Tom Nikkola

Fitness • Faith • Fortitude

Tom Nikkola

I help you use fitness to better your life, not become your life.

Most personal trainers and nutrition coaches live lives revolved around health and fitness. As a result, they have a hard time relating to their clients, who have family responsibilities, career obligations, and numerous other interest outside of eating and exercising.

My goal is to help people get as fit as possible with as little time and attention on fitness as necessary.

That’s how I’ve designed my training programs and how I approach my nutrition and lifestyle coaching.

My Background

I graduated from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN with a pre-med biology degree in 1999 and started personal training in 2001. I’ve also gotten numerous certifications, including a few through NASM, (the late) Charles Poliquin’s Bioprint, and Precision Nutrition. I’ve maintained two throughout my career as I believe they’re the most valuable: Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the NSCA, and the Sports Nutritionist from the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

For most of my career, I worked with one of the top health club companies in the United States, starting as a personal trainer and working up to a Vice President role, where I ran the company’s nutrition, lab testing, weight loss, nutritional supplement, fitness device, and online training businesses.

My wife built a successful blog and network marketing business of her own, which allowed me to leave the corporate world and work from home alongside her.

Today, I do a little consulting with fitness companies, try to publish one new blog post each week, and run VIGOR Training, my online personal training program.

When we’re not working, we’re spending time with our grandson in the woods on our Wisconsin property.

Grandma Vanessa, Grandpa Tom, Grandson Asher, and Gizmo

My Beliefs

I’m a Christian, conservative, and country music-lover. I believe in the value of hard work, discipline, honesty, and empathy.

I also believe we all could use a little more suckituptitude and less victimhood. That’s the case in the gym as well as in the “real world.”

From a fitness stand point, I believe the three habits that do more for your health than any others (covered in my First 3 Habits of VIGOR(ESS) Health ebook) are to:

  1. Strength train at least four days per week
  2. Eat a high-protein diet
  3. Sleep at least seven hours every night

Though I cover other aspects of nutrition, exercise, and supplementation on my blog, the three habits above trump all the others. From a supplement standpoint, I almost always start people with The Foundational 5.

My Business

If you’re still with me, I have more than a blog full of articles to offer.

VIGOR Training

VIGOR Training is my suite of workout programs, delivered in a team format, where you train “alongside” hundreds of other everyday athletes across the country. You just show up at your gym, open your app, and follow the workout for the day.

Learn more about VIGOR Training here.

Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching

Sometimes people need more than basic guidelines. They need personalized coaching to tweak their workout, diet, or supplement program, or they need extra accountability.

I have options for a single session if that’s all you need, or multi-session packages. All sessions are completed over the phone and include a follow-up summary and recommendations from our session.

Learn more about Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching options here.

My Supplement Dispensary

To make it convenient and more affordable for my clients, set up a Wellevate account through my Wellevate dispensary.

With your Wellevate account, you get…

  • Free shipping on orders over $49
  • My 15% discount on all products through the dispensary
  • Access to more than 300 brands, including the top practitioner brands I recommend

Plus, I can send you goal-specific supplement protocols. Simply email me and I’ll send you the appropriate protocol.

Set up your Wellevate account here.

Still curious?

Here are a few other things you might not know about me:

  • I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was five years old, and was treated at the Mayo Clinic
  • I was a fat kid with a nickname of CP (Chubby & Porky). I finally lost the weight at about age 17
  • I ski jumped through high school (which was the motivation to drop the fat kid body)
  • We (currently) live in the city, but I love being in the woods.
  • I’m allergic to beef, but eat a ton of bison.
  • Vanessa and I play cards every morning while we drink our coffee.