A Gladiators contender has disclosed his daily calorie intake and tight workout regimen, and it’s very astounding.
Steel, real name Zack George, will join a fresh new generation of superhumans when the BBC revives the legendary gameshow, with father-son presenters Bradley and Barney Walsh at the helm.
Steel, who will compete in the arena with Sabre, Comet, and Legend, will be displaying his UK’s Fittest Man 2020 title, which he described as a ‘dream come true’.
However, his lifestyle has changed dramatically since his childhood, when he described himself as’really unhealthy’ and’really lethargic’.
He has recently opened out about the adjustments he made, stating that he wanted to begin changing into a healthy lifestyle at the age of 12.
‘My dad could tell I was quite unhappy, I used to try and skip swimming lessons because I was so self-conscious of how I looked and didn’t take my top off.
‘I used to have McDonald’s and KFC three or four times a week, it was a really unhealthy lifestyle.’
Steel went on to say that his dad motivated him with the promise of a new PlayStation if he started ‘cleaning up’ his diet.
He shared: ‘So we kind of made a deal, I sort of cleaned up my nutrition a little bit and started going out for walks and things like that to try and get a bit more active.
‘And after a couple months, I lost a little bit of weight, I felt really good about myself, and then we got the PlayStation.
‘And that sort of sparked off my whole fitness journey, and it was it was nice to aim for something, work hard and get rewarded. I carried on my healthy lifestyle from there really, and I never looked back.’
And Steel wasn’t alone in his health journey, as he revealed the whole family ‘really helped’ and without them, he didn’t know if he’d have been able to ‘sustain it’.
‘Without saying it, they came on the journey with me, we all cleaned up our diet, we didn’t have chocolate or sweets in the house,’ he explained.
‘At the time, I didn’t really know what my family were doing. But looking back, they were just coming on a journey with me to make sure I stay on the right track. And I think that’s what made my journey quite unique, and that’s what made me stick with it for so long.’
Steel played rugby as a youth and aspired to be a professional player, but an accident caused him to retire.
But it was the catalyst for his CrossFit success, and he has now been a professional athlete for a decade.
‘It’s crazy looking back because when I was younger and overweight, I used to watch Gladiators and draw a pretend six pack on my stomach, because I could never think about ever having abs,’ Steel recalled.
‘I used to look at the Gladiators and they had such great six packs and my sister used to play the games in the living room, I’d draw muscles on my stomach and then would play like Duel and things like that. It was quite cool.’
Steel established objectives for himself as he adjusted his healthy lifestyle, starting with reducing his intake of goodies.
He said: ‘I would literally have McDonald’s and KFC four or five times a week, I would have a bag of Haribos every day, I’d have like a bottle of Fanta every day.
‘So for me the first sort of month or so was just “right, let’s have McDonald’s once a week as a treat,” and then I achieved that. And then after that I was like “right, let’s cut down my Haribo sweets to only twice a week.”‘
Steel now allows himself one cheat day each week to indulge in anything he wants, but otherwise adheres to a stringent exercise regimen and diet.
He told us: ‘I train for four hours a day. So I’ll train for about an hour and a half in the morning, and then about two to two and a half hours in the evening.
‘And that’s not solid training, it’s cooldown and stretching as well – all those elements are so important to be in physical shape to be Gladiator, because if you’re training a lot like we do, you’ve got to make sure your recovery is on point as well.
‘So around three, three to four hours each day, I train six days a week with one full rest day.
‘And my nutrition, I eat around 3800 calories a day, and that’s quite strict – six days a week, and then I’ll have a cheat day, which I very much look forward to each week, because you’ve got to keep life balance.
‘On that cheat day, I’ll have whatever I fancy, it could be pizza, doughnuts, whatever I fancy but make sure you enjoy yourself on that cheat day. And then the rest of the time it is quite strict, and I’m very on my training.’
Meanwhile, his co-star Phantom, actual name Toby Olubi, admitted that he eats cake for breakfast, even on training days.
The Team GB bobsleigher said: ‘In terms of diet, I alter things up during the day; I start off very terrible, which is just what works for me, and everyone has their own way of doing things, but I do eat cake for breakfast.
‘I don’t care, it’s something I start the day with, it makes me so happy to wake up and means I’m a morning person straightaway because I’m having cake.
‘And with that, I’ll go straight to a training regime or regimen which means that that cake can get burnt offso it’s not just sitting there doing nothing, it is being put to good use.
‘Then as the day progresses I’ll get healthier and my last meal will be the healthiest, it’ll be the driest chicken and broccoli or something but that’s all that works for me. And I just keep that and it makes me happy.’
Gladiators returns to the BBC and iPlayer on Saturday, January 13, at 5.50pm.
