MARK ORMROD - remembering this day 10 years ago

                    

10 years ago, while everyone was getting ready for Christmas, the Royal Marines were out if Afghanistan.

On Christmas Eve 2007 Royal Marines Commandos were on patrol. Mark "Rammers" Ormrod was about to have his life changed forever.

The first triple amputee to survive his injuries and pioneer the way for others that would unfortunately follow.

It was an absolute privilege to be his Physiotherapist at Headley Court after he survived an Improved Explosive Device (IED) whilst in Afghanistan.

Happy "Bang-aversary" to quite simply, the most inspirational man I know.

I interviewed Mark awhile ago and this is his inspirational story:

What motivated you to join the Royal Marines in the first place?

When I was about 15yrs old & approaching the end of my compulsory education I had a sudden realisation that once I had taken my GCSE's & the exams were over that I had a huge choice to make, that choice was to either continue my schooling with further education or go out into the big bad world & start earning a living.

At that point I was pretty much done with school, not because I didn't enjoy it or I wasn't any good at it (I got 9 GCSE's A-C & 1 D) but because I wanted to be out there earning & gaining an education in life. Now the problem that I had was that I really didn't know what it was that I wanted to do, I knew that I didn't want to be in a suit working a 9-5 but I wasn't really sure what all of the wider options were. After lots of thought, research & seeking advice from others eventually I narrowed my options down to the Fire Brigade, the Police or the Army.

As a 15yr old I really had no idea just how much the Fire Brigade actually do & assumed that all they did was put out fires (I now know much differently) & back then that didn’t really appeal to me and so I scratched that off my list.

Joining the Police didn’t materialise either as I thought that maybe that could be something I’d look at when I was a bit older & had a bit more life experience & so in the end I decided to join the Army. So one day I went down to the careers center, spoke to the guy in charge & came home with all of the relevant paperwork. Once my parents found out my plan my Dad took me to see an Uncle of mine who unbeknown to me had been a Captain in the Royal Marines. He talked to me about the differences between the Army & the Royal Marines & told me a little bit about his career, after that I went back to the careers centre and spoke with the man in charge of recruiting for the Corps. I sat down with him & had a chat, watched the standard recruiting video & that was the moment that I made my decision that I wanted to become a Royal Marine’s Commando. What appealed to me was that these guys were so flexible & could deploy to any environment in the world, arctic, desert, jungle, woodland & they could do it by land, sea or air, it seemed like the complete package & I knew that by joining it was going to make me grow enormously as an individual. I also did a lot of research & found out just how hard the training was & so I thought to myself “might as well go all in & push myself to see if I have what it takes”

What kept you going at Lympstone (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)?

I think what kept me going through my training initially was my ego & pride. I was only 17 at the time & one of the youngest in the troop & so I felt like I had something to prove, it also made me sick to my stomach the thought of quitting because it was too hard or being kicked out because I wasn’t good enough.

As the weeks went by I watched people quit & get kicked out & I imagined how bad they would feel being on that train on the way back home & having to face their friends & family & tell them that they didn’t make the grade, I couldn’t handle the thought of that being me & so I used that to push me on through the tough times. Even if we were doing things like speed marches, yomps or any other kind of physical test as hard as it was & as much as I wanted to quit (even at times throwing up as I was running) I couldn’t bare the thought of getting back trooped & having to go through that pain again in two weeks time with another troop. It would feel like all of the pain I was going through was for nothing & I remember always thinking to myself “well I’m already in pain, it already hurts so I might as well get a reward from it” & so I continued to push.

Of course there’s also the rest of the lads that are around you. Everyone has their strengths & everyone has their weaknesses & when a member of the troop is struggling the rest of the lads rally around to help him through & then later down the line he usually repays the favor, that’s how the military works.

There was of course also the thought of becoming a fully trained Royal Marines Commando by the age of 18! That really spurred me on. I remember thinking how cool would it be not only to have passed the longest & hardest regular forces infantry training in the world, but to have done it by 18 would have made me a stud! (Well in my mind anyway)

What motivated you after the success of getting your green beret?

After I got my Green Lid what motivated me was standards. I had an absolutely incredible training team when I went through Lympstone and every single one of them always held themselves to the highest professional standards at all times, they were men that I respected & looked up to & men that I wanted to be like.

