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In November 2013, at the age of 47, one of the strongest and smartest bodybuilders of the 90s, Nasser El Sonbati, died of kidney failure He was distinguished by his size, colorful appearance and superintelligence. His figure was attractive due to its proportionally developed muscles and aesthetics. In his short life, the bodybuilder managed to defend dissertations in 3 disciplines, learn 7 languages, and become a weightlifting star. It is not known exactly what caused the kidney problems, but according to doctors, it was malaria. He suffered a fever in Egypt in the winter of 2012 while working as a trainer. The complication led to tragedy.

Biography

Sonbati (Nasser El Sonbaty) was born into an international family in the fall of 1965. A Croatian woman and an Egyptian father gave birth to a gifted baby who surprised those around him with his early development and passion for learning languages. A few years later, the parents moved to Stuttgart , where the future champion spent his childhood and youth. Nasser brilliantly graduated from high school in Germany and entered the University of Augsburg. After receiving his diploma, he entered graduate school and defended himself in history, sociology and political science.

In addition to studying, he was interested in sports . Even during his school years, he tried himself in swimming, football, rowing, and kayaking. He was calm about the figures of muscular guys from magazines and believed that fitness was enough to keep in shape. The decision to tone my muscles turned my whole life upside down. Noticing rapid changes in his figure, the guy decided to continue training to see the results. Soon he competed at a local competition , but failed. The guy was so fascinated by strength sports that he decided to go to Yugoslavia for a junior tournament and prove to himself that he is better than others.

El Sonbati and craving for sports

As they say: “a talented person is talented in everything.” This saying applies very well to El Sonbati. In addition to high intelligence, this man was gifted with great mobility from childhood, which naturally gave rise to an interest in sports. In sports, Nasser tried himself in different directions, these were: swimming, wrestling, rowing, football. All these types were distinguished by their dynamism in such a way that this athlete did not consider bodybuilding in any way.

But after graduating from high school and becoming a university student, he succumbed to the fashionable trend for gyms and began visiting them for company. At first he did this simply out of idle interest, but over time he liked it, especially since in just a few training sessions he was able to achieve unrealistic results.

The stars have aligned

The turning point occurred in 1993 at the Grand Prix in France. The bodybuilder took first place in all categories . An equally significant event was the 2nd position at the “Night of Champions”. He lost the championship to Mike Francois, with whom he would have a strong friendship in the future. These victories provided the opportunity to participate in Mr. Olympia and become 7th. If the athlete had not lost 13 kg after hard drying, he would have ended up in the top three. In the spring, Nasser outright won the Houston Pro, confidently beating his titled rivals. 2 weeks later, he consolidated his success at the “Night of Champions” and became the main favorite for 1st place at Olympia.

Annoying failures

Many believed that if he worked on his back, he would have no equal. Targeted training gave amazing results. However, at Olympia, the athlete repeated his previous success, missing out on Sean Ray and Dorian Yates. This decision of the judges caused indignation. The press talked about rigging the results and the unfairness of the decision. According to the audience, Nasser was superior to his opponents in all respects. However, due to the detection of diuretics in the blood, the commission annulled this result.

This story and the undeserved loss to Flex Wheeler at the Arnold Classic angered the strongman. He sent Flex a message where he wrote what he thought about the objectivity of the judges and his victory. Anger motivated me to train and achieve new achievements. In 1997, Nasser took 2nd place at the Olympia. After this, my career began to decline. In 2005, after finishing 14th at the Europe Show, he announced his retirement.

Is the star setting or is everything just beginning?

In the spring of 1999, Wheeler's conscience apparently bothered him, and he decided not to go to the Classic and Sonbati finally managed to win the coveted title. However, it was a Pyrrhic victory: speaking at Olympia in the fall, Nasser fell back to sixth place. At two subsequent competitions: the World Pro Cup in Rome and the English Grand Prix in Manchester, he also finished sixth, managing to lose even to the not-so-strong pro Milos Sarcev. Already at Olympia-98 it was noticeable that he began to change not for the better, and at the Classic this trend intensified. Ron Coleman, Flex Wheeler, Paul Dillett and Shawn Ray, who were present in Columbus as spectators, unanimously declared that the best on the podium was the incredibly improved Cormier, and not Sonbati. However, Nasser is not giving up, and rest assured that he will make his presence known again. I'm not going to hang up my swimming trunks, he says. I enjoy living the lifestyle of a professional bodybuilder, traveling, meeting people, learning a lot of new things. Plus, I still believe I can win the Olympia.

Personal opinion

The “retired” athlete began to travel a lot, read, and take care of his health.

“I have always believed that nothing is more important than health - without it you cannot accumulate capital.”

In 2007, the bodybuilder gave a series of interviews that would form a two-volume book. In them, he sincerely spoke not only about himself, but also:

• training strategies;
• pharmacology;
• attitude towards health;
• personal life;
• about other athletes.

His revelations debunked many myths. When asked about strongman Greg Kovacs, Nasser El Sonbati gave some outrageous examples and didn't have a single nice word to say. But he spoke warmly about the Vader brothers, Milos Sarcev, Andreas Munzer, and Jay Cutler.

It is also very difficult for women in such relationships that all the attention is focused on the guy, and not, as in most “normal” relationships, on the woman. Professional bodybuilders are essentially beauty queens among men who require more work than the average guy.

Often the wives of these guys lead an existence “in the shadows.” They benefit from their partners' success (lifestyle, money, prestige), but still feel left out. I had a very caring and supportive wife, fortunately not one of those who has problems with alcohol or drugs and/or family problems, as most women do. A bodybuilder must either have a partner who provides him with good support, or not have one at all.

My ex-wife recorded and counted the calories of all my endless diets for more than 10 years - and I ate almost every 2.5-3 hours. I don't know anyone else who would do this.

Throughout my career I have had as much support, help and understanding as possible. Without a doubt. So in the end I didn't mind giving her $70,000 and she gave me my dog ​​Akita (Sato). At first I told her lawyer that she had kidnapped Sato, but the lawyer said that the animal was property and it could not be considered kidnapping.

David Robson: I understand you were physically injured in late 2006/early 2007 when you returned to Germany for surgery.

Nasser El Sonbati

: Yes, I returned to Germany for surgery. I had a couple of moles removed from my back, and I had another lengthy operation on my belly button, scar tissue removal from my left lat, and I also had lipomas (fat deposits) that were removed from the inside of my armpits.

This all started in December 2006. The lipomas I mentioned were the result of the strict diet I followed for so long. The body just wanted to hold on to the fat and stored it inside the armpits. It felt like I had a bar of soap implanted in my armpits.

Removing the lipomas created blood-filled cavities, which then turned into blood-filled balloons, so I had to undergo 2 more surgeries to stop the bleeding and shrink the balloons. It was painful.

I spent almost 2 months just lying on the bed to recover. Belly button surgery was nothing compared to this. At this time, my parents showed great care for me, because they both live in Germany.

David Robson: Yes, a lot of time. How did you deal with this?

Nasser El Sonbati

: Lying in bed for almost 2 months at my parents' house was simply paralyzing. Of course, there can be no better help and support than being surrounded by family when you are sick and powerless. You don't have to cook or do laundry or anything like that.

After all these operations, I had to be taken to the hospital every one or two days to remove water and blood from the cavities, and it was very difficult.

In addition, the cold and snowy winter in Germany is not conducive to raising spirits. Losing weight and muscle and then gaining it back is very difficult. But it’s better than a kidney transplant, or heart surgery like Mike Matarazzo had, or some fatal disease.

David Robson: You once said that you could maintain your weight on 100 grams of protein a day. How exactly can you avoid losing muscle?

Nasser El Sonbati

: I've been in this sport for over 25 years. And as I said before, I've been on diets, strict pre-contest diets, for 18 years. I should probably sit down someday and count how many chicken breasts I've eaten over the years, and obviously I've eaten more of them while dieting than off-season. I'm just tired of constantly eating protein to maintain or create size.

If you are on a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates and fat, you should increase the protein up to 300g per day, and if you are my size, sometimes up to 600g, otherwise you will shrink and use your own muscles as fuel .

Because I was tired of using protein as a food source, both in the form of amino acids and powders, so I decided to eat more carbohydrates in the off-season in order to compensate for the low amount of protein consumed. But once again I say that before the competition I still fueled my body with as much protein as possible.

If you eat large amounts of protein without problems, just keep doing it. The more it is, the better the muscles are built. In the off-season, my weight reached 149 kg. With more protein intake during this period, I could probably become even bigger. I have a so-called mesomorphic body type, I was very athletic initially. My metabolism is neither too fast nor too slow.

If, for example, you are more of an ectomorph, then your metabolism is very fast. You need to eat a lot more calories than I do, and you need to eat more often than I do.

David Robson: What do you think is the future of bodybuilding?

Nasser El Sonbati

: Personally, I believe that until more money is invested in bodybuilding, contracts for athletes do not bring much money, this sport is going nowhere. Simply increasing the prize money for the Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic won't really help popularize bodybuilding. Need more.

If bodybuilders weren’t so vain and ambitious by nature, this sport would have died out a long time ago. I didn't start lifting weights to become rich. But it became a profession. People should be able to earn enough money, especially when they go global in their field and profession.

Professional bodybuilders mostly (95 percent of them) live near the poverty line, sometimes better, sometimes not so well. My goodness, who can afford to bear the financial burden of eating all the food that is portrayed on the pages of Muscle and Fitness and Flex?

Bodybuilding has already seen its best days. And women's bodybuilding is dead. The figure division is on the rise and will continue to grow for many years to come.

Wayne DeMiglia opened a rival organization. But why should bodybuilders switch to it? He basically has nothing to offer, he has no one but second and third rate athletes, with the exception of Lee Priest and a few others.

Knowing this and having been a part of bodybuilding for so many years, having witnessed the chaos and more than questionable decisions and robbery, having seen many bodybuilders lose their health, I would not recommend anyone to start competing in this sport, no matter how sad it would be for me.

In other sports, such as American football, basketball and soccer, at least the injured and sick receive compensation that allows them to be financially secure for the rest of their lives.

The lack of a stable source of income and compensation for the results of hard work in bodybuilding pushes many athletes into illegal, unethical and dangerous activities.

David Robson: And having said all that, are you still in bodybuilding? What are you doing now, Nasser?

Nasser El Sonbati

: In 2007, I only appeared at one show in the spring because a friend of mine was performing there. Later this year I decided not to go to other competitions. Neither professional nor amateur.

I need a break for at least this year. Performing for 25 years is definitely not something you can enjoy every day. As a bodybuilder, you are in your uniform (your body) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you are a doctor, or a prosecutor, or a police officer, you can take off your uniform after work. As a bodybuilder, you have to talk 24/7 about bodybuilding, shows, protein and doping everywhere and at any time of the day. Of course, I choose bodybuilding. But I need a break from the absolute circus that it is sometimes associated with.

For several years I have been involved with commercial real estate projects that generate funds for me. I still go to the gym. I regularly walk along the beach with my dog ​​and enjoy life without external pressure.

David Robson: You said you don't want to compete anymore, but do you want to work in the bodybuilding industry in any capacity?

Nasser El Sonbati

: After 25 years in this sport, I'm fed up with it, tired of all this talk about protein and nutrition.
Everywhere I go, people see me and go, “Oh, that's Nasser
. He must be knowledgeable about doping issues."

They never ask how hard I trained, but try to become more familiar. They see that I am friendly and think that they can calmly ask me about medications. They are not interested in how hard it was for me to follow a diet; the questions are always the same: “How much and what did you consume?” They think that's all it's all about.

After 25 years, I don't want to be the target of such questions and interviews, answering questions about my diet or exercise plan everywhere from grocery stores to nightclubs at 1 a.m. I go to a Chinese restaurant, and they pull up a chair, sit down and start asking how many pills I need to swallow to look like me.

After so many years, you get to a point where you're fed up with the whole industry and, in my case, you don't have any desire to go to any shows anymore.

Between 2003 and 2004 I didn't turn on my computer for 15 months because... didn't want to deal with any bodybuilding matters.

My mother didn't give birth to me so that I could climb on stage for the rest of my life and do the side-breasted pose over and over again. Only an obsessed person can rejoice at such prospects.

I’m not saying this because I haven’t been performing for the last 1.5 years. I've always been that way. I never wanted to be a bodybuilder. It happened by accident. I understand people's curiosity. But I'm not a computer that will respond 24 hours a day.

Source: bodybuilding.com, David Robson, 10/16/2007

Translation:

• Contents of a series of interviews with Nasser El Sonbati
• Read the next part of the interview with Nasser El Sonbati
• Read the previous part of the interview with Nasser El Sonbati

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“If I don’t carry weights, I immediately lose muscle stiffness.”

Nasser is a typical strongman. He trained up to 5 times a week, working 2 zones at a time: one large, the other small. It is impossible to present his system in order.

He believed that “the more chaos there is in training, the faster volumes increase.”

The athlete worked intuitively based on personal feelings, constantly adjusting the program. Complexes with isolating exercises were redesigned more often than the basic ones. Today he could start working on the chest with bench presses, and tomorrow with dips.

“If you do different exercises during training, the muscles are confused. All you have to do is monitor the increase in strength indicators.”

The facts prove that Sonbati was and will remain the pride of strength sports. Photos of the bodybuilder were published in all “Kachkovsky” magazines. His photograph appeared 5 times on the cover of the popular Flex alone. The same Schwarzenegger, who rarely says nice things about modern bodybuilding, speaks with respect of the muscle-bound professor and sets him up as an example for young people.

Not like everyone else

To tell the truth, today’s professional bodybuilding would lose a lot in the person of Sonbati. Nasser is a personality with a capital P, and that says it all. It’s not for nothing that not a single self-respecting Kachkov magazine can do without his photographs or articles about him, and Nasser has already appeared on the cover of Flex five times! The fact that Sonbati is one of the most prominent figures in the world of pros is recognized even by Austrian Oak Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has fired many critical arrows at modern pros. And the point here is not even Sonbati’s education and intelligence, his ability to communicate with people. Among other things, Sonbati is interesting because his judgments are sharp and frank and often diverge from generally accepted ones. For example, he refused to be the subject of a popular traditional column in Flex magazine, which provides biographical information about professional champions, as well as their answers to the questions: What is your favorite color, what is your favorite car, etc. I don't care what color my car is , says Sonbati, black, red or white. And I don't have a favorite movie. And in general there is nothing favorite. I don’t want to repeat after someone, like a parrot, that my favorite vacation spot is Hawaii. I've been to Hawaii ten times, it's just boring. And in general, people are interested in their own passions, and not mine or anyone else’s. But that’s not all: being one of the greatest athletes of our time, Sonbati openly admits his hatred of iron: When you are at the beginning of the journey and work with light weights, all this is a joy, but when you are forced to hang on weight in pursuit of mass barbell more and more weights, when you have three centners on your shoulders, you only think about how to quickly complete the workout and rush away from this damned gym! It sounds a little unusual, but it’s frank. And this is what Sonbati is all about.