MARK WRIGHT: STAYING IN SHAPE SHOULD NEVER MAKE YOU DEPRESSED AND UNHAPPY
Ever wondered how Mark Wright stays in shape? Well, aside from a pretty intense training schedule as a professional footballer for Crawley Town, the ex-Towie star has another secret up his sleeve.
Wright, 34, swears by high-intensity interval training (HIIT) – and he’s so passionate about the method, he’s been sharing his no-equipment workouts with his 1.8 million Instagram fans every weekday morning throughout lockdown.
Along with his brother
Josh, he’s also just launched his new fitness app, Train Wright (thisistrainwright.com), which features various programmes to help people looking to lose weight, build muscle and burn fat.
Here, Wright talks to us about finding inspiration in lockdown, and how his approach to keeping fit and healthy has changed… On staying motivated…
“I’m someone who loves to keep fit and I usually find it easy to stay motivated, but last lockdown I found myself just laying on the sofa. It got to the point where I hadn’t trained for two or three weeks, even though I had loads of time on my hands. “I booked a live class on my Instagram, which meant I had to commit to it. I found that it gave me a bit of structure, which is why I kept doing it for five days a week with my audience. Working out just gives me the mental boost to keep cracking on. The #TrainWright series just grew from there, and I started inviting celebrity friends to join in too.” On workout regrets… “I remember getting fit for a shoot and I went all out with my diet and training. Looking back, I was stressed, I was hungry, and I was really unhappy for six weeks. I didn’t have the energy I needed, and I wasn’t taking care of myself in terms of nutrition. That was definitely a mistake.
“I now know that it’s about being happy in life. Yes, training is great, but the minute it interferes with happiness elsewhere and it stops you living your life, is when you need to take a step back. Don’t push yourself to the point where you’re getting upset and depressed with it. That’s my biggest tip.” On his workout routine… “That said, I haven’t really got a good balance at the moment, because I’m playing professional football. I’m doing football training three or four days a week, depending on match days, and then weight training when I get home.
“In a normal training period, when I’m not doing football, I’d wake up and do a HIIT session for 30-40 minutes, then I’ll try and fit in three or four weights sessions a week to keep toned. As long as I’m fitting my HIIT session in then I’m good.”