Olympic swimmer shares his gym workout for winning world records

Ahead of next year's Olympic Games, JOE hit the gym with Team GB swimmer Adam Peaty

Uttoxeter-born Peaty is an Olympic champion swimmer and also a world-record holder. Peaty is in training for Tokyo 2020, and spends most of his time in the gym training to build explosive power and strength. "That is the goal for us - that's why we do squats, pull-ups and then obviously try to relate that into the pool", Peaty said. Peaty holds the 50 metre and 100 metre breaststroke world record. Lifts such as the weighted press up help him develop such strength and pressing power. But it's not as simple as moving a weight for the sake of it, Peaty says. "We super-set our sets - so if I'm doing heavy squats I'll go into movement jumps." This builds the necessary muscle power and strength, while the super-set element trains the same energy system the swimmer taps into when competing in the pool. "My current maxes are 160kg on the squat, bench is 135kg and pull-up is +60kg", Peaty said. Lifting weights isn't without the risk factor, though. Excessive lifting can increase the risk of injury, and this could hinder the progress of an Olympian. "It's all about being sensible really - why would I be squatting 160kg every single day? Obviously I'm putting more strain on myself when swimming." In terms of nutrition, Peaty is a firm believer in consuming 20 grams of protein every few hours and particular around training. Although Peaty had experienced with vegetarianism in the past, he's now ditched a meat-free diet in the run-up to a competition." "No, I'm back on the chicken, back on the fish", Peaty said. Going full veggie proved too costly, Peaty found. "I just lost so much muscle. I was 87kg, I lost too much lean mass with it. You lose a lot of power - your testosterone just dips completely." Science in Sport ambassador Adam Peaty is supporting the launch of new high-protein bar PROTEIN20.