#1489 - Ronnie Coleman

[0] One, Mr. Coleman.

[1] What's going on?

[2] Great to meet you, brother.

[3] It's a real honor.

[4] I mean, you are, when I was, like, really into bodybuilding and reading the magazines, and I always said that you looked like a dude who they invented in a Marvel comic book to kill the Hulk.

[5] Like, that's what you looked like when you were in your prime, man. Yeah, I felt like I probably could, too, like in those days.

[6] I mean, God damn, you were freakishly huge.

[7] It was crazy to see.

[8] It was like, you know, I remember paying attention to body.

[9] from the beginning, like the Franco Colombo and Schwarzenegger days, to what you guys had become, you know, when you were in your property, you just redefined everything.

[10] Everything was just so extreme.

[11] Yeah, we were pretty tough back in the old day.

[12] Everything was hard, you know.

[13] The guys I was competing against were real good.

[14] You know, I just came out of nowhere, you know, because I got in bodybuilding real late, you know, where I'm from, we didn't have it, and I didn't find out about it until I graduated college.

[15] Went out to Texas, and so I was working for the police department.

[16] How old were you at the time?

[17] I was about 24.

[18] So that's when you started bodybuilding?

[19] That's when I started.

[20] But I had been working out, you know, since I was 12, 13.

[21] For sports?

[22] Yeah, well, now I had, I was on the powerlifting team.

[23] Oh, okay.

[24] I did power lifting in high school.

[25] So I was on the power lifting team and, you know, I got, from Louisiana, a real small town.

[26] Most of the, a lot of the guys are kind of big like me, kind of strong like me. You know, a lot of people don't understand, but strength is something like a natural gift, you know.

[27] You can work on it and get better at it, but you also have to be gifted a little bit.

[28] Have to have a nice base.

[29] Yeah, you have to have a nice base, and you have to have a little talent.

[30] Yeah.

[31] You know, like this guy, I think I can't remember his name, but he deadlifted 1 ,100 pounds.

[32] Oh, that the Game of Thrones guy?

[33] Yeah, yeah.

[34] The mountain?

[35] That's a gift.

[36] You know, that's talent.

[37] Yeah.

[38] He's gifted.

[39] Everybody can't do that.

[40] You know, I did 800, you know, for a couple of reps, but I don't think I can do 1100.

[41] That's a lot of weight.

[42] That's a lot of weight.

[43] He's an enormous human being, though.

[44] That guy, that's a Viking right there.

[45] Yeah, you have to have a lot of weight to be able to pull a lot of weight like that, too.

[46] Yeah.

[47] You, in your career, you were known for lifting large amounts of weight, too.

[48] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[49] Yeah, like I was saying, you know, I started power lifting when I was in high school, you know.

[50] I had the gift of strength, you know.

[51] I was pretty strong in high school, you know, all throughout my college days.

[52] And, you know, it was just something that I, I think I was kind of boring with it a little bit, you know.

[53] Because you don't just start lifting heavy weights like that all of a sudden.

[54] You know, you have to have a, like I said, you have to have some kind of natural talent for it.

[55] Well, there are some crazy photos of you during the Mr. Olympia days when you were a police officer.

[56] Is that you?

[57] Look at that.

[58] Yeah, that's me in the ninth grade on the left, and that's me winning the...

[59] What happened to your arm in the left?

[60] You got a cast on.

[61] Yeah, I broke on.

[62] You got to fuck somebody up.

[63] Yeah, no. I was playing football, and I think I fell on my wrist or something and cracked it or something.

[64] And that's me winning the Mr. Universe, turning pro, in the middle.

[65] And that's me winning in 99 Mr. Olympia, far right there.

[66] Wow.

[67] damn you were big yeah I was kind of big a little bit there well you know I got a lot bigger than that that was my second Olympia I only weighed about 255 there what's the biggest you ever got I was 295 my 7th one so I put on a little bit more weight as I got on up there but is it one of those things where you just kind of have to keep up with everybody else and everybody just keeps getting bigger and bigger no it was that thing But when I was trying to distance myself from everybody else So I kept getting bigger and bigger So nobody would catch up with me And what a lot of people don't understand is You see me big up there like that But, you know, it took a long time for me to get there You know, that doesn't happen overnight I put on about five pounds of muscle Between five and ten pounds of muscle a year And that came from all that, you know, that heavy lifting A lot of eating A lot of eating What was a standard meal for you?

[68] I mean, it wasn't a lot to me, you know, but if somebody, you know, normal try to eat it, it would probably be a lot.

[69] So I eat probably like a pound of chicken, grilled breast, you know, with half a cup of rice.

[70] That was a normal meal.

[71] Yeah, that was a normal meal.

[72] And how many of those would you have a day?

[73] I had a lot of six meals a day, you know.

[74] It's kind of hard to eat like that, you know.

[75] So I would have to wake.

[76] up in the middle of the night to eat and go back to sleep really yeah was that annoying no no i would think that'd be annoying you're tired and sleeping and you gotta wake up to eat no you kind of get used to it yeah when you eat like that you get you hungry every three hours oh really yeah every two or three hours you're hungry because i'm not i'm not eating a lot of fat you know right it's lean you know i'm not eating a lot of carbs so it's just it's a little A little bit of food at a time, for me, it was.

[77] And you would get down to what percent body fat?

[78] I was 0 .33.

[79] Point 3 .3?

[80] What does that mean?

[81] Is that less than 3 %?

[82] That's less than half a percent.

[83] Oh, 0 .33.

[84] Like, what?

[85] Point 3 .3.

[86] How does a human get that low?

[87] I got to attribute it to my genetics.

[88] But was it also like a trickle -down system?

[89] Like, off -season.

[90] Say if you, like, how many weeks would it take for you to get ready for Mr. Olympia?

[91] 10 to 12.

[92] 10 to 12.

[93] So at 12 weeks out, how much body fat do you think you were carrying around then?

[94] About 3%.

[95] So 3 was at a high?

[96] That's the highest, yeah.

[97] Jesus.

[98] Would you get tired all the time?

[99] I'm 330 pounds at that, though.

[100] Oh, my God.

[101] Would you get tired all the time with that little body fat?

[102] I'm, I'm real good and fast.

[103] That's good and fat.

[104] 3 % body fat is good and fat.

[105] That's hilarious.

[106] Jamie, see if you can pull up a picture of him winning the seventh Mr. Olympia title when he was at his heaviest.

[107] I want to see what that looks like.

[108] I was pretty big at that one.

[109] Yeah, you were big, man. I remember looking at the magazines and like shaking my head.

[110] Today I would say, oh, that's Photoshopped.

[111] They didn't have Photoshop back then.

[112] No, they didn't have it back then.

[113] You know, I was a little bit too big for that.

[114] when they had me to come down a little bit for the next one.

[115] Oh, really?

[116] So I came down to like 275.

[117] So when you said they coaches, your...

[118] Some of the judges and stuff.

[119] The judges?

[120] Yeah.

[121] The judges were telling you you're too big?

[122] Yeah.

[123] That's when you know you're fucked up.

[124] That's when you're getting crazy.

[125] When the judges at Mr. Olympia are telling you a guy who's won it multiple years in a row.

[126] Yeah, seven years in a row, yeah.

[127] They're telling you you getting too big.

[128] Yeah, getting too big.

[129] Ronnie, take it down a notch.

[130] Because, you know, the guy next to me is only like $2 .50, you know.

[131] But why were they saying, you still looked amazing.

[132] Like, why were they saying you were too big?

[133] Because I was at the time.

[134] It really was too big?

[135] Yeah, for the standards back then, you know.

[136] How do they define that, though?

[137] It's really just taste, right?

[138] Like, it's, they look at it and they decide.

[139] Subjective, yeah, in a way.

[140] It's kind of subjective in a way.

[141] Is that what year was the seventh one?

[142] I think it was 05.

[143] Was it 05, Ryan?

[144] No, that's the eighth one.

[145] 04, it's number 7.

[146] Oh, there we go.

[147] Yeah, that's it right there.

[148] Wow.

[149] Yeah.

[150] God, you were huge.

[151] That does look like a guy who comes out of a lab to kill the Hulk.

[152] You know, like some evil genius.

[153] Like the Hulk is working for the Avengers.

[154] Yeah.

[155] Yeah.

[156] So how do they, how do they, make that conversation with you when they say Ronnie you're too big well just talking to my nutritionist you know I had a nutritionist that did all my diets and all that kind of stuff for me so they probably just you know told him real nicely yeah bring it down a notch I remember there's a photo of you when you're still on the police force and you were also I don't know if you're Mr. Olympian when you were on the police force would you three times yeah and then you eventually left the force yeah uh -huh you were so big you're sitting there with the uniform on, I'm like, there is no way that's a regular uniform.

[157] No, it's not.

[158] No, it's not a uniform.

[159] Did you wear those shorts?

[160] That can't be real.

[161] Did you arrest people with those shorts on?

[162] No, I made those shorts myself.

[163] But we did wear shorts, though.

[164] We did have shorts for a police department.

[165] I think you see that picture right there.

[166] I got on shorts in the briefing room, but they're not showing my legs right there.

[167] Right there.

[168] Yeah, right there.

[169] Yeah, I have on shorts if you, if, you.

[170] That picture is actually bigger than that, but you just can't see it.

[171] Did that inspire other guys you worked with to start lifting, too?

[172] Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

[173] I know what I imagine.

[174] We had a gym at the station.

[175] Oh, really?

[176] We had about four or five stations.

[177] Every station has a gym.

[178] We have a training center with a huge gym.

[179] Really?

[180] Yeah, I started working out there when I first hired on.

[181] I worked out with me and the chief and some other guys.

[182] We all worked out together there for a while.

[183] And this is in the beginning before you were gigantic.

[184] Yeah, before I got real, real big, you know.

[185] You know, I've had to start small.

[186] Of course.

[187] Everybody's a baby at one point in time.

[188] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[189] So I was 215 when I first started.

[190] Now, when you first started, did you have this idea that one day, was this a dream?

[191] No, no, no. No. I did it because the guy gave me a free membership to the gym.

[192] I never had a dream.

[193] I just wanted a free membership because I was poor back then.

[194] and I couldn't, you know, afford to pay the gym membership because I just hired on there and coming from Domino's Pizza, where I, you know, I had to eat pizza every day to survive because I didn't make that much money.

[195] By the time I got the police department, and I was still struggling and trying to get back on my feet and I couldn't afford membership still, you know.

[196] And this was when you were 24?

[197] Yeah, I was 24.

[198] So you were just a big guy?

[199] Yeah, I've been regular big.

[200] I've been big and muscular my whole entire life.

[201] But regular big, not like Mr. Olympia big.

[202] Well, I would say put a picture up there that somebody took not too long ago.

[203] Because when I first got into a sportive bodybuilding, I was doing security at a Mr. Olympia event.

[204] And most of the people in the audience thought that I should be on stage back then.

[205] I didn't think so, you know, what they thought that.

[206] I had 22, 23 -inch arms back then.

