Working out in winter

The clocks have gone back and the temperatures have plummeted, but that doesn't mean you call time on exercise, especially training outdoors, until spring breaks.

Part of what makes an exercise regimen so crucial is that it forges discipline and resilience, both physical and mental, within you.

This resilience is challenged in the winter months. Waking up in the dark and bundling up against the icy air for a morning run or just to get to that fitness class is a test, but if you can do it, and on a regular basis, it becomes a powerful habit, engendering a strength of mind which will help you with all kind of battles in your life.

The key thing is habit here. Don't get up early one morning for a run and then feel so good about yourself you take the next few days off. Drill in this behaviour. It's said a habit needs 90 days to be fully ingrained so it becomes instinctive to the body. Well, there's your winter! Build that fitness discipline this season and and you'll be primed to really make the most of spring and summer - you'll be far better off than those hyggah hibernators!

Training in winter not only benefits your mental strength, it also has scientifically proven physical advantages. It increases blood flow and circulation to all your body's arteries and veins, so the body warms itself up. You will also burn more energy and fat stores, due to more energy being required to heat up the body's core temperature. You'll also give your resting metabolism an even greater boost so your fat burning period will be extended way after exercising.

Many people get struck down by colds and bugs during the winter months, but keeping a winter workout regime going means you are testing and thus strengthening your immune system. Breathing in the cool, crisp air on those winter runs or bootcamp circuits is also going to improve your cardiovascular system.

There is also one last key factor. Winter is beautiful. Running across crackling, frost covered terrain with that crop, cool air and your breath fuming around you. It's wonderful to be alive in those moments and you'll be rewarded for making the decision to get out there in nature in winter. Think you may have the winter blues? Here's the cure. Your mood will skyrocket.

If you want someone to design a winter workout regime for you and be there on those cold morning starts to give you that bit of encouragement you need, I'm here for you.

At Mark Of Fitness we love to get outside to train. As long as you're dressed appropriately, the weather is no obstacle to a good workout.

I can tailor a workout programme for you that will keep you strong, slim and full of energy through the winter months...and you'll have a great time doing it.

Get in touch here at the website, Facebook at @mymarkoffitness or email markoffitness.org  

Face your fears

Being scared is nothing to be afraid of.

For many, fear runs their life. That 'what if' fear of how events could possibly go wrong has paralysed many an action and many a dream.

It's been said that anxiety manifests itself as an obsession with the future. As an extension of that you can see how fear preys on a manic focus on consequence, rather than events as they are happening.

I've had to face a fair amount of fear in recent weeks, making the decision to give up my full-time  job, which filled me financially, but left me spiritually empty, and dedicate myself to my personal training business.

The unknown can be frightening, especially when you fill it with your own imagination. Dealing with the shock of no longer working in an industry I'd given 18 years of my life to, which at one point nearly had me calling up my former boss to beg for my job back - now that would have been humiliating - made me think of other times fear has consumed me.

As a kid and through my teens and early 20s I would consider myself pretty fearless. I'd try pretty much any stunt - off roofs, on bikes, skateboard - and regular trips to A&E and resultant plaster casts didn't seem to deter me. In fact, such was my season-ticket-like attendance at our local emergency ward, doctors once took my mum aside and asked her if she'd been beating me. 'Why, do you think it might stop him doing these stupid stunts?' she said.

Aged 17 I travelled around Europe on my own. When cash was tight I sold my watch and personal stereo in pre-Balkan War Yugoslavia to fund another week. I relished my independence and adventure.

However, after almost six years living abroad in the Czech Republic, I returned home complaining of 'not feeling right' to my parents.

Instead of regenerating me, home comforts seemed to make me worse and I started having panic attacks. People who have had them will know they're no joke. I thought I was going to die. My body seemed to be playing weird tricks on me, filled by coursing fear and adrenaline. My throat seemed to be closing, my neck so tight it felt like I was being choked all the time. I'd get rushes of pins and needles throughout my whole body.

Suddenly everywhere I went seemed to be fraught with danger. In crowds of people I was going to get crushed, in the Underground I was going to suffocate, in cars I was going to crash and swimming I was going to drown.

