Sergio Oliva: Diet & Workout Tips from The Myth

Sergio Oliva was given the nickname “The Myth” largely due to him being a true anomaly in the bodybuilding world. He could do things that no other bodybuilder could while still building one of the best physiques of all time.

His stats were like no other in bodybuilding history:

• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 225 – 235 lbs
• Arms: 22.5”
• Chest: 59”
• Waist: 28”
• Thighs: 32”
• Calves: 20”

His body was like nothing the bodybuilding world had ever seen and still hasn’t on the competition circuit. With his massive upper body combined with an extremely small waist, Sergio Oliva was able to perfect the twisting front and rear double biceps pose.

The great battle between Sergio Oliva vs Arnold Schwarzenegger is what created the epic posedown in bodybuilding contests. 

From his humble beginnings in Communist Cuba to his triumphant entrance on the Mr. Olympia stage, Sergio quickly rose to fame. He paved the way for dark-skinned men to compete at the highest level in bodybuilding and won many titles.

Today, we’ll discuss his early years and how he went from working in the fields to bodybuilding. Then, you’ll learn about his unique diet and workout routines. Finally, we’ll touch on his personal life and how his son chose to follow in his footsteps.

Sergio Oliva: The Early Years

Sergio was born in Guantanamo, Cuba on July 4, 1941. He started working in sugarcane fields with his father around the age of 12. Sergio started building his muscular physique by working long hours doing back-breaking work in the fields.

When he was 16, his father urged him to join the army of Fulgencio Batista in his fight against Fidel Castro. Even though he wasn’t of age, his father was able to persuade a recruiter to let his son join the army. As we all know, Castro ended up winning over Batista and became the President.

Life was tough in Cuba, especially after Castro took over. Sergio’s family was poor, and he had a pipedream of coming to the United States. He originally planned to come by boat with others, but the conditions were too dangerous.

Feeling defeated and unsure where life was headed, Sergio went to the beach one day with some friends. It was during a chance encounter he got an opportunity for something more than fieldwork and being a soldier.

His Weightlifting Journey Begins

As a communist country, Cuba didn’t have bodybuilding teams, but they did compete in weightlifting. That day at the beach, Sergio noticed a man who kept searching the sand for girls, or so he thought.

He had an exchange with the guy, who turned out to be part of the Communist Party. During their conversation, the man asked Sergio about his weightlifting history, in which he had none. To the man’s surprise, Sergio’s physique came from working construction and doing fieldwork and chores.

He revealed that he was a manager for the Cuban weightlifting team. Seeing his chance to make something of himself, Sergio decided to check them out. He could easily lift heavier than any other competitor in the:

• Press
• Snatch
• Clean and Jerk

The offer was on the table immediately for him to join the team and he quickly dominated an amateur competition. He soon started to prepare for the 1961 Pan Am Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

His chance to come to the United States was coming closer and closer. He finally arrived in Jamaica after telling only his father what he planned to do. As soon as he had his chance, he made a run for the American Embassy.

A New Life in America Begins

Surprisingly, the rest of the team and even Castro’s Secret Police guarding them joined in. They made it safely into the walls of the Embassy and unbelievably, Sergio was on his way to Miami.

From there, Sergio stayed protected in Florida for about a year before he could move to Chicago in 1963. He settled there and started to build his life, taking whatever job he could find while he learned English.

It was at the Duncan YMCA where he met AAU Mr. America Bob Gajda and began to train with him. Sergio was all too happy to switch from weightlifting to bodybuilding. He had dreamed of bodybuilding since he was young and now he would finally be like his idols, John Grimek and Steve Reeves.

He studied their poses and created new ones, using their techniques and adding his own touches. Another thing that set Sergio apart was that he was his own man and didn’t have an agent. He chose where he would compete, how he would train, and what poses he would use.

In Sergio’s own words, “Nobody made me, only my God and my heart and the fact I worked so hard. Nobody else made me. I made myself, my own routines – everything on my own.”

No one could argue that Sergio’s history was unique. From defecting to the U.S. to his career in law enforcement, his determination and energy was unmatched. 