[207] I had that was 22, 22, 21, 22 inch arms in college.

[208] How big were they, when you were at your biggest?

[209] 24.

[210] 24, that's the biggest they got.

[211] That's like a waist.

[212] You have some girl.

[213] Yeah, but like a runner.

[214] Like Zach Bitter?

[215] I bet Zach Bitter got a 24 -inch waist.

[216] Actually, my waist was like 29 when I first started.

[217] Wow.

[218] I remember Holyfield when he was a heavyweight champion of the world.

[219] a 28 -inch waist.

[220] Yeah, yeah.

[221] That's crazy.

[222] That's a V right there.

[223] Yeah, exactly.

[224] Yeah, crazy.

[225] So you start, so you do this security for the Mr. Olympia event.

[226] 91, yeah.

[227] Did that get like the bug in your head?

[228] Did you start thinking?

[229] No, no, no, no. I never started thinking that.

[230] How did it happen?

[231] One of the first one in 98.

[232] So how do you enter it?

[233] What makes you want to enter something like that?

[234] Well, like I said, the gas.

[235] said, if you compete, I give you a free membership to the gym.

[236] Okay.

[237] So I was just competing for a free membership to the gym because I work full -time police department.

[238] I had that job.

[239] I had like a couple of security jobs on the side.

[240] So I didn't really, you know, need money from body building.

[241] I had, you know, benefits and everything.

[242] So you were just doing it for a free membership?

[243] I was just doing it for a free membership.

[244] So you do it and obviously people go, this guy's got real potential.

[245] I guess they were saying that to themselves.

[246] I never heard everybody to say.

[247] so what did you do like you just decided to keep going and I just kept going for the free membership yeah I'm not gonna give it up so competing just was about free memberships at one point in time when did it become serious when I won my first Olympia 98 that's when it became serious when you first Olympia yeah yeah do you know how many body builders right now want to jump out of a building yeah I'm not they're gonna go right to the top floor and fucking leap out of window yeah well see my dream was always to be a professional football player.

[248] Oh.

[249] So I played football, junior high, high school, college, and all that kind of stuff.

[250] And when I didn't draft it, I'm like, okay, I got a degree so I can get a good job, you know, with a accounting degree, and I graduated with honors and all that kind of stuff, and I figured I'd just be an accountant and make good money there.

[251] So I never had no dreams of aspiration being bodybuilding.

[252] But you never were an accountant?

[253] No, I never made it.

[254] You never did?

[255] I never got a job.

[256] So you just got a job in the police department instead?

[257] Uh -huh, yeah, exactly.

[258] I tried for about two years.

[259] To get an accountant, John?

[260] Yeah, I tried real hard.

[261] I did a million interviews to some of the biggest accounting firms in the world, in the United States anyway.

[262] And nobody never hired me. So, like, two years later, okay, I'm done.

[263] This ain't meant to be, there ain't nothing happening here, you know.

[264] That's two years.

[265] And I always saw an ad for, police officers and when I got the newspaper every weekend and it was always a big ad you know so it stood out so I'm like hmm they hire and then you don't need experience because all the jobs I went on you know interviews I went on they always want you to have experience I'm like well if I don't hire man you're no experience so I'm like I'm like well just give up on this you know just go give me a job where you don't have to have experience and like said the police officer said was the thing that stood out the most.

[266] And I'm like, that's not like a job where I can have a lot of fun, you know.

[267] I can't believe that you didn't really get serious until after you won Mr. Olympia.

[268] That's hard to believe.

[269] Yeah, yeah.

[270] Well, you got to understand, you know, I never had any dreams of being a Mr. Olympia.

[271] I never had any dreams of being a bodybuilding.

[272] I only did it because the guy gave me a free membership to the gym.

[273] But once you started getting going and you won Mr. Olympia and you realized, wow, I'm the best, I got to throw myself into this.

[274] Exactly.

[275] Because the way you worked out, man, I watched a video of you working out once and like just the intensity and thinking like this guy's not just doing, this guy's doing this guy's doing this for 12 weeks straight, the intensity that you had in the gym.

[276] Like you were a, there's a certain level no matter what the sport is.

[277] Champions have a certain level of focus and dedication.

[278] And I remember watching that video, I'm going, that's what a champion looks like.

[279] That's what a champion looks like.

[280] Well, you guys also think, realize that, you know, I started working out when I was 12.

[281] I kind of fell in love with it when I was 13.

[282] It just kind of became a hobby once I joined the powerlifting team.

[283] So I enjoyed working out.

[284] When you won the first Mr. Olympia, how old were you then?

[285] 34.

[286] Okay, so you had a solid eight years of lifting?

[287] You know, this is after you were on the force for a while.

[288] Yeah, exactly.

[289] And I already had the base, too, you know, being in high school on the power lifting team.

[290] Now, power lifting and lifting heavy is always a very controversial thing amongst bodybuilders, right?

[291] Because some bodybuilders never lifted as heavy as you did.

[292] No, no. What was your philosophy on that?

[293] To each his own, you know, I lifted heavy because that's what I like to do.

[294] And that's what I was able to do.

[295] Like I said, I just was kind of like, in a way, I was kind of gifted to be strong like that, you know.

[296] And there's something that I was, I always was.

[297] Even when I was in high school, I was benching about $3 .50.

[298] Wow.

[299] I was four.

[300] In high school.

[301] I was squatting five over five in high school.

[302] So that's just always something's been a part of you.

[303] Yes, something that's been part of me. Now, when bodybuilders work out, for the most part, it's a lot of high reps, with weight that's not in the set.

[304] How would you do it?

[305] I did the same way.

[306] You know, I started out at, you know, like 20 reps, you know, warming up, and then 15 reps, then like 12, 10, something like that on my last and heavier set.

[307] So you still were doing fairly large number of repetitions?

[308] Still doing them fairly large number of repetitions.

[309] But much higher weight than a lot of folks were.

[310] Yeah, I was like, so when I went up, I squatted, I went up to like 600.

[311] I would do like, you know, 12 to 15 reps with that.

[312] And benching, the same, I would go up to like 400, 12 to 15 reps with that.

[313] That's a tremendous amount of weight.

[314] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[315] It sounds like it.

[316] Yeah.

[317] Until you go up against some of these guys are doing crazy amounts of weights.

[318] Now, you've also, since then, you've had a bunch of surgeries.

[319] 13 so far And what started that off Well I kind of hurt my back in high school When I was power lifting And then I heard it again in college When I was playing football Hit my back and neck And I did chiropractor for a long time And then one day in the gym I heard it like in 96 I kind of herniated a disc And I guess it just got worse over time.

[320] So when you herniated that disc, what did you do to treat it?

[321] Nothing, nothing.

[322] I'm with the chiropractor.

[323] Carripractor, yeah.

[324] I've been doing chiropractic all my life.

[325] Yeah.

[326] So I didn't, you know, I didn't have a surgery or nothing like that when I herniated that disc.

[327] They offered me to have surgery.

[328] I told no one.

[329] So the surgery they wanted to do was probably trim the disc down because it was pushing against the nerve.

[330] Yeah.

[331] You know, nomenectomy, whatever they call it.

[332] Yeah.

[333] And so 13 of those, huh?

[334] 13 surgeries.

[335] Eight back, like two or three hip, two or three neck.

[336] And did this all like happen all at once where it's like it felt like everything was falling apart?

[337] Or was it like you get a surgery and then you're better for a little while and then you hurt something else?

[338] Yeah, something like that.

[339] Yeah.

[340] Because the first one was back.

[341] The second one was back.

[342] And then I think the third one was neck.

[343] And then back and back and hip.

[344] Back, back, back.

[345] HIP.

[346] And what did you get done to your hips?

[347] You get your hips replaced?

[348] Yeah, yeah, both of them.

[349] Oof.

[350] And like, what was that?

[351] What are you at?

[352] 14, I think?

[353] Yeah, 14.

[354] And how are those now?

[355] I just had a hip surgery in January.

[356] it's holding up a little bit better now one kind of went bad sock is broke and they had to replace both of them and they say they only last a certain amount of years right yeah yeah yeah every night I had the titanium ones and the titanium are the hardest ones because they rough and they're titanium and they kind of hard on the body oh yeah and because of that and you know and me working and all this kind of stuff and it kind of just broke the sockets well i follow you on instagram and uh i watch your workouts and it's it's inspiring that after all this you still love working out i mean yes you can really tell i mean you enjoy it still a hobby look forward to it every day does it give you any pause at all knowing that you've been through all these surgeries and no you know when you're doing something that you truly love and joy and doing and that's what you look forward to doing all the time.

[357] So really...

[358] Regardless of, you know, how you feel, you know.

[359] Of course, I'm still in pain and all that kind of stuff, but...

[360] Are you in pain all the time?

[361] Yeah, but as long as I'm doing what I love doing, I'm okay.

[362] You take that away, then I probably won't be okay.

[363] But so, let's just even sitting here right now you're in pain.

[364] Just a minimum amount.

[365] It's nothing major.

[366] You know, if you're an athlete, You didn't paint all your life.

[367] Yeah.

[368] I mean, I can remember in high school and college.

[369] You know, I was in pain some of days.

[370] All the time.

[371] All the time, yeah.

[372] So after a while, you kind of get used to it and doesn't really bother you.

[373] That's why, you know, I'm imagining that you have a spectacular tolerance for pain.

[374] Yeah, I have a high tolerance.

[375] I remember when I herniated my disc, I finished my workout.

[376] I was squatting 600.

[377] I remember like it yesterday.

[378] I was coming up on rep number eight, and all of a sudden, paya.

[379] It was a loud gunshot time.

[380] You know, I do 600 for like 12, 13 reps all the time.

[381] This time I took a couple weeks off, and I thought I was still as strong as I was, you know, when I took the time off, but I wouldn't.

[382] I lost a little strength.

[383] and that's why that diss snapped on me like that.

[384] I heard it and I felt it, but, you know, the athlete in you was like, you know, let's go on and let's finish this up.

[385] So I finished up, you know, I did like leg press and some other exercises.

[386] And every time after I finished working out doing legs, I always had a real bad.

[387] pain in my back every single time but it would always go away in like an hour this day it didn't and I was I just went home eight put on my uniform was headed to work and I'm like wait a minute my back is still hurting this it's two hours almost two hours later something's wrong I ain't going to work today I'm going to emergency room oh wow so bad yeah it was that bad yeah And so he went through the emergency room They were probably like, what the fuck are you doing The size of this guy Yeah, like, we don't see nothing wrong with your back They probably couldn't get to it Well, they did x -ray And they like, we don't see anything So that's when I had an MRI a couple days later And found out it was honey at him So I stayed at home for a couple weeks And I sat on the couch and didn't do anything.

[388] And two weeks later, I went back to the gym.

[389] First exercise was squats.

[390] Oh, my God.

[391] Did it hurt again?

[392] No, no, no. I'll get ready for a show, so.

[393] So it was okay?

[394] Yeah, it was okay.

[395] Two weeks after you herniated your disc, you're doing squats again?

[396] Yeah.

