Gaspari Nutrition - The Name You Trust. The Brand That Works.

Bodybuilding Legend and CEO of Gaspari Nutrition Rich Gaspari, up close and personal

Interview by Ron Harris  

Trying to pin Rich Gaspari down on the phone was an endeavor months in the making, but really, I have been looking forward to this interview for many years. When I was eighteen years old and suddenly became obsessed with bodybuilding, it was photos of the freaky young guy from New Jersey with all the veins, Rich Gaspari that I cut out of the magazines and taped to my walls. The Dragonslayer represented a blue-collar work ethic and the fierce determination of a pitbull, things I could identify with as a fellow East Coast kid. Rich started out with a skinny body and went on to become one of the greatest bodybuilders of the 20th Century. If that wasn’t inspirational enough, he started a supplement company from scratch, out of his mother’s basement – and grew it into the powerhouse it is today, with a unique reputation for effective products that is unequaled throughout the entire industry. Finally, I had the chance to sit down and talk about the rise of Gaspari Nutrition, and where it’s headed from here.   

RH: Rich, first of all this is an honor for me. As you know, I was a huge fan of yours and you were a big inspiration to me back in the late 1980’s when I was getting into all this. I want to thank you for that.

RG: You’re welcome. Other guys inspired me, so the circle keeps going. 

RH: That was all before the Internet, and for guys like me the only access we had to the stars was what we read in the magazines. Do you think there was a certain mystique around the sport that pretty much disappeared once everybody had their own web sites and emails, and we had updates of every little thing the pro’s did on a daily basis?

RG: Just like you, when I started out we depended on the magazines for almost all our information. And back then, at least to me, the pro bodybuilders were almost like gods among men. We definitely didn’t know a whole lot about their day-to-day lives. I think any type of celebrity in sports or entertainment had a lot more mystique before the Internet came along. But the best part about the Internet is that there is such an incredible amount of information out there for anyone to have access to instantly. It’s not all good, reliable information – there’s a lot of misinformation and bad advice out there too. Those who know how to filter out the bad or useless information have a huge advantage. A person could give themselves a pretty comprehensive education in training, nutrition, and supplementation.  

RH: You turned pro at 21 and were retired at 33. I’m curious, what was the transition like from being a competitive pro bodybuilder to owning a supplement company? Were there a few years in between when you were trying different things and deciding what to put your time and energy into for the rest of your life?
RG: By the time I was 29, I knew I needed to get something else going. I knew pro bodybuilding, like any professional athletic career, couldn’t last forever. So I bought a gym in Ocean, New Jersey that was supposed to be the business I would retire in. Unfortunately, the location wasn’t great and eventually I had to sell the place three years later. In the meantime, I was personal training and doing nutritional consulting. I was still competing and making the top five, but honestly I was getting tired of it. Burnt out. I had been competing since I was in high school. The turning point happened when I was 33 and training for the Night of Champions. While doing barbell shrugs with 600 pounds, I herniated two disks in my neck. The right side of my body was virtually paralyzed, and I was stuck in bed for over two months, unable to walk. The pain was excruciating. I had a lot of time on my hands to think, and I came to the realization that I couldn’t depend on my body to make a living anymore. So I thought of various things I could do, and the one idea that kept coming back was that I wanted to start a supplement company. 

RH: Just like that? And how did you go from that idea to making it happen?

RG: It’s so funny looking back, because I really had no idea how I was going to do it. Things like the manufacturing, pricing, it was all foreign to me at the time. I went to a couple manufacturers in New Jersey. I was a pro bodybuilder, and my idea was to make the very best supplements on the market, products that would be more effective than anyone else’s. I remember one guy literally looking at me like I was insane. He asked me how much money I had to spend on advertising, and the answer was none. All that time in bed, I couldn’t work, and Weider had cancelled my contract. I had been forced to sell my house and move back in with my parents, which was a huge step back for a guy that had been so successful at such a young age. I had seventy five thousand dollars to my name that I wanted to invest in manufacturing my supplements. This gentleman explained that without marketing my line, without substantial advertising, I wouldn’t sell anything. He also tried to convince me that I should switch my focus from developing the best products to coming out with products that had the largest profit margin on them. Needless to say, I never did business with that manufacturer. Years later, I found a couple of key guys who shared the same goals as me and together we worked to develop some groundbreaking products. 

