# Serge Nubret training method



## Tren's physique (Feb 13, 2016)

A lot of you may know his method.

He posted on some forums and he always explained in the detail how his training looks.

He was a very genuine guy, not a bullshitter at all, so I believe him tbh.

He said he trained muscles twice a week, in this fashion:

Day 1 and 4: chest and quad

Day 2 and 5: back and hams

Day 3 and 6: delts and arms

Nothing special. What is crazy is... He said he did 40/50 sets, every training session, 12/20 reps every set, with 30 secs of rest.

This works out as 80/100 sets for every couple of muscle groups each week.

This is something crazy imo. How could he not overtrain?


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Tren's physique said:


> A lot of you may know his method.
> 
> He posts on some forum and he always explains in the detail how his training looks.
> 
> ...


 Because he was would of been taking enough drugs and eating enough food to account for recovery.

Obviously he was not lifting as heavy as he could, so this would factor out neural fatigue also.


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## ellisrimmer (Sep 9, 2012)

he died 5 years ago


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## Tren's physique (Feb 13, 2016)

ellisrimmer said:


> he died 5 years ago


 I realized I wrote as if he is still alive... "Is" "posts"

Better correct this, thanks


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## Tren's physique (Feb 13, 2016)

Quackerz said:


> Because he was would of been taking enough drugs and eating enough food to account for recovery.
> 
> Obviously he was not lifting as heavy as he could, so this would factor out neural fatigue also.


 Exactly, OT is a condition of the CNS. It's true weights were "light", but the volume is just crazy


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Tren's physique said:


> Exactly, OT is a condition of the CNS. It's true weights were "light", but the volume is just crazy


 Where did you get this info from anyway out of curiosity?


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## Jordan08 (Feb 17, 2014)

Quackerz said:


> Where did you get this info from anyway out of curiosity?


 Floating at many places on internet. With addition to this he never did cardio instead used to do abs for unlimited sets after the workout.(Source:- Internet)


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Jatin Bhatia said:


> Floating at many places on internet. With addition to this he never did cardio instead used to do abs for unlimited sets after the workout.(Source:- Internet)


 My thoughts also.


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## Jordan08 (Feb 17, 2014)

Quackerz said:


> My thoughts also.


 These must have tried thousand of things before adopting one. And, we think that they have done what they have mentioned all their lives


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Jatin Bhatia said:


> These must have tried thousand of things before adopting one. And, we think that they have done what they have mentioned all their lives


 It all just boils down to clever marketing at the end of the day really.

If these silly articles were not being published they would not able to advertise their whey anymore. :lol:

Eat food, contract muscles with heavy weight, rest. Much too simple to sell that one.


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## Jordan08 (Feb 17, 2014)

Quackerz said:


> It all just boils down to clever marketing at the end of the day really.
> 
> If these silly articles were not being published they would not able to advertise their whey anymore. :lol:
> 
> Eat food, contract muscles *with heavy weight*, rest. Much too simple to sell that one.


 Agree with everything except this. I don't think you need this too


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Jatin Bhatia said:


> Agree with everything except this. I don't think you need this too


 Point taken.


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## Tren's physique (Feb 13, 2016)

@Quackerz @Jatin Bhatia

Actually he preached this even on forums where he was just a member, and I believe him actually.

He came down as a genuine guy tbh... Also because have you ever heard of Nubret having any sort of marketing stuff?


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Tren's physique said:


> @Quackerz @Jatin Bhatia
> 
> Actually he preached this even on forums where he was just a member, and I believe him actually.
> 
> He came down as a genuine guy tbh... Also because have you ever heard of Nubret having any sort of marketing stuff?


 The whole industry is a marketing scam, maybe he did train like that, maybe he did not, the point is you will never know for sure.


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## Tren's physique (Feb 13, 2016)

Quackerz said:


> The whole industry is a marketing scam, maybe he did train like that, maybe he did not, the point is you will never know for sure.


 Bit what's the point in lying for him?


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Tren's physique said:


> Bit what's the point in lying for him?


 They all lie, training methods, drug doses, supplements, take your pick. They are sponsored by supplement company's, that is how they make money aside from winning shows. You do the maths.