[397] But how much weight?

[398] I only did 300.

[399] Oh, only 300.

[400] Yeah.

[401] That's the most I could do for 10 and reps, you know?

[402] Wow.

[403] 10 to 12 reps, so I'm like, okay, this is good enough, you know.

[404] But you knew that something was wrong.

[405] Yeah, yeah.

[406] Yeah, I couldn't do $600 no more, you know, so.

[407] So after that, how long before you got your first surgery?

[408] Ten years later.

[409] Ten years later.

[410] Ten years later.

[411] So it was just intolerable pain, like what was going on?

[412] I couldn't walk, like, no more than like 25 feet without my leg being on fire.

[413] Oh, wow.

[414] My feet being on fire.

[415] And then allow a whole lot of pain.

[416] Wow.

[417] So I knew it's time to get some serious done here now.

[418] So what was the first?

[419] Did they fuse it?

[420] Lemonectomy, they shaved it off.

[421] Okay, so that was the first one.

[422] Yeah.

[423] And I was good for a while.

[424] You know, I went back to squatting and everything.

[425] This is while you're still Mr. Olympia?

[426] No, you know, I had retired.

[427] I retired in 2007, so I had my first surgery in 2007.

[428] Okay.

[429] Okay, so this is after you're retired.

[430] Yeah.

[431] You're not doing too bad, just in a little bit of pain.

[432] Yeah.

[433] So how does it all go downhill from there?

[434] I think maybe the second, about a year or so later, I started having problems again, being in pain again.

[435] Same area?

[436] Same area.

[437] Were you squatting heavy still?

[438] Yeah.

[439] 600 pounds still, that kind of stuff?

[440] No, because I wasn't competing.

[441] And so I was probably doing about four or five hundred somewhere in there.

[442] But then, you know, it's still kind of heavy.

[443] Yeah.

[444] And I didn't have the weight I used to have either.

[445] You know, I wasn't 300 and some pounds or more.

[446] So it was a little bit more difficult.

[447] So it just kind of went bad on me again, and I had to have another surgery.

[448] Same kind of surgery?

[449] They trim more off of it?

[450] Actually, they did what, you know, call like uh i forgot actually what they did it's been so long ago that was back in like like 2008 2009 somewhere in there they kind of like did a refresher like they i think they did trim a little bit more off it though but uh you know it was all pretty much kind of like down here from there and so after that injury and that surgery then how do you how do you wind up with the other 11 surgeries well Well, I think like the first time you herniated a disc, it's like you can stack a bunch of cans on top of each other and you snap one out.

[451] Well, after a while, the other one's going to start falling out of place, too.

[452] And that's kind of what happened.

[453] You know, the other did start just herniating on their own.

[454] Of course, I was working out too.

[455] Yeah.

[456] And I still have one now.

[457] You got a herniated disc now?

[458] Mm -hmm.

[459] Yeah.

[460] How many discs have you had operated on?

[461] All of them.

[462] All of them, every single desk.

[463] Every single one.

[464] So this one that you have a herniated disc on now, have you already had it operated on before?

[465] No, this will be the first time.

[466] This is the last one.

[467] Yeah.

[468] Wow.

[469] And so what do they do with your back?

[470] They basically fuse everything together now?

[471] So the whole spine is fused?

[472] Wow.

[473] Neck and back.

[474] How much mobility do you have?

[475] I mean, I can still, you know, bend over and tie my shoe and do all that kind of stuff.

[476] But your back is one solid piece.

[477] Yeah.

[478] So there's no like articulation of your discs in your spine, your spinal common, nothing.

[479] Wow.

[480] Nothing like that.

[481] What does that feel like?

[482] Uh, I mean, I guess it just feels kind of normal after a while.

[483] You know, you get used to it.

[484] Yeah.

[485] It happens over time, so it's like a gradual thing.

[486] So it's not all of a sudden.

[487] So it's just like one day, you know, I used to be able to just bend over and do all these stretches, these crazy stretches.

[488] Well, I can't do all that no more.

[489] Yeah.

[490] I can just bend over a little bit, you know, and do a minor stretch.

[491] Now, are the doctors, are they confident that this is the last one?

[492] I mean, you've got them all fused.

[493] Yeah, it's always something, though, you know.

[494] Yeah, when you, an athlete and you're always working out and always in the gym, it's going to always be something.

[495] You just accept that.

[496] Yeah, exactly.

[497] That's a...

[498] You're used to it after a while.

[499] For a lot of people, that's a hard thing to accept, this idea that you're just going to keep smashing your body.

[500] But that's just you.

[501] Yeah, exactly.

[502] I've got used to it now.

[503] It's been like 07, 13 years now.

[504] Wow.

[505] Now, are you in this wheelchair?

[506] all the time?

[507] No, no, I don't have crutches.

[508] It's just that I left them at home.

[509] I can walk maybe about from here to that wall unassisted.

[510] But, you know, after so, so after being up for so long, my leg get real weak.

[511] And is it because of your back?

[512] Yeah, because of my back.

[513] Is it something that's like cutting off the nerves or something?

[514] Yeah, exactly.

[515] cutting off the nerves yeah and is there anything they can do about that I mean you know maybe one day they'll come out with something that'll help get it stronger I was thinking about trying the stem cell thing yeah they said that should help a lot too right there well there's a bunch of places that they do it where they could do it with a lot stronger stem cells than they could do in America yeah place in Columbia does it and there's a place in Panama that actually sent my mom My mom, they wanted to give her a knee replacement, and doctors didn't want to operate right away.

[516] And I was like, let me see if we can send you down to Panama, let me see if Dr. Reardon, he'd been in here before with Mel Gibson, and he was talking about Mel Gibson's dad, and Mel Gibson's dad was in real bad shape when he was 92.

[517] And then now he's 100, and he's fine.

[518] I mean, he's gone back there a bunch of times, keeps going back for stem cells.

[519] Yeah.

[520] Long story short, my mom was scheduled to get a knee replacement.

[521] I sent her down to Panama, and six months later, it started to feel good.

[522] Eight months later, no pain at all.

[523] Yeah.

[524] It really did a great, and then I sent her down a second time.

[525] It's pretty amazing stuff, what they can do.

[526] Yeah.

[527] So that's my thing to do next.

[528] Yeah.

[529] And people I have talked to, they think it will do me a lot of good.

[530] So is it there's scar tissue around the nerves that's pushing it?

[531] against the nerves now?

[532] Because if all the discs are gone and everything's fused, what's irritating the nerves?

[533] Scar tissue, all that hardware.

[534] I got 14 screws, two cages.

[535] I got two rods about this long in there, too.

[536] So it's a lot of hardware, a lot of cages.

[537] What are the cages look like?

[538] So it's a cage around your spine?

[539] Yeah, yeah.

[540] And what's the purpose of that?

[541] I hold it this together, keep them in place, yeah, you know.

[542] After a while, they don't want them to come loose, so they put cages around them, keep them together.

[543] So you're like Robocop in there.

[544] Yeah, pretty much.

[545] So I got that in my neck and back.

[546] You have a cage in your neck?

[547] Yeah, uh -huh.

[548] You got an x -ray of any of this shit?

[549] Yeah, I should do.

[550] Where is it at?

[551] Is it online?

[552] I have posted a couple times online, yeah.

[553] On your Instagram page?

[554] See if you can find you that, Jamie.

[555] That's crazy.

[556] You're just laughing about it.

[557] Like, you're fine with it.

[558] Well, you get used to it after a. But is it also that you look at, like, you're a legitimate legend.

[559] And so do you look at it like, hey, this is the price that I paid to be a legend?

[560] I look at it like, hey, I'm still alive and I can still work out every day.

[561] I'm still normal, so I'm good.

[562] Wow.

[563] that's a great healthy attitude man you're obviously still huge you're still very strong well I'm not as strong as I used to be I'm not as big as I used to be either I'm only like 250 now you know but when you say that you're you're judging it on you being a multiple time mr. Olympia that's not a regular person saying I'm not as big as I used to be like you can't stay that big it's not possible no no way no way how many years you think like that no more right I bet it's nice to just be able to to eat when you want.

[564] I don't eat half the food I used to eat.

[565] I could only imagine.

[566] Yeah.

[567] I used to eat six.

[568] I only eat three now.

[569] That's a normal person.

[570] Yeah.

[571] You got anything, Jamie?

[572] Oh, that's going to be hard to find.

[573] There it is.

[574] Oh, my God.

[575] That's crazy.

[576] That's what a cage looks like.

[577] Uh -huh.

[578] Yeah.

[579] Wow.

[580] All that stuff's heavy duty.

[581] The size of those screws in that picture on the left.

[582] Yeah, they're about three.

[583] inches long two to three inches long yeah and they got screws on the end of them boats on the end of you you can see on the end right here on that one on the last those are boats right there so no the big screws in between that too yeah wow yeah that goes all way up all the way up your whole back yeah so there's no neck to my neck my neck is the same way wow four, three, four, five, and six.

[584] And so in doing this, they've saved your back, but they've, all the hardware is what's fucking with your nerves.

[585] Yeah, yeah, all the hardware, yeah, it's pinching on the nerves, causing pain and stuff.

[586] And what does the doctor say about that stuff?

[587] I ain't nothing they can do about that.

[588] It's just going to be like that.

[589] They say they can take it screwed up maybe one day, but it's a major surgery to do that.

[590] Yeah.

[591] You know, they got to cut me from all the top to bottom and, you know, take all those out.

[592] It's 14 of them.

[593] That started from the top all way down to the bottom.

[594] Would that be possible that if they did that, it would alleviate some of the pinching on your nerves?

[595] Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[596] Have you thought about it?

[597] Yeah.

[598] I just went to the doctor and talked to him about it last week.

[599] Oh, yeah, what was he say?

[600] He said, I got another hernia at this.

[601] Oh, boy.

[602] And they need to fix that for anything about taking it out.

[603] And where's the one that's hernia, the new one that's hernia?

[604] It's up the top.

[605] See, the lower ones are already fused, just the one on the top.

[606] It's the one that's herniated now.

[607] Now, is it bulging or is it herniated?

[608] He said herniated, so.

[609] Pushing out.

[610] I had a bulging disc that I had fixed with something called Regenicine.

[611] Have you ever heard of Regenicine?

[612] No. They invented it down in Germany, and a lot of athletes like Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning.

[613] They all went to Germany.

[614] It's like this blood -spinning procedure.

[615] Have you heard of it?

[616] Yeah, I've heard of it.

[617] They do it in America now.

[618] They have an office in Dallas.

[619] They have an office in Santa Monica.

[620] And I went to the one in Santa Monica.

[621] And they take your blood out.

[622] They spin it and they apply some medication to it.

[623] And then it becomes this yellow serum.

[624] And then they inject the yellow serum directly into the area where the disc is.

[625] And it alleviates all the inflammation.

[626] And the disc slowly goes back into place.

[627] For me, Then two weeks, I had extreme relief within two weeks.

[628] And then now there's no bulging disc at all.

[629] I went back after I did the full round of treatments, which I think was, if I remember correctly, five or six different treatments.

