MCV’s UFC Industry Fitness Challenge: Week Two

The competition is heating up as our contestants brave the deadly V-up for that trip to Vegas. So what’s the latest in the industry’s fight against fat?

GameSpot UK’s Johnny Chiodini and his GameSpot colleague Guy Cocker have been updating their blogs with regular updates on their workouts.

While I was regularly cycling to work, eating a fairly healthy vegetarian diet, and going to the gym a few times a month, I had gradually gained weight over the last few years,” Cocker writes. I believe it was mostly down to a typical journalist lifestyle, involving regular drinking, frequent unhealthy snacks, and a fairly sedentary working environment.

I’ve managed to lose a significant amount of weight over the last two weeks. In the warm-up week I lost 3.5kg. This week, after introducing UFC Personal Trainer, I dropped 1.5kg–not as much weight, but a far healthier amount (the NHS recommends you aim for around 1kg per week), while I suspect that UFC Personal Trainer is helping me turn fat into muscle.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my results so far. People have started to comment on my weight loss, I’m saving a lot of money on transport, food and drink, and I’m generally feeling a lot more energetic. I’ve also broken through the stage where I was constantly thinking about food and drink, while exercising has become part of my daily routine.”

Perhaps the highlight of the week has been the second wave of superbly edited trash-talking videos between Chiodini and Ginx TV’s Neil Gorton. Where else would you find such impressive martial arts moves as the Bin Kick or Microwave Ding, or weight-lifting with an Xbox 360?

Both videos also name-drop Capcom’s Leo Tan, but anyone hoping for his contribution to this frankly bizarre chain of message will have to wait. According to Tan’s Twitter, he’s on holiday for five days. No to push-ups, yes to chips and crying. This is your chance to catch up”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixXEqmnIjcEhttps://vimeo.com/26635575

Saj Ismael from Lunch PR is one of the most recent entrants to the contest and is already feeling the benefits: My stamina and core strength is up and a new diet means I’m losing body fat and getting toned. I’m only allowed to consumer a limited amount of stuff: chicken breast, steak, egg whites, apples, brown rice, spinach, broccoli, almonds, green tea and water.”

For those not in the know, Ismael’s brief shopping list mentioned there is actually an official UFC training regime diet, as specified by the trainers from the real-life competition – a testament to how seriously Saj is taking the fitness challenge. And he’s not the only one: check out the technique of Iain McDougall, not to mention the determination in his eyes.

So far I’ve lost just over 6kg and the results are starting to become very apparent visually,” he writes. The weight came off my legs first with the muscle definition coming back within the first week. Must have been the years of volleyball and basketball that my leg muscles have been silently sitting dormant waiting for the day to come when I finally started getting back into shape.

You can also clearly see the weight coming off my belly, although I still have a bit of the love handles at the side and some man boobage. But that is fast disappearing and hopefully that will be the next to go!

All of these results are through very little change to my daily routine; no special diets, no crazy protein shakes, no running or swimming, just me and UFC trainer going at it like a man on a mission! I’m finding myself much more energetic and I’m now powering up the dreaded hill to work which used to make me out of breath and really kill my knees!”

You can gain more insight into how the contestants are progressing by searching for the hashtag #UFCPTchallenge on Twitter or following THQ Insider’s dedicated list.

Mate just emailed me about a stag-do bike ride,” posts ONM’s Gavin Murphy (@cymrogav). ‘Don’t worry mate it won’t be too strenuous!’ Clearly he hasn’t seen me post #UFCPTchallenge.”

I can safely say #UFCPTchallenge is causing me pain, substantial pain,” says Tesco’s Mike Fethers (@fevington).

And, finally, VideoGamer.com’s Martin Gaston (@Squidmania) has taken the gossip surrounding the shaving foam assault on Rupert Murdoch rather personally: I find all this pie talk very insensitive. Don’t you people know I’m trying to win the #UFCPTChallenge.”

Look out for more updates in this week’s issue of MCV, and back here at MCVUK.com next Wednesday.