Test

There’s a reason you don’t take five aspirin for a headache: two will get the job done, and more might trigger unwanted side effects. That’s the concept of the Minimum Effective Dose applied to medicine, but it also works with training – if your aim is to lose fat, add lean muscle or simply get healthier, training until your testosterone levels drop and your cortisol cranks up can actually be counter-productive. Sure, if you’re planning to run the Marathon des Sables or ride the Tour de France then you’ll need more hours on the road or in the saddle, but the game’s the same: do the minimum you need to get the results you want, and not more. So how do you identify your MED? That’s where the team of expertsMF
has assembled come in. Read on to find out just want you need to do in the five categories below.

NUTRITION

Why upping your protein intake won’t automatically help you to add more muscle mass

SUPPS

Which supplements will give you the biggest bang for your sports nutrition buck?

TRAINING

Good news: spending hours at the gym isn’t necessary and may even be unhelpful

MOBILITY

Discover the five-minute mobility fix you can do at home that can help you stay injury-free

SLEEP

Quality not quantity is key when it comes to kip and our expert advice will help you sleep soundly

Eating essentials

Forget calorie counting and nutrient timing – the biggest results come from the most basic changes

GO UNPROCESSED

“There’s a lot more to health than just your macronutrients – protein, carbs and fat,” says Brian St Pierre, director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition. “You depend on appropriate amounts of vitamins and minerals to live, and especially to thrive. Technically, you don’t need phytonutrients from vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, nuts and legumes, but they do wonders for your health, recovery and overall vitality.” As a basic rule, aim for six to eight fist-sized portions of veg daily – but if you’re not even getting close, bear in mind that a UCL study found that anything above one portion a day reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease. The more the better, but some is enough.

GET ENOUGH PROTEIN

According to research published in the Journal Of The American Medical Association, the bare minimum you need to avoid losing muscle is 0.36g per kilo of bodyweight – but to build, you’ll need more. Forget grams, and think hands.

“For most men, we recommend six to eight palm-sized portions of protein-rich foods a day,” says St Pierre. “That’s items like poultry, beef, pork, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and protein powders. A mix of lean sources and less lean – think eggs, pork chops, steak – is sensible. That provides all the protein you need to build muscle, lose fat, improve recovery, and keep your immune system strong.”

FIND YOUR VITAMIN BALANCE

Not all vitamins are created equal. The fat-soluble kind (A, D, E and K) can be stored in your liver and fatty tissues, and that means you don’t need them all every day. However, their water-soluble brethren (C, the B vitamins and folic acid) will come out in your urine if you’ve got more than you need. Our suggestion? Get both kinds daily by rethinking your breakfast: chop up half a bell pepper, fry it in coconut oil, then toss in two eggs and scramble the lot.

…AND DO IT MOST OF THE TIME

“How consistently you should stick to this, and particularly how much of your intake should be from minimally processed whole foods, depends on your goals,” says St Pierre. “To be reasonably fit, healthy and lean I’d recommend shooting for around 80% of the time. Want to get really lean? Shoot for 90% or more. If you’re OK with being a little softer, and have more flexibility, 70% should do it.”

The stripped-down supplement stash

Don’t be the guy inhaling a handful of pills before breakfast. Sports nutritionist Aaron Deere selects the supplements you absolutely need to take – anything else is a bonus

PROBIOTICS: 1-10 BILLION CFU

Not familiar with CFU? It stands for ‘colony forming units’ – and that isn’t as much as it sounds. “If I had to choose one supplement to take, this would be it,” says Deere. “Probiotics are bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tracts, helping us metabolise food, strengthening our immune systems and helping in the synthesis of some vitamins. The most recent research into probiotics has also linked them with influence on mood and cognitive function. There’s no government-recommended daily dose of probiotics, but research suggests aiming for one billion to ten billion live bacteria cultures.” Tablets can easily give you this, as can a daily serving of Greek yogurt or kefir.

