Original subtitles

...with a flashlight.

You can see that she's on the way to her house.

There's also gonna be a retired officer.

Both have a weapon at her location. A 9mm.

Twenty-five, uh...

Got hit by a teenage daughter.

The daughter is gonna be a white female.

The daughter...

Oh, man...

Everyday thing.

I've been working here for 12 years now.

The best thing about working this job...

is being able to wear shorts.

Let's go to work, do a briefing.

Only schedule change is, uh...

Steve Smith's gonna take five hours of vacation today.

This is meal number...

three.

That's chicken and baked potato.

And so I grabbed my son by the arm and said "go on back inside."

Well, she lost it, and got a hold of me.

Good ol' chicken.

Damn.

Claims the daughter has assaulted her

in the stomach area with a fist.

At this time, the daughter is in the bedroom,

does not have any vehicle, might attempt to leave location.

What seems to be the problem here?

Where's Mom?

She hit her on her foot and it's swollen.

Well, she'll be lucky if she just got hit on the foot.

I wish I would've just got hit on the foot when I was a kid.

I got hit all over.

She got hit all over her legs and her arms.

If I hit my mom back, I'd be dead.

- Why are you crying? - I don't know.

Arrested.

I've been bodybuilding for...

ten years.

And I've been working here for 12.

And the famous question is...

"Why do you still work here...

and you're Mr. Olympia, two-time Mr. Olympia?"

My answer to that question is...

"Because I love it."

Doctor said he's gonna go in and perform a surgery

in which he's gonna take out the screws,

'cause all they're doing now is just causing me pain,

and when I say pain, it's a lot of pain.

It's, like, 24/7. It never stops.

After a while, you've been in pain so much

you kind of get used to it,

and you just kind of learn to block it out.

I feel bad for people who didn't get to witness

what Ronnie was in his prime.

Videos and pictures don't do no justice.

To witness it, to, you know,

feel the electricity in the air,

just to gaze your eyes on that person.

Late '90s, you know, the guys that were there were so good.

You had the Kevin Levrones,

you had the Flex Wheeler,

Shawn Ray.

I mean, if you change the judging panel,

Kevin Levrone could have a Mr. Olympia title.

Same could Flex.

What I didn't have, Flex Wheeler had.

What Flex Wheeler didn't have, Shawn Ray had.

You know, it ran deep. You know, you had Chris Cormier.

Everyone was so good, you know?

Everyone was hungry. We were all aggressive,

especially, like, on stage.

You don't find someone stepping in front of someone

without getting an elbow or something like that.

You know, it was just... it was pretty aggressive.

There was no room for anybody else to get in.

You know? So you had to be just another crazy level.

And you need to be able to see those things

in order to be able to appreciate what the hell happened

when Ronnie Coleman pulled out of the backdrop and just...

Just wasn't human...

To just, naturally, to even perceive what he looked like at his...

at his peak, and at his best.

This guy, Ronnie Coleman, looked like an alien.

There was nobody that you could compare that to.

Nobody had that.

Meat was just hanging off of his back, and it was just traps...

...and lats that were forever long.

Pec line that was just, you know, these muscle attachments

that would go on forever, seemingly.

Ronnie Coleman had things on his body that we hadn't seen

on another Mr. Olympia prior to him,

and you probably won't see it on another Mr. Olympia after him.

Ronnie just had it all, man.

He was strong, he was big, he was bigger than everyone,

he was more conditioned than everyone...

And he just didn't give a shit.

Like, he stood up there on that stage, and just was like, "I'm here.

Give me my Sandow, and I'm leaving with it."

That was it. You had to admire that.

And he was humble about it.

He wasn't cocky, he wasn't arrogant.

He knew it was his, and he came and took it.

All right, so I want to ask you about your childhood.

Can you tell me about your family growing up?

- I know you were born in Louisiana, right? - Mm-hmm.

Can you tell me a little about your upbringing?

First, it was just me and my brother,

and, uh, my mom...

She worked at the plant.

It was a clothing manufacturing plant.

I can remember when I was young,

my mom, she was real good at making clothes, too,

so she made a lot of our clothes,

and a lot of our clothes she got from that manufacturing plant.

On her second marriage,

I remember the guy she was married to this time, you know, uh...

He used to take me hunting all the time.

We used to hunt, like, deer, and rabbit, and squirrel,

all kind of stuff, and, yeah, that was a lot of fun,

but I think the most fun I ever had was fishing.

He taught me how to fish, and we'd go fishing all the time.

After a while, fishing kind of developed into a hobby.

I got to the point where I was just going, like, every single day.

I had a bike that I would just ride right down to the local bayou

and just fish all the time,

so that kind of developed into a small hobby.

I always had some kind of way of making money.

That's what I remember most about my childhood.

Man, I had to be, like, 12 years old, 13 years old,

somewhere in there.

I started working at this convenience store...

and I would go up there and work,

make probably like a dollar a day.

Back then, that was a lot of money.

And then I had another little hustle...

where I used to go, and, uh...

I had a lawnmower. I used to knock on people's doors, and, you know,

ask who needed their yard mowed, so I made money that way.

When I was in high school,

I was always making the honor roll every year

and every semester.

I played football,

I was on the track team,

and I was on the powerlifting team.

I used to do the field events,

the shot put and discus, javelin, stuff like that.

I always did pretty good in all those events.

I always got, you know, first or second in just about all the meets we went to.

This is my trophy case.

I don't know if you saw it when we first came in.

I noticed it when I walked in.

Yeah, that's the Arnold Classic trophy right there.

I won that "Most Muscular" thing, too.

Mm-hmm, I won two... I won that twice. I got two of those.

The other one is somewhere in there.

Yeah, all the Sandows are up there.

If you had to pick the most special year.

- The first one, easy. - First one?

Yeah, 'cause Flex was supposed to win that.

Like I said, I got ninth the year before.

So I was nowhere, you know, in the running for that.

So I was like, "If I can finally make the top five,

I'll be one happy camper."

I'd never made the top five in the Olympia.

- Never made... - You went from ninth to the first.

Ninth to first, yeah.

I started powerlifting when I was in high school.

You know, we traveled all over the state,

did meets and stuff.

- And I wasn't that good, you know. - Wasn't that good?

No.

No, I wasn't good at all.

But, you know, I was...

Those guys was...

they were strong.

They were squatting 500 and 600 pounds in high school, yeah.

I remember one time I saw this little bitty guy,

he was about this tall.

He was getting on the 500, I'm like, "No way he gonna squat that."

Man, he got on there and squatted like it wasn't...

like it was like 200 pounds.

He went down.

I'm like, "That did not happen. I did not just see that."

He...

He had to be about 15, 16 years old, something like that.

And he was short.

Blew my mind.

I can still see it today.

Back then, I could only do, like, 400, you know?

Three, four-hundred. Three-fifty, four-hundred

It took me a long time to squat 800 pounds.