RH: What are the most challenging things about the supplement industry that the average consumer will probably never even suspect? I think there’s this misconception that anybody can slap a label on some random pills or powders and make millions of dollars.

RG: People see the success of Gaspari Nutrition today and have no idea what a long, hard road it was to get there. The first five years were the toughest. I just didn’t have the money for marketing and advertising, so I had to go the ‘guerrilla marketing’ route. I had a van and I would go to as many gyms and contests as possible to get the word out that I had a product line. Even with my name and reputation, it was hard convincing people to give my products a try. Just breaking even wasn’t easy, and there were many times I felt like giving it up and doing something else. But I didn’t, because I felt this was my destiny. I knew I had to keep trying and keep working hard. My theory was that the most important sale wasn’t the first sale, but the second. With a very high-quality product that produces tangible results, people will buy it again and they will tell their friends about it. A lot of companies were in it for a high volume of first-time sales. They made cheap products but would spend tons of money on advertising. People usually wouldn’t buy their products a second time, but that was never the plan. I wanted to have great products that people would become loyal to, and eventually that’s exactly what happened. 

RH: When Gaspari Nutrition was launched in 1999, what was the original product line? It was only a couple products, if I recall?

RG: I had a few very basic products. There was a whey protein, a multivitamin, a simple fat burner, which was nothing crazy – it didn’t have ephedra in it even though that was big at the time. One of the most popular products, one I did well with locally in gyms, was called Quick Meal. It was a protein drink in a bottle. We had a creatine product, too. I used to get the creatine in enormous drums and then repackage them myself into the containers.  

RH: What did you do, what actions did you take with the direction of your company, to make sure that you would stand out from the zillion other supplement companies out there?

RG: As I keep saying, I wanted the best products. Every supplement company says their line is the best, so talk is cheap. I started looking into how I could fund independent studies that proved my products did what they were supposed to do. So I went ahead and funded independent studies on SuperPump250, SizeOn, and Novedex XT. Those did prove that the products had the effects that we claimed. And it’s important to note that we used the actual product in the study. Many times when a company tells you that studies proved something worked, the study only used one of the active ingredients in their product, or more often they are making reference to studies that have already been done with that particular ingredient.  

RH: I’ve heard from several reliable sources that you put in some pretty ridiculous hours running Gaspari Nutrition. If you had to ballpark it, how much of your day is occupied with business matters? And do you at least take weekends off?

RG: I put in about eight to ten hours a day on the weekdays, but I do travel a lot on weekends to various contests and trade shows. Recently I have been to Canada in support of our distributor, to FIBO in Germany, and I just returned from a tour in the UK with Flex Lewis. Most supplement company owners don’t take the time to go ‘in the trenches’ to see what’s really going on, how the products are selling, and so on. I’m all for it! 

RH: How has the economy affected Gaspari Nutrition?

RG: The great thing is that we are in a niche market. For people who are serious about getting in shape and staying in shape, they will continue to do that even in times like these. And they have been taking our products and know the value supplements can have in reaching your physique goals, so for the most part they will keep buying them. Of course, things will be better for everybody all around once the economy bounces back. 

RH: Amen to that! You’re also a dad now. How do you find time to spend with your kids?

RG: It isn’t easy, but I make time. Once I get home, from then until the kids go to bed is their time with me. I just got a web cam for my laptop, so next week when I’m on the road  I use that to talk to them every night.  

RH: The new fat-burner Mitotropin is selling so well you are having trouble keeping it in stock. I have been using it recently and I am very impressed. You’ve had fat burners before, so what makes this one so different?

RG: We have had other products, like Keto Burn 7 and 3rd Degree Burn, and most recently Cytolean. The problem with fat burners is that the market is saturated with them. For something to stand out, it has to be really advanced. I got to thinking. Gaspari is a hardcore brand, so let’s come out with a hardcore fat loss product. Mitotropin is an entirely new category – it’s a ‘physique repartitioning agent.’ I wanted something that would make all other fat burners obsolete, so we formulated a product that burns fat in three different ways.  

RH: So why are you also coming out with Cytolean V2?

