When I think of the greatest bodybuilders, I do not only think of the genetics with which they were born.
It’s the grit, guts and sheer determination (plus superior genetics) they possess. In my opinion, Sergio Oliva is without a doubt the greatest bodybuilder of all time.
This black Cuban refugee went on to win the coveted Mr. Olympia title for three consecutive years. Bodybuilders across the world saw the mythical proportions he demonstrated on stage and called him ‘The Myth’. The name stayed with him until his death at 71 in Chicago on November 12, 2012.
Beginnings
Sergio Oliva was born on July 4, 1941 in Cuba.
He started working at 12 years old with his father- pulling, cutting and loading sugar cane in the cane fields of Guanabacoa. When Sergio was 16, his father, who was his hero, suggested enlisting in the revolutionary Fulgencio Batista’s army.
Sergio did not have a birth certificate. The recruiting officer was forced to take his father’s word that Sergio was old enough to fight against communism. The Batista army lost the fight against Fidel Castro, but Sergio survived without getting wounded. He started hanging out on the beach. One of his fellow sun worshippers introduced him to the local gym. He started training and found that he was a gifted natural weight trainer/powerlifter. Six months later Sergio was doing a clean and jerk with over 300lbs. With a bodyweight of 195lbs, Sergio recorded a total of 1010lbs in his three Olympic lifts.
Image courtesy of: ilovebodybuilding.com
Coming to America
When he was 21 years old, Sergio entered the National Weightlifting Championships held for Cuba.
The championship was won by a heavier man called Alberto Rey Games Hernandez. Sergio took second place.
Alberto Rey got injured. Sergio was then selected to compete at the Central American Caribbean Games. They were to be hosted in Kingston, Jamaica at the end of 1962. This competition in Jamaica was going to change Sergio’s life forever. After he had competed successfully one night, Sergio sneaked out while the guards were distracted by a friend. He then ran at maximum speed to the safety of the American consulate about five miles away. When he arrived Sergio was completely breathless and sweating. He demanded political asylum, which he was granted. After Sergio was accepted, 65 other Cuban athletes followed him. These included Fidel Castro’s entire Olympic weightlifting team, plus their security guards. Sergio went to Miami, Florida where he found work as a TV repairman. In 1963 he moved to Chicago, where he found work in the local steel mill. He joined the Duncan YMCA, and was working 10 to 12 hours every day at the steel mill. Yet he managed to find the time and the energy to train another 2 hours at the YMCA. This is what I mean by passion. Sergio was more than just a genetic freak who decided to pump iron because he wanted to look better or improve his longevity. This man wanted to put himself outside of his comfort zone. He insisted on it, which is why he was able to do 5 sets of 20 reps squats with over 200lbs on his back.
Bodybuilding Career
Before Sergio competed as a bodybuilder for the first time, the bodybuilding world was abuzz about this new massively built man training at the YMCA.
He was hauling weights heavier than the Olympic champs were. He entered his first competition, and no one was surprised when he won the Mr. Chicagoland contest late in 1963.
Sergio went on to win Mr. Illinois early in 1964, but then lost in 1965 when he competed at the AAU Jr. Mr. America. He came in at 2nd place, but he won the “Most Muscular” easily. A year later Sergio won the AAU Jr. Mr. America, winning the “Most Muscular” title again. Sergio then decided to join the International Federation of Body-Builders (IFBB). He started winning professional shows like the Mr. World and a few Mr. Universe Contests. He won his first Mr. Olympia contest in 1967, making him the undisputed champion of bodybuilding. Sergio met Bob Gajda at the YMCA gym before he decided to join the IFBB. Bob taught him how to train as a bodybuilder and not as a powerlifter. Bob went on to win the 1966 Mr. America title. In Bob’s own words, Sergio taught him weightlifting and he taught Sergio bodybuilding in return. It was Sergio’s years of weightlifting that created the most impressive back the bodybuilding world had ever seen. Years of doing cleans and snatches had etched two enviable columns running down his back (spinal erectors). These together with his huge lats and his 28” waist were so impressive that it psyched Arnold out. Arnold describes this in detail in his Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding.