I used to squat, I mean... 700, you know, and 750, like...

when I was in my early thirties.

But when I got to almost 40 is when I got to 800.

It takes time, I mean, no matter what you do...

and I was working out hard, too, you know?

- Consistently. - Consistently.

Yeah, so no matter...

You can't speed up the genetics, you know, process.

It takes time.

Ronnie Coleman is a story that lore is made of.

This is a guy that lifted weights that nobody else could lift.

'Cause even Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron with Lou Ferrigno,

it looked like they were throwing around a lot of weight in the '70s.

Like, wow, you know? Here's Lou Ferrigno saying,

"Put on another ten pounds."

But, I mean, Ronnie Coleman doesn't even warm up

with the weights that Lou Ferrigno was lifting,

and he's 6'5", 280 pounds.

Ronnie was lifting weights that were at the far end

of the rack that were dusty,

things that nobody would even fathom picking up,

and he was doing it with relative ease,

with repetitions.

I wanted to work out with Ronnie.

I wanted to see how intense the champion's work ethic was.

But, yeah, you felt like you'd been in a physical fight

after that workout.

When I went to the gym, you know, I'd lift hard,

I'd lift heavy.

I'd get in there, and I wouldn't stay in the gym no longer than an hour,

and the whole time I was there, you know,

I was focused, and I think, for the most part,

I worked a lot of those guys, you know?

Like I say, I trained six days a week.

You know, I only took one day off.

I trained Monday through Saturday.

You know, working full-time for the police department,

I didn't have enough time to, you know, like,

break my training up, and train a body part here

and train a body part there, and stuff like that

like some of the guys would do that didn't have jobs.

So I'd get all my training in in one session.

If you can't go in a gym and train like Ronnie Coleman,

you don't have a chance of looking like him.

So, without having the fear of the weights,

and you see this guy throwing this kind of weight around,

you couldn't help but press rewind,

and watch it again and again and again.

Suddenly, you're not even caring that he's a freak of nature

in terms of a bodybuilder,

you're just looking at this freak lift this weight.

You know, his mindset is just at another level.

The things he'd do in videos with that amount of weight,

it's not normal strength.

It's a gift from God, number one, that he has.

He's gifted with genetics.

If you're a strong bodybuilder,

you have the propensity to put on more weight.

The taller you are, the bigger you're gonna be.

They can eat, and they can outlift you,

and the only thing that we would have to rely on was our genetics.

Flex Wheeler was...

You can't say Flex without saying symmetry, or genetics.

And that's what made me who I was.

I think Flex had the best genetics in the world,

but I kind of outworked him.

You know what? Hey, listen, sometimes, you know,

they joke, and they say about me, you know,

"When God made you, He broke the mold."

Well, when He made Ronnie, He broke that mold, too.

He was just a freak.

Hey, Erica, how you doin'?

Can I get you to give me a hand?

Got ya.

You want me to drive your car?

You want to drive my car?

- Got you. - Thanks a lot, Erica.

- You have a good one. - You too.

We'll see you tomorrow.

One thing I want to stress about Ronnie which really annoys me...

People sometimes think, because of his Louisiana drawl,

you know, he's not very well educated,

he's not... maybe he's not that smart.

He's as smart as a whip,

and he knows exactly what he's doing.

You never ask him a question with him, "I don't know."

You know, he knows what he's doing and why he's doing it.

You know, when I was in football,

I kind of, like, walked on to the team

and made the team, and worked my way up to first string.

I started out, you know, in fifth string,

and worked my way all the way up to first.

I've always tried to be the very best

at whatever it is that I've always done.

When I was in college, I always tried to be the smartest guy in the class,

and if I wasn't, then I would study with the smartest guy, but...

nine times out of ten I was.

I started out in management,

and then I stumbled upon accounting, and I...

I was really good at it. You know, I was doing...

I was making hundreds on each and every test that I took.

And one of my instructors said,

"What are you majoring in?"

and I'm like, "Management,"

he's like, "No, dude, you need to change that to accounting

'cause you're, like, acing every test that you go through."

He said, "And I think accounting would be

more lucrative than management."

So I'm like, "Okay."

Hey, Corey, you ready, man?

This ain't no joke.

You gotta get that back bigger, baby.

Yeah, buddy! Gotta dig deep! Come on, yeah!

So after you retired professionally,

you started a business, your own supplement line.

Tell me about that.

Every year, the company has grown,

and got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

And we're on our sixth year now.

We launched in Europe and...

the Middle East, uh, India.

Did pretty good, and then, like, two years later,

we launched it here in the U.S.

And we got to the point where we...

started with two products, you know, the first couple years,

then we worked our way up to, like, four,

then six, and then eight.

You know, now, we are branching out to...

we got, like, almost 20 products now.

We started out doing, like, four million the first year,

six million the year after that,

then eight million, then ten, you know.

And then 12, and then 15.

So, getting bigger and better every single year.

Just growing it, and, you know,

just seeing how far we can take it.

I got it.

- What's going on with you? - Not much.

- You doing all right? - Yeah.

Man, you know, I ran out of the stuff again.

I'm always running out.

Yeah, what do you need today?

You have peanut butter, uh...

King Whey?

Oh, you got a big one over there, huh?

- That's all I got. - That's all you got?

Yeah. Go big or go home, Ronnie.

How many you got over there?

Got enough. I've got three.

- You got three? - Yeah.

Okay.

I don't want to take your last one, you know.

- Yo. - Hey, man.

You talk to what's his name?

So, yeah. I'm emailing James right now,

and then I copied you on the email, too.

Hey, about that shot?

What about that shot you was talking about?

- The Yeah Buddy shot? - Yeah.

It's not...

We're having a problem with one of the ingredients.

- That one's not gonna... - Ah, ain't that a bitch.

Yeah, but, right now, we're having a very good month.

- Yeah. Oh, cool. - Just gonna bill this shit and get it out.

Oh, cool, that'll work.

That'll work, that'll work.

We need a damn good month.

- All right. - All right, dude.

- All right, bye, later. - Later.

When I got out of college, I started looking for jobs in accounting,

and most of the jobs I went on interviews,

they all required you to have some kind of experience.

And, you know, since I never worked anywhere,

I never got a co-op job or nothing like that

while I was in college,

I didn't have no experience, so I missed out on a lot of hiring.

So, I just took pretty much the first thing that came along.

The first thing that came along was Domino's Pizza.

I didn't like pizza after a while, workin' for Domino's for two years.

I remember, when I worked for Domino's,

I was so poor I looked forward to going to work so I can eat,

'cause pizza was free and I ate it every single day.

And after a while, you know,

about a year or so into it,

you know, I'm like, "Man, I'm tired of eating pizza."

But Burger King was right next door to us,

and I'm like, "I wonder if they're tired of eating hamburgers."

So I called them.

"Hey, y'all tired of eating burgers?"

They're like, "Yeah."

"Y'all wanna trade?"