[630] I went back.

[631] I got a new MRI and there's no bulge anymore.

[632] Yeah, that's sort of like what they do when they do with PRP.

[633] Yes, it is like PRP.

[634] It's just more advanced.

[635] It's just another level of PRP.

[636] Did you do the PRP?

[637] Yeah, I did all that.

[638] Did that help your neck at all?

[639] No, I didn't do anything for me. Damn.

[640] That did my neck and back, actually.

[641] Well, I would wonder what would help you, like stem cells and then get those screws out too.

[642] Pretty much the only thing going to help me, I think.

[643] So all this stuff with your legs, though, that wasn't the case before the screws and before all the...

[644] No, no, no. Yeah, I would imagine that's what's going on, man. It's all fused up, right?

[645] It doesn't have to be screwed in, right?

[646] No, no. That's why I went to the doctor because they said after about a couple of years, everything would be fused up.

[647] Yeah, fused up and not to take the screws out.

[648] So does the doctor want to operate on your neck as well?

[649] No, he just fixed my neck a year ago.

[650] But the new bulge.

[651] Yeah, this is the new bulge in my back now.

[652] Oh, it's in your back?

[653] Yes, this is my back, yeah.

[654] Oh.

[655] No, it seems like it, though, but I was just wanting to get the screws out because I'm, you know, it's been a long time and it's still in pain and, like I said, it's still pinching me and still got, you know, the nerves being pinched.

[656] And I think, you know, my legs are numb, too.

[657] My foot's totally numb.

[658] Yeah.

[659] And I was thinking maybe if I took the screws out, I get some of this numbness to go away.

[660] Yeah.

[661] And I get some strength.

[662] also.

[663] Do you think you're going to wind up doing that?

[664] If possible, one day I would like to.

[665] Man, I'm hoping someone hears this that's a specialist that has a solution for you.

[666] How many different doctors have you seen?

[667] Right now, just one.

[668] Just a one doctor?

[669] Just a one.

[670] Is that a local guy near you?

[671] Yeah, yeah, local guy in Fort Worth, Texas.

[672] Also, my first surgery, my, no, no, no, no, Kind of like my fourth or fifth one.

[673] They operated on me for about 13 hours.

[674] They cut me in the front, turn me over on the side, cut me on the side.

[675] And then they put me on my back and cut me on my back.

[676] Jesus.

[677] And that gave me a lot of problems.

[678] That started the immobility thing right there.

[679] And what was this surgery?

[680] I was good until I did that surgery.

[681] What kind of surgery was that as another fusion?

[682] Yeah.

[683] Why do they have to cut you in so many places?

[684] Because they had to fuse so many deaths, put in so many screws.

[685] And that was in 15, I think.

[686] Wow.

[687] At 16, December 15, I remember getting off the plane in Russia.

[688] And Russia?

[689] Yeah.

[690] You got that done in Russia?

[691] No, no. I remember getting off the plane in Russia, and I'm like, man, my back is hurting.

[692] and I was walking fine to the hotel the next day my mobility got worse and the day after I was on crushes and I've been on me ever since just so out of nowhere out of nowhere and how far out from the surgery was this the surgery was like the next month oh so this is before the surgery yeah this is before yeah okay so then they come You open in the front, the side, the back, and then everything's downhill from there.

[693] Yeah, everything went down here from there.

[694] Man, I'm really hoping that somebody listens to this, and some doctor hears about this.

[695] Well, one thing is you're in Fort Worth.

[696] Dr. Reardon is actually his office is in Dallas, so it's pretty close to you.

[697] Yeah, that's real close to me. I'd love to connect you to him and see if there's anything that he could do.

[698] Yeah, that would be nice.

[699] Yeah.

[700] Because I'm always looking to get better because these crutches are getting on my nerves.

[701] I could only imagine.

[702] After five years now.

[703] And a guy who was the level of athlete that you were when you were in your prime.

[704] And how old are you now?

[705] I just turned 56 two weeks ago.

[706] But you look great.

[707] Well, I'm still working out every day and eating good.

[708] Yeah, it would be nice if they could do something to turn this back around.

[709] I like to get my strength back.

[710] Yeah, I guarantee Dr. Reardon could probably help.

[711] Yeah.

[712] I don't want to guarantee it.

[713] But he's a real expert in, you know, stem cells and the benefits of stem cells.

[714] Well, maybe I'll give them a call.

[715] Yeah, I'll connect you to, for sure.

[716] So what's a normal day like for you these days?

[717] Well, I've got four kids at home, five, six, eight, nine.

[718] So that keeps you busy.

[719] That keeps me extremely busy.

[720] I'm taking them to Burger King.

[721] every day.

[722] And I'm just, you know, riding around with them doing what I do, you know.

[723] If I, like, go to car wash, wash the car, then they're with me. I go to friends' house with them, you know, they're with me. And most of the time, you're just walking on these crutches?

[724] Yeah, I'm always on the crutches.

[725] So, yeah, I hang out with them all day now.

[726] That's, that's, that's, that's, that's my day.

[727] Before, you know, I was going on, I was on the road every other weekend, or every two weeks.

[728] Seminars and things.

[729] Seminars, you know, all that kind of stuff, appearances.

[730] But since the virus, I've been hanged with them.

[731] They've become my best friend.

[732] Are you enjoying that?

[733] Yeah, yeah.

[734] There's something, a lot of people found some enjoyment from this being locked at home.

[735] Yeah, it's a lot of fun, yeah.

[736] Because it forces you to take time off.

[737] Yeah, I don't got used to it now.

[738] I got lazy.

[739] Now I just want to stay home now Well, there's something nice about being home a lot I mean, I've only been on the road a couple times Since this lockdown It's a lot of niceness about being home It's nice, yeah And the big thing for me that I found is health Like you feel better Because you're not traveling all the time Exactly, well, you know, I don't get sick so You don't get sick ever?

[740] No, no, never Really?

[741] No Wow I can remember like two or three days in my life I've been sick The way you said it was funny.

[742] I don't get sick.

[743] Like, you're not talking about I don't usually get sick.

[744] Like, I don't get sick.

[745] No, I don't really get sick.

[746] Wow.

[747] I don't get colds and flus and all that kind of stuff.

[748] I've had, like, a stomach flu, like, two or three times in my life.

[749] Wow.

[750] That's about it.

[751] But traveling on the road does wear you out, though, right?

[752] Like, get a little rundown.

[753] You get used to it.

[754] Yeah?

[755] Yeah, you get used to it.

[756] Did you have any strategies to, like, beat jet lag or anything like that?

[757] I didn't get jet lag.

[758] after a while you don't get colds you didn't get jet lag yeah when I first started traveling I used to get it yeah but after a while you you don't get it anymore do you just get used to it you just get used to it so when you would land somewhere would you just immediately work out go to the gym yeah that's the move right I get off the plane go to gym that does reset you yeah yeah that's my favorite thing to do I'm in a hotel room I have it set up like like the what like you know after you eat you brush your teeth when I land I go to the gym yeah that's what I do yeah that's what I do Yeah.

[759] That is one way.

[760] It sucks.

[761] Like you're tired, you're worn out from travel.

[762] But if you can force yourself, you feel a lot better.

[763] Well, I've made it to where I can sleep on the airplane.

[764] And I sleep pretty good.

[765] So by the time I get to where I'm going, you know, I'm all rested up.

[766] I'm good to go.

[767] Now, when you were competing, were you, I mean, you're eating all these meals a day.

[768] Were you drinking a shitload of water to?

[769] Like, how much water are you drinking?

[770] Like a shitload of water.

[771] like you said, I was drinking like two or three gallons a day.

[772] Two or three gallons.

[773] The gym I worked out of it, there's no AC, and it's 105, 110 sometimes.

[774] Oh, it's in Fort Worth, this gym?

[775] Allington, which is right next to Fort Worth.

[776] That's hot as fuck.

[777] Yeah, exactly.

[778] And then I worked for the police department.

[779] I had this vest on all the time, so I was drenched every day after work.

[780] So I'm always drinking water there.

[781] So you have to drink a lot of water.

[782] Now, as far as like supplements and nutrition and vitamins and things along those lines, you were talking about which ate, but like what other stuff would you take?

[783] I had a nutritionist, so he did my whole plan.

[784] And some of the stuff I don't even remember that he had me doing.

[785] But it was quite a bit of stuff.

[786] Was it based on blood work?

[787] Do your blood work and then?

[788] Yeah, I did blood work probably like three times a year.

[789] and he made sure I got plenty vitamins and plenty minerals and other things, you know, because I didn't like vegetables, so you would kind of supplement, you know, vitamins and stuff for that.

[790] You didn't eat vegetables at all?

[791] At all.

[792] Really?

[793] No?

[794] Some people think you don't need them.

[795] There's a whole.

[796] There's a bunch of people that are on what's called a carnivore diet.

[797] Have you heard that?

[798] Yeah, that's me. Yeah, there's a bunch of people that don't eat vegetables.

[799] They basically mostly eat meat.

[800] Yeah, I would eat baked potato and rice.

[801] That was about it.

[802] But why is it mostly chicken?

[803] Why do bodybuilders mostly eat chicken?

[804] Because it's so lean?

[805] Lean, yeah.

[806] Chicken breast, you know, it's the lean you can get pretty much.

[807] I also had steak, at least once a day.

[808] Also, lean steak, you know.

[809] filet mignon so I'll eat chickens three times a day turkey also and steak now when the competition was over and you won did you pig out did you go crazy I went crazy every single time I started out at Pizza Hut I'd eat that first and I had that in the room when I got back as soon as pizza hut was over I went to McDonald's a pick out there and when we got left there, I went straight to strip club.

[810] And pig out there?

[811] The pig out there.

[812] Now, how long would you do this before you get back to work?

[813] Oh, just that night?

[814] Just one night?

[815] Yeah.

[816] And then back to the gym on Monday?

[817] No, no, no. I took three months off after that.

[818] Oh, three months, really?

[819] Three months with no lifting at all?

[820] No lifting, no nothing.

[821] I ate what I wanted to eat and I didn't work out, didn't do cardio, nothing.

[822] How did you take that much time off?

[823] Because I felt I needed it.

[824] Really?

[825] Yeah.

[826] I was kind of like, you know, recharging the battery.

[827] Because I knew once I started back, it wasn't going to be no, you know, no lit, non -lifting kind of stuff.

[828] Is it weird to make that transition from this crazy Spartan life of 12 weeks of just hardcore training to boom, shut it off?

[829] No. Three months?

[830] No. That was nice?

[831] After that 12 weeks of work or training, you're looking for a break.

[832] I would imagine.

[833] Yeah.

[834] And, you know, I had also, you know, worked out before that, too.

[835] So I take off, see, the show's always in September.

[836] So it's like October, November, December, nothing.

[837] And then January, it started back up.

[838] And then when you start back up...

[839] Go all over until September.

[840] And when you would start back up, do you start back up full force, hardcore?

[841] It's all over.

[842] All over.

[843] Start all over.

