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The Most Inspirational Bodybuilder I Have Ever Met - part 2

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

When I met natural bodybuilder Nino Savona and saw how fantastic he looked, despite having to walk on crutches, a lot of questions popped into my mind about his training, such as: How did he get so ripped? How does he train? Does he do any cardio? If so, how, what kind and how much? Does he train his legs? If so how? For two perspectives, I posed these questions both to Nino, and to his trainer…

Overcoming Training Challenges

After training him for six months, NASM-certified trainer Vanessa Cambria said she thinks there’s nothing Nino can’t accomplish:

“As far as Nino’s training goes, there are times when I cringe during a session because I have to catch him on the way down from a pull up or I panic as he balances and jumps off a machine when he is done. The other part that is so incredible is to see the dedication and determination in his eyes when he’s on the gym floor. Just when I think he’s exhausted, he comes back for more. His endurance at times is superhuman and when you ask him what got him through another grueling workout, he always points up to God. Nino’s believes that his disability has given him a great gift and that is the ability to inspire other people. I saw for myself Nino’s gift for inspiring others the night of the show. I was amazed how humbled some of the biggest bodybuilders in the show were by Nino’s achievements.”

Overcoming challenges in the gym gives Nino
the greatest feeling of satisfaction

It’s truly remarkable just how much Nino can do in the gym. At first, you might think that there are certain exercises, such as squats, that Nino wouldn’t be able to do, but Nino said he was determined to squat any way – he simply got creative by using a Smith machine or hack squat machine which took care of the balance and stabilization issue. He has no trouble at all on the leg extension or leg press machines.

Although Nino doesn’t have the range of motion for full hamstring curls (flexion), a recent check up with his doctor revealed that he was showing improved hamstring muscle development for the first time ever as a result of the other compound movements like the squats and leg presses.

“Sometimes I have to think out of box for new and challenging ways to do some of the basic exercises that the average bodybuilder takes for granted,” said Vanessa, “We also use high reps to compensate for less time under tension due to Nino’s shortened range of motion in some exercises and also because Nino has great endurance and gets great psychological satisfaction from pushing high reps.”

Nino also has a challenge with scapular retraction, such as in the final portion of rowing exercises. This is due to a rounded-forward posture that developed over time as a result of leaning forward on crutches for so many years.

“His endurance at times is super-human!”

After Nino’s 2006 competition, he asked for a critique and one of the NPC judges said that Nino’s upper body is well developed enough that with a little improvement to his lat spread pose, he could be very competitive in the wheelchair divisions, if he chose to compete in them. As a result, Nino has made back development a high priority, and is continually working on his back poses.

Nino wears long pants and displays only his upper body in competition, but he says he loves training legs and he works them as hard as possible. Even though NPC judges told him he has what it takes to be highly successful in the wheelchair competitions (where he could keep his legs covered in long pants and display only the upper body), he is planning to keep competing in the open divisions and even contemplating competing in shorts or trunks in the future.

Nino’s Bodybuilding Workout

Nino trains on a conventional bodybuilding split routine, usually four days a week, working two major muscle groups per workout. Each workout lasts about an hour.

Regardless of which muscle groups he is training, every session has one thing in common – Nino works incredibly hard! In fact, when I heard about his workouts – sometimes with up to 4-5 exercises per muscle group and nearly every set pushed for high reps to all out to muscular failure - I got the sense that he was overtraining.

Nino insists that not only is he not overtraining – he says he HAS TO train this way. “I train like an animal! I could probably train for hours! I can just keep going; I don’t have to stop. How I train is more of a personal thing. It’s how I am and it represents how I live my life and how I’ve always been. I don’t care what I have to do, I will push to the end. I won’t stop until I can say that was an awesome workout. What I do may be overtraining for most people, but I don’t think it’s overtraining for me – I can handle it.”

Nino could take it easy and sit down for his entire workout
but if there’s a way to do it standing up, he’ll find it!

When Nino told me about his beyond-intense workouts, I couldn’t help but think of Five Time Mr. Universe and bodybuilding legend Bill Pearl. Now in his 70’s, Pearl still gets up at 4:00 am every morning and trains for two hours in his home gym, just as he has for decades. He admits that he does more training than he has to. But for Pearl, it’s not just about the so-called “ideal” amount of training for physical results – his routine is about keeping his “edge”, his mental discipline and the feeling that doing it gives him. It’s personal. So it is with Nino.