They're like, "Yeah, we want to eat pizza."

So I would trade pizza for hamburgers.

Then, afterwards, I got tired of eating hamburgers,

Kentucky Fried Chicken was right next door to them.

So I called them up, like, "Hey, y'all tired of eating chicken?"

They're like, "Yeah."

"Y'all want to trade?"

But, you know, the whole time I was there

I was looking for jobs in accounting.

I went on a lot of interviews, you know,

but like I said, everybody was still saying

I need experience and stuff, and...

And I'm about two years into this, and I'm like,

"Man, I don't think it's gonna work out."

And I noticed that...

every time I got the newspaper,

in the classified section there was always a big ol' ad there

for police officers,

and they all said, "No experience needed."

So, when I went to Arlington, uh...

I had taken, like, two tests already,

so I kind of, like, got to Arlington

and kind of like breezed through the process,

but it was a long process.

Biggest thing was the background check, you know?

You had these officers, like, two or three guys going,

talking to everybody that you talked to over the years.

I still kind of, like, breezed through it

'cause I never was in no kind of trouble.

I always got along with people,

and never did any kind of drugs or nothing,

so I kind of breezed through it

because, you know, I had a real clean record, you know?

I was always trying to be the best,

and my first year, you know,

I was able to get rookie of the year because I worked so hard,

and, you know...

And tried to be the very best that I could at it,

and I was able to get that award.

Girls, take a break.

Daddy needs to record something. Turn the water off.

- Yippee! - Okay, go outside.

Oh, Lord. That's so small.

- I know. - Do you want to stand, or...

Yeah, I'll stand.

For me, he's perfect

'cause he does what he wants to do and I do what I want to do,

and at the end of the day, together, we come home,

and we all, you know, have family time,

and we don't get in each other's way.

At the same time, we work together.

Okay, can you read it from here?

Yeah, yeah. I see it.

- You ready? - Yeah.

Hey, guys. Big Ron here.

Just want to let you guys know...

We met at his show, the Ronnie Coleman Classic.

A friend knew him, and said, "can meet up with him afterwards."

A big group of us, all together afterwards,

and we all ended up staying till...

up till 5:00 a.m., talking.

Yup. And at the end, we exchanged phone numbers.

Mm-hmm.

Let's all make some gains together. Yeah, buddy.

No.

- Try again. - Okay.

Follow the link below to check out our official website.

Let's all make some gains together.

Yeah, buddy.

Hold on, let me see this.

You going, "Oh, man."

Oh, wow. Where's my keys for my car?

I've always been real fond of kids, when I was in high school and college.

Had my first one in college.

I got my 32, and 33-year-old.

You know, my 32 is in Houston.

Actually, I have a granddaughter, too, with her.

And Susan has two kids, uh...

15 and 13.

And then me and Susan have the four together here.

- Who's that? - Sophie, mami.

She's a little "ah!"

Sophie, give me kiss, kiss, kiss?

Mwah! Thank you.

Huh?

Laila!

Hey, girl! How you doin'?

You doin' all right?

Can I have a kiss? Dada get a kiss?

Mwah! Thank you!

- Ready to go? - Ready! Ready!

You okay, Sophie?

You all right, mami? What happened?

- Did you hit your shoulder? - She bumped her head.

She bumped her head?

Yeah.

What are you looking at, Laila?

- Daddy! - Yeah?

- Over here. - What's over here?

- Car! - Yup.

Laila, didn't you have a jacket on this morning?

Laila?

Laila, where's your jacket? Did you have a jacket on this morning?

- No. - You didn't? Are you sure?

No.

I think you did have one on.

Yeah, we got four together.

So we got a three-year-old. She's adorable.

They're not... She's not into any sports or anything right now.

She's doing her own thing.

The four-year-old, same thing,

she's not into any sports or anything.

Just doing the kid thing.

And I'm not trying to rush 'em.

- A-ha! Did I scare you? - Daddy.

Daddy! I scared ya?

- You okay? - Yeah.

Give me kiss.

Mwah! Thank you!

For the most part, I pick up the, uh...

three and four-year-old every single day from school.

- Laila, you're blowing the horn, mami. - Daddy.

Daddy, where is it?

- In the sink. - In the sink.

Mm-hmm.

Daddy, can we take this off?

Mm-hmm.

You want to take it off?

Yes, Daddy.

Okay, hold on.

Aw! Daddy!

- Hmm? - I want to take it off.

Man, it seems like their energy level is endless.

I mean, they're always going.

Even when I get 'em home,

it takes another two hours to wind 'em down

to get 'em into bed.

And sometimes they don't even fall asleep.

They up watching TV and stuff. It keeps us pretty busy.

Sorry, Daddy.

Uh-oh!

Oh, wow.

I always mix up a King Whey shake,

and then I take this Yeah Buddy pre-workout before I train.

And I take the Stacked-N.O. along with it,

and take a couple...

maybe a multivitamin and vitamin C with it.

How much pain do you feel every day

on a scale of one to ten?

Uh, nine, ten.

Yeah, it's pretty heavy.

When I do appearances, my pain level goes up to, like, a 12, 13.

Some was unbearable.

Some was unbearable.

If I'm in a whole lot of pain,

I'll just sit, and just do the appearance...

and have people take pictures.

But for the most part, you know, I always try to stand up.

I've been in pain for so long now, I'm just used to it.

I take the pills, too.

Helps it a little bit.

Like I said, I take about...

four, sometimes five a day, every single day.

They're called oxycodone, these pills right here.

I even keep 'em with me.

They're 30 milligrams.

And, uh, they work...

They work pretty good.

This is the highest, uh...

The highest, uh...

potency you can get is 30 milligrams.

So it eases the pain up a little bit...

for about three or four hours.

And then it comes right back.

Then I take another one.

Whoa.

Oh, ow.

- How's it going? - Good.

Been busy?

Today, not really.

How did you decide to become a professional bodybuilder?

After I graduated from the academy,

and they cut you loose on the street,

one of the guys saw me on one of the calls, like,

"Man, you're a pretty big guy. Where do you work out at?"

I told him, "Man, I work out at the station, where it's free."

He said, "You ought to come over to Metroflex, the gym I work out at."

So I go, "okay."

So I go to Metroflex and Brian is there.

My name is Brian Dobson. I'm the owner and operator

of Metroflex Gym.

We're here in Arlington, Texas.

Brian is the guy that got me into bodybuilding.

A friend of mine brought me to this gym.

Brian was insistent upon me bodybuilding,

and told me I could do good in the sport.

Finally told me that he'd get me a free membership,

and I said, "Oh, what the heck?"

Brian Dobson. I'm the owner of Metroflex Gym.

Been here since 1987.

I mean, you know, we get new equipment here and there,

but pretty much stays the same, man.

We believe in the old-school ways.

Our training methods here are hard.

We get criticized a lot for that.

He trained in a dungeon-type gym. Uh...

