An Interview With Robby Robinson: The Legendary Black Prince Of Bodybuilding

In the culture of Bodybuilding and Fitness there are many who have impacted this lifestyle with their presence but none has created a legacy that comes anywhere close to that of The Black Prince Robby Robinson.

Known worldwide as The Black Prince, Robby’s start in life was far from auspicious.

Bodybuilding was not a natural path for a black man born in the deep South in 1946. Thanks to TV’s Jack La Lanne, he began training at twelve years old, and by fifteen he was a high school football and track star. Robby learned early on that his body responded to weights and began bodybuilding in earnest while still a teen-ager, constructing his first set of weights from scrap metal salvaged from a sawmill. In spite of racial jeers and questionable judging, he competed in over 300 amateur events while attending art school and later working at the Tallahassee Democrat. Bodybuilding was his avocation until he got a letter in 1975 from Joe Weider, luring him to Venice, California.

Robby arrived just in time to see Venice become the mecca of bodybuilding, thanks to muscle beach, Gold’s gym, and a dawning health consciousness movement.

For Robby, who had never seen blacks and whites holding hands, Venice was paradise. He trained with the greats and was one of the stars of the “Pumping Iron” documentary.

He competed professionally for twenty-seven years, winning titles including the IFBB Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe. However, he has always stood apart from the bodybuilding community, having spoken out for decades about the corruption of the business and later about the dangers of steroid abuse. That defiance earned him another moniker: the Bad Boy of Bodybuilding.

Be a part of this LanceScurv interview where we will go deep and explore the mind of a man who has so much valuable information to share from experience!