General Hospital alum Nicholas Alexander Chavez reveals the secret behind his bodybuilder look

Former General Hospital actor Nicholas Alexander Chavez has risen to meteoric heights with his Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and the horror series Grotesquerie. In the latter, the 25-year-old actor plays father Charlie Mayhew, who’s not only a priest but also a fitness trainer. Chavez recently discussed his exercise regimen to explain how he got so buff.

No pain, no gain, no glory

In the Mexican edition of Men’s Health magazine, Chavez explained that when he was in school, he was a football player with a passing interest in acting. He soon nabbed the role of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and his teacher thought he was excellent and recommended he pursue acting as a career. Chavez also got accolades from friends and family, and that cemented the direction he would go in. "From then on, I needed that to be part of my life," he stated about acting.

Chavez explained that by joining Ryan Murphy’s two productions, Monsters and Grotesquerie, he could put acting and his body to the test and enjoy training. "I started taking it seriously about two years ago. Although I grew up practicing sports, the training I do now is very different from anything I have experienced. When I started, I weighed about [170lbs] and in the first four months I gained 33 more. I wanted to build a physique from which I could go up or down depending on the role," Chavez shared.

The idea is that the body is another tool to tell stories. - Nicholas Alexander Chavez to Men's Health magazine

It was noted that Chavez could deadlift an impressive 400 lbs, and attributed to the General Hospital alum’s enjoyment of working hard. To that end, Chavez stated, "This is going to make me sound like someone who loves suffering, but I love training with a sled. It’s exhausting and makes me nauseous, but there are a few things that give me a feeling of pride, like pushing a large amount of weight for a certain distance and then pulling it back."

"Having the ability to face the difficulties that come up is something that can shape the kind of person and artist you are. That’s why training interests me so much," Chavez explained. He also noted that training had become an obsession but found it to be a lot of fun.

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While General Hospital fans lament that Chavez won’t be returning to the role of Spencer Casadine any time soon, they can take comfort in the fact that he can still grace their TV screens in other endeavors.

You can watch new episodes of General Hospital on ABC and Hulu.

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