In my terms, it would be labeled as a shithole.

Rusty weights, and very dusty, and whatever.

But that's where he trained because he loved to train.

Yes, that place is a trip.

I mean, I was from California. We got the ocean breeze

coming in through Gold's in Venice,

and I wasn't accustomed to all the heat.

You know, a hundred-something degrees in the gym.

I don't know how they do it, but they do it.

It's hot as hell in there.

As soon as he walked in, I knew who it was.

He had the red sweatshirt on,

and you could see the veins, like, you know,

bulging through this thing.

And, of course, I was used to being around champion bodybuilders,

but I don't think I'd ever seen that yet.

Brian kind of took me under his wing,

and taught me all the poses and stuff.

And then he would go over, you know, like, diet and stuff

and tell me what I needed to eat.

The thing that separated him, of course, was just,

his work ethic from the very start has been supreme.

Never...

He was never one of them guys you had to push.

My first show, I went in, won first in overall.

And I'm like, "Whoa.

I can probably be pretty good at this."

When I was in high school,

the gym I worked out was like Metroflex.

When I was in college, the gym I worked out at was like Metroflex.

So I got accustomed to working out at a gym

that had no A/C, there's dirt on the floor,

there was no carpet.

And I kind of, like, fell in love with that type of gym.

You know, you get used to a certain thing,

you just don't want to change

'cause that's kind of like what's worked for you...

your whole life.

And you fall in love with it,

and that's what you want to do.

And that's what Metroflex is,

and that's what it's been for me all my life.

It's what I'm accustomed to doing, and it's what made me successful.

So...

Like they say, if it ain't...

if it ain't broke, then, you know,

you ain't got nothing to fix there.

I knew he could be Mr. Olympia one day.

There's no man who trains harder anywhere.

I truly believe that if Ronnie put his mind to it,

he could set the all-time record in powerlifting,

and not only be the greatest bodybuilder of all time,

but the greatest powerlifter of all time, also.

I think Ronnie could be Mr. Olympia till he's 45, 50 years old if he wanted to be.

Uh, this is 2000, I'm still here.

I've been here for almost 11, 12 years.

Been the happiest times of my life,

and I kind of, like, hope Brian's been kind of happy with me being here.

Hell yeah.

I mean, Brian's kind of like, you know, an angel to me

because, you know, I've been working out now

for about 25 years.

And when I first walked through that door,

Brian had told me I could be a world champ.

And he stuck by his belief and his feeling toward me.

It's kind of like we got a bond here.

So, I think we're kind of like a family.

I didn't do this thing all by myself.

I had some help.

And right here is my angel, Brian Dobson.

Thank you, brother.

One of the stories that stands out to me

goes all the way back to 1992, Helsinki, Finland.

I believe that was Ronnie Coleman's first Mr. Olympia.

He and I were one of the last at the baggage claim,

and I thought, "What's he doing here?"

Like, "Who is he here with?"

I didn't know that he was actually there to compete in the competition.

And lo and behold, by the time the show was going on,

he was backstage warming up,

and he obviously was a work in progress.

I believe he got dead last in that competition.

When it comes to Ronnie Coleman, he was so far back in the pack

in my economy of a great bodybuilder.

You gotta remember, I came up behind Lee Haney,

and behind Dorian Yates,

and with Flex, and with Kevin and with Nasser,

and those were the guys that made the fabric of the Mr. Olympia.

So every time I looked at someone to measure where I stood,

it was never at Ronnie Coleman.

Ronnie, on a competitive level, you just never thought about him.

Going into competitions, you know, he was nowhere close.

If I was in the first call-out, he was probably, like,

in the third or fourth, if that.

He was placing, you know,

in the back of the pack a lot of the times.

I didn't even get a call-out, you know.

I didn't think I could be, like, with the top guys anyway, so...

So I didn't even qualify for the Olympia '93.

So I went to Olympia '94

and placed 15th, 16th, somewhere in there.

But at least they called me out and compared me to the other guys.

So 1995 rolls around and I went to Olympia that year

and I think I placed, like, 11th, somewhere in there,

12th, somewhere in there.

So, you know, I'm moving up in placing,

I'm doing a bit better, you know.

In '96, I did pretty good in Olympia.

I ended up in, like, seventh place that year.

So things are getting better and better every year.

'97 rolls around, and that year at the Olympia,

I got ninth, you know.

I started noticing, you know, this is the first year

and the second year, same thing.

Third year, same thing.

So Ronnie would be on the road with Vickie Gates,

and just carrying his food.

We're talking about...

You gotta go from Spain to compete in Italy, and, you know.

So he's got this whole thing mapped out.

He's taking trains, you know. We're flying and stuff.

And I'm like, "Dude, why do you keep doing this?"

I felt like saying, "Why are you wasting your time?"

I was like, "Man, what are you doing?

I mean, I wouldn't even do this if I'm not winning.

That's my approach, 'cause I'm out there to win.

And Ronnie looked at me and he says,

"Because I love doing it. I mean, I love bodybuilding."

He said, "Man, I love bodybuilding."

You know, when he said it like that,

I was like, "Damn, yeah. You must really love it."

You know?

I can remember it like it was yesterday.

They finally let me in the Arnold Classic.

The show before the Arnold was the Ironman,

and I ended up in, like, third place, I think.

But the guy who won the show was Lee Priest.

I'm like, "Man..."

"How did he beat me?"

You know, Lee about this tall.

I'm like, "I don't know if this the sport for me."

So I'm at the Arnold Classic and I remember, after the prejudge,

I went back to my room and I, like...

My girlfriend at the time was Vickie... a girl named Vickie Gates.

She was competing in the show, too.

I was like, "Vickie, I think I'm done with this bodybuilding stuff.

They letting guys like Lee Priest beat me.

I don't think this is for me."

She's like, "Boy, shut up. You ain't gonna quit."

And I thought about it. I'm like, "You know what?

If I do quit, I might lose my free membership to the gym, so...

I think I am gonna hang around here for a little while longer."

I've always had back issues from my high school days.

I hurt my back in high school. I hurt my back in college.

One day, out on the football field,

something snapped and I went to the chiropractor,

and I've been going to the chiropractor ever since then.

We're going to, uh,

utilize the Apollo cold laser here.

With different types of laser therapies, of course we want to protect the eyes.

The cold laser therapy...

is a slower laser therapy

that is utilized for musculoskeletal injuries.

We're putting this on Ron's muscles here,

on the lateral aspect of the paralumbars,

and then we're gonna work our way down...

into the sacroiliac joint.

Ronnie had injured his back, I believe, when he was doing a squat.

Yeah, it was painful, you know, to have a disc just pop out.

I was getting ready for the Arnold Classic at this time.

It was December 1996.

Squatting 600 pounds and, you know, 600 pounds for me is like nothing.

I always do, like, you know, 12 to 15 reps with that,

and I was coming up on rep number eight

and "pow," the disc just popped out.