[844] Wow.

[845] So you just had it down to a science.

[846] You knew what you'd do and when to do it?

[847] Yeah, because I hurt myself that one time why I didn't start all over.

[848] So you learn from your mistakes.

[849] That was when you're hurting it.

[850] Yeah.

[851] You're back.

[852] When you stopped, when you retired for good, was that difficult to do?

[853] Is it difficult to change your life?

[854] That's still difficult to do.

[855] Still?

[856] Yeah.

[857] Yeah, I'm just working police department.

[858] and competing both yeah yeah I miss them tremendously just because of the action just yeah yeah being having a purpose yeah basically um obviously this is a crazy time for the police oh yeah it wasn't like that when I was pleased yeah what was it like oh it was much easier but where you were was probably a more relaxed place It was some crazy people.

[859] Yeah.

[860] Yeah.

[861] We had a lot of crazy people, actually.

[862] A lot of crazy people.

[863] I didn't know people that crazy.

[864] So you joined in force.

[865] Yeah, we had, what, we started with 300 ,000 -some thousand, like I got there.

[866] When I was retired, it was about almost 600 ,000 people.

[867] The city grew that big over, what, 15 years.

[868] Yeah.

[869] So I worked out with 15 years.

[870] Well, we're in the middle of a crazy time when it comes to, police and police brutality and did you see a lot of that shit when you were on the job no no no no we didn't you didn't have to mistreat people back then at least me and most of the guys I worked with we were all professional everybody had to have a four -year degree uh the they used the force was appropriately applied so I remember I got in trouble a couple times.

[871] Well, one time I got in trouble.

[872] Well, I almost used too much force on the guy.

[873] But I was vindicated, and all I did was just, you know, bend its arm back and put handcuffs on him.

[874] But in the process of doing it, he got a bloody nose and a bloody mouth and arm ripped out of the socket a little bit.

[875] But, you know, you're just doing what you had to do to, you know, subduing.

[876] Yeah, subdue them, yeah.

[877] So that was the only time that I really got, you know, Yusufour's filed against me. And I got a lot of commendation out of that because I was a writer back in the day.

[878] I used to write for the college newspaper.

[879] And I was sports editor also.

[880] So I was good at writing.

[881] I could write real good.

[882] And I could apply use of force techniques.

[883] they taught me in the academy.

[884] So that report that I wrote on that use of force complaint, they used that report to train recruits.

[885] Do you think that that's what's wrong with these abusive cops?

[886] Do you think it's a lack of training or do you think it's hiring the wrong people for the job?

[887] What do you think it is?

[888] Hiring the wrong people for the job.

[889] That job is so stressful.

[890] Yeah.

[891] I mean, you have to be real confident.

[892] your abilities to protect yourself.

[893] And I was very, very confident.

[894] I never had to even use my knife stick on anybody.

[895] Well, you know, come on.

[896] I went to, sometimes I would go to work looking for a fight.

[897] And I was so bored, you know.

[898] And it never happened.

[899] Nobody never fought me. It's the size of you, man. And then so all the guys that were half my size, I would just run to their fights.

[900] Try to help them out?

[901] Help them out, yeah.

[902] Because nobody would never fight me. I'm like, oh, man. Still?

[903] Still?

[904] What do you mean still?

[905] Three hundred pounds.

[906] Well, that's what I was in my twos.

[907] Oh, the two -90.

[908] Yeah, 215 when I first got there.

[909] Oh, okay.

[910] 220, 2 .30, 240, 250.

[911] Yeah.

[912] Now, of course, you know, heavy, I guess.

[913] I didn't expect it then, but when I was in my twos, I thought for sure somebody.

[914] But I had, like I said, I had 22 -inch arms.

[915] Right.

[916] You know, I had those uniforms that were tailor -made, so my arm stuck out.

[917] Do you think that the good, I mean, there's all this talk now defunding the police.

[918] I keep hearing this about defunding the police.

[919] Yeah, I've been hearing that too, but I don't know if I can't agree with that.

[920] Because you need the police.

[921] You need the police.

[922] You need the police.

[923] I agree.

[924] Yeah, you can't defund the police.

[925] You really, there are people that really need the police.

[926] Yeah.

[927] I never needed, but I went on a lot of calls where I needed to be there.

[928] Right.

[929] So I don't know if I, I don't really agree with that.

[930] I think they got to get rid of abusive cops.

[931] That's what they got to do.

[932] That's what they got to do.

[933] They got to get rid of the bad apples.

[934] Yeah.

[935] Once you get rid of the bad apples, then.

[936] It's all good.

[937] I try to explain to people when I talk about it.

[938] I'm like, you've got to understand that there's millions of interactions that people have with cops every day.

[939] And most of them are positive.

[940] Most of them are positive.

[941] If you get 100 people in the room, just 100 random people in the room, what are the odds that one of them is a fucking idiot?

[942] It's pretty good, right?

[943] Well, that's the same thing with cops.

[944] I don't know how many millions of cops there are in this country.

[945] I don't know what the number is, but you're going to have a certain amount of cops that should never have that job.

[946] They should, they're bullies, they're mean, they're sociopaths, they're undisciplined, they're abusive.

[947] Yeah, they're not built for that job.

[948] That job is not for everybody.

[949] It takes a strong mind.

[950] It takes a strong mind.

[951] It takes a lot of heart.

[952] And how many cops you think are dealing with just crippling PTSD every day?

[953] And all depending on where you are, I think.

[954] Like New York City.

[955] Yeah, like New York, L .A., you know.

[956] Detroit, Chicago.

[957] Chicago, yeah, places like that, yeah.

[958] I can see it.

[959] I was just reading a story about Chicago that over one weekend, 25 people were murdered.

[960] Yeah.

[961] So we had about 6, 7, a year where I'm from.

[962] That's a lot better number.

[963] Yeah, they probably have 6 .7 a day.

[964] Yeah, I mean, 25 in a weekend is just crazy.

[965] That's the craziest thing you ever hear.

[966] Chicago's bad.

[967] It's bad.

[968] Unimaginable, bad.

[969] So if you're a cop and you're in an environment, like that, you're essentially in a war zone.

[970] But kind of.

[971] Yeah.

[972] I bet you don't look forward going to work every day, but like I did when I worked.

[973] Well, now today, I mean, people are so mad at cops that they just want to openly disrespect them and yell at them.

[974] But some people know the good cops, you know.

[975] Yes.

[976] Some people do, but some people use it as an excuse to say that all cops suck.

[977] And, you know, that guy that, I don't remember his name, that guy that killed George Floyd, That guy is an example of everything that's wrong about police officers.

[978] Everything that's wrong.

[979] Everything that's wrong.

[980] He'd been doing it a long time.

[981] He'd been abusing people for a long time.

[982] He had a bunch of complaints against him.

[983] 17 complaints is what I heard.

[984] But yet they kept him on.

[985] Kept them on.

[986] Yeah.

[987] I don't think you could have more than like two or three where I'm from.

[988] That's how it should be.

[989] And we don't have unions and all that kind of stuff either.

[990] Once they fire, you're out of there.

[991] Yeah.

[992] I mean, a lot of guys got fired for bad reports.

[993] one guy told me got fired for not writing enough tickets that's fucked up I was that that doesn't make any sense to me because what if nobody speeds like what if you like they say you have to write X amount of tickets per week what if everybody follows the rules that's the first time I ever heard that yeah that's the first time I'm still kind of reluctant to believe that I should ask somebody that was in high power You know, when I worked, they always told me you need to write more tickets.

[994] I'm like, okay, so I go out and write a ticket, I'll be done with it.

[995] You know, that's more tickets, you know.

[996] That's one more than I had during my last review.

[997] So, but they never say, we're going to fire you.

[998] You know, she's going to write.

[999] Maybe there's other things as well.

[1000] Yeah.

[1001] But is it a different police department you worked for?

[1002] Arlington Police Department.

[1003] No, the guy, the other guy that you were talking about.

[1004] He worked for the same one.

[1005] That's why I was trying to get rid of them.

[1006] It had to be.

[1007] It was probably something he did, you know.

[1008] Because, you know, a couple guys I worked with, they got in trouble once.

[1009] And they're like, no more.

[1010] And you get in trouble again, they fire you.

[1011] Because they told you no more, you know.

[1012] They're real strict where I work, you know.

[1013] I think that's how they have to be.

[1014] complaints.

[1015] I think they just...

[1016] Two or three and you are out of there.

[1017] That makes sense.

[1018] You are out.

[1019] Yeah.

[1020] I mean, it's such a rough job to begin with.

[1021] Yeah.

[1022] And I'm from a tourist town also.

[1023] You know, we got six flags, we got cowboys, we got rangers.

[1024] So you have to be, you have to be good to the people there.

[1025] That makes sense.

[1026] Yeah.

[1027] That should be the whole country.

[1028] You can't be mistreating people.

[1029] That should be the whole country.

[1030] I think cops should get paid more money.

[1031] They should be treated better.

[1032] We got paid.

[1033] better.

[1034] We got paid a lot of money, but we were like the top five in the state.

[1035] Always.

[1036] Well, I mean, I feel like that's the only where you're going to get really good people for the job.

[1037] And you have to have a four -year degree.

[1038] You can't have like two years in a diploma.

[1039] You can't have 20 years of service in another department and come work there.

[1040] You have to have a four -year degree.

[1041] So they want people educated, respectful, do a good job.

[1042] That should be the whole country.

[1043] I totally agree, but you know how many guys would get hired if it was like that?

[1044] Not as many.

[1045] Not as many, yeah.

[1046] But shouldn't that, I mean, I just feel like we're at a tipping point in this country.

[1047] I totally agree.

[1048] I mean, it's real sad that the people you call to help you hurt you.

[1049] Yeah, and all the time.

[1050] All the time.

[1051] That's a sad, sad environment to be in.

[1052] Yeah, I mean, I feel like defunding is just going to make it worse.

[1053] Make it worse.

[1054] Yeah, and make these crime -ridden neighborhoods even more dangerous.

[1055] Yeah, you need the police everywhere.

[1056] Yeah.

[1057] And like I said, defunding is just going to make it worse.

[1058] You have to have a lot of resources.

[1059] You have to have a lot of training.

[1060] Yes.

[1061] It's a lot of training.

[1062] You have to be training all the time.

[1063] All the time.

[1064] No matter how many years you've been there, You have to be trained up all the time.

[1065] Yeah, that's, I couldn't agree more.

[1066] I mean, it sounds horrible for people to hear, but I think they needed more funding.

[1067] Yeah, even though the police have fucked up, they need more education.

[1068] You need more money.

[1069] More money, more training.

[1070] Yeah.

[1071] Yeah, and I feel like they should be trained the same way the military is trained.

[1072] And that way they weed out the weak people too.

[1073] Yeah.

[1074] Weed out the people with the weak minds.

[1075] Weed out the bullies, weed out the sociopaths.

[1076] Yep.

[1077] but I guess it's just a hard job to get, you know, a not wanted job, I'll say.

