My name is Nicholas (Nick) Grest, born in Flemington, New Jersey, but moved down to the small town of Hammond, Louisiana at the age of 13. That is when I got very serious into running cross country and track and field, and I also played a little soccer. So I was a smaller guy all throughout high school, and even though I would work out when I could, I never was able to stay with it long enough to get any real good results.
For college, I decided to go to Louisiana State University, and that is when I started getting serious into weightlifting. I started to work out 5 times a week with no exceptions. This wasn’t always easy with all the football games and partying going on at LSU, but when my friends would be going out to party, I would make sure that I went and got my workout in first and then would try to meet them afterwards. I was like a sponge trying to absorb as much information as I could, from all types of sources, other people in the gym, magazines, and websites on the internet. I stayed focused on my training all throughout college and never slacked off like many people do when they are in college and say they want to get big but then give up after a few weeks or months. I believe that working out and toning your body is a science and it takes time, one has to be patient, it definitely won’t happen overnight.
After graduating LSU with a degree in management/entrepreneurship, I considered going back to school to get my MBA, and worked a few jobs that didn’t seem like they fit with me. So I recently started working as a personal trainer and I am now considering going back to school for either Nutrition or Kinesiology, because working out and having a healthy lifestyle has always interested me and I would like to gain more knowledge on the subject and then help others with my knowledge.
My training and diet are pretty strict. I normally do weight training 5 days a week, sometimes hitting everything just once, (ie. Monday-back, Tuesday-chest, Wednesday-shoulders, Thursday –legs, and Friday-arms), but sometimes I will hit two body parts in a day, I just like to mix it up a lot. My diet is pretty clean all year round, I get all my protein from shakes, chicken, steak, lean ground beef, fish, eggs, and milk and my carbs are from whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, yams, and whole wheat pasta. It is hard at times to keep the diet strict, especially with all the fast food commercials on the television all the time, but I just keep telling myself that it is worth it in the long run. When I do cheat, which I try to only do about one a week, I love to splurge on Chinese food, pizza, Taco Bell, or any kind of cheeseburger. As far as cardio, I normally don’t do too much in the off season, but I think that will change this year, but in the spring when I am cutting I go up to an hour and 15 minutes a day, split into two segments.
In my spare time, I like to hang out with my friends and family, which can take up a lot of your time being from the south, where we all love to see our friends and family and party. I also love movies and could sit in front of the television all day long watching TV and movies and I would never get bored. Other than that, I really do enjoy being in the gym, it is like my second home and I could spend hours in there just talking to people, but then of course I have to get my workouts in too.
I just got done doing my first fitness style photo shoot with John Mitchell from BBpics.com, and it was a great experience. John is a fantastic photographer and acts really professional. He knows everything about getting good pictures in the outdoor lighting to make your muscles and definition really pop out. Along with being a great photographer he is also very hospitable, I flew into Connecticut to work with him and he picked me up from the airport and let me stay at his house. Also he cooked for me and he makes some really mean grilled chicken! Beats Popeye’s or KFC any day. He also drove me around to all the spots that he knows around his area and we worked together for two hard days of shooting, and we got lots of good pictures. Also, he gives you a copy of your pictures on a cd and he does short videos as well. I really enjoyed my experience working with John, and he made traveling across the country to work with a photographer totally worth it, I definitely plan on working with him in the near future for more photo shoots and I recommend him to anyone who is trying to get into fitness modeling.
It’s been a long road for me and working out/bodybuilding, but I have a long way yet to go, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I recently took the plunge to step on stage and took first in my division, so I definitely plan to compete again, and now I am trying to get into fitness modeling obviously. Also in the next few weeks I plan on starting my own website where I will sell personalized workout and nutrition plans to help people achieve their own individual goals, be it weight loss, muscle gain, toning up, or pre contest training, so I have a lot planned for me in this industry in the near future. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but as I always say, “Life is what you make it”, so if you want a good and successful life, you have to work for it, because nothing is going to be handed to you.