And I didn't know what had happened, you know?

I just heard a loud pop.

I thought the guy, actually, that was spotting me

had hit me to get me fired up, you know, for the set.

But he told me, "No, man, I didn't touch you."

I'm like, "What was that loud sound?"

He's like, "I don't know."

I'm like, "I don't know either, but I'm done with squats."

So I went on over and did leg press,

I did my hamstrings, a couple exercises.

Came home and I ate, took a shower,

put on my uniform to go to work,

and I'm like, "Wait a minute, I'm feeling pain."

And I'm like,

"Should I make this right turn and go to work,

or should I make this left turn and go to the hospital?"

So I made the left turn and went to the hospital,

and found out, you know, I had a herniated disc.

Have you ever recommended for Ronnie to stop lifting so heavy?

Yeah.

I sure did.

You know, Ronnie, he had a goal in view.

He wanted to be the number one bodybuilder in the world.

But, of course, eventually,

with the massive weights that he was lifting,

those discs can, many, many times,

pay a pretty heavy price.

Bodybuilding, on the surface, is, again,

it's a great way to build confidence, relationships,

um, overcome fears...

But it comes at a price for some.

Ronnie trained hard, but did he train smart?

That was the only thing that I questioned, especially now...

seeing Ronnie with injuries and everything else.

Through time, I've wished I'd known what I know now,

because I still think that you could train...

not as heavy, but train your body to failure,

or train your body to, you know, gain lean muscle mass,

and not have to train where you're gonna get injured.

I think someone like myself or even like Ronnie Coleman,

we were just training pedal to the metal.

It didn't matter, and we didn't think,

"Oh, we're gonna get injured doing this." We just did it.

To get to that level, you have to train like that.

You know, Ronnie had enormous amounts of size,

and the quality of the muscle.

You know, that can't be done through just sitting there,

pumping 25, 30, or 40-pound dumbbells.

He put the workload on his muscles to make them get to a level

to where there were deep cuts

and deep striations, and hard work.

You know, and that's what his body prevailed.

You saw that.

You know, so if you're not willing to go to that place where...

where he is going to, and train like that,

and withstand that, and live like that,

and do that, and do that, and do that,

you don't have a chance against him.

Woo-hoo!

Whoa, baby!

Lightweight, baby!

Yeah!

Yeah, baby!

Let's go!

Yeah!

Yeah, baby!

Yeah!

Ronnie is number one, man.

Two! Three! Push it!

Yeah! Yeah!

Woo!

A lot of people don't know it, but I learned

from the guys that beat me.

You know, I applied the same knowledge

when I was in college, you know.

If I'm not the smartest,

I'll go talk to the guys that are the smartest.

And when I got to bodybuilding,

I wasn't the best, so I went and talked to the guys

who were the best, like Flex and Kevin,

and all those guys, and they gave me the knowledge

that took me to the next level.

We were in Russia one time and he came to me,

and I had won everything, you know, six straight shows.

I was placing like fourth and fifth, you know, in every show,

because I was kinda, like, burnt out for the most part,

you know, from doing all those shows anyway.

I did the Olympia, I did the show before the Olympia.

So I was kind of like burnt out, but I remember

Kevin is winning every show, and I'm like,

"What the hell is he doing to win all these shows?"

So, I went to Kevin's room, I'm like, "Kevin."

I was in there eating pizza and stuff, you know,

just chilling. I had just won a show.

Heard a knock on the door.

I look, open the door, it's Ronnie.

"Hey, man. What you doing? You don't mind if I come in here?

I wanna ask you something."

I said, "All right, come on in, big dog." You know, "what's up?"

"Man, what's the trick? What you doing, Kevin?"

What are you doing?

How are you staying so hard to win all these shows?

He's like, "You wanna know what I'm doing?"

- I'm like, "Yeah!" - I said, "Dude,"

I said, "Listen, man." I said,

"You've been carrying your food around.

You're so serious. You're measuring out your food. You're doing...

You gotta just relax, Ronnie."

I said, "Why don't you just have a seat, man,

do a shot of this vodka with me?"

So he goes over to his coffee maker

and pours a little coffee in the cup.

Then he goes to the refrigerator...

and pulls out a bottle of vodka,

and he poured that into the cup.

And he said, uh...

"Drink that."

I'm like...

"I don't drink no alcohol, Kevin, you know that.

I don't drink no alcohol, man.

Man, bodybuilders can't do that."

I don't drink no vodka. I don't drink alcohol.

I said, "Look, big dog." I said, "Listen,

take a shot of this vodka, man. You'll be all right."

I said, "You know, just chill, man. Take it easy."

So he took a shot.

"Man, you sure?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm sure."

So I'm like, "Okay."

So he drank it, and...

"Man, this stuff don't taste right. Man, I ain't used to this in my body.

But if you say do it, I'm gonna do it."

I said, "All right, go ahead and drink that."

All right, so he drank it, and we sit down and talk a little more.

Talked about training, working out.

I gave him another shot, gave him another shot.

Gave him another shot, right?

So by the fifth shot he's like, "Man, this stuff's pretty good.

Got a... let me have another shot of that.

Man, that vodka, that made me feel real good."

So he got up, and I says, "Man," I said, "Listen,

eat some of this pizza," ate a little bit of pizza.

And he left and went to his room.

So I didn't see him until the next morning when we woke up.

You know, when...

saw him backstage,

pumping up, pulled his clothes off.

And I looked at him, dude,

and my jaw's just dropped.

I was like...

"Damn."

I drank that coffee and that vodka,

and I went to the show the next day and beat Kevin.

I think that by him having the alcohol,

it dehydrated him just a little more,

but it was able to also relax him,

to not think about any food, not think about anything,

and I think that relaxed state of mind

just let the water just leave his body.

And when Ronnie hit that stage, man, it was all over.

It was like, "Where'd this dude come from?"

I remember going into the Olympia, they said,

"Dorian ain't competing this year, so the Olympia's wide open."

Flex had been getting second. Kevin had been getting second.

Shawn Ray had been getting second.

Nasser had been getting second.

and I'm like, "Well, I ain't got a prayer."

Leading up to the competition, you know,

it was highly anticipated

because Dorian wasn't there anymore,

and everyone is, like, trying to see where they're gonna fit in.

There was me, Nasser El Sonbaty, Kevin.

Ronnie Coleman wasn't even on my top six list.

The media at the time, which was only magazines,

was pumping up Flex Wheeler, you know.

Flex Wheeler, you know, Sultan of Symmetry.

Flex Wheeler, you know, '93 Arnold Classic.

You know, '94. You're expecting this.

He managed to go from getting his pro card

to being, you know, the top in Mr. Olympia

all in the same year, and that was just...

that was in '93.

His first pro year he swept through everything.

Every pro show, he won.

And as the Olympia came,

he kinda really expected for that to, one day,

you know, end up on his mantel.

