever dismissed a plan just because it didn’t feel hard enough?

04/07/2025

Fitness does not need a PhD

Sometimes I think the fitness industry has made things so technical that it is no wonder people feel paralysed.

Everywhere you look there is complicated jargon, fancy diagrams, advanced biomechanics, and influencers pushing the newest routine that promises magic.

Before you know it, you feel like you need a PhD just to squat properly or eat a healthy breakfast.

I see people all the time who truly want to get healthier, but they hold back because they believe they do not know enough yet. They think they need to study macros like a nutrition scientist, master advanced training periodisation, time their supplements to the second, and memorise every calorie in their day before they can even start.

But let me tell you something. You do not need a PhD to make progress. You do not need to be an expert to make a change. You do not need to get everything perfect from day one.

If you are feeling stuck and overwhelmed, strip it right back to what actually matters. Move your body regularly. Focus on working your whole body a few times per week. Eat mostly whole foods and build your meals around protein and vegetables. Sleep seven to nine hours. Drink water. Repeat.

The basics are boring, but they work. They work because they are sustainable, even on stressful days, even when life throws curveballs, even when motivation is low.

That is what progress really looks like - showing up for the simple stuff again and again until it becomes who you are.

Every time you catch yourself overcomplicating it, remember this: no one has ever failed at fitness because they kept it too simple.

But plenty of people have failed because they made it so complex they could not stick with it.

Do you ever feel like you are waiting to know more before you start? I would love to hear how that has shown up for you.

01/07/2025

Progress thrives on routine, not novelty

The reason most people struggle is not because they lack information.

It is because they chase novelty instead of routine.

They switch workouts every week.

They look for the next big shortcut.

They scroll endlessly for meal ideas instead of repeating a few simple options.

Your body changes through consistency, not through variety for the sake of variety.

If you want results, build a routine so simple you could follow it even on your busiest day.

Keep your training days the same. Keep your meals similar. Keep your bedtime consistent. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel and watch what happens.

And remember, progress comes from a step-by-step approach. If you cannot consistently stick to something - whether that is your eating habits, your training, or your sleep routine - that is a clear sign you need to simplify even further. The habit needs to be so easy it becomes a no-brainer.

Only once you have proven to yourself that you can stick to that habit for at least six weeks should you think about adding another.

For example, if your diet feels like chaos, do not expect yourself to become a food saint overnight. Start by focusing on just one meal, like improving your breakfast. Or reduce your alcohol by a couple of units each week. That might not sound flashy, but it is exactly what works.

Small steps, stacked consistently, will always beat the all-at-once approach.

Have you ever made the mistake of trying to change everything at once and ended up changing nothing?

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Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 8pm
Tuesday	8am - 8pm
Wednesday	8am - 8pm
Thursday	8am - 8pm
Friday	8am - 8pm
Saturday	8am - 1pm
Sunday	8am - 1pm

Website

http://www.markpersonaltraining.com/

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