The fate of Sergei Ruban is an excellent example of what a person can achieve with will and diligence. Sergei was an ordinary Muscovite from Taganka, years of hard training turned him into a strong man, the first arm wrestling champion in the history of the USSR and one of the heroes of the Guinness Book of Records.
Lines in the World Directory of Achievements he achieved as the tallest and heaviest bodybuilder in Europe and Russia. Sergey Ruban was 198 cm tall and weighed over 150 kg.
How he became a hero
Sergey was born in the fall, October 14, 1962, he spent his childhood on Bolshaya Kommunisticheskaya Street (now Alexander Solzhenitsyn Street). In numerous interviews, Ruban recalled that he grew up silent, uncommunicative and very skinny. He served in the army, received a diploma from the Moscow Aviation Institute, worked at a factory.
Sergey was really too thin for his height, weighing only 72 kg. To hide the "flaw", the young man stooped and looked like a question mark in profile. Straighten your shouldersand Ruban's attitude to his body was forced by childhood photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger. From the pages of the magazine, the same skinny boy looked at Sergei! The young man realized that becoming strong and big is not sky-high dreams. Having found out in more detail the history of the muscular American actor, Sergey Ruban began persistent training, which soon became his main hobby.
First in armfight
A young athlete "swinged" in a sports club where there were no newfangled simulators yet: a barbell, two pairs of dumbbells, two Soviet-era exercise equipment. It was 1985, when Sergey decided to master a new sport in the USSR - arm wrestling. Took 2nd place in the city championship. In the final fight, he tore his ligaments and lost consciousness. The pain did not stop the young athlete - two weeks later, Ruban won the USSR championship in single combat on his hands. Having achieved fame, Sergey left arm wrestling forever.
Weightlifting gave Sergey muscle mass, confidence and desire to win. In 1992, the athlete took 4th place in the Moscow heavyweight bodybuilding championship.
In the movie world
Sergei Ruban first came to the cinema as a stuntman, and not just a simple one, but an equestrian one. I had to learn from professionals in order to participate in the competition. An equestrian stuntman needs to be able not only to ride a horse well, but also to fight hand-to-hand, fencing and deftly wield any weapon. His film debuts in the late 80s and early 90s give the right to call Sergei Ruban Soviet and Russianactor.
One of the first works at the major film studio "Mosfilm" was the role in the film "Muzzle". Here Sergey played a basketball player who is courting the same girl as the hero of Dmitry Kharatyan. Ruban's mighty build added humor to the scene where his character takes Gena (Kharatyan) out of the frame under his arm. Then there was work in five more scenes. In 1995, Vladimir Menshov's comedy Shirley-Myrli appeared, where Ruban played a mafia bodyguard. It was there that the directors of the gladiator show noticed him. So the world of cinema became for Ruban a bridge to the empire of television.
Russian Spartak
Together with Vladimir Turchinsky, Sergey becomes a participant in the famous international super show "Gladiator Fights", performing there under the sonorous name Spartak. The breathtaking spectacle was broadcast in two countries - England and Russia. Gladiator Sergey Ruban (Sergey Ruban) was remembered for a long time by the audience of the British channel ITV. RTR viewers were desperately rooting for our strong man. The competitions were held in the UK, in two weeks of participation Ruban lost 10 kg of weight and got a lot of new impressions. On the shores of foggy Albion, Sergei Ruban had a chance to attend a reception at the Queen of England.
Russian bodybuilder in Hollywood
Colorful appearance, lack of arrogance and talent attracted the attention of theater figures to Sergei. He played twice at well-known Moscow venues - at the famous Taganka and at the Moscow City Council Theater. For 17 years, two dozen films with Sergei Ruban were released, where heparticipated as a stuntman or actor. Some tapes were made by American filmmakers, British and French companies, together with Russia. While in Hollywood, the actor met the idol of his youth - Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as athletes Ralph Muller, Matnus Hughes. He had friendly relations with the heaviest bodybuilder in the world - Greg Kovacs.
The Russian bodybuilder did not have the right to work in America, so he did not apply to acting agencies there. Otherwise, who knows, an English-language graph would have appeared in the cinematic biography of Sergei Ruban - Sergey Ruban.
The last role of the artist was the image of a coach in the television series "My Fair Nanny".
Lessons from professionals
In America, working out with the stars of building, Ruban realized that the ideas of Russian "titans" about bodybuilding diverge from the knowledge of Western colleagues. Professionals dedicate one to two hours a day to training, giving priority to proper nutrition in terms of muscle growth. The knowledge gained overseas helped Sergei bring the body shape to the desired degree of perfection. And yet, the bodybuilder's tall stature required more weight to compete. That's why the acting career has become the main thing for Ruban.
Personal life, cause of death
Close people and those who knew Sergey note that he was a kind, friendly and very modest person.
The Russian hero was 53 years old when his life was suddenly cut short. The cause of death was a heart attack. ThatTurchinsky had a posthumous diagnosis. Experts suggest that the trouble occurred due to increased training, which gave a huge load on the already middle-aged heart. The athlete left his wife Lyubov, with whom they lived in a harmonious marriage for 18 years, and a fifteen-year-old son Pavel.
It is known that Sergei Ruban led a he althy lifestyle, did not indulge in alcohol or cigarettes. However, in an interview, the bodybuilder admitted that he used steroids to gain muscle mass. At the age of thirty, according to him, he completely abandoned chemistry, since knowledge and experience allowed him to gain strength and muscle volume without anabolic drugs. He was in great shape and after 50 years, continued to train and dreamed of new heights.
On the morning of December 10, 2015, he woke up early, began to get ready for business, but suddenly lost consciousness and died in a matter of minutes. This came as a shock to relatives, friends, fans of the athlete and actor. Sergei Ruban was buried at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery, where his father and grandfather are buried.
Ruban's Testament
You can consider Sergey's words as a kind of testament to novice bodybuilders that you should not rely on magic capsules and try to turn into a pumped-up hero in the blink of an eye. There are well-equipped gyms, balanced sports nutrition, a complex of supplements with minimal side effects, and the experience of competent training accumulated in the post-Soviet era.