Flex Wheeler, congratulations for winning the Arnold's Classic,

and tell me now, how much did it help you

to come out of this kind of momentum of winning

the Ironman competition a week ago?

I think it played a tremendous influence on me,

especially that that was my first pro... pro debut,

and I won that show, and I think it gave me a little momentum

going into this show, which I think I needed quite a bit.

Flex was always the heir apparent to the title.

Flex Wheeler was definitely looking to be

the heir apparent to the throne.

He was the heir apparent.

Logically, he would be the guy to win.

From that time, he was always destined to be the next guy.

I would've bet millions he would never win the Olympia.

The first five, six years of his career

he was a journeyman pro, had had a good few shows,

but you never really thought he was gonna make the breakthrough.

When I saw him backstage in New York City,

I knew that it was pretty much game over for me.

It was night and day.

There was Ronnie, and then there was everybody else.

We all took off our clothes and went out there to compete.

That's when you knew that it was gonna be

a changing of the guard.

I remember going to the show and being compared

to Flex and Kevin, and, you know,

those guys that had already won.

And a couple times they had put me in the middle,

and I'm like, "Oh, I'm doing pretty good here.

They put me in the middle,

comparing me to the big dogs of the sport."

I think in 1998 the world had never seen

the total package that Ronnie Coleman presented,

and when he presented that package,

he knocked out a bunch of Hall of Fame bodybuilders in their prime.

And although Flex Wheeler thought he was in the hunt,

I don't think he was beating Ronnie Coleman in any of the poses.

My goal was just to place in the top five, you know?

I was like, "Man, if I can just place top five in the Olympia,"

you know, "it'd be a dream come true."

And I remember they called, you know, like fifth and sixth,

and I'm still standing there, and they called fourth,

and I'm like, "Oh shucks, I'm doing pretty good."

Third and I'm still standing there. I'm like, "Whoa."

And then I can remember me and Flex standing there,

and they were down to first and second.

I'm like, "Wow."

I was truly blown away.

And then Wayne, when he called out second place

he waited for a long time.

Flex Wheeler!

That's when he collapsed, of course, the famous officer down move that he did.

But I think that got to everybody.

That made everybody in that theater, Madison Square Garden, warm to this guy.

Here was a guy, real emotion at taking the sport's top title

when nobody thought he had a chance.

It was a Rocky story, you know?

Everybody was happy for him.

To be at the top, the best in the whole world,

you can't get no better feeling in the world than that.

I suspect somebody cut this one open.

- Was it you? - Maybe.

Uh-huh. Okay.

I want you to know these are very, very expensive.

You have to just adjust to whether he's going to be here

or not be here for long periods of time.

The household is run more or less the same way,

but there's... I mean, there's a few differences, of course,

'cause there's one extra person or one less person.

And I have to buy another one now to get your other ankle.

At least I gave you money.

Yes, at least you gave me money.

Every now and then, it's challenging on me and him,

but I mean, we're grown-ups.

We understand this is the way it is and it's okay.

And, you know, technology helps a lot,

but it's challenging on the children, the girls.

You know, 'cause they miss him.

And as they get older, they understand better,

you know, he has to go, but he'll be back.

I just don't really wanna wash the dishes.

Only if you come outside with me to play.

- After? - I wash the dishes.

Deal.

Lola is the one in black, and she is just like me.

Suzy, the one in blue, she's emotional like me,

but, in a weird kinda way, she's analytical like him as well.

- Lola! - Yes?

You gonna come to the swing with us?

Okay, you gonna get in the swing with sister?

Do you want me to push you?

- No! - "No!"

You don't need me to push you.

- You know why? - Why?

Because you're strong.

Strong like Dad.

One reason we have so many kids is because he and I both love kids.

You know, when you choose that, it becomes your world,

and I don't know that you change into a different person,

or you just evolve into the person you've always been,

which is the person who cares about the next generation,

and what happens with them.

He was a simple country boy from Louisiana

that came from not having much of a chance

to dominating the sport.

Yeah, I mean, Ronnie took it to another level with the size.

He was metamorphosizing into something

that we'd never seen before.

Ronnie Coleman had reached a point

where he didn't look human backstage.

Lee Haney already had the record about numbers.

He had eight Mr. Olympias. Ronnie matched that.

The guys that got second to Lee Haney,

when you stacked them up against the guys

that were getting second to Ronnie Coleman, um...

Ronnie Coleman was putting to waste guys

that arguably could be Mr. Olympia.

I was still working for the police department, too.

I worked, let's see...

my first three or four Olympias.

I worked for the most part until the Olympia came around.

Olympia came around, I'd take, like, three months off,

and get ready for the show.

I didn't go to work or nothing.

I didn't even know he was a cop for a long, long time.

You know, until he started beating me.

So, yeah, it brought a lot of attention to...

to him, and...

what he was as a person, and as a man, you know.

You couldn't beat him in size, couldn't beat him in condition,

and, you know, when you're just really feeling yourself,

I mean, you know...

peacock strutting with his tail... all his feathers out.

I think once he tasted victory, he didn't wanna taste defeat,

and that can move mountains as well.

People wanted to have that size.

People wanted to adopt what he has adopted

through his physique.

The Mr. Olympia, for Ronnie Coleman's confidence,

was exactly what I think he needed

to cement and put the ribbon around who he was.

I mean, because it's like winning the lottery,

but lottery's luck.

When I first started competing, I was 215, my first... when I turned pro.

When I won my seventh Olympia

I was 296, almost 300 pounds.

So I went from 215 to almost 300.

It was like a gradual thing.

I was getting bigger year by year,

so you couldn't really see a whole lot of size

come on me at one time.

But I do remember the first time I hit 300,

'cause I couldn't bend over.

The bigger Ronnie Coleman, years later,

was not the quality Ronnie Coleman that won in New York in '98.

But the judges saw it differently,

that Ronnie Coleman was just too big and too muscular,

and that's, I think, the turning point in our sport where they started

over-rewarding size over quality.

When he started getting bigger, started just losing that look,

that small waist, and he just got too thick,

which I think was a mistake.

Sometimes he was heavier and bigger and blockier,

but he was on such another level in terms of the muscle size.

Ronnie Coleman, you know, still won the eight Olympias,

but it was questionable on the last two Olympias that he won,

or the last Olympia that he won.

Ronnie was starting to get a little heavier than what he, uh...

what was best for his physique.

His Olympia look wasn't as great.

It was 2001, and I did the Arnold Classic,

and I decided I was gonna do the Olympia that same year.

The night before the show, I'm getting tanned.

My girlfriend is putting my tan on, and we're in the bathroom.

All of a sudden, I just faint.

And I've never in my whole life fainted before.

And I wake up, I'm in the tub, you know.

I'm like, "What happened?"

They're like, "You fainted."

I'm like, "What?"

I've never... this has never happened to me before.

The next morning when I wake up to get out of bed,

I'm so tired, I'm so exhausted,

I can't get out of bed.

