Serge Nubret is one of the all-time greats, nicknamed both ‘The Black Panther’, and ‘The Nubret Lion’ for the same reason: he was fearsome. During his peak, no-one wanted to go toe-to-toe with Nubret, he was the biggest and most cut bodybuilder of his generation.

Re: Serge Nubret « Reply #20 on: November 27, 2020, 02:59:53 PM » When I was writing for Bodyfitness I had the pleasure of meeting/interviewing Serge shortly before he became sick and passed away. I don’t use Serge Nubrets routines for example as for one thing I don’t take steroids and need to factor in reduced recovery capacity. I did learn a lot from his training principles though and customized my own program to suit me best. As for training times, some people have better focus and energy in the morning while others are night owls. Serge was renown for his intensive, and unique training style. There was one method, and one method only: Reps. Lots and lots of reps. Despite his enormous, thick build, Nubret didn’t lift heavy – he found his body responded the best to light weights over a long duration of reps and sets. Serge Nubret’s Training Routine (Exercises, Sets, and Reps) How did Serge Nubret train? Serge Nubret’s training was following a high-volume high-rep training program. He trained his muscle groups two times a week and had only one day of rest. Serge Nubret used to focus a lot on ab training. Serge Nubret Pump Training Results. After finishing my run on HST, I moved into a 3 day per week, low volume powerlifting split and found myself, once again, beating myself into the ground – I’m talking 12-15 hours sleep everyday, appetite practically dead and my joints aching like murder.

As the only bodybuilder to hold 6 world titles in 4 different federations – Serge Nubret will always be remembered for having one of the greatest physiques of all time.

But his journey to the top wasn’t without its setbacks. From his humble beginnings in the small French isle of Guadeloupe to being honored, then outcast from the IFBB, and finally founding and spearheading a new movement in the sport by creating the World Amateur Bodybuilding Association (WABBA) – Serge Nubret is one of the most influential bodybuilder of all time.

In our exclusive profile, we look deeply into his life, training, nutrition and philosophy to learn more about his greatness and we can use his example to achieve our own goals.

This is Serge Nubret’s story:

“To be a good bodybuilder, you must be a good observer.”

Athlete Statistics

“A bodybuilder is a sculptor that carries with him his own material.”

Notable Achievements

• 1958: Mr. Guadeloupe
• 1960: IFBB World Most Muscular Man
• 1963: NABBA Pro Mr. Universe (2nd)
• 1964: NABBA Pro Mr. Universe (2nd)
• 1969: NABBA Pro Mr. Universe (3rd)
• 1969: IFBB Mr. World (Tall) (2nd)
• 1970: IFBB Mr. Europe (Tall)
• 1972: IFBB Mr. Olympia (3rd)
• 1973: IFBB Mr. Olympia (3rd)
• 1975: IFBB Mr. Olympia (Heavy Weight, 2nd)
• 1976: NABBA Pro Mr. Universe
• 1976: WBBG Mr. Olympus (2nd)
• 1977: NABBA Pro Mr. Universe (2nd)
• 1977: WBBG Mr. Olympus
• 1977: WBBG Pro Mr. World
• 1978: NABBA Pro. Mr. Universe (2nd)
• 1981: Pro WABBA World Championships
• 1983: Pro WABBA World Championships

“Bodybuilding is not just about physical training with weight to change how you look. It’s about mind, body and spirit together in union so that everything grows, not just your muscles.”

Biography

Early Years & the ‘raison d’être’

For the first few years of his life, Serge grew up in Guadeloupe, a small French island in the Caribbean. In 1950, however, at the age of 12, Serge and his family moved to France to further the future bodybuilder’s education and development.

This is where it all started falling into place.

Serge Nubret Workout Template For Lifting Muscle

During his adolescence, Nubret discovered his talents for athletics, dominating in school sports and realized he had a future as an athlete.

In 1958, at the age of 20, Serge finished his studies and moved back to Guadeloupe with one goal in mind: to become a world champion bodybuilder. That very same year, he won his first Bodybuilder” competition ‘Mr. Guadeloupe’, but he had much more in mind.

During his time in France, Nubret had developed a passion for the sport, and believed it to be his “raison d’être” or in other words, his reason to live.

A young Serge Nubret.

Serge Nubret Workout Template For Lifting Legs

World Champion & The IFBB

From 1960 onward, things started to happen fast for Nubret. He had 2 years of training, an incredible physique, and limitless ambition – it was time to take things to the next level.

That year he was accepted into the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) and declared World’s Most Muscular Man within just months of membership, and his success just seemed to snowball – including many acting roles in several feature films.

By 1970, Serge was not only a dedicated member of the IFBB, but the head of the French and European arm of the federation – that was until 1975 where Nubret decided he didn’t like the way the federation was headed.