[1078] Yeah, but I think there's also just people, in everything, every job there is, there's people that suck at it.

[1079] Yeah, that's true.

[1080] And you're going to, you can't suck at being a cop, you know, you just.

[1081] You can't, but like I said, it's a lot of people do.

[1082] Yeah.

[1083] And like I say, it's kind of hard to find good candidates sometimes.

[1084] Are you still in touch with all the guys in the force that you worked with?

[1085] No, all the guys I worked with are retired.

[1086] All of them did, yeah.

[1087] Yeah, that was a while ago.

[1088] See, I started in 1989.

[1089] So you got to remember, that's, what, 30 -something years later.

[1090] So most of the guys retired, like, we have 20 -year retirement.

[1091] They must have really enjoyed having a guy like you as a, cop on the force.

[1092] Yeah, I did a lot of recruiting trips for the police department.

[1093] So they told me when I won the Olympia, Chief said you don't have to come work if you don't want to.

[1094] Really?

[1095] Yeah.

[1096] You could just get paid?

[1097] Yeah.

[1098] And just let's wait.

[1099] If I don't come to work, I don't get paid.

[1100] Oh.

[1101] What the fuck is that?

[1102] I was making a million dollars a year being, you know, Mr. Olympia.

[1103] So I don't need 45 ,000 from the police department or 50 ,000, whatever, they was paying me so sometimes I didn't go to work like when I got ready for the Olympia I didn't go to work so they just let you take time off and then after you'd win I go back to white yeah was it weird to go back to work no no yeah I remember but did you ever get pulled up I loved that job I enjoy I appreciate you enjoyed that job but was it was every time where you pull people over and like holy shit are you Ronnie Coleman yep and that's why I quit pulling people over and writing tickets.

[1104] That's why?

[1105] Because of that?

[1106] What did they assign you to that after that?

[1107] No, no, I still work patrol.

[1108] I just didn't pull people over.

[1109] Oh, I see.

[1110] You know, that's, you know, that's subjective.

[1111] That's something you want to do.

[1112] Oh, you can make a decision.

[1113] Yeah, yeah.

[1114] You just your decision, you know, you can always just answer calls.

[1115] You know, there's always a disturbance.

[1116] There's always an accident.

[1117] I mean, there's always a fight.

[1118] Did you ever see the TV show where Stephen Seagal was a cop?

[1119] No, never.

[1120] I couldn't watch.

[1121] I couldn't watch.

[1122] Any cop shows, that was being one.

[1123] Really?

[1124] No, because that's what you do.

[1125] Right.

[1126] You don't want to see.

[1127] It's like, you know, something you do all the time.

[1128] You don't want to do it in your spare time.

[1129] I understood.

[1130] You're looking for other stuff to do.

[1131] Yeah.

[1132] It was a real funny show.

[1133] Stephen Seagall was working as a real cop for a while.

[1134] I heard about it.

[1135] I heard about it.

[1136] It was the most ridiculous shit you've ever seen in your life.

[1137] He would pull people over and they're like, are you fucking Steven Seagal?

[1138] and you know it was real real weird man he all of a sudden i mean he was in louisiana so he adopted he adopted this fake louisiana accent like real heavy yeah and he's a lot of heavy access there but he all of a sudden had one you you can you can develop it from being around those people oh i can imagine yeah it seemed like he was just adding it well you know he's professional So trying to act that he could...

[1139] But it was a real cop.

[1140] He was really pulling people over.

[1141] The whole thing was so ridiculous.

[1142] I guess he was bored.

[1143] I think he was bored.

[1144] I think he was, you know, in between movies.

[1145] Well, you know, that job could be pretty exciting.

[1146] It can be real exciting.

[1147] Look at them.

[1148] I mean, you imagine you're a guy and you're in your house and maybe you're smoking some weed and the cops break down the door and it's fucking Steven's a gall holding you down.

[1149] Yeah, most of the guys, they're trying to get away, so they're not looking at the guy.

[1150] I understand, but, I mean, why are you getting cuffed?

[1151] You've got to be looking up going, what the fuck are you doing here, man?

[1152] I have video, maybe arresting some people on video also.

[1153] Oh, yeah?

[1154] Yeah, I would do these videos, and me were training, and sometimes I would have a guy just follow me, the whole shift.

[1155] And he would film me the whole shift.

[1156] and I was able to put some of them on tape if I had to get approval from the police department Did you put it on YouTube or something?

[1157] Yeah, so they're out there right now?

[1158] Yeah, out there right now.

[1159] Did you learn any martial arts or anything from the police department?

[1160] Yeah, of course.

[1161] Would you learn?

[1162] I mean, they just taught you basic stuff how to take people down pressure points and all that kind of stuff.

[1163] You know, so it's probably not a martial art. It just take down techniques and stuff like that, pressure point.

[1164] I would imagine the guy like you was just grabbing a hold of someone they must have felt like they were made out of pillows You know what To be honest with you I never had to really grab anybody That's amazing Nobody never wanted to fight me That's one good Like good argument for being a huge person Yeah it was real good and real bad Bad in the sense that You know I missed out on out of action So you You wish That I missed out of a lot of a lot of action.

[1165] Bad and good at the same time, but you kind of itched for it a little bit.

[1166] I inched for it every single day.

[1167] Really?

[1168] You got to remember, I played football for 15 years, and you used to, you know, actually...

[1169] Contact.

[1170] Contact, yeah.

[1171] So you kind of missed that after a while.

[1172] You want to engage in a little bit every night and then.

[1173] But you can't violate rights.

[1174] Of course.

[1175] So, you know.

[1176] Well, that shows amazing restraint that you wanted to do it every day but you never did it never did it yeah that's maybe they sense maybe once or twice yeah yeah but nothing serious nothing serious you know yeah yeah yeah i may you know you know you know pull somebody arm out of out of socket or dislocated somebody's shoulder or something like just because they probably had weak joints yeah yeah yeah yeah there you are they said well yeah they said just imagine this dude walking in your house they got on shorts right there look at the side are you?

[1177] Oh, my God, you were so big.

[1178] That's so crazy.

[1179] That's 315 pounds right there.

[1180] But it must been so crazy for people.

[1181] 2 % body fat.

[1182] We had a body fat done at the police department.

[1183] And the highest ever got was 3%.

[1184] And that was with calipers?

[1185] Yeah, it's calipers.

[1186] Did you ever do a...

[1187] When I had, the 3 .33 was dipped underwater.

[1188] Wow.

[1189] It was negative numbers.

[1190] It was minus two.

[1191] that's so crazy minus 2 % body fat that doesn't even make sense your arms are so big it looks like you barely pick your arm up to let your wrist they're 23 right there almost 24 yeah I just can't imagine yeah they got shorts right there yeah there you go those are the company issues short though and they fit you yeah yeah everything was tailor made I went to the city has a tailor so I went to the city's tailor for all my clothes and all my vests and everything that's hilarious yeah did you keep any of that stuff uh yeah stick at it you should that should be in like a bodybuilder slash policeman's hall fame somewhere you know what uh they actually took my badge and put it in uh and and on display at the station oh yeah oh that's cool yeah look at the size of you does it freak you out when you see yourself that big you're like wow no you don't really really see it after you had it for so long but not looking at it now I'm kind of missing it do you oh yeah really oh yeah too bad you can't stay like that forever well I'd imagine a lot of your identity a lot of your identity gets tied into that yeah yeah you hate getting old but it happens to everybody yeah well it's all the time is undefeated it's old for sure but it's also for you it's just the amount of destruction, all that hard training is done to your body.

[1192] Yeah, yeah, all the fun I had in the gym.

[1193] I had a lot of fun lifting all that heavy weight.

[1194] People ask me if I had in the grits.

[1195] Yeah, I have some regrets.

[1196] I didn't go heavy enough.

[1197] Really?

[1198] That was one time I was squatting that 800, you know.

[1199] I thought it was going to be heavy, you know, because I had deadlifted already.

[1200] but I was squatting at this time and I didn't take into effect the gravity or the situation when you're pulling from the floor on gravity when you got it way up here on your shoulder the rabbit is way down there so that's pulling so when I went down for the first rep I'm like is this 800?

[1201] And I came back up and let me do another one it's still easy but I had in my mind too because I had already done two on the deadlift and I put it up and I'm like oh man I could have did at least three or four more that bothers you to this day that bothers me to this day to this day but I went to the leg press and did 2300 pounds on the leg press for eight reps how much 2300 2 ,300 that would crush me now eight reps eight reps yeah that's on YouTube also that doesn't even make sense yeah that's a car You had to add it up with a calculator.

[1202] Yeah, I had to bring out a calculator to add it up.

[1203] There's so much weight.

[1204] Why would you lift so much weight?

[1205] Because I could.

[1206] No other reason.

[1207] There is right there.

[1208] Look at this.

[1209] This is so ridiculous.

[1210] How many times did you've done this before?

[1211] I did that one time.

[1212] What the fuck is that?

[1213] That's so crazy, man. That's 2 ,300 pounds.

[1214] That is so crazy.

[1215] Yeah.

[1216] I saw a video.

[1217] of a girl trying to use one of those things and her knee bent backwards and snap.

[1218] And see, I came all the way back.

[1219] Well, some people that put that on there, they didn't come that far back, you know.

[1220] So this is right after 800 -pound squat.

[1221] You got to remember that.

[1222] So I'm a little tired.

[1223] I'm a little tired.

[1224] Not real tired.

[1225] That is insane.

[1226] Yeah.

[1227] Back then it was.

[1228] I couldn't, I can't do.

[1229] How many reps are you doing?

[1230] Eight.

[1231] I think I did eight.

[1232] That's very hard to believe.

[1233] It's very hard to believe even looking at it.

[1234] Look at all those 45s.

[1235] It's like 50 some place.

[1236] 50 of them.

[1237] That is bonkers, man. Yeah.

[1238] I bought that machine specifically to do that.

[1239] Because the regular machine, you couldn't do that.

[1240] The first time I put it on there, that bar bent.

[1241] So he had to re -enforce the bar.

[1242] for, you know, so I could do it.

[1243] How were your knees right now?

[1244] My knees are perfect.

[1245] Because I wrapped up all the time.

[1246] Wow.

[1247] Yeah, wrapped all the time when I went heavy.

[1248] That's crazy.

[1249] The knees are okay.

[1250] No problem whatsoever.

[1251] And everything else is all banged up.

[1252] Yeah, just back and neck.

[1253] Yep.

[1254] I miss those days.

[1255] God damn.

[1256] Now, what kind of steroids were dudes doing back then?

[1257] I mean, basic, you know, you got, you know, your tests, D -ball, it's just basic stuff, you know.

[1258] And back then, you know, because the D .A. had come in and, you know, was trying to find out what we're all doing, they made us do it legally.

[1259] So, you know, you had to go to the doctor and get all these prescriptions.

[1260] And you would give prescriptions for steroids?

[1261] Yeah.

[1262] What kind of steroids would they give you a prescription for?

[1263] Like any kind of test, you need it.

[1264] They would get growth hormone.

