A former Mister USA has revealed the one mistake most people make when bodybuilding – and the exact amount of time to spend in the gym to get ripped.
Nick Trigili, 39, fell in love with bodybuilding after working at a gym from the age of 15, and at age 25, he was crowned Mister USA.
Now he has refined his workouts, and says it’s a myth that you need to spend every day in the gym weightlifting to achieve an award-winning physique.
He said you should train in a one day on, one day off rotation and be in the gym between 45 minutes and an hour.
Nick, a nutritionist from New York City, said, “People always make the mistake of overdoing it, and think you need to be in the gym every single day.
“I recommend people do a day on and a day off.
“This will yield the best results for people as they are giving their body a break.
“You don’t work seven days a week 24/7, so why would you put your body through the stress of working out seven days a week?”
Nick fell in love with the gym where he was mentored by experienced weightlifters after he was kicked out of high school during his sophomore year.
He would train four days a week, have a lean diet of chicken, rice and vegetables, and started entering bodybuilding competitions.
But it turned into an obsession that saw Nick spending up to three hours a day lifting weights between shifts.
Experienced bodybuilders quickly told him he was overdoing it. They gave him one piece of advice that he still follows today: spend no more than an hour in the gym, then leave.
“I was lucky, I had some really good people guiding me in bodybuilding,” Nick said.
“I was doing two to three hours a day, which was too much.
“Then my mentors told me to be in the gym between 45 minutes and an hour and leave.
“I stick to that to this day. Even in the most intense moments of my life, I would only work out three to four times a week.”
Reaching the pinnacle of his career came with an unexpected downside for Nick. After winning the prestigious Mister USA title in 2014, Nick said he lost his sense of purpose and spiraled.
He said, “When I won, everything came to an end for me. That is the show I always wanted to win, and I achieved it by 25.
“It was a let-down when I won; I was like, ‘What do I do now?’
“Right after the show, that was my darkest moment – I felt lost.”
He started ordering takeaways for breakfast and lunch, and dined out at restaurants.
Without bodybuilding, Nick’s disciplined lifestyle unraveled. He ballooned to 260 pounds, eventually squeezing into skin-tight 5XL shirts and trousers.
His wake-up call came at a New Year’s Eve party in 2017 when both his shirt and jeans ripped. The following morning, he vowed to turn his life around.
Nick said, “I was up all night crying, I was upset, miserable, wondering how I got myself here.
“It hit me all at once. After my contracts ran out when I won Mister USA, I stopped working out, and stopped eating healthy.
“When I left bodybuilding, I thought f**k this; I am eating whatever I want – fast food, restaurants, burgers, and pizza
“I would never eat at home; my fridge was empty – I went completely the other way.”
On January 1, 2018, Nick drew a line under his old habits and returned to the routine that had brought him the Mister USA title.
He was cooking lean meals and starting to work out more frequently. He underwent a full blood work to work out the damage his unhealthy habits did to his body – something he recommends everyone do.
Now, Nick is back to a lean 225 pounds and now uses his experience to help others lose weight and build healthier habits.
Nick said, “Blood work is something I have always done since I was a teenager.
“I went back doing what I was doing, by getting a comprehensive blood work that tests your organs, hormones, everything.
“I also got a CT, heart and liver scan – everything I could do.”
