WHEN Nick Elliott was just a lad all he dreamt of was becoming a professional footballer. And until the age of 15 he was bang on track.
Pain in his ankles spoiled his enjoyment of the beautiful game and cut short his promising career. But fast forward 18 years and he is now bang on track to becoming a professional bodybuilder.
With a thick, dense, muscular physique, Elliott's 5ft 7in frame came close to doing just that in 2024. Few would doubt him achieving IFBB Pro League status this year.
His sporting journey appeared to earmark him for success from early on. As a boy, Elliott was signed by Bradford City's academy and he had high hopes of rubbing shoulders with the sport's footballing elite.
"I spent most of my football career at Bradford City academy," he said. "I was picked up from a young age. I had offers from a few big teams but the logistics were too difficult to travel there multiple times a week, so we [me and my family] opted for Bradford City.
"But I was about 15 when I was released, then went to play for Guiseley, then Bradford Park Avenue. By then I'd decided I didn’t enjoy it any more and gave it up – I suffered badly with tendinitis in my ankles and a lot of the time I couldn’t last a full game. That contributed massively towards ending my football career."
By the age of 22, however, Elliott had found bodybuilding.
He said: "When I first started training, I followed the trend of high volume, high frequency. But after attending a Dorian Yates seminar, I soon figured this wasn’t the way to go for me.
"Dorian said to me personally, 'try my methods and watch how strong you get'. I immediately implanted his plan – and never looked back."
One look at Elliott's physique and you can tell he is a no-nonsense lifter; a strong bodybuilder with a focus on compound exercises. He is also not one to chop and change his routine to follow the latest social media trend.
"All my progress has come from training HIT style, four times per week," he says. "I’m a big believer of mastering the basics and not for all this new-school scientific training approach.
"My advice is to get strong at the hard stuff. Once you have acquired the muscle mass, then of course you can get away with some isolation work of specific body parts. But my workout plan hasn’t really changed in the last five years.
"I would advise all the up and coming aspiring bodybuilders to avoid all the rubbish you see on Instagram and just get strong at the basics. Progress your lifts, whether it’s an extra rep, more control, or extra weight and watch how fast you grow when you train to true failure.
"It really is as simple as 'train hard, eat in a surplus of calories, minimal supplementation, adequate rest'. And you will grow.
"You should be getting that anxious, nervous feeling before every training session, knowing you have to go in and aim to beat your lifts from the week before. If you go in with no structure, full of excuses why you can’t do the hard exercises, your progress is going to be minimal in comparison.
"Regarding training, I’ve always done a typical bro split and never fallen for the new style of push, pull, legs."
Monday: Chest and shoulders
Tuesday: Back and calves
Thursday: Arms and calves
Friday: Legs
Three sets of pull ups to failure
Two working sets of Barbell rows
Two working sets of Dorian deadlifts
Two working sets close grip seated low row
Two working sets Dumbbell rows
Two working sets single-arm hammer rows
He added: "I also don’t have your typical textbook-bodybuilder approach to diet in the off-season. I’m very relaxed, eat a variety of different foods, eat off-plan meals whenever I want. I believe you’ve got to enjoy the process, or you won’t last.
"Come contest prep I will be on it, but off-season I’m not scared to eat a pizza or burger post workout."
In his last competition, the William Bonac Classic in Holland in December, many people thought Elliott had been unfairly treated. He finished third in the heavyweight division, despite looking better than the winner, who was awarded his pro card.
But after a much-needed break and off-season, Elliott will return to the stage at the 2Bros British Finals in October. Few would bet against him achieving pro status in his home city of Bradford.
He said: "I’ve had a long five-week break from the gym and diet after my last showing in the Netherlands.
"I will be looking to compete in the 2Bros British Finals in Bradford October, my home town. So it will be typical if I win there after travelling all round Europe and not being successful."
All pictures by Anthony Chia-Bradley. You can visit his website here.
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