There was also pride. Training to become a Royal Marine is world renowned for its difficulty & so when people see that Green Lid or those Commando flashes or that Globe & Laurel tattoo they know what you’ve been through & what kind of man you are. Now I don’t necessarily mean a tough guy/steely eyed dealer of death etc… but the kind of man that holds himself to a high standard & pushes himself to be better & who never quits & always finds a way around things, that’s what I wanted people to see when they looked at me & that motivated me even more to be all that I could be. I also had visions one day of being on a training team myself & having other young, raw recruits look up to me the way I looked up to my training team. 

How you felt after you got injured?

After I got injured I felt the same way I guess most people felt. I knew deep down that my career was over & I had no idea what I was going to be able to do to support my family. I thought my days of being physically fit & able to train were over (boy was I wrong!), I knew my days as a Thai Boxer were over which was hard to take & I really had no idea what the future held.

The early days during my recovery were turbulent & like most people I’d have good days & I’d have bad days. Some days I felt suicidal like everything I had ever worked hard for had been taken away from me & I’d have to start again from scratch to rebuild my life but then I’d think “OK well I’m 24yrs old so there’s plenty of time to rebuild.”

It was tough trying to figure everything out & it was an emotional roller-coaster for everyone that was involved but there was so much help & support on hand that it helped me & everyone around me to focus on the positives & the little wins & get through the hard times.

 What inspired you to keep going with your rehabilitation?

To keep me going through my rehab & to keep me moving forward I had a mindset shift & started to look at things differently & tried to pull all of the positives out of my situation. I started to look at my situation as a challenge just like when I was a 17yr old going through training with the odds stacked against me except now I was the UK’s first triple amputee from Afghanistan with no path to follow & I just thought “well if I can get through training I can get through this”. Again pride played a huge part in my recovery

If you were to change the way the Military trains its personnel, how would you change it?

I’m not sure to be honest its hard to say as the training needs to be brutal, it needs to push you mentally & physically to your breaking point because when you’re in a combat zone you need to know you have what it takes when the lead wasps start flying in your direction.

I think after training it would be really useful to have mentors/coaches available to help guide people through their careers as when you’re a young man/woman it can all be a bit overwhelming & sometimes people aren’t always aware of what is available to them, I know I certainly wasn’t.

The biggest change I’d like to see is more support during the final 12 months of people leaving the services. This may have changed now but I remember situations where friends had put in there notice to leave & during their final 12 months they were sent out on 3-6 month exercises on the other side of the world rather then focusing on things like re-training, re-settling their families & preparing themselves for civvy street.

How do you motivate yourself and what lesson can we learn from your example.

I motivate myself by given myself mentors & role models to aspire to be like & by constantly setting myself goals in all of the areas of my life which are important to me.

The only advice I can give is to not get stagnant & to pro-actively keep moving forward & setting yourself goals not matter how unobtainable they may seem or what anyone else thinks of them. You have to make a choice to focus on the things you want in life, cut out the drama & things that aren’t important & keep heading towards what it is that you do want.

Mark Ormrod MPSA

Motivational Speaker

Director: Mark Ormrod Ltd

WWW.MARKORMROD.COM

Facebook: Mark Ormrod-Motivational Speaker 

Twitter: @MarkOrmrod

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Thank you Mark, you are an inspiration to us all.

The Bulletproofbodies Team salute you.

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Could You Be Navy SEAL Fit?

                   

A Navy SEALS workout is different to the goals of a typical fitness or bodybuilding workout. A typical fitness workout may focus on improving endurance and reducing fat, where as a bodybuilding workout focuses on the aesthetics of building muscle.

A Navy SEALS workout needs to deliver so much more than just muscle and endurance. It needs to deliver strength, speed, flexibility, endurance, power, and mental toughness and fast rates of recovery.

Power is a key word here. Navy SEALS are required to deliver short bursts of intense physical exertion. These short bursts need to be fast and strong. And that is what power is all about, strength AND speed.

The Navy SEAL also needs to be able to quickly recovery from these power bursts and become mentally and physically ready for another burst of activity when required.

3 Elements Of A SEALS Workout

There are 3 main factors that a SEALS workout needs to abide by:

1. Portability

SEALS need to be able to train anywhere and at any time.

Therefore a workout should require nothing more than the body of the operative himself. No equipment or weights should be needed.

The workout should also be able to be completed within a small area of space. Typically no more than the space required to lie down in.

2. Efficiency

The workout needs to be quick. Operatives are extremely busy and have a hectic schedule and thus do not have time to spend hours each day working out.