I know how I'm supposed to feel, you know, the morning of the show

and I'm always very energetic,

and I'm ready to go, and I'm ready to fight,

and I'm ready to get it on.

This morning, I'm very exhausted,

I can't get out of bed, I'm so tired.

I'm so tired to the point that I actually feel like I'm about to die.

So I call my nutritionist, I say, "Hey, dude."

"Hey, the show is over with for me," you know?

"I'm going to the hospital."

He's like, "No, man, don't do that.

You put too much work into this."

He's like, "Just grab a gallon of water

and just drink as much as you can

until you feel like you're okay."

So, I'm like, "Okay." So that's what I did.

I grabbed a gallon of water.

I think I drank about the whole gallon,

you know, that morning,

uh, for the morning show.

And by the time I finished that gallon of water

I felt pretty good, and I'm like, "Okay,

I'm all right now. I'm back to my old self."

He's at the top, being Mr. Olympia,

and then there was guys like Jay Cutler who was chasing him.

I went into the Mr. Olympia every year thinking I was gonna win.

I never had a doubt.

He was an obstacle for...

I was trying to be the best in the world.

You know, and Ronnie was standing in my way.

So every year it was a battle against Ronnie Coleman.

I didn't give a shit about anyone else but Ronnie Coleman

because I knew that was the only guy that could possibly beat me.

In 2001, a lot of people thought Jay Cutler had beaten him,

and he beat him based on the dryness and the hardness

of his frame, but the judges saw it differently,

that Ronnie Coleman was just too big and too muscular.

Jay was sort of satisfied that he'd made the big breakthrough.

I thought he'd won.

When I landed that second place in 2001,

I was highly disappointed, even though I may not have shown it on stage,

because I put a lot of effort into training for that contest.

The policeman out of Arlington, Texas,

Ronnie Coleman.

Jay Cutler has to wonder what he has to do to upset the champion.

When I looked at this house, I fell in love with it.

It was brand-new.

I moved here in '96, 21 years.

I paid cash for it when I won my first Olympia.

I notice you have your own gym here, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You wanna check it out?

Yeah.

Everything that I used at Metroflex I put in here.

My hack squat, my leg extension, leg curl.

My calf machine over there.

I got a decline, I got an incline,

and I got a flat bench.

It start at 5, and go all the way up to 200.

I even put a T-bar row here.

My legs are still numb so I can't go heavy.

I do light, so...

They'd call the police on me all the time when I used to work out.

'Cause I'd be... I'd be loud.

Duke, this way. Let's go.

It's hot in here.

Yeah.

Remember I told you we had the gas, uh...

stealing out of the cars.

We got this monitor right here.

- Oh, yeah? - Uh-huh, yeah.

The, uh, lights down there, they come on at night.

You walk past and it lights up the whole thing down there.

The day that Jay Cutler actually beat Ronnie Coleman,

you could hear a collective...

passing of the torch.

The crowd shift, it just really went straight to Jay.

I think a lot of people were making up for the 2001 victory

that Jay should've got that he didn't get.

People were cheering for the upset.

We'd seen so much of Ronnie Coleman

that eventually, like Mike Tyson,

you tune in to hopefully see the champ get knocked out.

The younger version of you is lurking out there somewhere,

and, you know, you're gonna meet that hellfire person.

So, it happens.

I was fed up.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep getting second place,

and my whole family came out.

You know, I always had my family there,

my brothers, sisters, everyone came out, family friends.

I think I bought 100 tickets that event, that year.

Ronnie came in off.

Ronnie doubted himself that night.

And I remember being backstage and seeing it, you know, unfold.

You know, when you compete at that level,

you can kind of sense and see.

You get to know people's personalities

and their approach and everything,

and Ronnie just showed up as a different Ronnie that night.

Ronnie was going for nine and didn't get nine.

Jay Cutler beat him.

The Olympia gold medal

to the 2006 Mr. Olympia...

...Jay Cutler!

When Jay knocked out the champ, it validated years of work

that Ronnie Coleman had done before him.

And there's not a champion out there that's not susceptible

to getting knocked out, and getting beaten.

We've seen it happen. We saw Mike Tyson lose,

we saw Muhammad Ali lose,

and we saw Ronnie Coleman lose to Jay.

The night I beat Ronnie, 2006, it was a flash.

He knew he was gonna lose, and I think he didn't think that

until the very end,

because he was Ronnie Coleman.

He hadn't lost in a very long time.

I thought it was pretty much automatic that I was gonna win number nine,

because I had won, like, eight in a row, so like,

you know, you come up for number nine, and, like, okay...

Those eight were... you know, I worked hard for 'em.

So I'm thinking, you know, number nine's just gonna be a breeze.

I won on that stage, and it was the first time in history

that a Mr. Olympia was beaten on that stage.

When Ronnie Coleman was beaten by Jay Cutler,

it took a little bit of the shine off.

I can only imagine Ronnie Coleman being Mr. Olympia for, like, eight times.

And then he loses to a guy that he was routinely beating

in head-to-head competition.

In the end, it was... It happened, you know? Jay took him,

but that wasn't Ronnie at his best.

You know, the injuries had shown up, and, you know,

he was battle-worn by that time.

I didn't beat the best Ronnie Coleman ever.

I don't want people ever to think like, "Oh, well,

Ronnie was at his best and Jay was at his best."

That's not the case.

I just was better that day.

You know, time was creeping up,

he was going for his record number nine.

Lot of publicity going into the show.

But I felt bad for Ronnie.

I felt bad winning, which is weird.

Because, you know, he was... it was everything to him,

you know, and he was going for number nine.

It was the record, it'd beat Lee Haney's record.

And he was upset, you know? He was visually upset.

My name is Mike Hisey.

I'm an orthopedic surgeon with the Texas Back Institute

and I specialize in spine surgery.

So, Ronnie came to me from a friend of mine who has known him,

and has worked out with Ronnie for years and years.

And when he had a particular problem with his back

that Rob knew that I knew how to operate on,

he referred Ronnie to me.

And it's an advanced stage of, really, degeneration,

wear and tear, and it's from all of the weight

he's been putting through his back over the years.

So it had worn out the discs.

And he had had operations before I met him

to try and unpinch some of the nerves and make room

for the nerves, and then ultimately an attempt

at trying to hold the bones still that didn't heal up.

So, we tried to do another operation to get him to heal up

and try and improve his alignment.

These are the artificial hips now,

they were already in by the time I met him.

Here's one of them and the other.

And then you can see the screws,

and you can see how collapsed this disc is.

We were able to lift it up some.

Got his alignment a little bit better.

Now he's got this spacer in here.

This is lifted up. We were able to get that one lifted up.

You see how collapsed this one is.

We weren't able to get this one pulled back as far as I'd hoped,

but some, and this looks like it's...

on the CAT scan, it looks like it's healed.

We were able to get the nerves unpinched at that level.

Disc is okay, but the joint is wearing to some degree.

