Hugo and Ross Turner or is that Ross and Hugo? have earned the nickname the adventure guinea pigs. In 2015, the twins scaled Europes highest peak, Mt Elbrus in the Caucasus, to compare traditional mountaineering gear with modern equipment (the latter proved to be mostly marketing). Theyve been to Greenland, where a replica of Sir Ernest Shackletons 1914 expedition kit uniformly outperformed the contemporary equivalent, from the Sunspel jumper and Crockett & Jones boots to a wooden sled.

Most recently, they embarked on a trial of a vegan diet versus a typical omnivorous one, with their body composition monitored by Virgin Active and their biomarkers tested by Kings College Londons Department of Twin Research. We caught up with them two months in to see what they'd learnt.

MH: This isnt the first time youve compared diets...

Ross: At the end of last year we did a test of high-fat vs high-carb. I was on a high-fat diet and I shredded. I lost about 3kg of fat; Hugo was on high-carb and he put on 3kg.

Hugo: Ross has always been slightly heavier, so, we met each other in the middle. At the end, we were 85kg each.

Ross: But I was much, much leaner.

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MH: How fun or not were those diets to follow?

Ross: I did miss carbs. I really did miss carbs. But as soon as I had them, I felt bloated, straight away.

MH: So, what are the main takeaways from meat versus veg?

Ross: My cholesterol has stayed the same about 6.5, quite high and Hugo [on the vegan diet] is down to 4.9.

Hugo: I was about 5.9 at the start, so its dropped drastically.

Ross: As well as your libido.

Hugo: Yeah, my libido went out the window. But my energy levels [were better]. I didnt get that sugar drop. Most snacks chocolate, biscuits, sweets I couldnt have. I was pretty much just on nuts and fruit.

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Ross: We had Mindful Chef delivering our food, so we had exactly the same calories going in give or take 50 calories across the day.

MH: How did going vegan affect your training?

Hugo: My energy levels in the gym were much, much better. We were going to the gym five, six times a week and I didnt have a session where I thought, I dont really have any energy.

Ross: I was the opposite. I was very hungry at 10 or 11 oclock. I had those big spikes of energy and then Id crash. But then the results [of our training] have been very different I put on weight, and Hugo has lost it.

Hugo: Ive shredded. I lost 4kg of fat in the first two or three weeks.

Ross: We wore continuous glucose monitors: they go on the back of your triceps and connect to your phone. I was spiking, going down, having that sugar low or meat low and Hugo was far more satiated.

MH: What kind of training were you doing?

Hugo: Its endurance-focused, so high-rep, low-weight, rather than trying to build up mass. On our expeditions, we dont want to be carrying extra weight.

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Ross: One of the ways we measure how fit were getting is with a submaximal test: what resistance youre on when you get to a certain heart rate on a Wattbike. Its simple but quite effective if you want to find out what your fitness level is.

MH: And less unpleasant than a VO2 max.

Ross: I dont mind the VO2 max. Its quite fun. An effective way weve found [to track] our endurance training is to count the total mass lifted. Weve gone from about three tonnes which sounds epic to 10 or 11 tonnes in an hour. If you add the weight up, it becomes really motivating.

MH: How much do you bench? A tonne

Ross: It is, though if you lift 100kg, 10 times, thats a tonne. If youve lost weight and youve doubled your lifting capacity, youre getting expedition fit.

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Hugo: Half of it is looking after your body. Whats the chassis like? Is it healthy? Weve got quite rusty chassis in the sense that weve always got painful backs, tight hamstrings and quads. So, its using a good proportion of a gym session on stretching, rolling and core.

Ross: And the other 10% is mindset. Ive been to the gym over the past few months and gone, I really cant be bothered. Thats the point at which you become expedition mind fit. Even if you do very little, but you do the full hour, youre training your mind not to give up. Its so easy not to flex the mental muscle.

On the vegan diet: Hugo lost 1kg of fat and gained 1.2kg of muscle massOn the omnivore diet: Ross gained 2.8kg of fat and 4kg of muscle mass

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These Twins Trialled Veganism Against Meat-Eating. Here's What Happened - Men's Health