Morgan Aste: Le Freak From France!

By Ron Harris

The bodybuilding industry is mainly located in the USA. It’s where the major magazines are published, it’s where most of the online forums are based, and it’s where most IFBB contests are held. As such, American bodybuilders are at a distinct advantage when it comes to publicity, and those living in places like Europe and Asia often languish in obscurity despite having very impressive physiques. This becomes painfully obvious each year at the Arnold Amateur event held as part of the Arnold Sports Festival weekend in Columbus. I’ve covered it for the past eight years, and each time I am shocked at how many incredible athletes I see take that stage whom I have never heard of. Many of them blow away the majority of top national-level NPC competitors who we know from online videos and training articles and print ads in Muscular Development.

It’s not often that a bodybuilder living outside the USA can penetrate the “invisible wall” and break through to fan and industry recognition here. But when you have a true freak, they become a juggernaut that simply crashes the party and commands our attention. In 2013, that man was a giant Egyptian named Big Ramy. Now, from France comes yet another goliath of a bodybuilder who everyone is going to know about soon: Morgan Aste. At 6’2”, and crushing the scale at 325 pounds in the off-season with arms stretching the tape at a legit 24.5 inches, how can he be ignored? And for those who look down their nose at bodybuilders who aren’t as strong as they look, this French powerhouse more than fits that bill. He’s a two-time national Strongman champion who routinely bench presses 550 pounds for 10-12 reps. It seems laughable that we’ve never heard of this man until now, so it’s about time we amend that situation.

Origins of Le Freak

Morgan was born on August 26, 1983 in the city of Clermont-Ferrand where he still resides, in the Auvergne region of France, most famous for a chain of dormant volcanoes surrounding it. He grew up with two half-siblings, and was an avid athlete throughout his childhood and adolescence in soccer, handball, judo, boxing, and Muay Thai kickboxing. His father had been a bodybuilder in his younger years, and still trained at his home gym.

Being on the chubby side and having taken great inspiration from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s photos and movies, Morgan decided to start lifting himself at the age of 16. His father was more than happy to show him the basics, and it was clear from the very start that the youngster was naturally strong for his size.

Once he was old enough, he left the home setup and joined a local gym. There, the owner took note of his enthusiasm, and taught him everything he knew about training and nutrition. “Looking back, I realize it was all very basic advice,” says Morgan. “But I appreciated his help, and it did help me make rapid improvements in muscle size and strength.”

In 2004, Aste met the man who has been his coach ever since, René Même, who represented France as a bantamweight at both the IFBB European Championships and the IFBB World in the early 1990s, and who has also worked with one of France’s best pro bodybuilders of the late 1980s and 90s, Francis Benfatto.

“Rene developed a method of training called MACS7, that combines high intensity with varying factors like the rep range, rep speed and so on,” he says. “This was perfect for me because strength came so easily for me but size was much more difficult to acquire. He taught me how to engage the muscle and stimulate growth, and not to focus so much on just how much weight I was lifting. For instance, I could bench press more than anyone else around, but my pecs were lacking in thickness.”

Yet still, Morgan always had and continues to put a priority on strength. “I never wanted to be big but not strong, or strong but not very big. For me, you shouldn’t have one without the other— I always wanted to be bigger and stronger as the months and years went by.”

Time to Put It All Out There and Compete

Despite being more predisposed to strength sports, Morgan preferred bodybuilding and this was where he made his competitive debut at the age of 20. In Europe, they typically feature a junior class in amateur events that goes up to age 21. He did well there, taking the runner-up spot in his national championships before transitioning to the men’s open class for the next few years. But eventually, Morgan got sick of hearing smack talk about bodybuilding. “A lot of people would make remarks to me about how bodybuilding is all about vanity and useless muscles, how we had big muscles but we were actually weak. I knew that I was far from weak, and I decided to enter some type of strength competition to prove it.”

Morgan briefly considered powerlifting or Olympic lifting, but Strongman is what appealed to him most. “Strongman is much more exciting both to watch and to compete in,” he explains. “You have several different events at any given competition, and they often involve large everyday objects like cars, stones and logs. These are easier for more people to relate to and more interesting to see men lift rather than just regular weights. It’s a real show, and it lets people see your true power using things they have all seen before.”

Strongman competition was the perfect opportunity for Aste to prove his muscles weren’t just bulky ornaments, but instead highly functional and powerful. He entered his first Strongman event in 2010, and achieved instant success by winning his national title. That would happen again in 2013, along with a slew of other wins in that sport.