The 1975 Olympia Controversy

The 1975 Olympia was to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s last competition, and Serge Nubret was the biggest threat. He was believed to bigger, stronger and more cut than anyone else in the industry at the time – and that worried the judges. For Arnold’s last show, the rumor was they were willing to do anything to let him win.

Nubret was banned from entering the competition 2 weeks before it started. The reason the judges gave was due to his appearance in an erotic film that the federation didn’t approve of. Crushed from the news, Nubret stopped training almost immediately, to stop the intense strain he was putting his body to be in that condition.

That was until the night before the contest, when the Federation reopened his application and allowed him to compete again – at which point Serge had already lost 14lbs of muscle.

This gave Arnold a clear advantage and secured his victory in the contest – with Serge still managing to come 2nd, beating Arnold’s prime competitor Lou Ferrigno.

Serge’s Side of ‘Pumping Iron’

In the classic bodybuilding film ‘Pumping Iron’, Nubret is described as a ‘last minute contestant’, but in an interview with bodybuilding.com, Nubret tells a different story:

“In Pumping Iron at the Mr. Olympia when they announced “The last minute contestant Serge Nubret,” everybody knew for a very long time before that day that I was going to South Africa to compete and what happened when I got there. The camera crew came to Paris to film me 4 weeks before and offered me $200 to be in the movie. I did not agree to be filmed for $200; it is why I am not in the movie that much; only in the competition part.”

It definitely puts the events into a different light.

Life after the IFBB and the Formation of WABBA

Disenchanted with the IFBB, Serge gave up is position and went on to head up another Bodybuilding organization – the World Amateur Bodybuilding Association, or WABBA – with the intention of making sure competing athletes were continually given the support they need.

Nubret boycotted the IFBB for the rest of his career and went on to win multiple world championships in both the NABBA and the WABBA bodybuilding federations.

He remained active on these circuits all the way up to 1985 – that’s 25 years on the stage. After finishing up his competitive career, Serge owned and managed his own gym in Paris and released his autobiography several years later in 2006.

He is still, to this day, has been the only bodybuilder in the world to hold six world titles with four different bodybuilding federations.

Up until his passing, Serge was still very active in bodybuilding forums. He was always available for diet and training tips, offering advice to his fans in 3 different languages over 15 different websites.

“My training was based on concentration, and it’s impossible to cheat when you are concentrated.”

Training

Serge was renown for his intensive, and unique training style. There was one method, and one method only: Reps. Lots and lots of reps.

Despite his enormous, thick build, Nubret didn’t lift heavy – he found his body responded the best to light weights over a long duration of reps and sets.

In interviews, Nubret has claimed to train with 30, 40 or even 50 sets for some body parts (with the exception of only 16 sets for arms) that each consisted of 12 – 20 reps per set, with only 30 seconds rest between each. Workouts went on as long as they had to, with sessions lasting up to 5 hours at a time!

He was also famous for having one of the smallest waists in the business – Nubret claims the secret is one-straight hour of ab work every day: Starting with one long set of 2000 sit ups every morning.

It’s not the food which give you a general lean and vascular appearance, but the training or a combine of both.

Nutrition

During competitions, Serge was an animal when it came to eating.

He claims to have ate a lot of red meat, rice and beans – when training for a competition Serge could eat up to 6lbs of red meat a day.

When it came to supplements – Nubret lived on a small island off the French Caribbean, he’d never heard of them. The same goes for anabolic performance enhancers.

When he first started training, Nubret lived off Caribbean food up until his first international competition in Montreal.

“Bodybuilding is not only a sport, but first an art.”

Idols and Influences

Serge always claimed his biggest inspiration in the was actor/bodybuilder Steve Reeves.

He was the reason Nubret started bodybuilding in the first place after seeing several of the actor’s movies and realized that was how he wanted to look.

“Perfect form is the most important thing to have a perfect body, it’s impossible to make a painting with a big brush.”

What we can learn from Serge Nubret

Arguably, Serge lived the bodybuilder lifestyle harder than anyone else.

Serge Nubret Workout Template For Lifting Weights

He was a big believer in never going heavy, but pushing yourself as hard as you can. Instead of focusing on the weight, you should focus on yourself.

Don’t be intimidated or pressured into achieving the heaviest lift in the gym, instead, think about your form. Are you engaging with the muscle as well as you possibly can?

And this doesn’t just apply to training – but also to how you live your life.

Whatever Serge did, he didn’t care about the size of the achievement, but that it was done right. Winning (and running) the IFBB was a huge and heavy task, but as soon as comprises were being made and the federation’s ‘form’ started to falter, Serge started from scratch and founded WABBA – making sure it every step was executed to pure perfection.