Ideally the workout should last between 20-30 minutes.

3. Tactical Relevancy

The workout needs to improve the key tactical physical skills required. It is not just about exercising for the sake of it and improving all round general fitness.

A Navy SEAL workout needs to be specific to the physical requirements of the field: power, speed, agility, strength, quick recovery, and mental toughness.

Example Navy SEALS Workout

Below is an example workout that can be used to build Navy SEAL fitness.

The workout uses simple bodyweight exercises that I am sure you have already come across.

Instead of doing the typical 4 sets of 25 reps of each exercise, to make the workout relevant to the SEALS it is a good idea to perform it like a superset.

This is where you do 25 reps of one exercises, and then go straight onto 25 reps of the next exercise but without a rest. Continue until you have done all 4 exercises in a row. THEN rest. And repeat.

E.G: Push-ups x 25 > Sit-Ups x 25 > Pull-ups x 10 > Squats x 45 > REST > REPEAT

You can try mixing up this workout with other bodyweight exercises such as dips etc. Also try increasing the reps and trying to reduce the rest period as you progress.

Navy SEALS Workout Summary

This page has provided a simple example of the sort of workout that contributes to Navy SEAL fitness.

The aim is to develop tactical fitness and not just general fitness.

For maximum intensity, the exercises should be done quickly, one after the other. The rest period should only come each time the complete cycle of exercises has been completed.

For more information on the sort of bodyweight exercises Navy SEALS perform, see the author's related pages on bodybuilding without weights [http://musclewithoutweights.com/bodybuilding-without-weights] and chest exercises without weights [http://musclewithoutweights.com/chest-exercises-without-weights].

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The World's Toughest Military Training

                   

A few years ago, I bought a book about the Navy Seals and how they worked out. I tried to find the book as a reference for this article, but couldn't find it. 

Either way, I've retained some information from memory that I'd like to share. First of all, there were four main parts to the Navy Seals program: upper body training, core training, stretching, and cardio.

For some reason, the book did not talk about lower body training. Either way, the workouts presented in the book were very minimalist and 100% bodyweight exercises. I remember in particular the format of the workouts. The used a pyramid style of training.

For example, lets say that your workout consisted of pushups and pullups. Here's what the workout would look like using the pyramid method:

Pullups, 1-2-1 reps

Pushups, 2-4-2 reps

You can either alternate between the two exercises, or just rest in between each set. The Navy Seal book actually features 2-3 variations of each variations for each workout. The core workouts followed a straight set approach. For example, if you were doing situps and leg raises, the workout would look like:

Situps, 4x25

Leg Raises, 4x25

Naturally, this is not how the Navy Seals actually train. If they did, then I'd be afraid that the strength and conditioning programs of out military were not optimal for combat. However, what this book does is open up people to the idea that they can train like the military in the comfort of their own homes.

Military Workouts for Fat Loss

People are marveled at how incredible well conditioned the military is, despite training with just their bodyweight. The truth is that the military training program has transformed over the past few years. They've gone from training primarily with bodyweight to incorporating a lot of different training methods.

Some military programs have full gyms were soldiers perform strength workouts similar to bodybuilding and powerlifting programs. Others focus primarily on Crossfit and Kettlebell training regimens. But, if you were to enter basic training tomorrow, you'd be exposed to 100% bodyweight training.

Hence, the base of military fitness still lies in basic bodyweight movements. The Navy Seal book focused on pushups, pullups, core training, and swimming as the four fundamentals of training. I personally feel that all you really need are pushups, pullups, bodyweight squats, and situps to develop a base level of strength and fitness.

Military Principles for Fat Loss

It's not really the exercises that are special, but it's the principles that the military follows that gives them such great results. They could probably achieve better results than you can, even if you had a better workout program at your disposal. The reason is that they follow two very important principles that can help achieve success with any goal you may have:

Train Early in the Morning

Training early in the morning will jump start your metabolic rate and have you burning fat all day long. The days I workout first thing in the morning, I feel incredibly hungry and energetic throughout the day. I'm alert, and ready to get things done.

Training is Mandatory

There are no excuses in the military. That's why they're so disciplined and they get the results they get. If you have goals to achieve, there's no way you'll achieve them if you don't actually do your workouts. Start today by getting rid of all the distractions and excuses you might have.