EPA/DHA: 500MG

Let’s face it: you aren’t eating enough fish. “These omega 3 fatty acids have strong anti-inflammatory properties which can help neutralise the damage caused by training. Fish is the only real source of EPA and DHA in the diet – vegetarian sources of omega 3 are poorly converted to EPA and DHA,” Deere says. “The Scientific Advisory Council on Nutrition currently recommends two servings of oily fish a week to obtain the necessary amount of them, but only approximately 10% of the UK population currently manage that.” Take capsules or oil daily, aiming for 500mg.

VITAMIN D: 800IU

Just because the sun is shining doesn’t mean you’re getting enough. “Here in the UK, due to the angle of the sun’s UVB rays, we are only able to synthesise vitamin D from the sun from approximately April to October, leaving us unable to get enough vitamin D for more than half the year,” says Deere. “And even in the summer, the angle of the sun plays a key role – the general guide is that if your shadow is taller than you, your body won’t be making vitamin D. So in the UK, supplementing is the best option. Current recommendations are 400IU per day, but it’s a topic under review, with new research indicating that in the UK we may in fact need twice this amount, especially in the winter months.”

Train on time

Think short and hard or long and ultra-easy – your days of treadmill slogging are over

GO FOR THE TRIPLE

“For normal men, three gym sessions a week is likely to be enough – and will probably be more effective in the long run, as it’s more sustainable, more enjoyable, more flexible, and allows you to participate in other activities,” says St Pierre. “For most people, 45-60 minutes is enough. Foam roll for five minutes, warm up for five minutes, lift for 30-40 minutes, and finish with conditioning work – HIIT, rowing, loaded carries, sled pushes or kettlebell circuits – for five to 15 minutes.”

SET A MINIMUM EXECUTION

“Ever walk in the gym and get fed up and leave?” asks S&C coach Joseph Lightfoot, founder of Results Inc. “It happens to us all, but deciding on a minimum level of execution means you can salvage that day and make something of it. If you’re really pushed for time, pick one exercise and do it to the best of your ability.”

…AND A TIME LIMIT

“At Results Inc we find that when people are short on time their workouts can actually be better, even though they’re shorter,” says Lightfoot. “The easiest time to cut out is the dead time. You can waste more time than you think doing nothing. If you’re tight for time, be smart with your supersets: pair walking lunges with chin-ups, rear foot elevated split squats with landmine presses, or farmer’s walks with press-ups.”

STAY ACTIVE

Low-intensity activity is your secret weapon: it’ll burn a bit of extra fat with minimal stress on your body, keeping cortisol and overtraining in check. “Try and remain active on most days of the week – take the dog for walks, play with your kids, do a yoga session with your partner,” says St Pierre. “You can’t and shouldn’t go ‘beast mode’ all the time, especially once you’re over 35. A nice mix of intensities produces the best overall results.”

Minimalist mobility

No time for the foam roller? Do your mobility work between other exercises. Coach Joseph Lightfoot has the prescription

After pull-ups…the Spider-Man reach

Take a big lunge forward to stretch your hips. Plant both hands inside your lead foot, then twist towards the ceiling and reach up with one arm. On the next step, switch to the other side.

After press-ups… the wall slide

Stand with your back against a wall with your hands up, elbows and forearms against the brickwork. Slide your arms up, then down, maintaining contact with the wall without arching your back.

After squats… the “no money” drill Stand up straight with your arms out in front of you, palms up. Then rotate your arms out to your sides – the “no money” gesture – to stretch your pecs and strengthen your external rotators.

Don’t lose any sleep

It’s crucial for recovery and energy, but lots of us don’t get enough. Here’s how to optimise your shut-eye

Burning the candle at both ends? You probably know someone who claims to get by on five hours a night – or you’ve heard that Margaret Thatcher ran the country on four. Here’s the truth: the Iron Lady might have been part of what scientists call the “sleep elite”, but your office show-off’s probably just chronically slumber-deprived. According to a 2009 research project, roughly 1-3% of the population have a gene variation that lets them sleep much less than ordinary people, while keeping their metabolism (and pain tolerance) high. If you barely sleep even when the opportunity’s there, that could be you –but if you struggle by with caffeine and weekend lie-ins, you’re out of luck. Here’s the fix.

REFRAME IT

“Change starts with your perception,” says Shawn Stevenson, author of Sleep Smarter. “Instead of seeing sleep an obstacle to work around, look at it as an indulgence.” Instead of mindlessly clicking around on Netflix for an extra half-hour, treat yourself to an early night.