This last one was strange as I'd always been a strong swimmer. One of many memories shared with my wonderful mum - now sadly passed away - was swimming way out in the Gulf of Mexico in St Petersburg, Florida, alongside a wild dolphin who'd show off with jumps and spins. I don't recall feeling fearful at all.

But now, as soon as I got out of my depth, even in a pool, my throat tightened, my breathing grew shallow and my heart beat like it was going to burst through my chest. I'd flap desperately to get back to the shallows full of visions of my own death and wasted life.

It got so bad, I avoided swimming completely. If I went to a beach paddling was the most I'd do. This went on for many years.

Having children and seeing them struggle to learn to swim I knew I had to be a strong role model. I started visited the local municipal pool alone and tried to get over my fear. Still, as soon as I could no longer touch the bottom I felt that dizzying rush of fear and I'd forget everything I knew about swimming, taking huge gasps for air that never seemed to come into my lungs.

I started making progress only when I realised I had to take my mind off the future. I'd see the pool deep end wall and panic I'd never be able to get there. But if I focused on each stroke a time, keeping my eyeline on the rippling water around me I could regulate my breathing and swim naturally.

It took time, but I began to convince my own mind that I could swim well in the deep water. On really good days, the focus on stroke by stroke became quite meditative. It's a work in progress and there's no need to open that JustGiving page for my charity swim the Channel effort just yet, but confronting that fear was one of the best things I've done in recent times. 

Some of you may have fear holding you back from starting an exercise regime or taking on a sporting event. Perhaps it's the scale of the perceived effort, how to fit it in around your work or family, which is intimidating you.

Here at Marks of Fitness we do something similar to my method for getting swimming in deep water again. We take it stroke by stroke, or rep by rep. Yes, I'll work with you to set goals, both long and short term, but once they're set they can be put to the side and the focus becomes the day-to-day-work.

A goal to be able to run non-stop for a mile may seem daunting to some, but I will break it down into step-by-step drills. The focus is then to perfect each drill.

And just as I, once I focused on each individual stroke, would get to end of the pool, almost without knowing it - soon you'll put your head up and realise just how far you've come by focusing on the work as you do it and not the future.

Down there in the focus on work, on the moment - fear can't get to you. This is how you beat it.

If you want to take on your fears and instil your life with a disciplined fitness plan that will get results. Get in touch at markoffitness.org where you can get two free gifts to start you on your fitness journey or at my Facebook site @mymarkoffitness

Spank that plank...

I've just posted some nice plank variations you might want to try at my Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/mymarkoffitness/?fref=ts

My story

The reason I know the Marks Of Fitness method of training works is because it's done just that for me.

I'm proof that an experienced lifter and exercise junkie can have their fitness and quality of life transformed by the overhaul of bad habits and accountability to good technique and movement the method instils.

So let's go back and exhume the whole sorry story! 

I was reasonably talented at sports throughout school and university, but I had physical imbalances. Some were genetic - I was very tall and most of my height seemed to made up of legs so I was ungainly. I also had flat feet and collapsed arches so my knees tended to cave in under stress.

I can't really be held responsible for these physical quirks, but adopting a bow-legged walk because I thought it looked cool all through university and which disturbed the tracking of my fibula and tibia across the patella was all mine. Add to this years of football and rugby and my knees soon paid the price.

I had two ACL tears, one on each knee, in my late teens and early 20s. I felt the injuries were indicative of an overall lack of strength so I began weight training seriously. While I put on plenty of muscle, I found that now tipping the scales at 110kg is not that beneficial when you've got two messed up knees. Despite the extra bulk my knees still felt like they were made of glass and I called time on my sporting career.

I became a journalist and the years of 10-hour days hunched over a keyboard couple with the intense bodybuilding workouts I still kept at meant I was turning into an immobile hulk.

My muscles were tightening up and this shortening of the range of movement meant I was forever getting injured when I was called on for five-a-side football or a game of tennis. My body could not cope with the sudden changes of direction or the stretching involved.