No matter how big or small, Serge taught us a task should always be done to the best of your ability. If you feel that standards are starting to slip, and you can’t give it your all – take a step back until you can.

Bodybuilders by nature are not precocious but they are pretty self-conscious. And if you are already feeling that conscious about how your body looks, you might be on to something. But before you go all wild and crazy about bodybuilding, don’t forget that you must still eat. While others will be thinking of losing weight, you’ll be looking to put on weight. How to get that right is the focus of this article.

This short article introduces you to the serge nubret diet. It of course, is based on that used by one of the all-time bodybuilding greats, one Serge Nubret. This is a gentleman who was part of the golden era of bodybuilding. Many of the legends in this iconoclastic group had one thing in common. They were pretty old school by today’s dieting and weightlifting standards. And that should at least be good news to the novice bodybuilder.

Diet follows Bodybuilding’s Golden Era

Because there’s no need to confuse the issue when it comes to lifting weights and eating. Just keep it straight and simple, is all. Before we get down to eating, let’s introduce you to what is known as the v-taper. Golden era bodybuilders were all striving on achieving thin waistlines but with thicker upper bodies. Creating this physique helped to enhance the bodybuilder’s overall appearance. How this was achieved will be explained later on.

Serge Nubret Workout Template For Lifting

Brief Intro to Serge Nubret

You might just have noticed that this guy’s name sounds pretty French. Quite right, chaps. Just when you thought the bodybuilding empire was all-American with one lone Austrian with a really long surname included. Not so. Serge Nubret was French alright. But he wasn’t exactly the most popular guy on the stage. Could this have had something to do with the typical French temperament? Could be.

Anyhow, nick-named the (original) Black Panther, he was recognized for his muscular symmetry.

Serge Nubret’s Old School Diet

Right. So let’s talk cheese. But no chalk. And lots of eggs if you please. And don’t you know it? The French so loved their cheese. Anyhow, old school dieting regimes placed a whole lot of emphasis on eating as much protein as possible while at the same time cutting down on the carbs, especially close to competition time. A word of warning to the beginners though. You’re not likely to gain in energy.

Serge Nubret Workout Template For Lifting Leg

The Focus is on Protein

Carbs are needed for that. But while you’re pretty sapped in the energy department, you’re definitely going to be packing on the muscles. Which is why excess protein intakes are just so important. Guys, this is your feature section. And there’s something here that’s going to blow your mind. It could have something to do with being French because while you’re not likely to be doing this any day soon, here’s a guy that was chomping down horse meat would you believe.

You of course will be focusing on good old fashioned beef just like all the other golden era legends of bodybuilding. You might be wondering how Nubret got his nick-name in the first place. Quite simply, it was because this guy was one heck of a carnivore. On any given day, he’d be consuming a minimum of four-hundred grams of protein. See if you can top that. Of course, you would need a lot more than meat to get this much right.

And so it goes that you would be including the high-protein source of eggs. But could you handle as much as eight eggs for breakfast? Look, if you’re going to be packing on heavy weights, you’ll be as hungry as a lion anyhow. Milk will accompany the breakfast eggs. And then for your main meal of the day, you’re looking to feast on up to four pounds of meat with spaghetti or rice. And more milk. Guys, it doesn’t get any more old school than this.

Brief Intro’s to Serge Nubret’s Workout Schedules

Nubret of course could take on as much as eight pounds of meat in a single sitting. So, combined with your heavy weight training schedule, heavy meals like this is bound to make any average guy pretty sleepy. And that’s what you want. Because that’s important two. Plenty of sleep. Up to ten hours of sleep a night, in fact. But don’t fall asleep just yet chaps. Why not round off the article with the famous Frenchman’s workout schedules.

Chest Workouts

Because you must be getting tired by now, these specimens will be brief. But perhaps these concluding sections could gift you with a few anecdotal lines as a way of providing you with inspiration and motivations during your earliest forays on the weight training floor. And again, it becomes a case of; kids, don’t try this at home. But then again, how could you possibly. Because listen to this.

Mr. Nubret was ‘crazy’ enough to attempt as many as thirty sets of bench presses during his chest days. But it’s important to note that Nubret was focusing on volume and the weights that he was lifting were considerably lighter than conventions would allow. But no less than four different exercises would be utilized during this chest focus day.

Back Workouts

Earlier, nostalgic reference was made to what is often referred to as the Golden Era of bodybuilding. This is an era to which Serge Nubret can closely relate because of course, he was very much part of it. And as it was for a number of the other great bodybuilders, he had what was known as the perfect V shape. But how were these guys able to achieve what is referred to as their v-taper. As with chest workouts, Nubret always started with moderate weights. But again, he would be powering up to as much as forty sets in a training session.

Other focus groups that should not be forgotten are the arms and legs. Same with dieting. So don’t forget your protein and carbs, guys.