A personal trainer has swapped pumping iron for lifting wood by taking his workouts to a forest and squatting huge tree trunks.

Mark Carpenter may train his clients in a gym but when it comes to his own exercise he makes sure to do that in the forests around Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

In epic videos – some of which have been viewed more than 2.3million times – the 45 year old can be seen squatting full tree trunks while standing above a stream.

Mark also uses the massive logs for deadlifts and even hanging sit ups, as well as lifting enormous boulders with his bare hands.

Mark said: “This is the only training I do. I've been working out consistently for 32 years but I have not done a workout in the gym for over a year and a half.

“The only thing I do in the gym is stretch, and I will use the sauna. All of my lifts are done out in the woods while hiking.

“I stay away from estimating the weights of the log and stones that I lift. Honestly, I enjoy not knowing the weights.

“Each one presents its own unique challenges based on size, shape, etc. They are heavy to me.

“Sets and reps depend on the difficulty. It normally takes me multiple warmups to get my body ready to do something heavy.
“When working with log squats it will take me a few attempts to find the centre point and learn to balance it. It can take two days of attempts to get a successful lift.

Depending on what he’s lifting, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes up to two hours for Mark set up his equipment.

Mark said: “Most times I have to hike around for a while to find the proper logs, maybe break some, or carry them quite some distance to get everything set up.

“With my training, I count the hiking, searching, and setting up as a large part of my workout. The final part of the workout is when I accomplish the lift.

“Every now and then somebody will be hiking past and see me. Sometimes we will have a conversation about it. This doesn't happen very often.

“When it does, they are very encouraging, or maybe we will make a few jokes about why I'm doing it.

“I've always loved nature and enjoy being creative with my workouts. I train clients in the gym, however I believe that the benefits of being outdoors are far greater than we understand.

“Being in nature is very good for my mental health, and as challenging as the lifts are, I feel very peaceful.

“The freedom and emotional well-being I feel from lifting out in the woods is beyond words.

“I absolutely love the challenge, grit, and creativity necessary for using nature as my gym.”