Military Cardio for Fat Loss

We've discussed workouts, exercises, and principles. Now we get to the fun part - cardio. Actually, to most people cardio is not fun. Especially me. When you look at traditional military workouts they do a lot of running, and a lot of swimming. They also do a lot of circuit training and obstacle course training.

They pretty much do cardio everyday and all day. They're always on the move. So what can you learn from them? Well, one of the biggest aspects to their is that they are in a large group. You don't need to start some workout club, but running, swimming, or biking with a friend will help you get your extra cardio in.

When I was in Karate, I performed my best when I was fighting or competing against someone who was able to push me hard. My friend Dominic and I were of equal strengths and techniques. So when we fought, there was war. But it was fun, and we both burned off a ton of calories during the workout.

Putting it All Together: Military Style Workouts you can Do at Home

Well, if your goal is to get started with some basic military training, then you should take the following steps:

Stick to the basics: pushups, pullups, situps, and squats.

Get a friend to workout with. Make sure you push each other.

Train first thing in the morning.

Make sure you train on a consistent schedule. Don't let yourself make any excuses.

Find a fun activity to perform. This is the best cardio.

The last step is to actually get yourself a very basic bodyweight program you can do at home. My suggest is the Average Joe Fitness Program. For more information on this amazing manual, check out my site, WorkoutWithoutWeights.Net [http://workoutwithoutweights.net/]

You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

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MOTIVATION MONDAY - Are You Tough Enough?

                    

Think about something you absolutely have to do every day. You might not particularly enjoy doing it, but it's part of your routine such that, if you didn't do it, it would feel completely wrong to have missed it.

For me, that thing is brushing my teeth. I'd really rather proud of my dental hygiene and the strength of my teeth. I don't have any filling and apart from a grumbling wisdom tooth a few years ago, I've had not major issues with them. I feel very lucky as I remember a friend who woke up one morning and her front tooth dropped out. This would have been fine if she were 6 years old, but in her late 40's it was pretty shocking!

She couldn't go to work that day as she had to go to the dentist to get a temporary tooth until the dentist had made her a new one. That for me is the stuff of nightmares - I do actually dream about losing my teeth and wake in the morning to find myself checking that they are all there! I'm not saying that my friend didn't bother to brush her teeth, sometime there are other influencers, but those kinds of stories make me all the more dedicated to brushing my pearly whites at least twice a day, and leaves me with a sense of guilt and worry if I do not.

So how does bushing your teeth relate to exercise?

It's simple really. When I embarked on an exercise routine I have (and continue to) admit that it was probably one of the most difficult routines to stick to. It hurt, I was hot, out of breath and I'd rather be at home watching Netflix. Or working even, I'd actually rather work than exercise.

More than that I didn't like and was somewhat resentful of the people who were heading there each day as if they were off to church to pray to the sweat god. My mother even reminded me that when I was younger I'd said that I'd never go because I didn't want to breath in other people's sweat air!

You can see that I was really not on board with the idea of the gym at all!

So how did I crack that resistance? It was actually quite simple. I stopped trying to be one of those people who loved it, I stopped being one of those people that hated it and instead I thought about it as something that I just have to do regularly, like brushing my teeth.

Sometimes I might be in a rush and brushing my teeth could be seen as a time zapping activity, but I'd never not do it. I just have to. Now when I think about staying at home of an evening instead of going to the gym, I apply the same feeling as if I were choosing not to brush my teeth. It feels wrong to make a decision where I am avoiding doing something I know I have to do, more than that, I'd feel like I'd let myself down if I didn't do it.

So what is the thing you do in your life on a regular basis, that if you didn't do it, it would give you that feeling of the day being a bit weird or disjointed? Tune into the feeling you get when you think about not doing it and begin learning the formula for what you feel. Later when you want to go to the gym (or want to avoid it) tune back into the feeling as you thing about the gym and notice how you feel compelled to get on and take some action. Now get to the gym!

Being able to take useful emotions and apply them in different situations is just one of the benefits of NLP.

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People Building is a personal and professional development company that specialises in developing individuals and as a result, their businesses. Our training, coaching and products have their roots in NLP and are based around accelerated learning techniques to help delegates adapt and incorporate their new behaviours quickly and effectively. We specialise in customer service, sales and leadership and management training. Our courses are often bespoke to fit clients needs and formal accredited qualifications are also available. We also provide Hypnotherapy training and hypnosis resources such as hypnosis scripts and hypnotherapy MP3s for download.

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