Maybe I looked strong, but my shoulders were rounded from my tight chest muscles and I was not able to fill my lungs efficiently with each breath so any cardio shattered me fast.

But it was my knees that had become the real problem.. They weren't just hampering my sporting ability, they were restricting my every day life. Rather than strengthening them, years of squatting heavy without engaging the posterior chain of muscles (glutes and hamstrings) had put huge shearing forces on my already weakened knees.

Ocassional stiffness and tenderness soon became pain, especially when my legs were bent in a sitting position for any length of time.

Going to the cinema was agony for me - even if I wasn't watching an Adam Sandler film - if I did not have an aisle seat. If I kept my legs bent for longer than five minutes the pain was excruciating and I had to straighten them or scream out loud.

Squatting became agony and I felt like the Tin Man when I ran from a cold start. Some days even walking was painful.

My inflamed tissues throughout my body caused by years of heavy lifting without adequate manipulation and lengthening of the muscles kept me feeling constantly uptight and anxious. My muscles could not seem to switch off and, as a result, I was constantly exhausted.

I'd always thought of myself as fit, strong and capable, but now I was looking enviously at anyone who could sit up out of a chair without having to get an extra push with their arms.

Enough was enough. I had to do something and I knew it would have to involve losing my ego and staring from scratch.

My poor exercise technique had to be overhauled and my tight, shortened muscles had to be lengthened and unknotted.

I researched exhaustively, selecting the best mobility drills and stretches - drawing from yoga, calisthenics and even wrestling - sticking to exercise that reprogrammed a new way of moving.

I won't lie to you. It felt at times a long and frustrating process. For someone who used to squat 140kg, albeit with poor form, to go to having to do a bodyweight squat holding on to bands to ensure I kept my trunk upright and dropped deep into the hips and engaged my glutes was a bit galling.

However, by sticking to my new movement cues I began to find a stability, power and even comfort I'd never felt before in the squat. In time 50 bodyweight squats felt like nothing and my knees were no longer crying for mercy the next day.

Now I'm squatting close to my best weight, but this time with no knee collapse, with my hips way below my knees and my trunk taut and upright.

Also the mobility work on my hips and learning how to fire up my posterior chain adding power and range of motion to my running gait, while easing stress on the knees. In six months I was able to dip under 20 minutes for a 5k run, my best time since my early 20s - and with no knee pain.

This is why I know Marks of Fitness works and will work for you. I use them myself and these short term standards I know I must attain before I can move on to the next level ensure I am making progress that will never have to be cut short because of injury or poor form. When I complete my current Marks of Fitness, I write myself more - achievable, vital increments to ensure I get fitter, stronger, faster safely and effectively.

If I struggle to achieve on 'mark' I do not put it aside and move on. This defeats the object. Each 'mark' sets the safe foundation future 'marks' are set upon.

For. example if I have not mastered landing my feet forward and my knees pushed out - a key one for me with my history of poor knee alignment - moving on to increased volume in which that bad technique is reinforced and eventual injury is likely is not going to work. I can't be programming in high rep box jumps, jump squat, jumping jacks or burps until that good technique is drilled in. At some point injury or pain is going to cut short your training and ruin all the work you've put in.

Get in touch through the website for a free consultation and let's get your fitness right from the beginning with Marks Of Fitness.