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## zyphy (Jun 23, 2014)

Tren's physique said:


> Exactly, OT is a condition of the CNS. It's true weights were "light", but the volume is just crazy


 Light weights won't stress the cns as much as heavy ones


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

Would that be considered as over training for most people? Probably.

Did it work for him? Evidently, yes.

But he had elite genetics, had years of experience and was on gear at doses we can't imagine so emulating his training style obviously isn't going to yield similar results for us mere mortals.


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## Mingster (Mar 25, 2011)

Tren's physique said:


> Also because have you ever heard of Nubret having any sort of marketing stuff?


 He was the head of IFBB Europe, founder of WABBA, starred in 25 movies and published a couple of books. I would imagine that all of these involved substantial amounts of marketing.


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## ausmaz (Jul 14, 2014)

Imo anything pro bb'ers (either current or retired) say should be taken with a healthy dose of bull $hit in mind.... whether its done to promote themselves, their business interests or simply to gratify an ego i couldnt say.... but this type of thing has been going on since the inception of physical training, selling 'the myth' or 'the secret' to how so and so got his 20 inch guns.... when the trainer involved couldnt tell you himself.

I remember reading in an old muscle magazine from the 70s/80s? About a guy named jonny fuller and his supposed 'contest dieting strategy' it was reported as...

Day 1 jonny would consume 4k calories from just carbs e.g bread,potatoes pasta etc...

Day 2 would be just protein from animal sources beef, chicken,pork etc..

Day 3 would be all calories from vegetables

Day 4 would be a 24 hour fast, just taking in water...

Day 5 would be a binge, a 5000 cal blowout of ice cream,pizza,cake....whatever he felt like

And repeat the cycle.....

Was it true? Probably not, it certainly got people talking about him though...


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## nWo (Mar 25, 2014)

He wasn't overtraining because volume:intensity balance comes into play. You can manage a 50 set workout if, like him, you were using light weights, half the sets were very easy and he never trained to failure. If you want to incorporate it then I'd do just that - have some light weight/high volume days and have some heavy days. I quite often stick to an upper/lower type routine and train half the week on Dorian Yates style training with low volume and high intensity (heavy weights, 6-8 reps, training to absolute failure and very few sets with a good amount of rest between sets) and the other half of the week I train high volume low intensity Vince Gironda/Serge Nubret style of training (light weights, lots of straight sets, no training to failure, short rests). Always produced the best results for me.

As for not being a BSer - he claims to have never taken steroids :lol:


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

Quackerz said:


> The whole industry is a marketing scam, maybe he did train like that, maybe he did not, the point is you will never know for sure.


 Although you generally do need to run all pro BBer's claims through the bull5h1t filter, "I do very high volume, but with weights your Mum could probably lift" isn't the sort of thing that sounds suspiciously made up.

Also his training methods have been discussed in print & on forums by guys like Arnold & Dave Draper who would have trained alongside him.


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Major Eyeswater said:


> Although you generally do need to run all pro BBer's claims through the bull5h1t filter, "I do very high volume, but with weights your Mum could probably lift" isn't the sort of thing that sounds suspiciously made up.
> 
> Also his training methods have been discussed in print & on forums by guys like Arnold & Dave Draper who would have trained alongside him.


 Will look into this.

There is always the possibility though that training that much was not necessarily optimal, but by using extremely light weights I can see it being able to work due to practically 0 stress on the CNS.......

It would be interesting to see some real studies on this.


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## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

Look at Banzi too, OK the guy isn't Serge Nubret but he trains with light weights to no set routine and is in better shape year round at 50 years old than most guys half his age could ever hope to be.

Point being some people just have a better natural ability to mould their body by intuition and others will just blindly follow what others do and spin their wheels forever.


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

Quackerz said:


> Will look into this.
> 
> There is always the possibility though that training that much was not necessarily optimal, but by using extremely light weights I can see it being able to work due to practically 0 stress on the CNS.......
> 
> It would be interesting to see some real studies on this.


 If you think about it, there are two main things that stimulate muscle growth - mechanical loading and buildup of metabolites. As long as progressive overload is worked in, then either or a combination of both will probably work, and some people will probably respond better to one or the other.