[1265] They give prescriptions because once the DEA came in, they was like, what are y 'all doing?

[1266] What are y 'all taking?

[1267] But when you think, like, the DEA, shouldn't you be out there catching people selling meth?

[1268] Why are you going after bodybuilders who are also cops?

[1269] That seems ridiculous.

[1270] Because they had kids out there that were taking it and committing suicide.

[1271] See, I didn't know what that was when I was a kid.

[1272] They were committing suicide because they were getting depressed from the steroids coming off of it.

[1273] Coming off of it.

[1274] Yeah.

[1275] So they're trying to figure out, you know, what are y 'all doing?

[1276] We got to get y 'all off this stuff.

[1277] And so that's when you got a doctor that was willing to prescribe everything.

[1278] Mm -hmm.

[1279] So was this while you were doing Mr. Olympian?

[1280] Mm -hmm.

[1281] Yeah.

[1282] So all that stuff was above board.

[1283] It was all legal.

[1284] Yeah.

[1285] Yeah, everything was legal by then.

[1286] And what is that the case now?

[1287] You know what?

[1288] That was just when the heat was on, you know.

[1289] Mm -hmm.

[1290] I don't know.

[1291] I don't think they got the heat on the guys down like that now.

[1292] So the DEA would come to you and you would just say, hey, here's my prescriptions.

[1293] Yeah.

[1294] And they would go, all right.

[1295] Yeah.

[1296] Mm -hmm.

[1297] One time, if you didn't have a prescription, they took them.

[1298] your stuff.

[1299] Yeah.

[1300] So they'd find whatever you had and take it from you.

[1301] Hmm.

[1302] How did they know where it was?

[1303] You told them.

[1304] Oh, okay.

[1305] Because otherwise they put you in jail.

[1306] Yeah, yeah.

[1307] Search your house, you know, get a search warrant.

[1308] But I got this and this.

[1309] Well, I'd imagine you would have to take something to be as big as you were when you were at your Oh, yeah.

[1310] Yeah, for sure.

[1311] It's not really possible to be not big without it.

[1312] Without it, no. You can't get that big.

[1313] Another thing you've got to have, too, is genetics.

[1314] Yes.

[1315] You know, look at the baseball players that have taken stuff and look at us.

[1316] Yeah.

[1317] You know, they can't get that big.

[1318] They're not gifted for it.

[1319] Well, they didn't try either, right?

[1320] They weren't trying to get that big.

[1321] A guy's like Kinseco, he got pretty fucking big.

[1322] They couldn't get that big if they wanted to.

[1323] Really?

[1324] So it's a small percentage of the population that could get that big.

[1325] Yeah, exactly.

[1326] And probably like 1 % that could get as big as I got.

[1327] And I was the only guy.

[1328] Nobody's duplicated that sense.

[1329] And be in that condition.

[1330] Right.

[1331] And be healthy.

[1332] Right.

[1333] You know, I don't have any health problem besides the back.

[1334] The injuries.

[1335] The injuries.

[1336] My liver, my kidneys and my heart is all good.

[1337] Did you, while you were doing things, did you get frequent blood tests?

[1338] Every three to four months.

[1339] And the doctor would go over everything and make sure everything was fine.

[1340] Everything's always good.

[1341] That seems to be the big misconception about steroids is that people think steroids kill you.

[1342] And people think you're taking tons of stuff.

[1343] I wouldn't take tons of stuff.

[1344] I probably wouldn't take it no more than what those baseball players were taking.

[1345] Just working out more.

[1346] Just working out lifting more and gifted genetically for it.

[1347] Dorian Yates said basically the same thing.

[1348] Yeah, yeah.

[1349] He wasn't that he was taking a lot, not compared to a lot of guys.

[1350] Yeah, exactly, yeah.

[1351] People think I was taking massive amounts of stuff.

[1352] If I'd been taking massive amounts of stuff, I wouldn't, I don't think I'd still be here.

[1353] I don't think I'd be as healthy as I am now.

[1354] Right.

[1355] You know, besides my back surgeon, neck surgeries, I'm all good.

[1356] And like I said, my living in my kidneys and heart and everything still holding up real good.

[1357] Now, when you would get off for that three -month period, would you cycle off of everything?

[1358] No, cold turkey.

[1359] Cold turkey, really?

[1360] Cold turkey.

[1361] I didn't take anything or nothing.

[1362] And what did you feel like over those three months?

[1363] Normal.

[1364] Really?

[1365] Normal.

[1366] It didn't bother me a bit.

[1367] So you got just great genetics, man. Craziest ever.

[1368] Yeah, I mean, obviously, there's no way you could take all, you know.

[1369] Cold turkey, I stopped everything.

[1370] One day, I'll be taking, you know, a bunch of stuff.

[1371] the next day, nothing.

[1372] And your body would just feel normal?

[1373] The body felt normal.

[1374] Didn't bother me a bit.

[1375] That's so crazy.

[1376] Didn't get depressed or nothing, you know.

[1377] Yeah.

[1378] Felt normal.

[1379] That's just genetics.

[1380] Yeah.

[1381] I still was strong.

[1382] Wow.

[1383] I could still, you know, squat, you know.

[1384] I could squat, you know, 7, 800 naturally.

[1385] Wow.

[1386] Mm -hmm.

[1387] So you basically kept a lot of your gains.

[1388] Yep.

[1389] Yeah, my, I was still 300, I'm still 300 pounds, you know.

[1390] without taking all that stuff.

[1391] And so then after three months, then you would slowly ramp back up?

[1392] Slowly ramp back up, yeah.

[1393] And all this under doctor supervision.

[1394] All this under Dr. Supervision.

[1395] And all the while I'm getting my blood work done every three to four months.

[1396] So a lot of guys, after they're done competing, then they have to get on testosterone replacement therapy because the endocrine system's kind of messed up.

[1397] Exactly.

[1398] Did you have to do that as well?

[1399] Yeah.

[1400] Yeah.

[1401] It seems like that's just a part of the sport, right?

[1402] Yeah, yeah, it is.

[1403] Yeah, it is.

[1404] It's interesting, though, because, like, for the longest time, these guys were doing these ads and magazines, and they were attributing everything to some supplement that they were selling or some creatine or some this or that.

[1405] You know, all that stuff does something.

[1406] It helps you out a little bit.

[1407] But it's not going to get you.

[1408] It's not going to get you 330 pounds with 3 % body fat.

[1409] No. No, it's definitely not going to do that.

[1410] Was that something that you were allowed to talk?

[1411] about why you were competing yeah I mean didn't come up yeah yeah yeah yeah I talked about it I didn't have no reason to hide it people because seems like people were not stupid no when you got that big yeah but it seemed like there was an era where bodybuilding kind of tried to pretend that they weren't taking that yeah yeah because of all those you know people committing suicide and kids taking all that stuff and doing it the wrong way, you know, not having it prescribed and all this kind of stuff.

[1412] Also, the more is better philosophy.

[1413] Black market, getting bad stuff, you know.

[1414] Right, yeah.

[1415] But there were some guys that would just say, well, the way to win is to take way more than everybody else.

[1416] Yeah.

[1417] And see what your body could tolerate.

[1418] Yeah.

[1419] The more you take, the better you're going to be.

[1420] I knew a guy like that.

[1421] Yeah.

[1422] And he wound up having a heart attack.

[1423] Exactly.

[1424] We used to call him garden hoses because his arms look.

[1425] Like garden hoses for veins?

[1426] Yeah.

[1427] Just these giant veins all over his arms.

[1428] Didn't make sense.

[1429] But he was just on everything.

[1430] Yeah.

[1431] Yeah.

[1432] But he didn't make it to 30.

[1433] Yeah.

[1434] He died before he was 30.

[1435] Some people, yeah, they do it the wrong way.

[1436] Yeah.

[1437] I didn't start taking anything until I was 30.

[1438] Really?

[1439] Yeah.

[1440] Remember, I was drug -free for a long time.

[1441] And I did everything naturally for a long, long time.

[1442] Because I was, like I said, gifted.

[1443] Right.

[1444] Yeah.

[1445] What inspired you?

[1446] What made you decide when you were 30 that you had to do something?

[1447] I got tired to get my ass kicked.

[1448] In competitions?

[1449] Yeah.

[1450] The highs I would place was like third or something, you know.

[1451] After a while, you know, you're competitive.

[1452] You're shit.

[1453] The other guys got a competitive advantage on you.

[1454] So let's make this thing equal.

[1455] Does this something somebody suggested to you?

[1456] Yeah.

[1457] So people in the gym, like, hey, Ronnie.

[1458] No, one of the competitors suggested that to me. Oh.

[1459] Guy by the name of Flex Wheeler.

[1460] Oh, okay.

[1461] My best friend in the world.

[1462] That guy was fucking huge.

[1463] Huge.

[1464] And he taught me everything I know.

[1465] Did he really?

[1466] Yeah.

[1467] Mm -hmm.

[1468] He also got me the best nutritionist ever.

[1469] That's how I won my first Olympians.

[1470] So is that how most guys find out about steroids from other guys who are competing?

[1471] If you're smart, that's the way you would do.

[1472] Somebody that knows.

[1473] Yeah.

[1474] Yeah, what they're doing is somebody that's successful at it.

[1475] Not some dumb trainer.

[1476] Right.

[1477] That think they know.

[1478] Right.

[1479] You know, Flex had won, you know, major contest.

[1480] And it was a real experience bodybuilder at the time.

[1481] you know, I'm new, still new to the sport.

[1482] Right.

[1483] I didn't get into it until I was, what, 24.

[1484] I think he started probably when he was like 16, 17, somewhere in there.

[1485] I never did that kind of stuff because we didn't have it where I was from.

[1486] How much of a night and day difference was it once you started taking stuff?

[1487] As far as the condition, the night and day.

[1488] Night and day and your ability to work, to put in work?

[1489] No, no. The way the condition of your body?

[1490] Yeah, the only thing changed was conditioning.

[1491] What do you mean?

[1492] My strength didn't go up that much.

[1493] What do you mean by conditioning?

[1494] The way you looked?

[1495] Yeah, the way I looked.

[1496] So, like, leanness.

[1497] My definition and, you know, leanness and kind of, that's the only thing that really changed.

[1498] Well, your strength didn't go up that much.

[1499] My strength didn't go up that much.

[1500] I was still, I was deadlifting 750 pounds.

[1501] Wow.

[1502] You know.

[1503] Yeah, well.

[1504] Because I was, you know, I was still doing power listening shows when I was doing bodybuilding.

[1505] Were you really?

[1506] Yeah.

[1507] At the same time.

[1508] At the same time, yeah.

[1509] That's pretty unusual, isn't it?

[1510] Yeah, yeah.

[1511] But, you know, that was something I loved to do.

[1512] But those powerlifting guys are usually quite a bit fatter.

[1513] They don't mind having a lot of body fat.

[1514] The more body fat you have, the stronger you're going to be.

[1515] Why is that?

[1516] Because you got more cushion around the muscle.

[1517] More water around the muscle.

[1518] And all that stuff makes you stronger.