Not only was Sergio one of the greatest bodybuilders, but he also had a tremendous sense of style.
Adapting for Success
I think Sergio is the greatest bodybuilder of all time because of his ability to adapt.
After Sergio’s years of doing Olympic weightlifting, Bob saw that he had hypermobile knees and elbows. His joints had been overstretched too many times.
Eventually he would dislocate his elbows when doing a bench-press, or his knees could bend backwards while he was squatting. This overstretched cartilage allowed Sergio to stimulate a lot more muscle. He could train through larger ranges of motion than any normal lifter. Bob explains that Sergio could no longer lockout on his elbows and his knees. This is why and how he invented partial reps. Before his first Mr. Olympia, Sergio was forced to adapt his training to suit the excessive stretching of his elbow and knee tendons. He would cut his reps. Sometimes he’d only do a quarter of his normal full range when doing squats and bench-press. For example, he would lower his forearms when doing a curl just until they got to parallel with the floor. Or, he would do a bench-press and then stop a few inches from his lockout. Often Sergio would do 3 to 6 quarter reps followed by one full single. His workouts would last for over two hours and included an enormous amount of volume. Sergio believed in the pump and would do 6 sets of 20 reps each, trying to get the pump to split his skin. When Sergio trained, his objective was to target specific muscles with tension while sparing the stress put on his connective tissues.
Sergio Oliva went through tough times in the 1960’s and early 70’s and was forced to work for a living. He would do odd jobs, but stuck with a sledgehammer job in a junkyard for a while. It wasn’t easy training for a couple hours after doing that all day, but he was tough. He not only had to deal with the open racism at the time, but he was also a Cuban immigrant. They were not going to give him the Mr. America crown. But there are stories that go back to the time when ‘The Myth’ beat ‘The Oak’ at the 1969 Mr. Olympia. Arnold had only been in America for a year. He later reflected that when he saw Sergio he knew, despite his friend Franco whispering in his ear that the only reason his lats looked so wide was because of the lighting. That third Mr. Olympia title did not come easy for Sergio.
Training Routines
Sergio trained like an animal, doing a huge amount of volume with a heavy weight.
Sergio always stuck to the basics. He would superset chin-ups with bench-press, doing 6 or 7 sets of 15 to 8 reps, finishing off with around 400lbs on his bench-press. He would then finish his Monday workout with 5 sets of 14 reps doing D/B Flyes, which he would super-set with weighted Dips.
When Sergio trained he would concentrate to the extreme. His focus and his attention to detail were astounding for an uneducated man. Sergio believed in antagonistic training. He always stuck with super-setting two movements, such as barbell curls with lying triceps extensions. Sergio trained each body-part twice a week. After his chest day, he would do shoulders, and then biceps and triceps. He would start off with a barbell or a D/B press of 200lbs. Sergio was super strong and would somehow squeeze out 5 sets doing 15 reps on each set. That’s before he even started on his arms. Because his triceps were stronger, Sergio would pre-exhaust his biceps by doing heavy barbell or D/B curls for 5 X 5 reps. He would then go onto French Curls doing 5 X 5 reps, starting with 200 pounds. He’d finish with 5 X 10 reps doing Scott (Curls) Bench with 150 pounds. He would superset seated triceps extensions with D/B curls doing % X 5 reps. On Wednesday, Sergio would always start with abs before moving onto 5 X 5 of heavy squats and calf raises. Sergio would finish off his legs with heavy split squats and/or lunges depending how he felt that day. He believed in training heavy and used 5 X 5 to develop his muscle size. Sergio’s Friday workout was always another heavy arm-day, which would include his back. This arm workout would start with back, unlike his last arm workout which started with shoulders. He would start off, as usual, with around 200lbs and do 3 X 5 reps of heavy curls. He would then hold onto those 200lbs and do French Curls for 3 X 5 reps. Sergio would follow with the Scott Bench for his triceps doing another 3 X 5 reps, still with the same 200lbs barbell. He liked the Scott Bench, and would often do another 3 X 5 reps with dumbbells of around 50 pounds which he would then superset with Triceps Press Downs. Sergio would the do 5 X 5 chinning behind his neck. He would do another 5 X 5 reps using close grip chin-up and superset it with a triceps machine push-down. His last workout of the week on Saturday, which was dedicated to abs and legs. On his second leg workout for the week Sergio would squat lighter and incorporate front squats. He believed in warming up with abs, usually doing 5 X 10 reps of leg raises followed by 5 X 10 sit-ups. Then, with a stick behind his neck, he would do 5 sets of 50 reps. Sergio would start his squats heavy doing 3 X 3 reps with 300lbs. Then he would add more weight and do 2 X 3 reps with 400lbs. He would always follow this last heaviest set with 3 X 20 reps using around 250lbs. He would go on to Front Squats and do 5 X 10 reps, with 200 pounds again. He would finish his last workout of the week with calf raises, seated or standing, doing 5 X 5 reps.
