A former Mr. 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 Mr. 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.
Trigili, a nutritionist from New York City, said you should train in a one day on, one day off rotation and be in the gym between 45 minutes and an hour.
“People always make the mistake of overdoing it, and think you need to be in the gym every single day,” he said.
“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?”
Trigili started going to the gym regularly and was mentored by experienced weightlifters after he was kicked out of high school during his sophomore year.
He would train four days a week and ate a lean diet of chicken, rice and vegetables.
He started entering bodybuilding competitions, but it turned into an obsession, which Trigili 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,” Trigili 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. After winning the prestigious Mr. USA title in 2014, Trigili said he lost his sense of purpose and spiraled.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Without bodybuilding, his disciplined lifestyle unravelled. He started ordering takeout for breakfast and lunch, and dined out at restaurants. 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.
“I was up all night crying. I was upset, miserable, wondering how I got myself here,” he recalled. “It hit me all at once. After my contracts ran out when I won Mr. 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, Trigili drew a line under his old habits and returned to the routine that had brought him the Mr. 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, Trigili is back to a lean 225 pounds and now uses his experience to help others lose weight and build healthier habits.