One other aspect of Strongman that Morgan greatly appreciated was the objective aspect of it, compared to the purely subjective standards bodybuilding is judged by. “In Strongman, you are competing for things like weights and reps, or being timed to do certain tasks. You either do it or you don’t, and if you win or lose, you know exactly why. There is no wondering or arguing. In contrast, bodybuilding is about so many factors and it can come down to the individual opinions of the judges.”

Returning to Flexing

As successful as Morgan has been in Strongman, he never chose to pursue it on an international level such as moving on to The World’s Strongest Man or the Arnold’s Strongest Man. His true passion is bodybuilding. “I love the challenge of so many details, the training and the diet and how you manipulate different variables in them to achieve a different result. Your body is a piece of art but it’s always a work in progress. You are never done improving your symmetry and eliminating weak points. When you prepare for a contest, you learn so much about how your body reacts to different factors in your diet, your workouts and your supplements. I find this sport really exciting.”

Lessons Learned

To look at Morgan today, you would assume his gains have been steady and dramatic from day one. That’s not the case at all. Like most bodybuilders, he’s had his share of sticking points and dealt with the frustrations thereof. We all make mistakes, of course— the key is learning from them. “The most important thing I learned was that there is no point in overtraining,” Morgan begins. “For a long time I thought more was better. Over time, I learned to listen to my body and realized that muscles only are built when the body is at rest.”

In terms of training, Aste figured out that doing the same thing all the time in the gym would only mean his physique would always look the same. “Muscles get accustomed to the same workout pretty quickly,” he observes. “You need to switch up the exercises you perform, the order you perform them in, as well as use different rep ranges and speeds. Sometimes I do faster reps and don’t emphasize the contractions, just moving like a piston for continuous tension. Other times I do slower reps and strongly stress the contraction and the stretch. You need to do it all for the best results.”

Nutrition and supplementation are the final areas Morgan learned to master to build the astoundingly massive physique he displays today. “Quality of food is more important than the sheer quantity,” he tells us. “Eating clean is what will give your muscles the most pure and useful fuel they can use to their best advantage. When you just go out and feast on anything that tastes good, you get a lot of junk calories that won’t contribute toward making bigger, denser muscles.”

Morgan learned to implement supplements into his nutritional regimen to increase power, energy and muscle endurance, to prevent injuries, and to accelerate recovery. France has much stricter legislation regarding nutritional supplements than the USA does, so only pharmaceutical-grade products are allowed to be sold. Morgan uses the products of his sponsor, Eric Favre Sport, to augment his high-quality diet.

Special thanks to Virginie Mounier of Eric Favre Sport for her assistance in translating this interview.

Strongman Titles

2010 French National Champion

2013 French National Champion

2013 Grand Prix du Forez (France) Winner

2013 Grand Prix des Pyrénées (France) Winner

Bodybuilding Contest History

Second, Juniors

Fourth Place

2006 IFBB French National Championships

Second, over 100 kg

2006 Weider Grand Prix

Fifth Place

2008 IFBB European Championships

Ninth, over 100 kg

2010 Slovakian Grand Prix

Second Place 

2011 IFBB World Championships

14^th, over 100 kg

2014 IFBB French National Championships

Over 100 kg and Overall Champion

Daily Diet*

Meal 1:

5 whole eggs, 5 egg whites

2 slices of whole-wheat bread or oatmeal

1 cup of fresh fruit

Meal 2:

200 grams of meat (chicken, steak) or fish

200 grams of carbs (rice or potatoes)

Piece of fruit

Meal 3:

450 grams of meat or fish

300 to 500 grams of carbs

Green salad or mixed vegetables with olive oil

Piece of fruit

Meal 4:

Whey protein shake (75 grams)

Meal 5:

Applesauce, gingerbread or mashed potatoes

BCAA + ZMA + MYOPROGEN

Meal 6:

450 grams of meat or fish

500-700 grams of carbs

Vegetables

Fruits

Meal 7:

Whey protein shake (60 grams)

300 grams of nonfat cottage cheese

*All supplements by Eric Favre Sport 

Training Split

Monday:

Chest and biceps

Tuesday:

Quads, hams and calves

Wednesday:

Cardio

Thursday:

Back and triceps

Friday:

Shoulders, abs and lower back

Saturday:

Cardio

Sunday:

Cardio

Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram

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