GET MORE SUN

It keeps your circadian rhythms online, which means your body releases serotonin at the right time to aid sleep. Aim to cash in on your way to work. “The body clock is most responsive between 6am and 8.30am,” says Stevenson. Your optical receptors trigger the hormones you need, so there’s no need to go shirtless.

EAT YOUR GREENS

According to a study from the Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota, a diet high in magnesium and low in aluminium is associated with deep, uninterrupted sleep. Go for green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts.

TURN OFF THE CUES

If you don’t want to get off your screens before bed, switch your phone to airplane mode. “Automatic notifications trigger the release of dopamine, the ‘seeking’ hormone, which is tied to being alert and awake,” says Stevenson. “So every ‘Like’ and Tweet is keeping you up, seeking more validation.”

You’ve heard of the Sirt Diet one way or another, even if you don’t recognise the name. In news reports, it’s presented as the plan that lets you eat chocolate and drink red wine, drop kilos in days, look like a supermodel and feel like a superhero. On Instagram, it’s the thing UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor does – the Irishman took a selfie while reading up on it (caption: “I’m eating like a king these days”) a few days before the first of his two big 2016 fights against Nate Diaz and scooped an above-average 116,000 likes. To Cosmo readers it’s what Jodie Kidd and Adele do – and, of course, to naysayers it’s just the latest fad, another calorie-restriction-and-juice scam that’s making promises it can’t possibly keep.

But the fact is, there’s a lot more scientific clout behind Sirt than the typical drop-fat-fast plan. It’s based on a class of compounds that have been discovered only in the past decade, and experimental evidence suggests that they’re far more important than previously thought. And if the people behind it are right, we need to adjust our focus when we’re thinking about what to eat. So what’s the truth? What’s the evidence? And what’s the science behind it all?

First, the science. Sirtuins – from which Sirt gets its name – are a group of Silent Information Regulator (SIR) proteins that ramp up our metabolism, increase muscle efficiency, switch on fat-burning processes, reduce inflammation and repair damage in cells. In summary, sirtuins make us fitter, leaner and healthier (there’s also evidence that they might help combat serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes – more on that later).

Mild forms of stress – including exercise and calorie restriction – trigger the body’s production of sirtuins, but it’s recently been discovered that chemical compounds known as sirtuin activators, found naturally in fruit and vegetables, can do the same thing. Certain foods – Sirtfoods, as they’ve been dubbed by diet creators Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten – are especially high in these sirtuin activators and so, the theory goes, if you eat a diet mostly composed of these foods you’ll lose fat and improve your health.

To test this idea, Goggins and Matten created the Sirt Diet, the seven-day eating plan that’s caused all the fuss. It’s simple enough: during the first three days, daily calorie intake is limited to 1,000 and consists of three green juices, plus a Sirtfood-rich meal. On days four to seven, calorie intake is increased to 1,500 and consists of two juices and two meals. After that all-out first week, the recommendation is to eat a balanced diet rich in Sirtfoods, along with more green juices. On the face of it, this sounds awful: even most fasting diets allow more calories. But is it?

“I didn’t feel hard done by at all,” says Rannoch Donald, a trainer and coach who tried the diet. “The juice is key: it’s like rocket fuel. After the initial week, following the diet was plain sailing, and after three weeks I was 5kg lighter. But, crucially, I also felt the best I have in a couple of years. I lost body fat, I was sleeping better, I had no gut issues, I was feeling energised… I was teaching and training half a dozen classes a week with fantastic recovery, even from the most gruelling Brazilian jiu jitsu session.”

To test the diet on a wider scale, Goggins and Matten recruited 37 members of KX Gym in London, 15 of whom were overweight. All had been doing a moderate amount of exercise; none increased it and some even began doing less. And the results in just one week, even considering the calorie restriction, were astounding: the test subjects lost an average of 3kg of fat but put on around 0.8kg of muscle. With a standard diet that cut calories by the same amount in a week, you’d expect to lose a maximum of 1kg.

Why are there no Sirt supps?