[1519] It gives you more energy.

[1520] Really?

[1521] Especially if you're naturally gifted with strength.

[1522] So did you ever feel like, was that ever pulling you back?

[1523] Like power lifting?

[1524] Did you ever think about getting back into that again?

[1525] Or were you just completely committed to bodybuilding at that time?

[1526] Yeah, after a while, I kind of just got committed to bodybuilding.

[1527] Because I was, you know, working full -time police department, trying to do powerlifting, trying to do bodybuilding.

[1528] It's just too much.

[1529] And I had all these jobs, too.

[1530] I would do security at Denny on Fridays and Saturday nights from 12th and 4th.

[1531] I was working my apartment complex.

[1532] That might be the most dangerous spot in the world.

[1533] Denny's from 12 to 4 the weekends?

[1534] My first fight was at Denny's.

[1535] Oh, was it really?

[1536] Yeah, my first one.

[1537] The one that I got used to force complex filed against me. Was that Denny's?

[1538] Yeah, Denny's can be rough.

[1539] Late night, drunks showing up to eat.

[1540] Yep.

[1541] Oh, my God.

[1542] It was a drunk guy.

[1543] That, of course.

[1544] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[1545] Yeah.

[1546] Want to try to resist me?

[1547] Yeah, yeah.

[1548] Who the fuck is sober at Denny's at 3 o 'clock in the morning?

[1549] Exactly.

[1550] Hardly nobody.

[1551] So when you were 30, you started taking steroids, and you won the Olympia for the first time when you were 34.

[1552] So that's like four years.

[1553] Yeah.

[1554] That's insane.

[1555] Yeah.

[1556] But you got to remember the base I had before that.

[1557] Right.

[1558] It's base and hard work and also genetics.

[1559] It's the perfect storm.

[1560] Yeah.

[1561] Do you think as a bodybuilder you really need, like, the perfect storm of things to be a champion?

[1562] You do.

[1563] Yeah, you do.

[1564] You're not going to be it if you don't have it.

[1565] It's just like trying to be president of the United States, you know.

[1566] Only certain people are going to be president of the United States.

[1567] Everybody's not going to make it at that job.

[1568] Well, it's like when I look at some Mr. Olympias, it's so hard to, I'm looking at one, two, three, and four.

[1569] I'm like, I don't, I'm not.

[1570] You have to have an eye for it.

[1571] Yeah.

[1572] You have to be trained, yeah.

[1573] Because I used to be the same way.

[1574] I thought everybody looked the same.

[1575] Yeah, that's how I looked at it.

[1576] I know exactly what you're talking about.

[1577] Yeah, they all.

[1578] Everybody was just big to me. Huge.

[1579] Yeah, huge.

[1580] Yeah, everybody looks preposterous.

[1581] And I thought I could never, ever attain that.

[1582] But you did?

[1583] I did, yeah.

[1584] Not only did you set the gold standard.

[1585] Yeah.

[1586] Isn't that crazy looking back?

[1587] It's crazy looking back.

[1588] You ever wake up and just saying like, what the fuck did I do?

[1589] Yeah, look what I did.

[1590] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1591] Because when you're doing it, you always, in that mindset of doing it.

[1592] You're not enjoying it.

[1593] Right.

[1594] You just sit in the grind.

[1595] You can't sit around and enjoy it.

[1596] Right.

[1597] You got to stay focused and dedicate it.

[1598] You got to be always, you know, mindful.

[1599] Yeah.

[1600] You know, so there's no enjoying all that when you have success like that.

[1601] Well, I don't, I think that mindset, too, is the only way you become a champion like yourself.

[1602] Exactly.

[1603] That just keep going, keep grinding mindset, don't enjoy anything.

[1604] Yep.

[1605] you enjoy it later after it's all over with I only enjoy it now there's such a small handful of Mr. Olympias I mean that is the elite of the elite club to be in for bodybuilders I mean you gotta you gotta have an amazing sense of satisfaction and a lot of guys that win it win it multiple times yeah why is that because it's only elite number of guys can be Mr. Olympia And once you get there, you found a formula.

[1606] And it takes a while for somebody to come in and knock you off because nobody found that formula like you have.

[1607] You know, eight in a row for me, eight in a row for Lee Haney.

[1608] Yeah.

[1609] Seven for the Arnold.

[1610] Six for Yates.

[1611] Cutler, four.

[1612] You know, look at all those.

[1613] How many guys I just named and how many years did that?

[1614] That's a lot of years.

[1615] Yeah, yeah.

[1616] I mean, what an elite group of human beings.

[1617] Just me, Lee, and, I don't know, it's 25 years almost.

[1618] Yeah.

[1619] That's crazy.

[1620] And three guys, 25 years.

[1621] When you say the right formula, it's the right amount of training, the right amount of rest, the right amount of food, the right nutrition, all the above.

[1622] Yeah.

[1623] And that's hard to do.

[1624] Hard to dial it in.

[1625] It's hard to dial it in.

[1626] And did you dial it in with the help of a coach?

[1627] Nutritionist.

[1628] Just a nutritionist.

[1629] I couldn't have done it by myself.

[1630] But what about a coach?

[1631] That's the same thing.

[1632] Same thing.

[1633] Does the nutritionist maintain your schedule for your workouts as well?

[1634] Yeah.

[1635] Well, I did my own workout schedule.

[1636] So you did that all yourself?

[1637] All myself, yeah.

[1638] He did all my other stuff.

[1639] So he did all the food, made sure your body's well -fueled, but all the weightlifting, all that was set up by you?

[1640] Yeah, that was me. How did you know?

[1641] when it's enough and when it's not enough and when it's too much?

[1642] Well, you can only do so much.

[1643] You can only do what you can do.

[1644] You know your limitations and you know what you've got to do.

[1645] So once you figure out all that's out, you know, that's your formula.

[1646] And that's what you take from year to year.

[1647] And that formula is based on your body.

[1648] Your body performs.

[1649] Everybody's body is different.

[1650] Did you ever have guys coming up to you?

[1651] I mean, you must have had guys coming up to you saying, What do I have to do to be like you?

[1652] All the time.

[1653] What did you tell them?

[1654] How a personal trainer.

[1655] That's what I had, you know?

[1656] I wasn't able to do all that on my own.

[1657] The guy who gave me the free membership to the gym, Brian Dobson, is a guy that taught me all this stuff.

[1658] He taught me how to pose.

[1659] He taught me how to train as a bodybuilding and not a power lifter.

[1660] It's two different types of training.

[1661] he taught me everything I need to know and he was kind of like my personal trainer you know if he wouldn't have taught me all that stuff I wouldn't have knew nothing and so I always tell people if you want to know something learn somebody that knows all this stuff and that's how you get the right formula was this guy with you throughout your whole career no no just the beginning just to teach you the basics and then from then on it was all you Yeah, I had to get other trainers and nutritionists.

[1662] I had some trainers and nutritionists that weren't that good along the way, like a couple.

[1663] And I finally found the right guy from Flex Wheeler.

[1664] He turned me on to the guy who helped me win my first Olympia.

[1665] Chad Nichols, he's the guy that found the right formula for me. And when you had this right formula, How many workouts a day were you doing?

[1666] One.

[1667] Just one?

[1668] Yeah.

[1669] Just one long workout?

[1670] An hour and a half.

[1671] Hour and a half every day, that's it?

[1672] Hour, hour, 15 minutes.

[1673] So it was, really?

[1674] Yeah.

[1675] So it was just about the intensity?

[1676] It's all about the intensity.

[1677] And was there a time where you were working out more than that?

[1678] You felt like it was too much?

[1679] No, no. You just always had it dialed in.

[1680] I always had to dialed in.

[1681] Wow.

[1682] You know, I had to do two hours of cardio a day.

[1683] Two hours of cardio.

[1684] Yeah, hour in the morning, an hour at night after I got up working.

[1685] Wow.

[1686] What kind of shit, like elliptical or something?

[1687] I did Stairmaster.

[1688] I would do the elliptical and the treadmill.

[1689] You would run on a treadmill?

[1690] Well, I ain't going to call it running.

[1691] I'm just thinking you're so big.

[1692] Yes, why.

[1693] You're kind of like you.

[1694] What did you do?

[1695] Just kind of fast walking?

[1696] Yeah, like two, about three miles an hour.

[1697] Oh, okay, okay.

[1698] Yeah, yeah.

[1699] Yeah, that makes more sense.

[1700] Yeah, yeah, for an hour.

[1701] An hour.

[1702] So this is just to burn off the fat?

[1703] Yeah, exactly.

[1704] Wow.

[1705] God damn, you must hate cardio now.

[1706] No, I still do it.

[1707] You still do it?

[1708] Yeah.

[1709] But I would imagine that that would be enough cardio for the rest of your fucking life, two hours a day, every day.

[1710] I'd be like, oh, my God, if I never see another piece of cardio equipment again for the rest of my life.

[1711] Well, you get used to it after a while, you know.

[1712] What do you do now?

[1713] I can only do it.

[1714] I do the bike now.

[1715] I can walk on a treadmill, but I have to hold on the handles.

[1716] Yeah.

[1717] So I don't do it.

[1718] I just do the bike.

[1719] Yeah.

[1720] Well, listen, man, after this show is over, I'm going to connect you to, uh, you to, uh, I can't Dr. Neil Reardon, who is in Dallas, and I really hope that he can help you.

[1721] It would be great if you could.

[1722] And next time I'm coming here.

[1723] I'm never giving up on it, you know.

[1724] Oh, and I know you're not giving up on anything, man. Guys like you don't give up on anything.

[1725] No, no. I'm going to walk again unassisted.

[1726] I guarantee that.

[1727] I believe you.

[1728] If anybody can do it, you could do it.

[1729] Yeah, exactly.

[1730] And like I said.

[1731] If I can't do it, it can't be done.

[1732] I want to connect you to him and wish you the best of luck.

[1733] I appreciate you, brother.

[1734] Thank you for coming in here, man. I appreciate you invite me. Oh, I got a new book out Oh, okay What is it?

[1735] It's called, yeah, buddy What am I saying?

[1736] That is what you're saying.

[1737] Get it on Amazon.

[1738] And my company is Ronnie Coleman Signature Series.

[1739] That's how I make my living now.

[1740] I own my own supplement company, Ronnie Coleman .net is that.

[1741] And my book is called Yeah, Buddy, one of my favorite sayings.

[1742] Yeah, buddy, my incredible story, and get it on Amazon.

[1743] All right, folks.

[1744] Go get that book.

[1745] Go to ronikorman .com.

[1746] Dot net, Ronnie Cohnon .net, get some of those supplements.

[1747] We've got 25, 30 different products.

[1748] Beautiful.

[1749] I hope we sell a bunch of them.

[1750] Oh, we have been selling a bunch.

[1751] Sell and sell some more.

[1752] Thank you, brother.

[1753] Appreciate you.

[1754] Thank you for having me on.

[1755] Rodney Coleman, ladies you gentlemen.

[1756] Yeah, buddy.

[1757] That was great.