Mark Lloyd (known as Lloydy), 49, and parent of two, runs a group training fitness business called Brawd in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. He started Brawd in 2013, leaving behind his job at a multi-national company. What started as a bootcamp soon turned into a permanent community fixture on Barry Island Beach, with fitness training that emphasises fun and camaraderie.
“I was working in a big multi-national and had broken my ankle on a stand up paddle boarding accident. Whilst I was lying there, in bed, feeling sorry for myself, an opportunity came up to run a bootcamp. I knew that it would work in the area I live in, so I went in and that was how we started in 2013”.
The challenges of parenting can put people under increased pressure that can lead to feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. If not supported this could develop into more significant mental health problems. Mark is a parent of two children, 13 and 8 years old.
“I always found training helpful to me, if I didn’t exercise a few times a week my mental health would dip a bit. I think now, it’s more important than ever because I’m a parent, I own Brawd, I’m very, very busy. It’s sometimes overwhelming and you get stuck in your head, and I think movement and exercise is so important.
“Movement is probably the number one thing you can do to improve or change your state, people come into the gym feeling exhausted and low. And everyone leaves feeling better. You move, you change your state – the biggest influence you can have on your mental state is to move, you can walk, you can swim, you can do a gym, come to Brawd, do anything!”
“Even if I couldn’t move, I’d find some sort of technique; I’ve done mindfulness, I’ve done meditation, all sorts of stuff. Just being out in nature. There’s lots of things you can do – not just the gym. It’s so important for your own mental health.”
In our UK polling*, we found that parents with children under the age of 18 were more likely than the general population to be stopped from doing physical activity in a typical week because of stress, high-cost, and being too busy.
Mark adds that around nine out of ten of his members are parents.
“If you want to change your life, have a child. It’s the biggest life changing event ever and no-one preps you for this. Today we are trying to have careers, conflicts of work, your other half, kids, and it’s ‘Woah’!”
“The biggest thing I would say for parents is that you’ve got kids, which take up 100% of your time, you have to look after yourself. It’s not selfish. Your kids would much rather see you going to the gym and looking after yourself because you will feel better and be a better parent.
“You’ve got to put diary time in for yourself – it can be 2 hours a week door-to-door, you’ve got to find that time for yourself. Whether that’s at Brawd or walking round the beaches or even a coffee with someone, you’ve got to do it!”
Sense of community
“The other bit of what we do is the community, you do make friends. It’s a social environment, you do group training. It’s all about people working together for that 45 minutes, come in – do your stuff, have fun!”
Barriers to movement
“People that join us on a campaign, are nervous about being fit, ‘I won’t fit in’, ‘I’ve never done anything like this before’, ‘what if I get left behind’, ‘it will be too hard for me’. The what ifs.. I think the main thing is fear. The reality is that that’s just in your head.”
Mark's tips for moving more
“100% is don’t just say it, do it! Because doing trumps everything. I’ve got a bit of a mantra that if I commit to something, to someone I follow through with it. It’s the first step for yourself.
Action trumps everything."
“Ignore yourself – ignore the stuff going on in your head because it’s really easy; we think it’s hard, but we do all these things that are hard like parenting and work, and that’s hard, we do it. But actually, just walking through the door is quite easy.”
*Polling of 6,000 UK adults aged 18 and over was carried out by Opinium on behalf of the Mental Health Foundation. The survey took place between 12 and 24 March 2024 and figures are weighted to be nationally representative.
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