Fit to be a father

Playing with my two sons at the outdoor gym in Castle Park, Colchester, I was met with a depressing but all too familiar sight.
Another dad was being coaxed into trying out the pull-up bars by his son, who looked around five years old.
His attempt was embarrassing. With much huff and puffing and flinging his legs around to gain some upward momentum, he managed what could charitably be described as one pull-up.
His son looked on and said: "It's OK you can't do it, Dad. You're old." The dad laughed, said: "I guess I am" and they trundled off together.
What really killed me was this dad wasn't old at all - early thirties, if that. He wasn't overweight. I guess he had what's called a "dad bod" - a little soft around the edges.
The term was coined by Mackenzie Pearson, a US college student, in an online article to champion the good-time boys on campus who "go the gym occasionally but also drink heavily at the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at one time" over the preened, ripped narcissists who obsess over their eight hours' sleep and nutrient-packed meals.
It has become a bit of a phenomenon stateside, with lots of women agreeing that slightly slobbish men are less intimidating, cuddlier, more fun to be with, and strangely sexy.
It seems socially acceptable for men to gain weight, especially when they become fathers, and, if the "dad bod" fad is to be believed, even socially preferable.
Certainly, there is medical evidence men start to pile on the pounds in fatherhood. Early this year a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centre for Disease Control in the US looked at about 5,000 men and women and noticed an observable trend: Men who were two years and above into fatherhood put on about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in weight.
In July this year a study published in the US edition of Men's Health magazine found more compelling evidence for the fatherhood effect. Dr Craig Garfield and a team of researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine studied 10,253 men over a 20-year period.
They found a 2.6 per cent rise in body mass index (parameters of a healthy body shape based on your height and weight) for fathers who lived in the same house as their children.
The average non-dad was actually found to have lost weight over the same period.
So the dad bod exists, but the ramifications of it are not as cuddly and cute as Miss Pearson and her friends might think. Garfield has his concerns that the habits of the father may rub from off on his children.
A busy dad may feel it's OK to grab fast food because he has a hectic lifestyle and no time to prepare a healthy meal, and perfectly fine to slump in front of the TV to unwind from the day's stresses, but soon these will become ingrained habits and very noticeable ones to impressionable children.
He may say all the right things, tell his kids to work hard, make the most of their lives and stay healthy, but every dad should know that one day their children will follow their example and not their advice.
Returning to the dad I saw in the park, let's be clear I am not saying this man is a bad father. He's taken his son to the park for a start, which is to be applauded, and it was obvious the two had a bond. However, his lack of physical fitness and his acceptance of it concerns me. 
I'm a personal trainer and I can do pull-ups for fun and I'm now well into my forties. When my kids were younger they used to hang on to my legs and I'd pull them up with me. I'm not trying to brag - there are plenty of people out there, men and women, fitter and stronger than me - but I want to be the fittest and strongest version of me I can be.
This is not some vain, self-obsessed pursuit. I want to be strong and healthy for my family. I want to show my children that health is a habit that needs to be worked at every day and I want to be strong enough to protect them from whatever challenges come up.
It's very likely that the dad at the park gym is just as protective of his children - after all it's an instinctive, primal bond. However, maybe his way of doing it is putting all his energies into a challenging job, which pays him well enough his children never want for anything, but leaves him physically and mentally spent come the weekend.
If that's true, then he's one of many thousands in the county. Is that a good excuse then for all the dad bods, don't these people deserve being cut a little slack considering all they selflessly do for the ones they love?
I believe, what they deserve is some help. They need to understand that a daily exercise regime, rather than impinge on an already stressed weekly workload, will help build the energy, confidence and stamina to attack that workload.
Start off slowly, especially if it's been a while since you last exercised. Even just a brisk 15-minute walk, you'll find, is amazingly energising. When I am feeling worn out and lacking the energy to complete the tasks for the day I run through a 10-minute series of stretches and bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, planks and squats while maintaining steady deep breaths in through my nose. In 10 minutes I go from exhausted to energised.
While I've been espousing the dedication required to commit to a daily exercise regime, you'll notice the effects just about instantaneously. Getting active for just a short period each day will boost your mental and physical health.
Your mood will improve, you'll have more energy during the day and will sleep better at night, your stress levels will drop, and the pressures of the day will seem more manageable.
Progressing from brisk walks to mastering your first pull-up will take time but it will come. The key is consistency. Keep to a plan and you'll make progress.
You'll notice it - and so will you're kids. No longer will going to the park with them mean letting them run wild while you sit on a bench with your smartphone. Now you'll be running with them, climbing trees, playing football - just making the most of the gift of being a dad.
It's time to Ditch the dad bod and get fit to be a father.