Sergio possesed an incredible amount of perserverance and tenacity. It was largely due to those traits that he was able to reach such a high level of success. Image courtesy of: muscleandperformance.com
The Greatest of All Time
Sergio Oliva competed until his mid-40s, despite the fact that he was forced to adapt his training.
He would slow down from six days a week to three or four. Sergio describes that if his body tells him to take a day’s rest, he does exactly that.
Even decades after his reign, bodybuilding experts describe Sergio Oliva as the most genetically gifted bodybuilder that has ever lived. Despite the great physiques of Lee Haney in the 1980’s or the Ronnie Coleman reign in the ’90s, bodybuilding has never seen such perfect proportions. I believe that Sergio was the only bodybuilder who could craft that spectacular physique, from his 28” waist to those expansive shoulders. The huge flaring thighs, the diamond-shaped calves- Sergio created a sense of awe with perfectly choreographed posing routines that made him impossible to beat. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Sergio was dominating the WABBA federation, winning the WABBA Pro World Cup twice. He won it again consecutively in ’80 and ’81, having just won the Professional World Championships also twice in ’77 and ’80. Just before the 1972 Mr. Olympia, Sergio connected and trained with the now famous Arthur Jones of Nautilus. He then went on to make the best gains that he had ever made. It was at that time that his arms measured 22.5 inches when they were pumped. Sergio decided to compete in the 1984 Mr. Olympia. Although he was well-prepared for the competition and was looking to be in the top five contenders, he took eighth place. He competed again in 1985 and took eighth place again. However, Sergio won countless titles across the world including two Mr. World titles, three Mr. Olympia titles, two Mr. Olympus titles, and 20 other bodybuilding and weightlifting titles.
What puts Sergio at the top of the list of bodybuilders is the contribution he made by keeping the streets safe. For 27 years he worked for the Chicago Police Department. The Myth started out when he came to America working 14 hours a day at metal foundry. Meanwhile, the bodybuilders he competed against were soaking up the sun on some California beach. After Sergio placed 8th at his last Mr. Olympia competition in 1985, he was shot 5 times by his wife Arleen Garrett. The Myth is indestructible, because after getting 5 bullets in his gut from a .38 special, Sergio survived. Miraculously Sergio repaired himself and eventually went back to work.
The last reason why I consider Sergio to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time is because he took care of his sport. He spent years doing workshops for his many fans and felt it an honor to do so. From his point of view, Sergio never lost a bodybuilding competition, although he was defeated more than once. Whether it was politics that robbed him of some of those big titles or not, Sergio is without a doubt the greatest bodybuilder of all time. If I consider the sheer blood and guts that went into developing that mythical physique, compared to the comparative luxury of today, Sergio symbolizes the passion required to be successful at bodybuilding.
About the Author
Paul Becker is a natural (steroid free for life) bodybuilder and fitness consultant. Visit his website at http://www.bodybuilding-store.com
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