Nino relies heavily on variety and the “muscle confusion” principle. Left to his own devices, says Vanessa, Nino tends to move his body the same way all the time. Out of the gym, his gait and posture has developed certain patterns to compensate for the rotation of his feet and the leaning forward posture from walking on crutches.

“My job is not only to shock his muscles and change things up so his muscles grow and he doesn’t adapt,” she said, “but also to challenge him to move his body in ways that he normally would not do on his own, inside or outside the gym. The whole point in me being there is to think out of the box for him.”

Nino’s “Full-Blast” Cardio

I was especially curious about Nino’s cardio program. At first, I incorrectly assumed that Nino wouldn’t be able to do much cardio. I had envisioned him being limited to something like a recumbent bike and I thought he had to depend on extremely strict diet to get as lean as he did. Was I ever wrong!

Nino explained that he can do any cardio machine. “My handicap is not an issue” declared Nino. “If I put my mind to something I’m going to do it.” He simply holds onto the side rails as he goes all-out with as much intensity on cardio training as he puts into his weight training.

A typical cardio session is at least 30 minutes on the treadmill, stepper or elliptical. He does three days of cardio all year round and then increases that to six days a week and up to 45 minutes a session before competitions to increase fat loss.

He cranks up the treadmill or elliptical angle to a steep incline and runs full blast the entire time. Seeing him doing high intensity cardio is a sight to behold. Most people would never be able to keep up with him.

Nino says, “I take it to the extreme each and every day even if I don’t feel like it. Even if I’m tired, I don’t make any excuses, I just do what I have to do. I will never say impossible, I can’t or I quit.”

Vanessa was quick to second that: “Nino NEVER quits! There were times that he would come to see me and he would be all banged up and I asked what the heck happened and he said he fell on the treadmill. But you know what? Then he told me that he got right back on and finished his workout.”

Nino displays outstanding biceps development

Nino’s Diet

When it comes to nutrition, there are no ifs ands or buts. Nino’s pre-contest diet philosophy is simple and straightforward: Perfection. Nothing less. “I stay away from starches and sugars,” said Nino. “I eat a lot of steak, chicken, egg whites, broccoli and other vegetables. I don’t drink alcohol at all.” He also said he rarely eats any junk food even in the off season. He just doesn’t want it. “I always stick to what it takes to succeed. I won’t eat anything that’s not good for my body.”

“By the way,” Nino also added, “If you think you’re surrounded by temptations, you should see my house! I live in a house where my Italian mom makes a lot Italian food so there is always temptation. But guess what, I won’t even have a bite before a contest. Not one bite! And you know how Italian moms are!

Nino had a great support team behind him for this competition. In addition to his trainer Vanessa, he was also very pleased to have Mark Cambria, a competitive bodybuilder and nutrition expert, help him with his pre-contest diet from start to finish. Together, Mark and Nino meticulously planned the final week peaking strategy day by day.

The final week is the trickiest part of the entire contest prep period and is a time where many bodybuilders second guess themselves or make critical mistakes that cause them to miss their peak and come in too “smooth” or too “flat” on contest day. For this contest, Nino followed the plan to a “T” and nailed the contest peak perfectly and in the process, achieved one of the goals he set many months earlier when he chose this competition.

After the contest was over, Mark said that “Nino is the most inspirational bodybuilder I have ever met in my life, and I thank God that I had the pleasure of meeting him.”

The Bodybuilding Lifestyle

Most bodybuilders will tell you that bodybuilding is not just a sport, it is a lifestyle. For Nino, bodybuilding is even more than a lifestyle – it’s part of his life’s purpose and something he lives for. It is what drives him and keeps him going day to day despite his challenges. When he has a moment or a day that he feels like nothing is going his way, instead of getting angry, he goes to the gym, “blows off some steam” and finds himself feeling great again.

Nino was a personal trainer for nine years. Now he is ready to touch the lives of many more people than he could as a one to one trainer. By continuing to compete and set an example and by sharing his experience on the Internet, he now intends to inspire and motivate thousands all across the world to take up the fitness and bodybuilding lifestyle themselves – no matter what their physical condition.

“Nino is going to achieve much bigger things,” predicted Vanessa, “And it all started the night he stepped on that stage in Poughkeepsie. When I saw him sitting on the chair that he had to use to get through his posing routine on stage in an auditorium packed full of people, I couldn’t help but be overcome with tears of joy. I knew, just like his posing song said, ‘Right Now Means Everything.’ That song really spoke for the outcome of that evening; it DID mean everything to Nino. There were so many doors that opened to bigger things for him that night and they could not have been opened to a more deserving person.”