His diet and workout routine were also uniquely Sergio. Let’s look at how he ate during his years competing and what his workouts looked like.

Sergio Oliva’s Diet

Before leaving Cuba, Sergio was eating on average one meal a day. As a poor man, he would eat whatever he could afford and didn’t care about what he was eating.

Once he joined the weightlifting team, all that changed. He could afford to eat three meals a day and was supplied with vitamins and protein supplements. He ate a lot of steak and eggs to build up his strength and feed his massive muscles.

Sergio may not have had the luxury of sponsorships and big money early on, but he had advantages. When he made it to Chicago, he was still working 12 to 14 hour days and then going to the gym for hours each night. 

There was so much demand on his body, Sergio had this to say regarding his diet, “I only dieted three weeks out from the show. I didn’t need to diet; I was eating everything.” 

He drank two gallons of water and a gallon of milk each day and whatever he wanted to eat. It didn’t really matter; he was working so hard in and out of the gym, it was all going to his muscles.

What Worked for Sergio…

No other bodybuilder in the Golden Era or since has eaten how Sergio could. He would easily eat a dozen scrambled eggs in one sitting and then polish it off with a box of pastries. Sergio was known for his sweet tooth and happily indulged whenever he felt like it.

His old boss from the meatpacking plant, Jim Alexander, was determined to find out the secret to Sergio’s size. He decided to sneakily watch what Sergio ate for lunch one day and was absolutely amazed at what he saw.

This hulking man was sitting in the lunchroom eating an entire box of Twinkies and washing it down with Mountain Dew! His friend Al Jakich recounted that he saw Sergio purchase the same items from a Walgreens one day. 

For more heartwarming stories of Sergio, be sure to check out Iron Man Magazine’s tribute page.

In the gym, rather than drink water during a workout, Sergio again showed just how unique he was. He instead drank hot coffee to keep his muscles warm and his energy flowing throughout his hours-long workout. Cold water came only once his workout was complete to help cool off his muscles.

And One Thing that Didn’t

The only time Sergio stuck to a diet was when preparing for his comeback to the 1984 Mr. Olympia. His wife encouraged him to try the Frank Zane diet, which was mainly fish and salads.   

While Sergio did normally include lots of vegetables and healthier options, he was always hungry eating the Zane way. At the time, Zane was only 185 pounds compared to Sergio, who was well over 220. Sergio competed that year and only placed eighth. 

According to Sergio, the diet was a huge mistake, and he failed to listen to his own body. By then, he knew his metabolism and even considered himself his own doctor. As his career would suggest, Sergio was right when he listened to himself and stayed in tune with his body.

Now, let’s look at some workouts Sergio did during his years competing. Plus, we’ll get some workout tips from The Myth himself.

Sergio Oliva’s Workout

If you thought his diet (or lack thereof) was unique, you haven’t learned about Sergio’s workout routine. This is a man who had no formal training until he started working at the Duncan YMCA in Chicago.

Still, he always said that he just knew what to do, even when he was just starting out. He was so in tune with his muscles, he could work out in ways no one else could with amazing results.

A Day in the Gym Life of Sergio

Let’s take this day in the gym with Sergio Oliva for example.

He was prepping for the 1980 WABBA World Championship against Bertil Fox. Here is his workout routine:

• Standing calf raises: 20+ reps for 8 sets
• Seated calf raises: 20+ reps for 8 sets
• Pulldowns (behind the neck): 20 – 25 reps for 6 sets at 80% RM, extra-wide grip
• Reverse pulldowns (close grip): 20 reps for 6 sets
• Seated press (behind the neck): 20+ reps for 8 sets
• Alternate dumbbell forward raise: 20+ reps for 8 sets
• Parallel bar dips: 20 – 25 reps for 6 sets

He rested as little as possible between sets with moderate weights. Sergio’s go-to workout in the gym always seemed to be high reps with at least six sets per exercise.

Here’s another person’s take on Sergio’s unorthodox way of building his physique.

Sergio’s Unique Workout Routine and Tips

Freelance writer Greg Zulak spent decades writing on the bodybuilding industry and he also followed Sergio in the gym. By his own admission, Sergio never counted his sets. His training partner Ron Hagen confirmed this. 