The best exercise to do to get strong to lift your kids
The goblet pause squat
Lifting up your young children is brilliant. They love it, you love it, but it's crucial, for their safety and yours, that you do it correctly. The key is to get low to pick the child up by dropping the hips while keeping the knees back so they do not extend over the toes. In this way you can gain leverage for the lift without having to round the back - which is where the danger lies. 
The goblet squat is ideal because it gets you to practise with a weight in front of you - as you would have picking up your child. If you've got a kettle bell or dumbbell to hand, that's great, but you can use a small rock, a bag of sugar or anything of a manageable weight you can keep a grip on.
Place your feet hip distance apart with toes pointing forward. Drop the hips, keeping the knees back, to pick up the weight. As you grip it, retract your shoulder blades and keep the back tight as you drive through the heels and bring the hips forward to come to a standing position.
Curl up the weight with our arms so you cradle it close to your collarbone. Brace your core by pulling your navel into your backbone and drop into a squat as a before. Aim to drop to a depth where your hips are parallel with your knees. If this is uncomfortable or impossible to do without rounding your back come up to a position where you can maintain a straight back.
Hold this position for a count of three then drive back to your standing position. By doing this you are building your hip mobility by getting used to that bottom of the squat position, you are strengthening your core in maintaining a straight back while supporting a weight in front of you and you are building lower body strength in powering up into a standing position.
Do four sets of 10 repetitions with a 90-second rest between each set. Soon your child will feel as light as a feather!

Best exercise to help you keep up with your kids
Hill sprints
If whenever you take your children to open spaces such as parks and the beach they bolt off and even thinking about catching them up is exhausting you need to try hill sprints. They will build speed and lower body strength. Once most people pass the age of 30 they think the days of running full pelt are gone - a jog is fine, but few open up into a sprint. 
Let me tell you there are few things that make you feel as alive as running as fast as you can - and the incline means it's far easier on the knees than running on the flat and can even help build connective tissue strength in the lower body, helping to protect from injury.
The sprints should be short in duration, around 8 to 10 seconds, and five or six at full intensity is plenty. Make sure you give yourself adequate time to get your breath back before beginning another. This can be anything from 45 seconds to two minutes-plus, depending on your fitness. When I do hill sprints, I usually use the walk back down the hill as my rest period - definitely don't run back down the hill, that would not be so kind on the knees.
Don't do hill sprints more than twice a week as they do require some recovering from and make sure you warm up well prior to sprinting. If you would like a free video guide on how to warm up for hill sprints, email me at markoffitness@gmail.com

The best exercise to ensure if there are few falls when you're playing with your kids, it's them and not you
The side plank
This is an excellent exercise for building core strength and improving your overall balance. If you're in the woods with your children tiptoeing over logs to cross streams while carrying a bag on one side or even one of your children this move will ensure you stay upright.
Start by lying down on your right side, keeping your legs straight. Next, raise yourself up on your right forearm; your body should form a straight, diagonal line from head to toe. Your hips and knees should be off the floor. You can raise your left arm straight up or even your left leg to make it more challenging. For beginners it is best to hold the up position for 10 seconds and then rest for the same time. Try for the five rounds in the up position and then swap sides. As you get stronger you can start maintaining the side plank position for longer.

Best exercise for building towards pull-ups
The recline row
 Pull-ups are tough but being able to lift your own bodyweight means you'll be able to impress your kids with your tree climbing skills, make short work of the park monkey bars and develop that V-shape back which is a sure sign your banishing the dad bod.
However, if you can't currently do any, or just one or two, best to hammer out the recline row reps.
In the gym position yourself under a barbell (the Smith machine is ideal) or grab the handles of a suspension trainer such as TRX (most gyms have a version of these). Alternatively, just head for the woods and pick a sturdy tree branch which is at around chest height. 
Grab the branch with an over hand grip and ease down under the bar so your body is in a straight line at around 45 degrees and your heels are pressed into the ground. Keep the back tight in this bottom position then pull your chest to branch, bar or cables. return under control to the bottom position, maintaining the body's straight line. Try for four sets of 10 reps. When these become no problem, you're ready to move on to more testing pull-up progressions.