Mark Sumner Online Coach

Mark Sumner Online Coach Your No Bullsh*t Guide to Weight Loss Without Ending Up Skinny Fat If you've arrived here, you've already started your journey to becoming confident.

My name's Mark Sumner, a Royal Marines Commando-turned-health and fitness coach, originally from the UK. For more than five years, I've been helping women from all over world feel more confident through my online coaching programs.

04/06/2026

Despite all the warnings about how hard newborn life was going to be…

I’m finding it suspiciously manageable.

Turns out that’s because I don’t have a pair of t**s.

So while I’m cleaning, cooking, doing nappies, making tea…

And constantly asking .salem if I can do anything else…
salem is an absolute work horse for this little lad.

I’m incredibly grateful that this part is easier for me.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit guilty watching her carry me on this part of parenthood 👀

Roll on the days where I can take feeding duties off her hands for a few hours!

Ever since I started talking more about running, a few thousand people have followed me here.And whilst I appreciate the...
03/06/2026

Ever since I started talking more about running, a few thousand people have followed me here.

And whilst I appreciate the support, I realised a lot of you probably have no idea who I actually am.

So here’s a brief explanation of how a pizza faced teenager ended up here.

As far as life goes, I think I’ve just hit a peak today.What a ride the last week has been.I now understand how complete...
01/06/2026

As far as life goes, I think I’ve just hit a peak today.

What a ride the last week has been.

I now understand how completely vulnerable you can be as a parent when your child is going through something you have zero control over.

Forever thankful to the team of midwives, nurses and doctors up at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for keeping him and my wife safe.

You never really think about people like that until one of the most important weeks of your life ends up in their hands.

But today, we got to bring him home.

So let’s crack on making these the good old days 🤙🏼

The bergen straps were carving into my shoulders like a pi**ed off chiropractor…I had prickly heat spiking its way up my...
25/05/2026

The bergen straps were carving into my shoulders like a pi**ed off chiropractor…

I had prickly heat spiking its way up my back from those sh*tty brown t-shirts we were issued…

And my big toe was getting sliced up by a tiny stone that had worked its way into my boot.

Lovely Facebook memories to reminisce on today 😅

And I had an idea to make this a deeper post about motivation but if I’m being completely honest with you…

I can’t be arsed and my wife’s probably going into labour soon.

So the motivational hack I’ve got for you is that, at times, you may just need to stop being a melt.

And sure, you could say I had no other choice because I was in Royal Marines training in that instance…

So I’ll take you back to the other week where I’d just had about 90 mins of broken sleep thanks to some very loud, nocturnal seagulls.

And in the video I’m throwing down a few paracetamol because I felt like I had a fever coming on right before running 118km.

I had shivers, my joints were aching and my throat felt like it was on fire.

In any case, the conditions are rarely favourable with most things in life.

So don’t get caught constantly waiting for the good mood, the quieter week, or better sleep.

Most of the time you need a voice that says:

“Stop moaning ya little bitch, crack on” 🤣

I was a bit concerned when I started working with Nicola.
Because I always ask new clients about their goals before we b...
22/05/2026

I was a bit concerned when I started working with Nicola.

Because I always ask new clients about their goals before we begin.

But she told me she didn’t really have one 😖

She wasn’t after a number on the scales, even though she’s lost over 20lbs.

Nor was she bothered about hitting PBs, even though she just smashed a 3 day hike across the West Highland Way.

But Nicky had something better than a goal.

She had something I’d call a ‘value’ 

To look and feel like someone who trains.

Which gets a bit confusing, because how do you even measure that?

What’s the finish line?

And that’s the point really, there isn’t one.

Which means she was never going to stop at a number on the scale.

Whereas with weight loss…

I’ve watched plenty of people lose it and put it straight back on.

Because losing weight was the only reason they were doing any of it.

Once the goal was gone, so was the reason to show up.

By the way, I don’t think weight loss is pointless.

Around 60% of my clients are losing weight right now.

But I think it’s a terrible thing to build your whole approach around.