RG: Mitotropin is powerful, but you need to cycle off of it. We clearly indicate that you are to use it for a maximum of 30 days. Your body will start to become acclimated to anything after a certain time period, and the only way to see the same effects would be to increase the dosage. That can be a tricky thing, so instead we came up with Cytolean V2 to use in between cycles of Mitotropin. It burns fat through different pathways, so you will continue to lose fat.  

RH: That fills us in on the new fat burners. What was the idea behind MyoFusion, the new protein powder?

RG: The protein powder is a very low-margin type of product. Because it’s so competitive, you need to stay in a price range that the consumer will accept. The way some companies get around that is to use very low-quality ingredients. My concept was to make a product with the highest quality ingredients, that tasted delicious, and that was still affordable. It was no easy task. But that’s what MyoFusion is. It has no sugar, no fat, and the protein is a highly advanced blend of whey concentrate and isolate, egg albumin, and milk protein isolate. It doesn’t bloat you or cause any stomach distress like a lot of protein powders on the market, and the flavor is second to none. People love the three flavors we have now; milk chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. We are in the process of developing a whole range of other flavors that we are sure will also be a hit. 

RH: What other product launches are in store for 2009, at least that you can talk about at this time? I’ve seen some preliminary ads for Real Mass, what is that?

RG: One of the biggest markets in the supplement industry is the younger guys, ages 18-21. A very popular type of product for that group is weight gainers. Typically at that age, the metabolism is so fast that gaining bodyweight is a challenge. If you look at the weight gainers on the market and even the products of that type from over the years, traditionally they have been loaded with simple sugar and fats to jack up the calorie totals and to make them taste better. You wind up gaining a lot more fat than muscle. 

RH: Tell me about it – in the early 90’s I was almost obese from those stupid powders. I called them all ‘Mega Fat-Ass 5000.’

RG: Exactly. I wanted Real Mass to help bodybuilders gain true muscle mass instead of fat. The protein is the same blend we have in MyoFusion, and the carbs are complex. They are much better for stimulating muscle glycogen stores. We also added in an insulin mimetic commonly known as fenugreek that helps to shuttle the nutrients into the muscles more efficiently. Real Mass™ was just launched on May 1st. It’s aimed at anyone that has difficulty adding lean mass, regardless of age – though younger guys will probably be the ones gravitating toward it. 

RH: You’re also doing a lot with the web site. I hear it’s not only getting a total makeover, but there will be a ton of new content too.

RG: Yeah, we are developing it as more of an informational web site with a wide variety of features. You can already access videos on Gaspari TV www.gasparinutrition.tv with training features from our athletes Flex Lewis, Mark Alvisi and myself included. We have also developed a new feature at www.gasparimobile.com where you can sign up to have new motivational text messages sent to you every day. And you know from working on new content that there will be a wide range of articles. The goal is to make the Gaspari website a place that encompasses the bodybuilding and fitness lifestyle where people can come to gain and share information and inspiration. 

RH: There’s a new e-news feature that will be sent directly to peoples’ inbox. How can people sign up for that?

RG: They can do that on the website at www.gasparinutrition.com – members will receive exclusive offers, breaking news on new products and exclusive sampling promotions even before they are launched. All that and much more, all you have to do is opt in and that’s free. 

RH: It seems like Gaspari is leading the way online too. Are there any other exciting promotions that I missed?

RG: Yes. We are giving away a new 2009 Ford Mustang GT and other great monthly prizes. It’s free to enter at www.gasparisweepstakes.com. 

RH: Sweet! One of the most exciting events I have been to recently was the first Dragon’s Den training and nutrition seminar at Apollon Gym in Edison, New Jersey. Where did the idea to put something like that together come from? And what can people expect to see in future Dragon’s Den seminars?

RH: You helped out Flex Lewis quite a bit for his debut at the Tampa show. Do you plan on doing more of that this year, not only with him but also Mark Alvisi?

RG: I think Mark has his training and his prep down pretty well at this point. The area I want to help him with the most is the same thing I helped Flex improve on quite a bit – presentation. As an IFBB judge, I see so many athletes that look incredible but don’t know how to show their physiques correctly. It makes such a difference. This is one of the reasons why I have included a posing seminar at the first two stops on the Dragon’s Den Tour. 

RH: Switching gears a little, but do you ever miss the old days of being a pro athlete at all? Does it bring back a lot of memories when you go to the shows?

