{"id":25646,"date":"2025-07-26T18:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/25646\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T18:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T18:56:14","slug":"how-ross-edgley-turned-extreme-eating-into-an-endurance-superpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/25646\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ross Edgley Turned Extreme Eating Into an Endurance Superpower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conventional wisdom dictates that achieving elite performance requires eating \u2018clean\u2019. But athlete, adventurer and author Ross Edgley<\/a> is anything but conventional. Whether he\u2019s swimming the length of mainland Great Britain, completing an Olympic distance triathlon attached to a 100lb log or training up in Scotland to swim over 1,000 miles around Iceland\u2019s coastline, nothing \u2013 not burgers, cheesecake or a baguette wrapped in pizza \u2013 is off the menu.<\/p>\n

Men’s Health: What did you have for dinner last night?<\/p>\n

Ross Edgley: Since being in Scotland it\u2019s been about 90% burgers and 5% deep-fried haggis, but last night I veered off course and had steak. We all joked that I needed to diversify my sources of beef.<\/p>\n

MH: You\u2019re known for eating a massive amount of calories. Have you always had a big appetite?<\/p>\n

RE: Bizarrely, it\u2019s kind of my superpower. Growing up in a big family \u2013 my mum had four brothers, and I\u2019ve got two myself \u2013 it was just sport and food all the time. Martin MacDonald, one of the best nutritionists in Europe, explained that what I developed was \u2018nutritional plasticity\u2019. Some elite athletes grow up eating very clean \u2013 rice, oats<\/a>, chicken<\/a> \u2013 and when you give them anything else, their bodies don\u2019t know how to process it. I\u2019ve always had variety: burgers, rice pudding, cheesecake, junk food, so my body\u2019s used to it. It adapts. I joke that pizza is an energy substrate my body knows how to use. In fact, I\u2019d order delivery to the side of the pool during training.<\/p>\n

Related StoryMH: Have you ever tracked your carb intake?<\/p>\n

RE: I have, but more through experience than strict data tracking. During the Great British Swim, I was eating constantly and trying to force food down at every opportunity. It became a perpetual carb-loading phase. One of my go-to meals was a 12-inch baguette wrapped in a pizza, which I called a baguette calzone. It sounds ridiculous, but I could eat that and then swim six hours straight.<\/p>\n

MH: Do you enjoy food, or has it become purely functional during training?<\/p>\n

RE: On most days, it\u2019s functional. It\u2019s porridge, rice, chicken, oats \u2013 big, bland bowls. When I\u2019m eating on a plan, food becomes fuel and the excitement fades. That\u2019s one of the things I look forward to post-Iceland<\/a>: eating food because I want it, not because I need it. To sit down and stop eating when I\u2019m full? That sounds like a holiday.<\/p>\n

MH: How should regular people fuel their swim training<\/p>\n

RE: First off, I\u2019d say trust your physiological and nutritional intuition. We\u2019ve weirdly lost that. People are so focused on data and plans that they forget to listen to their bodies. You could read a world-class study that says you need to eat X, Y and Z, but if it doesn\u2019t agree with your gut biome or taste buds, you\u2019re not going to stick to it. Unless you\u2019re doing very long sessions, you probably don\u2019t need to eat during swims either. You\u2019ve got plenty of muscle glycogen stored to handle an hour or so of training. It\u2019s only beyond that where intra-workout carbs become necessary.<\/p>\n

MH: Do you drink alcohol? How does it fit into your training and recovery?<\/p>\n

RE: Rarely. Not because I\u2019ve got anything against it, but because I\u2019m always training for something. If you said, \u2018Ross, let\u2019s go out for a beer,\u2019 I\u2019d probably reply, \u2018I\u2019ve got a 20k swim tomorrow.\u2019 I can\u2019t afford to feel sluggish. It\u2019s not worth the impact on my performance. That said, I\u2019m not militant about it. If it\u2019s a mate\u2019s wedding or a special celebration, I\u2019ll absolutely raise a glass. But that\u2019s about sharing the experience. When I swam around Great Britain, I had whisky shots around the Isle of Skye. Because I was so exhausted and dehydrated it went straight to my head. But now? Not a chance.<\/p>\n

Interview courtesy of BMW, official sponsor of The Great Icelandic Swim<\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men\u2019s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that\u2019s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for \u2018free pizza\u2019 and wait for him to appear.<\/p>\n