See it as part of the process…

Rather than the whole process.

Like I’m working with a client that wants to perform better on the golf course.

I’ve got some competing at ATHX in July.

Others are running all sorts of distances from park runs to 50K ultras.

For ALL of them, the weight loss is happening but it’s just not what gets them out of bed in the morning.

These people aren’t asking me: 

If I eat this tonight will it show on the scales tomorrow?

They’re asking how their training looked this week. 

What their Strava stats were on that route last week. 

Whether their protein is where it needs to be for the sessions they’re doing.

I reckon when you build around a value instead of a goal, this whole fitness game becomes a hell of a lot more interesting.

One of the first questions I got asked after the ultra was:“When’s the next one?” 👀And while I do have plans to do a 100...
20/05/2026

One of the first questions I got asked after the ultra was:

“When’s the next one?” 👀

And while I do have plans to do a 100 miler…

It’s probably best for my own safety that I don’t commit to that volume of training as we’re expecting our first baby 😅

But it was never on my radar to dive right back into another event anyway…

I was always going to focus on building some muscle post-ultra.

And I think this is something that gets overlooked in the running and wider hybrid athlete community.

We get so caught up on building a bigger engine that we forget about the chassis that’s carrying it.

It’s not to say endurance work is bad.

Far from it, we’ve gotta keep that dawg in us.

But if the goal is to be genuinely capable long term for these kind of things…

I think being more resilient and carrying a bit more muscle is never a bad thing.

19/05/2026

.salem is currently 5 days overdue 🤰and I’ve had this video idea in my head for about a week…

So it was a good opportunity to fill the time while we wait for the little guy to arrive!

P.S. If anyone can give us the lowdown on the umbilical cord it would be appreciated 🤣

Send this to one of your skinny running mates that you’re getting concerned for 🤣Because if you’re anything like me… You...
15/05/2026

Send this to one of your skinny running mates that you’re getting concerned for 🤣

Because if you’re anything like me…

You love a bit of distance running but also want to hold onto every scrap of muscle you’ve got.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anyway to “optimise” distance running and building muscle together unless you’re on the juice 💉

Which means you’ll need to prioritise one or the other depending on your plans for the year ahead.

And right now, it’s post-ultra & new dad season for me…

Which lends itself to shorter, higher intensity interval work with the running AND efficient strength training.

(Or so that’s the idea)

This upper body session is part of a trio, the other two being a lower body and a full body session.

I’ll post those on my page soon, but until then make sure you swipe to the last page to view the session in full 🤙🏼

Send this yo one of your skinny running mates that you’re getting concerned for 🤣Because if you’re anything like me… You...
15/05/2026

Send this yo one of your skinny running mates that you’re getting concerned for 🤣

Because if you’re anything like me…

You love a bit of distance running but also want to hold onto every scrap of muscle you’ve got.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anyway to “optimise” distance running and building muscle together unless you’re on the juice 💉

Which means you’ll need to prioritise one or the other depending on your plans for the year ahead.

And right now, it’s post-ultra & new dad season for me…

Which lends itself to shorter, higher intensity interval work with the running AND efficient strength training.

(Or so that’s the idea)

This upper body session is part of a trio, the other two being a lower body and a full body session.

I’ll post those on my page soon, but until then make sure you swipe to the last page to view the session in full 🤙🏼

14/05/2026

No hate to Garmin on this one…

Because I’m an absolute w***e for some data.

But that doesn’t mean we should always believe it.

Take my recovery from the ultra marathon for example…

Garmin gave me 96hrs (4 days) until I was fully recovered.

But if you didn’t know otherwise, 96 hours is the maximum programmed amount it can give you anyway.

Which is about as useful as a handbrake on a canoe.

Now, Garmin does redeem itself with its HRV readings but even then I don’t believe any device will be more accurate than how we feel.

So if you’re like me, who’s just come off a big training block & event or have one coming up…

Pay attention to your perceived training intensity and sleep patterns above all else.

They’ll give you far more insight to how ready your body is to dive back in than a watch ever will.

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