Interview with Italian Fitness Model Luca Sossai (Photoshoot from South Beach)

I drive down to South Beach during the 2011 Model Universe weekend to meet up with Luca Sossai, an old friend whom I knew from my early days competing in Europe, 2008.  Back in 2008, I was competing in the Ms. Bikini Italia 2008 Championships (which I won.. bizarre for an Asian-American living in Europe, I know, that’s another story) and was on stage with Luca and many other athletes who remain friends to this day. Luca is a tremendously dedicated athlete to this sport as I have seen him not only greatly improve his physique and symmetry over the years but also do what alot of fitness competitors don’t – build the strong social media foundation to support him in the long run.  Today you can find his informative blogs on his training/diet/live, YouTube videos, and all over Facebook. Even more unique is that he shares his knowledge in both Italian (native) and English.  Awesome!

Who doesn’t want a body like Luca’s? Take a read on his interview to learn who Luca got started, competition experiences, diet, exercise, goals, and future.

The Interview

1. Tell us about yourself ?

Hi, my name is Luca Sossa, 26 years old and I live in Italy where I work as a professional trainer and fitness model. I am very active and I like challenges. I started with sports when I was 6, going from competitive judo to amateur swimming and got into weight lifting and fitness when I turned 14.

When I first started with fitness, it was hard to find a role model to draw inspiration from. I can only find my inspiration within myself. I needed challenges in my life and I aimed high to get the results I want. Being determined and focused helped me to achieve my goals. I want to become a fitness model so I can be a role model to others especially to those who want to change their physical and mental fitness and to love life as I do.

I am highly specialized in hypertrophy, tonification, slimming program, model training, nutrition and supplementation. I keep searching for ways to improve myself in sports and profession.

2. How did you get started as a fitness model?

I became a fitness model when I realized that competing was not the ultimate goal. In my country, people  don’t associate their lives with fitness. This is why I started promoting myself on YouTube, Facebook, be part of photoshoots and magazine. I want people to know who I am and understand how they can change their approach in their training, nutrition and supplementation. I am very happy when a lot of people follow my blogs and constantly listen to what I have to say and publish.

3. When did you make the decision to compete in Fitness Competitions?

The idea of competing came in 2008 for the MuscleMania European Championship in Milan where I placed 3rd. After that, I started to work hard to improve and become more competitive.

4. What was your experience like for stepping on stage the first time?

After my first competition, I knew I could do much more and I needed to work hard. The strategy that I use is whenever I workout, I imagine my body getting bigger and bigger. It is a mental work that works and it helped me to get very impressive results. I focus on the final image of myself and I workout as if it was the last day of training before the competition.

5. What is your diet and training program like prior to getting ready for a competition?

My profession is a 360-degree cycle. I like to try different methods of training for strength, hypertrophy, resistance and power. In relation to the training period, I try to maximize the results and my diet is very well connected with the training. With the approaching of the final day, I meticulously adjust my diet.

6. Can you give us a sample of your weekly fitness routine?

This is my secret! If you want to see my workout, you can visit my blog www.lucasossai.blogspot.com.

7. What are some of the mistakes you’re made in the realm of training and diet/nutrition, and what did you learn from them?

We can learn a lot from mistakes. I started working out at the age of 14. During this time, I had been trying many different techniques both for training and nutrition. The most frequent was that I often trained too hard. My actual workout is short and high intensity with a great deal of mental concentration to feel a specific muscle section and feel the burn. This is the greatest secret to get great results.

8. Do you use supplements? How useful do you think supplements are?

I believe that supplements could be a solution to increase results and recovery for many people. I think that they are miraculous  products and people could get the results that they cannot get with training and nutrition alone. Supplements work if there is a good diet and training associated with it. Otherwise, it’s a waste money & time.

9. What does your diet look like?

Food is very important especially during off-season. I am capable of perfectly planning all my meals. To work as a personal trainer is often very hard. When you have 9-day appointments and you are in a Ipocaloric diet, you start forget things and you don’t have time to snack. I was capable of overcoming this problem with a stable Iphone wake up alarm set every 3 hours. No excuse then!

10. What was the hardest thing you had to deal with when it came to your diet?

The hardest time of a preparation is when you are close to a competition at least 2 months ahead, with all the problems like the one mentioned before and a weak body with a reduced strength. I was able to overcome both. When you decide to play the game, you mentally decide to do whatever it takes to get there year after year to face challenges and keep tract with the results.

11. Favorite healthy recipe?

My favorite dish is the cake of oats.

Ingredients:
– 1 carton of yogurt
– 1/2 carton of dietor
– 3 eggs
– 3 carton of oats
– One pinch of salt and olive oil
– grated lemon pieces
– one packet of yeast

You add the yeast until it becomes compact. Lastly we put everything in the microwave to 180°x40 minutes.

12. If you had to choose only 3 exercises, what would they be and why?

The 3 exercises that I like to do are Squats, Bench Press and Pull up bar. Very basic exercises but effective for my hard training. I find a lot of stamina doing them.

13. What inspires you to always achieve and push-forward?

I find inspiration in competition. I challenge myself with the other contenders and I look at the pictures to find my weak points. Another inspiration that I get is when I look through my old pictures to see all the results got in time. My fans also give me a lot of inspiration to keep doing what I do.

14. Tell us about some accomplishments that you’ve had in your fitness/modeling career.

I placed 3rd at the European and Italian Championship. In 2010, I competed at the Universe in Miami, Model Class. I decided to complete for the WBFF in 2012.

15.  What are some of the most important lessons you have learned in establishing yourself?

This is a good question. There are limits in life. This philosophy taught me discipline and determination. It also helps in sports, life and work. If you physically improve it means that you have improved mentally too. I don’t really think of the limits but the solutions to save them.

16. What has been your stepping stone to get where you are today?

Everything started in 2009 when I decided to compete for the European Championship. I have to thank Dr. Marco Zanetti and his organization. When he met me at the competition he gave me the opportunity to compete in America. That was my dream and he helped me with that. The body culture has always been my curiousity. I dreamed that one day, I would step on stage to compete with the best, here I am. I realized that dream and that was a great result in terms of personal goals.

17. What are some projects that you are working on today?  Short/long term goals?

After 2 years in the MuscleMania, I decided to change and get ready for the 2012 Toronto WBFF Competition, even though I don’t exclude a third chance at the Miami Universe again. I am under preparation and very motivated. As far as my work is concerned, I transfer perfection to my clients. I keep studying with books and masters. I wish one day that I could work as a fitness model and trainer in the U.S. I have been working on that especially through my Youtube channel, sharing training information and go on photo shoots. I also have a personal blog where I publish my training program and diet. I have other projects in mind like launching another website and youtube channel where I will share special recipes that I use in my diet.

18. What are the top 5 tips you recommend to stay in shape?

The 5 suggestions to help you stay in shape are:
1. Learn to Breath
2. Hydrate your body
3. Listen to your body
4. Practice Sports
5. Rest and sleep enough

19. What tips would you give to someone who wants to get into the fitness/modeling industry?

To a person who wants to enter the modeling world I can give a lot of good suggestions. There are millions of fitness models. A fitness model must represent a positive image of himself, has to love his body and be confident. It is not enough to compete, otherwise you are an object, you need to get a personification of yourself with a message to share. You can get infos through the internet and publish yourself with the technological help blogs or other systems. You need to create a story if you want to become successful.

20. Where can we find you on the Internet?

You can find me on the internet or facebook. You can also find me on Youtube with my training videos and on my blog for the latest training program, diet and supplementation.www.licasossai.blogspot.com.

Check out these Behind the Scenes videos from our shoot