Frank Zane is another one who never really went in for heavy weight, concentrating instead on quite high volume, very strict form and a lot of mental focussing. It clearly works well for some people.


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## AngryBuddha (Nov 25, 2015)

Right, its black genetics, ronnie coleman, serge nubret all these guys can train like that, the rest of us little skinny fat whiteys just have to make do with 5x5 once a week


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

DLTBB said:


> Would that be considered as over training for most people? Probably.
> 
> Did it work for him? Evidently, yes.
> 
> But he had elite genetics, had years of experience and was on gear at doses we can't imagine so emulating his training style obviously isn't going to yield similar results for us mere mortals.


 he pretty much introduced Parabolan into the bodybuilding scene, the old 1.5ml 78 mgm vials










Jeez they were potent.


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

banzi said:


> he pretty much introduced Parabolan into the bodybuilding scene, the old 1.5ml 78 mgm vials
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 I missed out not getting to try this stuff.


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

DLTBB said:


> I missed out not getting to try this stuff.


 two vials a week and you were an emotional wreak.


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Major Eyeswater said:


> If you think about it, there are two main things that stimulate muscle growth - mechanical loading and buildup of metabolites. As long as progressive overload is worked in, then either or a combination of both will probably work, and some people will probably respond better to one or the other.
> 
> Frank Zane is another one who never really went in for heavy weight, concentrating instead on quite high volume, very strict form and a lot of mental focussing. It clearly works well for some people.


 I understand the concept, it's simply the frequency that has me in doubt, seems unnecessary, but I do see your points.

I disagree that a build up of metabolites is a main component of growth, at least when training heavy. With lighter loads this would be a necessity but with lower volume and a higher degree of mechanical loading would become less paramount. I would not argue that it is necessarily the 'optimal approach', merely that you can build muscle with minimal metabolic stress, or even minimal mechanical loading for that matter. I do not see this as individualised either, merely mental preference.

From what I understand Frank Zane started his lifting career in PL then progressed into higher volume type training? Or am I wrong?


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

Quackerz said:


> I understand the concept, it's simply the frequency that has me in doubt, seems unnecessary, but I do see your points.
> 
> I disagree that a build up of metabolites is a main component of growth, at least when training heavy. With lighter loads this would be a necessity but with lower volume and a higher degree of mechanical loading would become less paramount. I would not argue that it is necessarily the 'optimal approach', merely that you can build muscle with minimal metabolic stress, or even minimal mechanical loading for that matter. I do not see this as individualised either, merely mental preference.
> 
> From what I understand Frank Zane started his lifting career in PL then progressed into higher volume type training? Or am I wrong?


 Actually we are both saying the same thing. Buildup of metabolites will promote growth, and for people who train low intensity / high volume, it will be the main factor working. Chaps training HIT style will be getting their growth from loading instead.

Volume training clearly worked for Nubret. Maybe he could have got bigger if he had trained with more intensity, or maybe he could have got just as big with half as much training.

Mental preference will obviously be a big factor - but there is also going to be physical reasons for those preferences. A very strong, fast twitch dominant type of individual who likes to get really fired up for his training will prefer HIT style, whilst a slow-twitch dominant type with a more methodical approach will find volume training preferable. Both extremes would probably make some gains if they switched over to the other type training for a period.

As for Zane, he did do 'powerlifting' in his younger years, but back in the early 60's, powerlifting wasn't really a thing yet. He reports a best bench of 285lb (130kg) & deadlift of 425lb (193kg). His general training was always high-volume.


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## Quackerz (Dec 19, 2015)

Major Eyeswater said:


> Actually we are both saying the same thing. Buildup of metabolites will promote growth, and for people who train low intensity / high volume, it will be the main factor working.  Chaps training HIT style will be getting their growth from loading instead.
> 
> Volume training clearly worked for Nubret. Maybe he could have got bigger if he had trained with more intensity, or maybe he could have got just as big with half as much training.
> 
> ...


 Have never really taken this into account. Something I overlook.

And yes I do think we are pretty much in agreeance.


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