The Twins have compared several three month fitness and gym programs to highlight differences in their human performance and to understand what makes them healthier.
These comparisons have been published across the world in multiple languages and have varied from comparing fat against a high carbohydrate diet, a vegan vs meat diet and weighted vs bodyweight gym programs. Throughout these experiments, they have worked with a number of scientific institutions to help monitor their bodies.
40 vs 20 minute workout
Which is better? Is a 40 minute gym session twice a effective as a 20 minute session?
Keeping fit is one thing, but making time to keep fit is another thing altogether. The twins are monitoring their bodies over three months to find out if training twice a much will offer double the results.
What if a 40 minute gym session wasn't that much better at improving performance than a 20 minute session?
What if it only gave you a 15 percent increase in performance or even less, would you still work out for 40 minutes? This is what the twins are wanting to discover.
Day 1 - Hugo's 20 minute workout.
Deadlift - 50kgs (14 reps x 4 sets)
Hanging knee raises - (14 reps x 4 sets)
Dumb bell bent over row - 20 kgs (14 reps x 4 sets)
Swiss ball glute bridges - (14 reps x 4 sets)
Dead bugs - (14 reps x 4 sets)
Ross on the 40 minute session doubles the above workout.
Vegan Vs Meat
One Twin Went Vegan. The Other Didn’t. Here’s What Happened Next.
Originally commisioned for Men's Health Magazine.
BBC Reel commisioned a short documentary about the twins vegan vs meat comparison.
It was the most watched piece on bbc.com last year (not only on BBC Reel but among all BBC sites)!
The Twins embarked on a trial of a vegan diet versus a typical omnivorous one, with their body composition monitored by Virgin Active and their biomarkers tested by King’s College London’s, Department of Twin Research (TwinsUK).
Men's Health caught up with them to see what they’d learnt. Read the full article here.
Disease protection
Gut bacteria are involved in the body’s metabolic and inflammatory processes.
So far, research has identified microbiome traits and characteristics associated with various diseases. If your microbiome doesn’t have these traits, it means your level of protection is low and vice versa.
This is evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10. This table shows the change in bacteria from a vegan and meat diet over three months between Hugo (vegan) and Ross (meat). The higher the number the better protection the body has against the corresponding conditions.
The above data was analysed by Altas Biomed on behalf of TwinsUK/ ZOE.
How does a vegan diet affect weight?
The graph shows the change in body weight between Hugo and Ross throughout the fitness program. Hugo’s starting weight started just over 84 kgs and dropped to below 83 kgs while eating a vegan-based diet, while Ross increased weight from 85.5 kgs to nearly 87kgs eating a regular diet.
How does a vegan diet affect fat?
Hugo’s body fat percentage reduced from 13% down to below 11% with a consistent downward trend. Ross on the other hand had an upward trend in body fat, starting around 11% and increasing to 13.5% (accounting for the last data anomaly).
Does a vegan diet help reduce cholesterol?
Hugo and Ross have generally high cholesterol levels, which makes for the drop in Hugo’s level from 5.9 down to 4.9 surprising, given the short time frame in which cholesterol was monitored. Ross's cholesterol stayed level throughout at 6.5.
Weighted Vs Bodyweight
What’s more effective for all-round fitness: bodyweight, or weighted training?
Featured in Men's Fitness Magazine.
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With lockdown resulting in gym closures, the question of weighted vs bodyweight has become much more than a hypothetical one.
Those who train have been forced to ask not just whether weight training can trump the bodyweight equivalent, but whether the latter can ever replace the former without all your well-gotten muscle gains turning to dust.
Read the full article here.
Comparing the two fitness programs – weighted vs bodyweight, Ross’s body weight increased steadily from just under 85kgs to just under 87kgs (bodyweight training).
Both Hugo and Ross’s fat percentage follows a similar trend, increasing dramatically in the first few weeks, which then steadily falls, which then both increase towards the latter few weeks of the fitness program. Throughout the program, Ross’s body fat percentage rarely goes above Hugo’s.
Hugo and Ross after their three month weighted vs bodyweight gym comparison.
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Plant protein vs animal protein
Is there any difference between plant based protein and animal based protein post gym shakes?
A study for Vivo Life.
The Twins conducted another 12-week study to find the differences between animal protein shakes versus Vivo Life’s vegan protein PERFORM shakes. All the usual monitoring took place through Boditrax and physiological testing pre and post fitness program.
Hugo and Ross picturd before their three month gym challenge comparing plant and animal based protein.
The study was a 12-week endurance program to help find the performance differences between Vivo Life plant-based protein PERFORM and an off the high street animal-based protein (and when we say protein, we mean post-gym protein shakes).
Both Hugo and Ross' body weight started around 89 kgs and followed a similar pattern throughout the three month gym program. Ross' total body weight finished just below 87 kgs, Hugo's finished below 85 kgs.
Their fat percentage followed a scattered yet similar pattern throughout, however, Ross' fat percentage had a major and sudden fall half way through the comparison. This was also Hugo's lowest fat percentage but his fall was gradual. Both percentages returned to a similar level to that at the beginning.
Muscle mass had a pattern opposite of the fat percentage. Where Ross had a sudden spike in muscle mass his fat had a sudden fall. Hugo's muscle mass follows a similar pattern to Ross's with no major spikes.
Which protein delivers increased performance?
The twins conducted pre and post program physiological tests to measure and compare improvements gained from their three month gym program. These tests were completed immediately follow the three month program and were conducted at the same time.
The biggest improvement for Hugo was his push ups from 25 to 45. Ross's biggest improvement was his deadlift of 120 to 140 kgs.
Hugo and Ross after their three month animal (whey) vs plant protein comparison.
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