Sergio Olivia's Routine in His Own Words

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

“Sergio Oliva tells his TRUE routine in his own words . . .”

Yeah, but. Whine, whine, piss and moan.
Hahaha! On to the article . . .

In a personal letter sent to MTI publisher Dan Lurie, Mr. Olympia Sergio Oliva confirms that he will appear in the WBBG show on September 8th - and sends his complete routine which has never been published anywhere else. In that letter, Sergio insisted that we not change one word of his routine in any way because he does not want to mislead the public.

He claims that all other routines previously published elsewhere are false and that only the following is the true Sergio Oliva exercise program. [The battle of the mag owners continues!]

The few comments are in Sergio’s own words and are in quotes.

Monday

Bench Press combined with Chinning Bar
200 x 8 B.P./15 reps on C.B.
220 x 8/15 on C.B.
260 x 8/10
300 x 8/10
320 x 8/8
350 x 8/8
380x8/5
Flyes combined with Dips
5 sets of 15 with 80’s combined with dipping

Tuesday

Press
200 x 5 sets of 10

Extending Heavy Curls
200 x 5 x 5

French Press
200 x 5 x 5

Scott Bench
150 x 5 x 10 reps

Scott Bench
60’s one arm at a time, 5 x 5

Sitting One DB Overhead Triceps Ext combined with Pressdowns
50’s, 5 x 5

Wednesday

Situp
10 set of 50

Leg Raise
5 sets of 20

Side Bends with Bar Behind Neck
5 sets of 200

Squat
300 x 5 reps
400 x 5
440 x 5
470 x 5
500 x 4

Standing Heel Raises
300, 10 sets of 8

Thursday

Bench Press
5’s with:
200/220/260/300/320/350/380

Press Behind Neck combined with Rowing Machine
5 x 5 with 250 combined with 200 on rowing

Seated DB Press
80’s

Dips
5 x 8 bodyweight

Friday

Press
200 x 3 x 5 reps

Extending Heavy Curls
200 x 3 x 5 reps

French Curl
200 x 3 x 5 reps

Scott Bench
200 x 3 x 5 reps

2-DB Scott Bench combined with Pressdown
50’s x 3 x 5 reps/Pressdown

Chin Behind Neck
5 x 5 weighted

Chins (closed hands) 5 x 5 combined with Pulldowns

Saturday

Situps
5 sets of 10 weighted

Leg Raises
5 sets of 10 weighted

Side Bends with Bar Behind neck
3 sets of 50

Squat
300 x 3 x 3 reps
400 x 2 x 3 reps
250 x 3 x 20 reps

Front Squat
200 x 5 sets of 10

Seated Heel Raise
200 x 5 x 5

"Since 1970 these are the only exercises I have been doing. Any other exercises printed in any other magazine are false. Dan Lurie’s magazine is the only magazine that is publishing my exercises.

Signed - Sergio Oliva, April 27, 1973.

2

I’ll call bullshit for several reasons.
Hardly any back work, on fri arm work is scheduled before back work.
BB magazines back in the day lied, were ghost written most of the time, rather than from the horses mouth.
Sergio trained with Arthur Jones for a while in the early 70’s, very different style of routine.
Sergio published a good book, autobiography/ training manual. Exercises are similar but more varied and balanced than the above routine.
Did he do the above routine, probably, but for how long???. It wasn’t his only routine though.

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3

But you miss the point! If you train like this you will be as big and muscular as Oliva! :woozy_face:

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4

I’d probably look better than Sergio, he only had average genetics. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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5

Why would someone whine, piss, or moan about this? Although it is unlikely that he only did 3 exercises (which are just slight variations of the same movement pattern) for his back, but he spends his whole week on pushing exercises. This routine was carved into a seat on the short bus.

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I see 22 sets for back and less for legs so…:man_shrugging:t2: