A JOURNEY TO THE MASTER CLASS ENDS WITH WRITING THE FOREWORD FOR THE BLACK PRINCE

-- PAUL,

YOU CAME A WORLD AWAY TO TRAIN AT MY MASTER CLASS. 

THE FOUR-DAY JOURNEY WAS ONE TO REMEMBER. 

THANKS FOR YOUR HARD WORK AND SUPPORT. 

WISH YOU MUCH BODYBUILDING SUCCESS IN THIS YEARS MASTER COMPETITION. 

ROBBY ROBINSON

ROBBY ROBINSON AND PAUL GIBNEY, RR'S MASTER CLASS CLIENT
AND THE AUTHOR OF FOREWORD TO RR'S BLACK PRINCE BOOK,
MEETING FOR A LUNCH AT THE FAMOUS BODYBUILDING FIREHOUSE
 RESTAURANT IN VENICE, CA, DURING PAUL'S VISIT TO CALIFORNIA
FOR TRAINING AND LEARNING ALL THE TRICKS OF THE GAME
IN " MASTER CLASS WITH ROBBY ROBINSON" INTENSIVE
● www.robbyrobinson.net//master-class.php ●

The Foreword to The Black Prince Book

Robby Robinson is an enigmatic figure in the history of bodybuilding. He is a genuine introvert in the genuinely extraverted arena. He is retiring whilst his physique is arresting. He is quietly spoken and of few words in an activity beset by hype and exaggeration.

To encounter Robinson makes him no less of an enigma. He is an impactful presence. He keeps to himself, even in company, and yet when he does interact, he is there in a fullness of engagement, a profound intensity of communication that very few human beings can offer.

When one relates to Robby Robinson, you encounter the history, the man, the physique and the bodybuilder. Of course, these aspects are all tied into the one person, but it is the interplay of these components of Robby’s personality that make him such a compelling figure.

The history is, in some ways, well known. He was and is a superstar bodybuilder; one of the most successful professional bodybuilders ever to take the stage. He won an IFBB Mr. America in 1975, drug-free, with a 29” waist and 20” biceps. His illustrious career included numerous World and Universe titles, Pro victories and culminated in a number of Masters Mr. Olympia titles.

And yet an even richer history lies in the background. A childhood in the Tallahassee woods, an extraordinarily different home life and the experience of racial prejudice in the southern states in a less enlightened era. His formative history made him a man of remarkable resolve.

Robinson the man is illustrated as his history becomes part of bodybuilding‘s history. Confronted with continued inequity and blatant unfairness, he did not sell out nor did he limp away defeated. He continued on, undaunted, letting his discipline and his physique do his talking. He remained the captain of his own fate. He kept his own sense of self whilst operating in a world that would (and has) totally unsettled and destroyed a great number of good people.

And then there is the Robinson physique. Now aged 64, he has returned to the drug-free 203lb 5' 8”physique that first boggled bodybuilding’s collective mind in 1975. Sitting opposite you, Robinson does not seem that big, except perhaps when you glimpse the triceps that seem to go on forever. But then he takes off his shirt and flexes ... and still he seems not so big... and yet he is huge.... As 20” upper arms still peak and bulge. Full muscle bellies crowd tiny joints. Flaring lats frame a minuscule, detailed waist, which suddenly explodes into sweeping, shredded quadriceps. He is both huge and small and rock hard. His physique still is a challenge to the observer’s capacity for perception and appreciation. He embodies the true bodybuilding aesthetic. He presents a physical and optical illusion which is paradoxically real and right before your eyes.

When Robinson walks, there is a feline grace to his movement. There is no waddling uncomfortable gait here, so often associated with the current 250lb+ competitor. An astute observer sees the fluidity of a champion athlete; the running back and the sprinter can still be seen in his carriage. His aesthetics are built upon a functional athleticism.

And most every morning at 8 a.m. at Marina Fitness in Marina Del Rey, the bodybuilder Robby Robinson can be found training. He might be training with and instructing a local bodybuilder, or an interstate bodybuilder or an international guest who has flown half away around the world to participate in his Master Class. Or he might be training with his partner or by himself. But Robby will be training. Each rep will be perfect, each set will be at a specific cadence, each workout will have a specific purpose. Each muscle group will be engaged fully whether he is doing warm up sets of preacher curls with 40lbs, or sets of 8 squats and dead lifts with 450lbs+ (which he still regularly performs). All exact, all focused, all without histrionics or antics. Just focused, precise effort.

Whether there is anybody else there or not, Robby is training. He is still learning about his physique, and its response to training and nutrition. If bodybuilding has a Zen practitioner, if bodybuilding has a venerable grandmaster of the art form, it is Robby Robinson.

This book is a chronicle of Robby Robinson’s exceptional life and the journey upon which it has taken him. You can glimpse his spirituality and his soul in the stands and positions that he takes. His gift to us? Robby Robinson, enigma though he may be, is what bodybuilding always has been about, what it should be about, and hopefully, what it may become again.

PAUL GIBNEY Ph.D.

Brisbane, Australia

July 2010

ORDER YOUR OWN COPY OF RR'S MEMOIRS PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED BY RR IN RR'S ONLINE SPORTS FAN STORE - ▶ www.robbyrobinson.net/books.php

PAUL GIBNEY JOINS ROBBY ROBINSON

FOR HIS MASTER CLASS

E-mail Robby for individual training, nutrition and supplementation plans, single training sessions amd consultations - ▶ info@robbyrobinson.net

BUILT- Double DVD - Robby's philosophy on bodybuilding, training and healthy lifestyle, and his workout approach for your best results ▶ www.robbyrobinson.net/dvd_built.php

MASTER CLASS - 4-DAY ONE-ON-ONE INTENSIVE PERSONAL TRAINING with ROBBY ROBINSON in GOLD's GYM VENICE and NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION SEMINAR - 
▶ www.robbyrobinson.net/master-class.php

Read about RR's training and life experience, about other legends of Golden Era of bodybuilding and what really happened behind the scenes of Weider's empire - in RR's BOOK "The BLACK PRINCE; My Life in Bodybuilding: Muscle vs. Hustle" - available now on Amazon and Kindle - ▶ www.amazon.com/dp/1453717870 

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR OWN COPY OF RR'S MEMOIRS PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED BY RR IN RR'S ONLINE SPORTS FAN STORE - 
▶ www.robbyrobinson.net/books.php

© ROBBY ROBINSON
▶ www.robbyrobinson.net
▶ info@robbyrobinson.net