How bodybuilder’s new workout and diet got him running ultramarathons while staying buff – now he eats 250g of carbs a day (lucky he’s Italian)
- Hong Kong-based Italian expat Massimo Giusto took up ultrarunning after a body transformation programme helped him drop 10kg and get down to 8 per cent fat
- His key to balancing a bodybuilder’s physique with running hundreds of kilometres a month is consuming 2,500 calories a day on a carb-heavy diet
Growing up in Italy, Massimo Giusto got a healthy serving of discipline from an early age.
He started doing karate, had a very strict coach, and was sent off to boarding school where rules and regulations were the norm. Giusto said this laid the foundation for his unwavering drive when it came to achieving goals in life.
“I was a bit naughty as a kid, so it was very good for me,” the 41-year-old said. “I think I was craving discipline in some respects.”
He studied economics at the University of Florence, graduating in 2004. He moved to Hong Kong the same year, joining an export company he now owns.
Fourteen years later, Giusto decided it was time to kick his fitness up a notch. He had been working out regularly, but thanks to all the business dinners and overseas travel, he had been eating perhaps a little too well. He had given up drinking three years previously, but he was still smoking.
