Harry Garside is known for facing challenges. The 25-year-old won Australia’s first Olympic medal in boxing since 1988 last year and has used his platform to challenge gender stereotypes. Now, the fitness routines he uses to challenge himself have been turning heads.
Currently on a vacation in Bali, Garside isn’t one to take a day off. Undefeated in professional bouts, Garside is training hard to stay on top of his game and finding new ways to challenge himself in the gym.
Garside shared his 90-minute cycling session plan on Instagram. It’s a packed schedule, the warmup alone would be enough for most people’s cardio session, but Garside isn’t like most people. Garside added that the session was his second of the day, but that’s not all, he also completed the workout without drinking a single drop of water.
Before you throw away your water bottle or start planning on working out without plenty of fluids, its important to know the consequences. Garside’s dehydration method is certainly not recommended, combined with the Bali heat, it’s actually a miracle he didn’t hurt himself.
Hydration is essential to any workout. Your body needs to take on as much fluid as it loses to sweat during exercise. Failure to do so can lead to dehydration. When there’s fluids in your body, your body has to work harder to pump blood and regulate your temperature. Dehydration can result in muscle cramps, soreness, fatigue, and in hot weather conditions like Bali, heat stroke.
This isn’t the first time Garside has shared an extreme workout. Earlier this year the boxer completed a 24-hour challenge by taping his mouth shut and breathing exclusively through his nose. Garside pushed through a fast-paced 4km run with his mouth taped shut in an attempt to optimise his breathing.
Mouth taping is a growing trend that has been shown to have benefits during sleep. Breathing through your nose while sleeping can lower blood pressure, filter allergens and moisturise your throat. There’s not much research into the benefits of mouth taping during exercise. Therefore we don’t recommend it, but the obvious effect would be an elevated heart rate.
Garside also partakes in some extreme activities to improve his mental health. The 25-year-old takes cold showers in the middle of winter to improve his mental toughness. He also uses a cryotherapy chamber with temperatures as low as -110 degrees.
Cold water therapy can relieve muscle soreness, has been shown to alleviate depression and can even cause weight loss. But there are safety concerns over the practice. Cold water immersion affects your blood pressure, heart rate, and circulation so it can cause some serious cardiac issues.
If you couldn’t already tell from some of his crazy workouts, Garside marches to the beat of his own drum. He’s actively trying to break down gender stereotypes, commonly wears women’s clothes and has been known to partake in ballet dancing in his free time. Promoting positive change is part of what motivates him.
Garside told Men’s Health about the importance of challenging conventions. “Some people in the boxing world will raise their eyebrows, some people will support me, some won’t and I’m okay with that. The reality is you’re not going to please everyone with what you do and I’m really grateful that I feel I have a lot more positivity than negativity.”
While Garside’s workouts might not be recommended by any experts, the boxer remains undefeated in professional bouts and is pushing himself to reach the top. Garside’s unorthodox training might be the secret to his success, but you probably shouldn’t try these workouts at home.
