Pro Sports Edition.
The other half of the argument. Instead of drafting people onto a diet, we find squads of athletes already living on strict ones, put them through a real testing battery, and settle it with athletic challenges rather than a set of scales.
Athletes already argue about this every day, with real money and real seasons riding on it. All we do is measure it properly.
Nobody is put on a diet
In the main series contestants are drafted into a camp. Here they arrive already committed. We recruit squads who have been living their approach for a season or more, so what gets measured is the thing itself rather than a fortnight of good intentions.
02 / What is measuredPerformance, not body weight
No weigh-in decides anything in this edition. Squads are scored on what changes in the lab and on the field: power, capacity, strength, recovery, and how well any of it holds up once the athlete is tired.
Who we are looking for
Carb-periodised endurance
Distance runners, road cyclists, triathletes and rowers who fuel around the session and periodise carbohydrate across the week.
Nobody expects them to lose the long one. The question is what happens on the turnaround day.Keto-adapted
Low-carb, high-fat athletes across endurance and combat codes, most of them adapted for a year or more.
Fat oxidation at low intensity is their case. The repeat-sprint set is where it gets tested.Plant-based
Vegan and near-vegan athletes across every code, from strength to endurance.
Iron, B12 and leucine timing are the usual arguments. The bloods will say more than the internet does.High-protein strength
Lifters, sprinters, throwers and contact-code forwards eating for lean mass and force output.
They own the ladder and the jump profile. The two hour block is a different sport.Fasted and time-restricted
Athletes training inside an eating window, or training fasted by design.
Session quality early in the window against session quality late. The data rarely matches the anecdote.Squads of four or more · any code · contracted athletes need their club's clearance
What gets tested
Every squad runs the identical protocol on the same equipment, at baseline and again at the end of the block. Same order, same time of day, same everything.
| Domain | Test | What it tells us |
|---|---|---|
| Body composition | DEXA scan | Lean mass, fat mass and bone density, at baseline and at the end |
| Aerobic capacity | VO2 max and lactate threshold | Ramp test to exhaustion on treadmill or ergometer |
| Anaerobic power | 30 second maximal effort | Peak power, mean power and fatigue index |
| Maximal strength | Isometric mid-thigh pull | Force plate peak force and rate of force development |
| Repeat-sprint ability | 6 x 35 m, fixed recovery | Scored on decrement, not on top speed |
| Neuromuscular fatigue | Countermovement jump | Daily jump profile as a fatigue and readiness marker |
| Recovery | HRV, sleep and next-day output | What the body does between the hard days |
| Blood panel | Iron studies, vitamin D, lipids, thyroid | Ordered and reviewed by the sports physician |
| Fuelling | Seven day weighed intake | Energy availability screen, including RED-S risk |
| Cognition | Reaction and decision under fatigue | Run immediately after a hard set, not fresh |
Scored against yourself
Every result is a change from that athlete's own baseline, expressed as a percentage, then aggregated across the squad. A masters cyclist and a contact-code forward can sit on the same board without either being flattered by it.
Out of the lab
Between test blocks the squads meet in the field. Each event is chosen because it separates the approaches, not because it looks good on camera.
The hill
A sustained climb at threshold. Simple, brutal, and the first honest look at aerobic ceiling.
The repeat
A repeat-sprint set scored on how much each athlete drops, not how fast the first one was.
The ladder
A strength ladder to technical failure, judged on the quality of the last good rep.
The long one
A two hour endurance block with fuelling rules that suit each squad, not one rule for all.
The turnaround
Back-to-back hard days, scored entirely on day two. Recovery is the event.
The fog
Sport-specific skills and decisions run under deliberate fatigue, where diets usually stop arguing.
The rules that come first
Athletes have careers, contracts and seasons riding on their bodies. A television format does not get to put any of that at risk, so these sit above the show.
- ASports physician clearance before any athlete is tested
- BAn Accredited Sports Dietitian attached to every squad
- CEnergy availability and RED-S screening, with a stop rule
- DAnything supplied is checked against the WADA Prohibited List
- EBatch-tested supplements only, or none at all
- FNothing scheduled that compromises a competition season
We do not film weight cuts
No acute weight making, no dehydration protocols, no sauna suits, no scenes of an athlete stripping weight to make a category. It is dangerous, it is well documented as dangerous, and putting it on television normalises it. Combat and lightweight athletes are welcome in this edition. Their cut is not.
Anti-doping is not our jurisdiction
Athletes remain subject to their own code's rules and to Sport Integrity Australia testing throughout. We do not supply anything that has not been cleared, and nothing in this series is a defence to a positive test.
What this can and cannot show
Squads are small, athletes self-select their approach, and training load differs between codes. The series shows what happened to these athletes over this block. It is not a trial, it does not control for training, and it is not a recommendation for anyone watching. Individual variation in performance nutrition is large, and periodisation matters more than any label.
Put your squad forward
Coaches, strength and conditioning staff, team dietitians and athletes can all start this. Tell us the sport, the numbers and what the group actually eats, and we will come back with the testing protocol and what taking part would involve.
Squads of four or more
Any code, any level from club to professional. What matters is that the group has genuinely been eating this way, not that they are elite.
Off-season or pre-season
We schedule around the competition calendar. If the only window that works would cost the squad a season, there is no window.
You keep the data
Every athlete gets their own full test results and the sports physician's review of their bloods, whether the squad makes the final cut or not.
Individual athletes
If you are one athlete rather than a squad, send your details anyway and tell us who you train with. Groups are usually assembled from a training squad, but not always.