RG: I loved what I did as a competitive bodybuilder. At the same time, I feel people go through different stages in life. That part of my life is in the past now. I would much rather pass on my knowledge and experience to the newer generations so they can benefit from them. Life is about going forward, not backward.  

RH: How would your training over the past few years compare with the type of regimen you followed back in the days when you were Haney’s worst nightmare? I imagine that workouts have taken a backseat to running a big company like yours.

RG: I still train five times a week. It’s not quite as heavy as it used to be, but I have maintained a decent amount of strength. I can still do any type of press with 110’s, curl 70’s or 80’s, and do lateral raises with 75’s or 80’s. The reps are higher now than in the old days, out of respect to my joints. My split these days is usually: Chest and biceps, Back, traps, and absLegs and absDelts and triceps. When I was competing in the Mr. Olympia, I didn’t break the body up into so many days. I did it all in three days, usually in double splits. With a rest day in between, I worked each body part twice a week. I was younger then, of course, and I lived and breathed the sport. 

RH: When did you first get the idea for getting back into awesome shape again? 

RG: It was really something I saw as a personal challenge. Here I am, twenty years after my heyday, and it would be fun to see just how good I can look again if I really put my best effort into it again. I’m not really interested in getting quite as big as I used to be, but I do want to be ‘Ripped Richie’ again. 

RH: How much more time will you be committing to your training once you start your transformation?

RG: The weight training really won’t change much. I just need to add in more cardio. In the early stages of my pro career, my metabolism was so fast that I didn’t even need to do cardio. Right now to keep a six-pack, I do twenty minutes three or four times a week.  

RH: What do you weigh now, and what would you estimate your bodyfat to be? What would be nice goal for you to hit? I know from seeing you at various times that you’re never too out of shape at all.

RG: Right now I am around 215 at eight or nine percent. I would like to be about the same weight, maybe a few pounds lighter, but shredded. 

RH: Did you ever have your bodyfat tested back in the old days when you had the famous striated glutes?

RG: Yes I did. Both skinfold and hydrostatic weighing had me at one percent. 

RH: I know you obviously love all your products, but if you had to choose your favorite or top two or three, what would those be?

RG: SuperPump250 and SizeOn. I feel a huge difference when I stop taking them, and I don’t even like training without SuperPump250.  

RH: What has it been like being on the judging panel of the IFBB? Do you see things from a totally different perspective than you did when you were competing?

RG: As a judge, you are seated up front and very close to the athletes. You see things there that the people many rows back don’t. And a lot of times, fans only go to the night show and really have no idea how the guys may have looked differently earlier that day or the night before, or even how they looked compared to the other competitors. So it’s understandable that they can get upset when their favorite pro doesn’t place as well as they feel he should have. Another thing that I do as a judge is that I look at the physique as a whole rather than analyze specific bodyparts. There needs to be a balance, and proportionate development. Some fans may love a guy because he has an awesome back, for example, and look past the fact that his legs are too small for his upper body. Most of all, I always want to be fair and do the right thing by the athletes. As a former competitor, I know exactly how hard they work. I try to always judge what’s in front of me, and not be influenced at all by who is a big name, or who looked great at some other show.  

RH: Do you understand why guys get frustrated when they don’t place where they thought they should have? Do they come to you for critiques?

RG: They do. The funny thing is that before the show, everyone is your friend. After the show, usually only the winner is still your friend! At that level, we have to nitpick as judges. Most times the winner is fairly obvious, but once you start getting into who deserves to be second, third, fourth, and so on, it gets tougher and tougher to sort them out as fairly as you can.   

RH: How would you sum up the year 2008 for Gaspari Nutrition, overall?

RG: I’m very happy with the growth of the company and the brand. I am also glad we went to the Arnold Classic this year. We were honored to be awarded “Vendor of the Year” by GNC. Which is very prestigious. Over the past seven years it’s gone to Iovate or Cytosport. For a company I started all by myself in my mom’s basement, it’s amazing to step back and look at how far we’ve come. We are in over 40 countries now and looking to continue expanding. Not only do we keep coming out with innovative new products, but we will be reformulating and improving on existing best-sellers like SuperPump250, Size-On, and PlasmaJet. I never want to be complacent. The goal has always been to make better and better products, and that’s what I want to keep doing.