A positively contagious attitude

In a trainer-client relationship, often it is the client who is the greatest beneficiary, but Vanessa explained that training Nino benefited her as much as him:

“

For everything I did to help him, he was helping me in return because he let me see excuses I was making for myself like, “I only gained weight because I had two kids and it’s harder to lose that baby weight,” or “It’s only because of my thyroid,” or whatever other nonsense I was rationalizing to myself. And then I would watch Nino and I’d say to myself, “I’ve got some nerve making these excuses while Nino put down his crutches, stepped onto that treadmill and ran like nothing would ever stop him. He made me get my own butt in gear.”

“I know that Nino has the ability to change the lives of bodybuilders and other people everywhere, whether they are young or old, male or female or just one of those people who simply needs a kick in the butt and someone to remind them that there really are NO EXCUSES!”

Nino’s attitude and accomplishments have positively impacted everyone around him. He has impacted and influenced his friends, his family, the members of his gym, the audiences at bodybuilding competitions, other bodybuilders, disabled men and women and just about everyone else who meets him and hears his story. His can-do attitude is nothing short of “positively contagious!”

The result of faith, hard training, strict diet…
and No Excuses - ever!

Nino’s Mission

One of the most beautiful things in life is when someone consciously realizes their purpose and engages in the process of fulfilling that purpose. Nino knows his purpose and mission is to inspire others and he says he is just beginning.

Nino says he wants to spread his message to as many people as possible. He wants to broaden his horizons and expand his reach and positive influence on other people. He not only wants to lead by example by continuing to train and compete, he wants to write and says he would love to speak in the future.

“I just want the opportunity to help other people in any way that I can. I would like to tell people about the importance of staying healthy and teach people that it doesn’t matter if you have a handicap or not.”

Nino has worked to overcome some speech challenges. This made him realize that his training and competing was an ideal way to begin realizing his mission so that he could let his actions and results speak louder than any words could say.

Now, Nino’s new website, www.ninosmission.com is giving him the ability not only to spread his positive message through his physique and his actions – onstage and in the gym – but also by writing to men and women all over the world.

Nino’s mission is to inspire those with physical disabilities, by personal example, how much can be achieved with belief, a solid spiritual foundation and the will to succeed. He hopes that those who are able-bodied will be equally inspired and count their blessings which they may take for granted.

Nino is grateful for what he has and for what he has been able to achieve. He says that there are men and women who do not have any use of their legs at all, who would give anything to be able to go for a run. Yet sadly, there are millions of fully-able-bodied people who say that exercise is “too much hard work” or that they “don’t have the time,” while in the same breath, complaining about their health or their weight.

As I reflected on the lessons I learned from meeting Nino Savona – and there are many - I was first truly thankful that there are people like Nino in the world who have the courage to pursue their goals despite great hardships. I was also reminded to count my own blessings, to avoid taking things for granted, to stop making excuses and to always remember the words of rocket science pioneer Werher Von Braun: “Use the word impossible with the greatest caution.”

www.NinosMission.com

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Nino Savona lives in Clifton Park, New York. He can be reached online at www.ninosmission.com and by email at nino@ninosmission.com or ASAVONA1@nycap.rr.com

Vanessa Cambria, Nino’s trainer, lives with her husband Mark and their two boys, in Saratoga county, about 30 minutes North of Albany, New York. She is a health and fitness consultant to individuals and corporations and she trains clients one on one in her studio and in their homes throughout the capital region. She can be reached by email at info@wellbalancedtraining.com, on the web at www.wellbalancedtraining.com or by telephone at 518-859-5858

Tom Venuto is a competitive bodybuilder, freelance writer and publisher of numerous fitness-related websites, including the Internet’s premier fat loss support community: www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com. You can reach Tom online at www.tomvenuto.com

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Posted 20 November, 2006 in Articles

Comments

Marc David said:

Where's the Nino "No Excuses" screen saver? :-)

Fantastic article Tom.

In the last few days I've seen many posts on various forums about how to stay motivated for the holiday or how to get out of bed early, etc.

From now on, all those questions will be directed towards Nino's story. He's simply a man of no excuses.

Awesome Part 2!

I did a mini-podcast about Nino that I hope will get passed around virally to inspirate people and to learn about his website.

bodybuildinglive.blogspot.com

Posted on Nov 21, 2006 02:02 PM

Increase Libido Sam said:

Absolutely amazing Tom, great article..and Nino, hats off to you man, what a drive!!

Sam

Posted on Nov 21, 2006 06:42 PM

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