GBN Bodybuilder of the Week "Serge Nubret"
 

With 18 bodybuilding titles, including Mr Europe, Mr Universe and Mr World, Serge Nubret has been named as one of the most aesthetic men of all time and one of bodybuilding’s ‘Golden Era’ royalty. This is our exclusive profile on Serge Nubret, featuring his workouts, diet, ab training and the story behind his bodybuilding success.

In the beginning:

Serge “The Black Panther” Nubret was born on 6th October 1938 in Anse-Betrand on the Caribbean island Guadeloupe. In 1950 and at the age of 12, he moved to France with his family and soon gained a reputation at school for his exceptional athletic potential.

After completing his accounting studies, he moved back to Guadeloupe and decided to dedicate his life to bodybuilding. Gifted with real artistic aptitudes, Serge Nubret was then ready to begin fulfilling his potential of becoming the “sculptor of his own body”.


Career

Within two years of dedicating himself to bodybuilding, Serge amazed and perplexed the bodybuilding community when he joined the IFBB and won the ‘Worlds Most Muscular Man’ title in Montreal in 1960.

Spurred on by his success in Montreal, Surge continued to train hard and went on to win some of bodybuilding’s greatest achievements such as NABBA Mr Universe in London in 1976, WBBG Pro Mr World and Mr Olympis in New York in 1977.


Serge Nubret’s Training

Serge has a unique style of training, he didn’t believe in special dieting and stayed in shape year round. He simply trained harder when a competition was approaching, sometimes up to five hours a day, six days per week.

He focused on high volume combined with low rest periods, typically resting for only 30 seconds – 1 minute for his upper body and 1-2 minutes when training his lower body.

Because of this training style, Serge never went particularly heavy. This meant that it didn’t put as much stress on his central nervous system and allowed him to train each body part at least twice per week.


Serge Nubret’s Approach to Ab Training

Serge trained his abs every day immediately after waking. He would typically perform 2,000 sit-ups as one giant set, this was the only form of ‘cardio’ that Serge performed.

His advice to someone wishing to follow his abdominal training methods is to start with as many reps as you can manage in one set and then stop there. The next day, do the same again and over time your abdominal strength will improve and your reps will increase.

According to Serge, it took him around a year for him to work up to 2,000 sit-ups per day.


If you fancy giving Serge’s training style a go, we recommend inserting a rest day after each three day ‘cycle’. (Three days on followed by one day off).