The best way to describe it is by its name – Bodyism – a blueprint for a lean and chiselled physique based on short spurts of resistance training and cutting the C.R.A.P. (Caffeine, Refined sugar, Alcohol and Processed foods) from your diet.

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Bodyism founder James Duigan.

“You wouldn’t fill a racing car with bad fuel, would you? So why fill your body with junk?” asks James Duigan, the Australian-born, British-based founder of the phenomenon he runs out of the gymnasium at London’s Bulgari Hotel.

But what the Brits do, we can now do with better weather at the new One&Only resort on Hayman Island. A beautifully luxurious hangout in Queensland’s Whitsunday Archipelago that opened its doors in July, it’s the first venue in Australia to offer Bodyism-style dining and Bodyism-accredited trainers at its space-age gym.

Love-handle jam

My first session with Bodyism trainer Simon Mitchell kicks off at 8am. But, before I give you the lowdown, let me tell you a little about myself: I’m 40-years-young, I swim or train at the gym for an hour seven days a week so I am pretty good shape.

I try to eat healthy foods as often as possible but am a coffee and chocolate addict. I haven’t changed my lifestyle in the past 20 years but in the past few months I’ve gained a pair of love handles. So my first and only question for my trainer is to ask how I get rid of them?

“You can’t spot-reduce fat through exercise, only through changing your diet,” Mitchell explains. “It also helps to know what kinds of foods add weight to certain parts of your body. Fat on your shoulder blades suggests you don’t have the best relationship with carbs. Tummy fat is often cause by the stress hormone cortisol, while love handles suggest you’re eating too much sugar.”

I look at my shoes and curse my sweet tooth. “Does this mean no more dessert?”

“No it doesn’t,” Mitchell says. “It means changing your diet rather than cutting heaps of things out of it. For example, if you like strawberry yoghurt, have greek yoghurt with berries mashed into it instead. If you don’t have a good relationship with processed carbs like bread and pasta, fill up on sweet potato, pumpkin and quinoa.”

Working up a sweat.

I mull over Mitchell’s comments as the session kicks in. It’s an intense 40-minutes warm-up that starts with Jane Fonda-style butt lifts, standing knee hugs, active hamstring stretches and the like.

Next comes ‘band-walking’ – Bodyism’s signature exercise where we wrap a large rubber band around our legs to create resistance that targets different parts of the buttocks and legs. We also use the bands while lying on our side and lifting our legs up and down, as well as standing in a squat position and pushing our knees in and out.

The session culminates with yoga press-ups – a punishing routine Mitchell describes as “one of the best exercises ever invented”. Starting in downward dog, we move into cobra and then plank formations before squeezing out a push-up that leads back to downward dog.

Doing one is challenging. Completing a set of 10 leaves me gagging for air.

La Vida Loca

After the stretch class, I spend another 40 minutes lifting free weights at the gym. For breakfast, I forgo my coffee and bacon ‘n’ eggs and have a couple of yoghurt, fruit and cereal cups washed down with watermelon juice.

At around midday I hit Hayman Island’s colossal polygon pool for a half hour swim and reward myself with a seafood patter – one of dozens of ‘Clean & Lean’ options found on the menu at every one of the One&Only’s eight restaurants and bars.

I let my hair down that night at Fire, the resort’s fanciest restaurant, where I order beef cheeks, creamy mash, tender asparagus and a few glasses of wine. However I forgo the white chocolate implosion I’d been eyeing for dessert and instead settle for a fruit salad with blood-orange granita.

The famous polygon pool at One&Only.

The next day I do a solid two-hour kayak session in the clear blue waters in front of the resort and fill the void in my stomach with a spicy sausage and truffle pizza at Amici, One&Only’s rustic Italian diner. It’s not a Clean & Lean selection but the dough is really thin and doesn’t leave me bloated like take-away pizzas can. Dinner is at Bamboo, a Thai-Korean-Malay fusion eatery where I order a sashimi plate followed by steamed whole snapper.

On my third and last day at the One&Only I meet with Mitchell again for an hour-long gym session. We do leg squats with dumbbells, full-length pull ups on bars, boxing drills and

A Bodyism shake.

spurts on the rowing machine. We do quick, repetitive sets with plenty of variation that make the hour fly past despite it being one of the most gruelling personal training sessions I’ve done in my life.

Yet the hardest part comes at the end of the class when Mitchell makes me a Bodyism cocoa-and-green tea protein formula and fibre shake. Despite my protestations that it tastes like sand, Mitchell insists I empty the glass.

“After a workout, there’s a 15-minute window where the body uses amino acids – the building blocks of protein – to repair and build muscle,” he explains. “So it’s important to get 10-20 grams of protein while you’re cooling down. It’ll help you stay lean in the long run because it increases your metabolism.”

The verdict

The next morning I fly back to Sydney and strip down for a shower when I get home. I glance in the mirror and my jaw drops to the floor, for my waist is thinner and more defined than before. I stand on the scales and confirm it’s true: I lost 1kg during my three-day stay at the One&Only while eating like a king.

Click here to learn more about the Bodyism workout and Clean & Lean diet.

Click here to experience it first hand at the new One&Only Resort.