Intuitively, Sergio pre-planned his sets, knowing just what it would take to work the muscle properly and then stopping. Here’s what Greg had to say when witnessing Sergio’s gym routine:

“Sergio trained in a manner I had never seen or read about before. On all upper body exercises, Sergio used very short, fast, partial, non-stop or continuous motion repetitions (no pause at the top or bottom of the range of motion), while legs he trained for full reps in the more traditional manner.” 

At the time (April 1984), Sergio was a massive 265 pounds and prepping to come back and compete in the Mr. Olympia contest. Zulak counted an average of 20 to 30 sets per muscle group, totaling up to 60 sets per workout. And this is what Sergio did regularly in the gym, never reaching failure like many others.

Here are some tips Greg learned from Sergio Oliva that day in the gym:

1. Do light warm-ups
2. Do high reps with high sets per muscle group
3. Use Joe Weider’s Rest-Pause Principle
4. Maintain constant muscle tension at all time for best results
5. Do supersets or combos
6. Work your muscles from all angles to achieve the best development
7. Use moderately heavy weights but don’t get hung up on the number

These are certainly some sound words of wisdom from The Myth himself. Let’s look back at what he did in his personal life during and after his time on the bodybuilding stage.

Sergio Oliva’s Personal Life

Once he made it to America, Sergio spent a year in Florida before heading to Chicago. He wanted to go where he could work and be far away from Cuba and the hands of the Castros.

No stranger to hard work in hot conditions, he worked manual labor during the day.

His jobs included being a meatpacker and a foundry worker. Afterward, he would spend hours at the gym before heading to English class at a local high school. He could then earn his United States citizenship, protecting him from having to go back to Cuba. 

His grueling schedule left little time for sleep and anything else. Still, with a lifelong love of dancing, he headed to a nightclub on Saturdays. 

At one point, he took a job teaching physical education with the Chicago Police Department. Eventually, he became an officer and worked the streets of Chicago until his retirement. As a surprise to no one, he had to have his uniforms specially made.

During that time, he met his wife Arlene Garrett, and they had a son, Sergio Oliva Jr. and a daughter. In 1986, Oliva Sr. would make the news headlines, but this time for reasons other than bodybuilding.

His then-wife had shot him five times in the abdomen during a fight. He recovered and went back to work for a few years until he retired in the early 90s. His wife was also injured during the altercation and according to their son, still has issues to this day.

He passed away at the age of 71 in his home in Chicago. Sergio Oliva’s cause of death was because of kidney failure.

His Claims to Fame

Sergio Oliva certainly beat what some would say were incredible odds to become a 3-time Mr. Olympia. They weren’t the only feats he was able to accomplish, he also was the:

• Second person to win the Mr. Olympia, after Larry Scott won the inaugural title
• Won first place in 20 different bodybuilding competitions over his 20 plus year career
• Only bodybuilder to win unopposed in the 1968 Mr. Olympia contest
• Only bodybuilder to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Mr. Olympia
• First and only Mr. Olympia with the smallest waist circumference at 28 inches
  • His thighs were each wider than his waist at 32 inches
  • He maintained a 20 inch difference between his waist and chest throughout his entire bodybuilding career
• First Mr. Olympia to pass away, followed by Larry Scott and then more recently, Franco Columbu

He also won awards throughout his career for best arms, chest, and legs, and most muscular.

His bodybuilding career spanned from 1963 to 1985 and he competed in all the major bodybuilding leagues:

• AAU
• IFBB
• WABBA
• NABBA
• WBBG

Final Thoughts

People who knew him well thought Sergio was a hulking yet humble man. He was confident in his abilities and went after what he wanted, paving the way for those to come. 

Sergio Oliva had many firsts in the world of bodybuilding. Still to this day he has what most consider the best physique ever showcased in the industry. 

His steadfast discipline and dedication to bodybuilding came naturally from working hard his entire life. Not only was his physique one for the record books, he had eaten and trained unlike anyone else could.

What are your thoughts on the diet and workout of Sergio Oliva? Have you tried his unusual approach to training techniques? Let us know what works for you in the comments below.