The diet’s
creators reveal why no-oneelse is cashing in on the Sirt craze – yet

It’s the obvious question: if sirtuins are so game-changing, why aren’t pharmaceutical and supplement companies scrambling to distill them into pill form? Short answer: because the mechanism by which they operate still isn’t fully understood, meaning that supps won’t necessarily be as well absorbed by the body as the natural forms. Goggins and Matten point to the example of resveratrol. “In supplement form it’s poorly absorbed by the body, but in its natural food matrix of red wine, its bioavailability (how much the body can use) is at least sixfold higher. We believe it’s better to consume a wide range of these nutrients in the form of natural wholefoods, where they co-exist alongside the hundreds of other natural bioactive plant chemicals which act synergistically to boost our health.” In other words: eat better, rather than just popping a pill.

Fast and furious?

Of course, this is the aspect of the Sirt Diet that has critics howling. Most point to the fact that, at least in the initial stages, the plan focuses on calorie restriction and that, according to previous experience, weight loss over 1kg a week is unhealthy or unsustainable. It’s a valid concern: in most calorie-restriction diets, early weight loss tends to come from calorie depletion and reduced water-bloating, and – as recent research on contestants in TV’s The Biggest Loser shows – simply rationing yourself every day can slow your metabolism to a near-permanent crawl, as well as messing with your body’s levels of “hunger hormone” ghrelin, making you permanently hungry.

But, Goggins and Matten counter, this isn’t what Sirt does. Yes, the diet mimics some aspects of fasting, and in the first seven days of the full diet Sirtfoods appear to turbocharge the effects of calorie restriction. But it’s a bit more complicated than just starving yourself for short-term changes.

So how does it work? Well, firstly, it’s vital to understand the “stress” part of the equation. “Everyone needs some amount of stress in their lives,” says Goggins. “Every time we train we create a stress on the body, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. There’s a temptation to always train harder, to try harder, but that carries a risk of building up chronic stress, which carries the risk of burnout and a weakened immune system.” The flipside: by exposing your body to low-grade sources of stress, you’ll increase your body’s ability to cope.

“Plant stress responses are actually more sophisticated than our own,” explains Goggins. “Think about it: if we are hungry and thirsty we can go in search of food and drink; too hot – we find shade; under attack – we can flee. In contrast, plants are stationary and must endure all the extremes of these physiological stresses and threats. In consequence, over the past billion years they have developed a highly sophisticated stress-response system that humbles [humans’] by producing a vast collection of natural plant chemicals – called polyphenols – that allow them to successfully adapt to their environment and survive. When we consume these plants, we also consume these polyphenol nutrients, which activate our own innate stress-response pathways. We’re talking here about exactly the same pathways that fasting and exercise switch on – the sirtuins.”

Polyphenols, according to Goggins, are the one thing the typical American diet has enough of, and when stripped of them the much-lauded Mediterranean diet loses almost all its effectiveness. Via Sirtfoods, polyphenols have a host of weight-management effects, including encouraging white adipose tissue (traditionally the bad stuff ) to mimic brown adipose tissue (the “good” fat that helps to generate body heat). They also help fullness issues, by improving your body’s sensitivity to the satiety hormone leptin.

“These natural plant compounds are now referred to as ‘calorie restriction mimetics’ due to their ability to turn on the same positive changes in our cells as would be seen during fasting, such as fat burning,” says Goggins. “The implications are game-changing. When we’re provided with more advanced signalling compounds than we produce ourselves, the outcomes are superior to anything we can achieve alone.”

The real health foods

There’s also more to Sirt than body composition. Outside Goggins and Matten’s tests, more scientifically controlled trials on single Sirtfoods have shown promising results. In October 2015, for instance, researchers at Columbia University in New York found that drinking water with a gram of cocoa – especially rich in the sirtuin activator epicatechin – dissolved in it led to improved memory in 19 middleaged subjects. In November the same year, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne reported that when patients in the early stages of type 2 diabetes added a gram of turmeric a day to their diets, it improved their working memory.

For diabetics, there’s some evidence that sirtuin activation increases the amount of insulin that can be secreted and helps it work more effectively. In the skeleton, sirtuins promote the production and survival of osteoblasts, a type of cell responsible for building new bone.

The next big thing for Sirt, when more research is performed, will be in its relationship to leucine, the main muscle-builder among the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Leucine is a key regulator of protein synthesis and activates a protein known as mTOR (although you don’t need to worry about that to understand the next bit). “Leucine is a double-edged sword,” explains Goggins. “It’s an accelerator for muscle growth, but if you don’t have the internal machinery to deal with it, the engine explodes.” In theory, having a more Sirtfoodheavy diet could increase the amount of protein your body can successfully assimilate, consigning the old “20-30g a sitting” recommendation firmly to the past.

Of course, all of this needs more research. Thirty-seven people in one gym isn’t much of a sample size, and other studies on the effects of sirtuins have been done on animals or human cells – neither guaranteed to accurately reflect what goes on inside the body. But for all the criticism of the diet’s more radical claims, it’s hard to see what you stand to lose by following some version of the Sirt Diet. Even if you put aside the calorie-restricted version of the plan and jump straight to “maintenance” mode, you’d be eating a huge variety of the foods identified as key in the so-called Blue Zones, areas of the world like Sardinia and Okinawa where people live longer, healthier lives.

“I don’t like the word diet, but this is diet as in lifestyle as opposed to some quick-fix intervention,” says Donald. “It’s essentially about eating well. And despite the appearance of green juice drinks, the overall philosophy is about the inclusion of healthy whole natural ingredients rather than the deification of ‘superfoods’.” Or, to put it another way: you’re unlikely to get less healthy by getting more kale, berries, walnuts and red wine into your diet. Even if you aren’t a supermodel or a UFC fighter.

Sirtfood essentials

These are the highest-rated 20 foods for a Sirtfood-rich diet. Here’s how to incorporate them into your daily meals

Bird’s eye chilli

Also sold as Thai chillies, they’re more potent than regular chilis, and also more packed with nutrients. Use them to set off sweet or sour recipes.

Buckwheat

Technically a pseudo-grain: it’s actually a fruit seed related to rhubarb. Also available in noodle form (as soba), but make sure you’re getting the wheat-free version.

Capers

In case you’re wondering, they’re pickled flower buds. Sprinkle them over salad or roasted cauliflower.

Celery

The hearts and leaves are the most nutritious part, so don’t throw them away if you’re blending up a shake.

Cocoa

The flavonol-rich kind improves blood pressure, blood sugar control and cholesterol. Look for a high percentage of cacao.

Coffee

Drink it black – there’s some evidence that milk can reduce the absorption of sirtuinactivating nutrients.

Extra virgin olive oil

The extra virgin type has more Sirt benefits, and a more satisfying, peppery taste.

Green tea or matcha

Add a slice of lemon to increase absorption of sirtuin-producing nutrients. Matcha is even better, but go Japanese, not Chinese, to avoid potential lead contamination.

Kale

Includes huge amounts of sirtuin-activating nutrients quercetin and kaempferol. Massage it with olive oil and lemon juice to serve it as a salad.

Lovage

It’s a herb. Grow your own on a windowsill, and throw it into stir-fries.

Medjool dates

They’re a hefty 66% sugar, but – in moderation – don’t raise blood sugar levels, and have actually been linked to lowered rates of diabetes and heart disease.

Parsley

More than just a garnish – it’s high in apigenin. Throw it into a smoothie or juice for the full benefit.

Chicory

Red is best, but yellow works fine. Throw it in a salad.

Red onion

The red variety’s better for you, and sweet enough to eat raw. Chop it and add to a salad, or eat it with a burger.

Red wine

You’ve heard of resveratrol: the good news is, it’s heat stable, so you can get benefits from cooking with it (as well as glugging it straight). Pinot noir has the highest content.

Rocket

One of the least interfered-with salad greens available. Drizzle it with olive oil.

Soy

Soybeans and miso are high in sirtuin activators. Include it in stir-fries.

Strawberries

Though they’re sweet, they only contain 1tsp of sugar per 100g – and research suggests they improve your body’s ability to handle sugary carbs.

Turmeric

Evidence suggests the curcumin in it has anti-cancer properities. It’s difficult for the body to assimilate alone, but cooking it in liquid and adding fat and black pepper increases absorption.

