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Changing how the world moves

The Mark Lauren brand story is about efficient and creative problem solving. It’s about learning to move and live better.
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Today, I am an international bestselling fitness author who has prepared over 700 trainees for the extreme demands of the most elite levels of the U.S. Special Operations Community. After winning several teen bodybuilding titles, I started my military career as 1 of 12 out of 100 trainees to graduate the Pararescue / Combat Control Indoctrination Course.

Not long after my military service, I trained and competed all across Thailand in Muay Thai. After two years of dedicated training, I managed to capture the Florida IKF Middleweight Championship and a professional belt in Thailand. My wild journey through physical and mental development has inspired a new approach to fitness that has allowed millions of people to move better without the confines of a gym.

My many unique experiences have gained me worldwide trust as a movement specialist.

As a brand, my team and I look to our overarching mission and core values to guide us.

#whatisvalue #nothingextra

PERFORMANCE

Performance is determined by the energy needed to achieve a goal. Simply put, performance is efficiency! Focus on the essential, eliminate what’s not.

LEARNING

Fitness is a lifelong education to creatively solve life’s challenges. This requires we play, take risks, and value our failures as much as our successes.

INTEGRITY

Strength is the ability to maintain ideal alignment under stress. To do so, we must value fundamentals first and foremost. We're about getting the basics right.

MY TIMELINE​

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.​

I started working out when I was 12 with pushups and sit-ups next to my bed. After plateauing at over 600 sit ups and 78 push ups, I started experimenting with the structure of my exercise programs.

This love for physical challenges led me to joining the local wrestling teams. Instead of playing video games, I’d sometimes skip school to go work out. The habits continued to strengthen until I won several teen bodybuilding competitions.

All grown up, I enlist to become a Combat Controller in the U.S. Special Operations Community. A community that is protected by a trying two years of training with a graduation rate of less than 15%.

After failing the final evaluation of the 10-week Pararescue/ Combat Control Indoctrination Course, I graduated the following class and broke the underwater record by swimming subsurface for 133 meters, on a single breath, for 2 minutes and 23 seconds, until losing consciousness.
The national tragedy of September 11th increased the demand for Special Operations troops. Just 5 days earlier, I was hand picked by my commander to help prepare incoming recruits. As an instructor, I redesigned physical training programs and successfully reduced attrition by over 40% during a time when the entire special operations community was critically manned.

Just after leaving active duty, I began writing my first book with author and friend Joshua Clark. After 5 years of part-time work and repeated rejections by publishers, You Are Your Own Gym; The Bible of Bodyweight Exercise was eventually self-published in 2010.

The year that changed everything: You Are Your Own Gym was published by Random House after winning the rights in a climactic blind auction between 12 major publishing houses. Since being published, our Mark Lauren brand has gained huge trust and credibility in markets across the globe, most notably German speaking Europe. My audience strongly identifies with my minimalist approach to fitness, as well as my story of overcoming failures.
The story continues! With a new digital business model that focuses on delivering effective, skill-based fitness solutions, the opportunity for creativity, customization, and leadership is greater than ever before.

MOVEMENT IS FITNESS.
FITNESS IS LIFE.

The Problem

I observed that the fitness industry at large was backward, ineffective, and unsustainable in its approach. I set out to create fitness programming that improved performance outside of the gym with a minimal sacrifice of time, energy, and money.

The Solution

After 28 years of getting the fundamentals in order and understanding the psychology of habit formation, I developed the mantra ‘you only get good at what you do’ to guide the development of my programs, online and off. My understanding of athletic fundamentals allows me to create exercise programs for all ability groups that improve performance and physical condition in record time, injury free. Mastery of all things requires mastery of the fundamentals!

The Success

I have sold over one and a half million books worldwide in 12 languages, produced 8 DVD’s, garnered over one million app downloads, and developed training programs for the United States Special Operations Community, Queen Rania Rehabilitation Center at the University of Cologne, and government funded health programs in China.