Evan Centopani ’04 speaks to students at a training seminar. Photo by Tebben Gill Lopez/The Mirror.
On Wednesday night, about 30 Fairfield male students sat on the bleachers of Alumni Hall for a training and nutrition seminar where they received advice and heard stories from professional bodybuilder Evan Centopani ’04.
Junior Robert Sicari had organized the event as a casual conversation between Centopani and the students. Centopani’s chiropractor and mentor Dr. Michael Troknya, also a Fairfield alum, participated and added expert advice.
“Evan taught us that lifting is more than just weights, it’s a lifestyle. The human body can be the perfect machine if managed and taken care of properly,” said Sicari.
In 2006, 24-year-old Centopani prepared for the NPC (National Physique Committee) Nationals, the largest amateur bodybuilding competition in the world. In his first attempt at the competition, he took runner-up. The following year, he won and attained his professional status. Since then, he has been competing as a professional bodybuilder.
Centopani’s passion for weightlifting began at a young age. As an overweight 14-year-old, he searched for a way to get in shape. By running and monitoring his diet he quickly lost 70 pounds. Rather than being strong and muscular as he had hoped, he was very thin.
“I still wasn’t pleased with how I looked,” Centopani said. “I figured once I lose all this weight, I’m going to be ripped and I’m going to look great, and I was literally just a skinnier version of my former self, so I started weight training.”
Over the next few years, Centopani began putting on weight and getting stronger. “I realized I had a pretty good aptitude for it so I started getting really serious about it,” he explained.
In 2004, Centopani graduated from Fairfield University, and he competed in his first bodybuilding competition in 2005.
Looking back on his journey, Centopani revealed the key to success: nutrition. He explained, “Most people do a pretty adequate job in the gym. I feel where most people fall short is their eating. The lifestyle has to be lived all those other hours outside of the gym and that’s a lot harder for people.”
Centopani explained that the best food is basic food. He said, “Natural food is so advanced. You just don’t think it’s advanced because it’s just food, but it’s so complicated. It’s so much more perfect than anyone could ever make.”
One of the questions touched up regression and stagnation. Centopani explained that if people do not have proper nutrition, they will regress. He also said that in order to avoid maintaining the same weight and strength, varying the workouts is essential.
“If you’re hitting any type of plateau, whether it’s in size, strength, fat loss, you’ve got to change something. If you continue on doing what you’re doing, nothing is going to change. Consider the fact that your body really only responds to change.”
Centopani described his workout routine and admitted that the best system is high intensity, short workouts a few times a week. “Not only does it enable me to train a lot harder, it enables me to recover more, and also, I’m burning less calories.”
The most important advice that Centopani stressed to his audience was to constantly push themselves and to become comfortable with discomfort. “I have to force my body to lift certain weights, but if I can, I will grow from it,” said Centopani. “It’s just like any other sport. None of it happens without a lot of intensity and discomfort. That’s how growth happens. You grow through challenging yourself.”
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