Walnuts

High in fat and calories, but well established in reducing metabolic disease. Smash them up with parsley for sirt-flavoured pesto.

Anyone who works in an office knows the temptations of the 4pm biscuit run, the Friday doughnut round and the swift post-work half. As it turns out, things aren’t much different in a radio booth: except that the volume gets turned up.

“There’s always some kind of ‘week’ on,” says Jamie Theakston, Heart FM’s man in the morning. “Curry week, pie week, pizza week – we’d get sent that stuff, and so we wouldn’t feel bad about eating it first thing in the morning.”

At the other end of the schedule, late-night shifts for TalkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein meant frequent runs at the station’s (now-defunct) vending machine. “It wouldn’t be unheard of for me to have four packets of crisps in a shift,” says the Andy Goldstein’s Sports Bar presenter. “I was slowly getting obese.” Neither man knew much about weight training or nutrition – and the pair had never met before MF and London’s Embody Fitness gym challenged them to recapture their former glory. So were they ready for the real HIIT parade?

In years gone by, the one-time presenter of C4’s The Games was quite the sportsman – fencing for Sussex, playing club cricket, winning a Man of the Match trophy in Soccer Aid 2010 – but injuries and life got in the way. “When I was active it was easy for me to drink and eat what I wanted, and I would never get any heavier than about 15 stone [95kg],” says Theakston. “When you’re 6ft 4in [1.93m] your height can hide a multitude of sins, but at the end of last year I was struggling to fit into anything I could buy off the peg. I had a 38in waist: I remember thinking, ‘That’s quite big’.”

Theakston had barely looked at a weight before, so early training – with Embody’s Chris Walton – was a struggle. “I said to Chris that parts of my body that I didn’t know existed were hurting, and I thought I was physically unable to do the things he wanted me to do,” says Theakston. “He said it’d get easier and I didn’t believe him. But he was right.”

The real education for Theakston, though, came with his new diet. “I didn’t know the difference between protein and carbohydrate,” he says. “I’ve never taken much notice. I’d be in the studio at 5am, then I’d have a breakfast at 6.30 and maybe another one at 8.30, and it was sausage or bacon sandwiches, tonnes of coffee… looking back it’s kind of shocking.” He discovered it was about changing bad habits.

“People persuade themselves that they ‘need’ a big breakfast to start the day, but it’s just what they’ve always had. Now I have two eggs with porridge and that’s it.”

Now he’s in his best shape for over a decade. “You see it in the little things, like running upstairs: a year ago, I was carrying an extra three stone up. I feel brighter, my complexion’s better, all of those things.”

To anyone thinking of changing their own lifestyle, his advice is simple: “Don’t be afraid of the challenge. The hardest bit is the first couple of weeks. Then it keeps getting better.”

Back on track

Heart FM’s Jamie Theakston got his diet right – and the fat dropped off

Pumping up the volume

“The first goal for both Jamie and Andy was to start stripping some body fat and develop good movement patterns, as both guys had been pretty sedentary for a while,” says Chris Walton, director of training at Embody Fitness. “Jamie had also had a shoulder reconstruction a few weeks earlier so we had to go light on a lot of the upper-body work and also include quite a lot of rehab for his scapula, rotator cuffs and so on.” This targeted session does just that, before Theakston moved on to the tougher moves pictured.

1 Standing anti-rotation hold

Sets
2Reps
20Rest
30sec

Stand perpendicular to a cable machine and hold the cable at shoulder height, resisting the weight of the machine without moving. Do 30 seconds on each side for one set.

2 Step-up with single-arm press

Sets
2Reps
10Rest
60sec

Step up onto a box or bench, and press a dumbbell overhead with the opposite arm to your lead leg.

3A Dumbbell split squat

Sets
3Reps
10Rest
30sec

Holding a dumbbell in each hand, step forward into a lunge, bending your front knee until your rear knee brushes the ground. Straighten your leg, then lower again.

3B Isolateral row

Sets
3Reps
10Rest
60sec

You’ll need the machine for this one. Sit in the saddle and pull the handle down with one arm. Control it on the way up.

4A Cable pull-through

Sets
4Reps
8Rest
30sec

Set up a cable rope attachment at just above knee height, and grip the cable between your legs. Pull it forward by straightening your hips, as if you were doing a deadlift.

4B Bench press

Sets
4Reps
8Rest
30sec

Grip the barbell, brace your core and lower slowly, keeping your feet flat on the floor. However much you want to up the weight, don’t bounce it – aim to make each rep brush your T-shirt.

5 Rowing intervals

Distance
100mSets
6Rest
40sec

Your goal for 100m: get it under 20 seconds.

Session artist

TalkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein ditched the all-dayers and the treadmill for the real wheels of steel

“I was slowly getting obese,” says Goldstein, about the moment he decided to make some changes. “For me the turning point was around Christmas when I went to the darts. I had about ten pints and a hot dog, and on the way home I had six nuggets, two hamburgers and a large fries, and didn’t think anything of it.”

Goldstein’s no stranger to training, with a handful of half and full marathons under his belt, but he’d always avoided the weights room. “Like a lot of people, I was scared to lift heavy weights,” he admits. “I’d be on the treadmill for an hour.” To put on functional muscle and burn fat, Embody’s Chris Walton gave him a programme of compound exercises with low rest. “I don’t believe in bodybuilding splits for new clients,” Walton explains. “If you only train one body part once a week, you’re resting it for too long. We’d superset upper and lower body moves, never going below about six reps. We pushed both guys hard.”

Goldstein had also tried diets before – “the 5:2 fast, the smoothies” – but this transformation required lasting changes. “The first three days were tough because I couldn’t eat any of the crap I normally have, but after that it was a breeze,” he says. “For breakfast I’d have chicken or steak or salmon. People pull a face when I say that, but then I wouldn’t get hungry for hours. It’s not like it would take me an hour to make – there’s no excuse for not eating healthy.” Binges were replaced by new habits. “I’ve got into black coffee now,” he says. “I’ll still have a curry, but with a healthy sauce. I have 95% chocolate for a treat – I don’t need to indulge myself all the time.”

For Andy, the work outside the gym made bigger changes than the lifting inside it. “When I met Chris he said, ‘There’s 168 hours in a week and I’ve got you for three of them, so the rest is up to you’. Other people can help keep you on the road, but you’ve got to want it. Everyone’s got it in them. Don’t think of it as an end – think of it as a new way of life.”

Fine tuning

“The training sessions towards the end were much more focused on trying to add some lean muscle,” says Walton.

“As neither guy had done much weight training, we were still able to keep reps fairly high because they would still respond positively – from a lean mass perspective – to relatively high reps. They trained three times a week with me, and supplemented that with some high-intensity interval work on their own.” Here’s one of Goldstein’s typical lean mass sessions.

1A Side step-up

Sets
4Reps
6 each sideRest
30sec Stand holding heavy dumbbells with a box to one side of you, and step up onto it. After you’ve done all your reps on one side, turn around and do it again leading with the other leg.

1B Semi-supinated lat pull-down

Sets
4Reps
10Rest
30sec

Hold the pull-down handle with your palms facing in – this targets your biceps, and it’s easier on the elbows. Pull the weight down strongly, and control it on the way up.

2A 1¼ goblet squat

Sets
3Reps
8Rest
30sec

Holding a kettlebell by the “horns”, drop into a squat so your elbows touch your knees. Come a quarter of the way up, drop down again and then stand up. That’s one rep.

2B Bench press

Sets
3Reps
10Rest
30sec

For a power boost, squeeze the bar: it’ll fire up the surrounding muscles, letting you squeeze out an extra rep or two.

3A Dumbbell push press

Sets
3Reps
10Rest
30sec

Holding a pair of dumbbells at shoulder height, bend your knees slightly and then use the momentum to drive them overhead.

3B Lateral step-over

Sets
3Reps
12 each sideRest
30sec Set up a low bench and hop over it, touching it with each foot at the top.

3C Renegade row

Sets
3Reps
12Rest
30sec

Gripping a pair of (preferably hexagonal) dumbbells, do a press-up, then row each dumbbell up to your armpit. That’s one rep.