We see this all the time. Not all of our patients

are competitive bodybuilders.

It's a common problem, but he puts himself at higher risk.

You know, some of the people are gonna get it

because of their genetics.

It's years, miles, and your activity.

And his activity, I think, is what put him at the risk,

and it's what he lives for.

So, we're just taking care of it.

Doctor said he's gonna go in and perform a surgery

in which he's gonna take out the screws, 'cause...

uh, from that nerve block shot that I had.

The pain went away for a whole day,

and that showed that the hardware

was causing the pain, those screws.

Screw was just there just to hold the fusion in place.

They fused my discs together.

They've been there almost two years.

They've pretty much done their job.

All they're doing now is just causing me pain.

He's still working out, obviously.

- He's still in the gym. - I don't think he'll ever stop.

And do you think that's a positive thing?

Would you recommend it, or not?

If I had to pick, just for his back, it's probably not the best thing.

But for his overall well-being, I think he needs to.

Step in the room, we'll check out your nerves and stuff.

- Yeah, yeah. - Where's your wife today?

She's got the kids.

Just scooch on back there.

- Put these here. - Lift your big toes up for me.

Hold 'em up real strong. Real strong.

You're a little weak on this one still.

Yeah, that one's real weak.

Okay, push down strong, down towards the floor, strong.

That's much better. How 'bout hold it up straight.

Hold that up real strong. Straight, straight, straight.

Hold this one up real strong. Straight, straight, straight.

- Oh, that's gotten so much better. - Yeah.

That's gotten so much better. So much better.

Yeah, that's perfect. Now, let me just...

- That may not come back. - That ain't gonna come back.

That may not come back.

That ain't worked in some... a whole lot of years.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen that one work.

I don't think this one does either.

No, no, no.

Yeah, he's an amazing guy in terms of being able to

work through things.

But, with this operation, with as much time as we had to spend,

it's not uncommon that weakness on the leg on the side we go in.

And, so he had that, and that's been getting better,

but it certainly was an issue for him early on, post-op.

I don't think he's done with treating his back by any means,

but I think he's on his way.

His recovery, I think, is better than average

for what he had to start with.

It's not perfect.

There may come a time when he wants to try and get it a little bit better,

in which case we might extend it up

and get a few more levels above or below

to correct his overall alignment.

I don't think it's gonna do anything about

getting strength back, but it may help with pain

and it may help him stand up a little bit taller.

What happened was, they put in four screws

'cause the discs were shifting forward

and pushing up against my nerves.

So they had to clamp them together,

and they used these screws.

Anyway, those screws ended up breaking.

And in the process of breaking, they broke bones in my back.

You know, and then the pain got so bad

where I couldn't even walk.

Hey, guys! What's going on?

Big Ron here, coming live to you from the...

what I deem my... Ronnie Coleman recovery center.

You know, a lot of people that go through this kind of surgery

tend to have the mindset that they may be in a wheelchair,

and they say people like that, who...

eventually do go to wheelchair, never get out.

And they could,

but it's just a mental...

you know, thing that they have. And it's never occurred to Ronnie.

I'm ready to take off.

I'm gonna take off in flight in a second here.

Put some nitrous on that wheelchair.

So I stayed in the hospital for like a whole month,

trying to get better, and trying to deal with the pain.

And this is what I get early in the morning

for the next day's meal.

I'll be having cranberry juice.

It was real bad, you know? But I made it through all that.

I started out in a wheelchair, did that for a while.

Then I graduated to a walker, did that for a while.

And then I got to the point where I got the crutches.

Doing that for a while, and I'm still on crutches,

but, for the most part, I can walk around the house,

like short distances,

but I use the crutches for like when I have to walk

for like long distances and stuff like that, so...

I say I've come a long way.

The six and seven-year-old,

they're kinda like figure skaters, both of them.

Susan, of course, she's a lot older,

so she's a national level competitor.

This family comes first.

We're the ones he chose.

- Lo-lo. - What?

- Give me huggie? - No.

He's very good with them. He's very patient.

Quitting too soon, you might have regrets.

Lee Haney was 31 years old, but he had 8 Sandows,

nothing else to prove, and he was able to turn the page.

The majority of the guys are gonna go out of this sport

a loser, so how do you go out, you know?

I think Ronnie's one of those guys that would go out fighting.

With Ronnie, win or lose, he always was always the same, you know?

And he's always been very humble like that,

and, you know, I can appreciate who he is

because that's what makes a champion, is...

someone that can stand on all stages

and be thankful for every gift that they're given,

and indirectly affect a lot of people.

I didn't wanna see Ronnie Coleman get on stage in 2007.

I didn't wanna see him push and not get rewarded.

It's hard to advise bodybuilders of that caliber

what they should or shouldn't do,

because they are in control of their careers.

But I think Ronnie Coleman did what was best for him.

If there was a way for him to compete tomorrow, or next week,

or this year, Ronnie Coleman,

I don't think any of us would stop him from doing it.

Thank God he's not a boxer, because he'd probably be,

you know, brain dead.

People, they know the type of talent, and they know how hard I worked,

and they know I put my all and all into it.

You know, I don't have any regrets about it, you know, so.

Everybody said, "Oh, what a shame. That's how we'll remember him."

No, you'll remember the eight-time champ.

Nobody remembers the fourth time.

Nobody remembers Muhammad Ali,

last two or three fights, being in shambles.

They remember the king when he was on top.

That's how they'll remember Ronnie,

with that big smile and that personality

who's got time for everybody,

who's never turned a fan down.

I've never seen in a temperamental mood.

So he's got a great legacy.

As well as being the best bodybuilder of all time,

he's one of the most loved, I'm sure.

Not used to getting up in the morning, you know.

Takes a minute for me to get going.

Not really used to it.

Never get used to it.

I've been here almost 30 years now.

Long time.

Yeah, when I first came here, there was hardly nothing here.

Weren't that many people or nothing.

Now, man, it's just doubled in size.

Just like that.

They put up houses everywhere,

do all kinds of stuff.

Made this place huge.

I came to this city and this gym about the same time.

It was thirty-something years now.

Yup.

- How you feeling, bro? - Same old, same old. You?

Another day at the office.

- Little bit cooler this morning. - Yeah, I was surprised.

Warm yesterday during the day.

It was warm yesterday. I got up this morning, went outside.

When I first got out of the hospital,

both my legs were numb.

Now I got to the point where just one is numb.

The numbness is going away slowly.

I remember when I had my neck done,

uh, the doctor told me it was gonna take two years

for the numbness to go away.

And I remember two years to the date,

the numbness went away totally.

So I know that if my neck can recover

and the numbness can go away there,

that I can recover, also, in my legs and stuff.

If somebody embodied what Mr. Olympia was like,

I think Ronnie Coleman probably loved being Mr. Olympia

more than anybody else. And I had to be happy for him.

But Ronnie Coleman took bodybuilding

to another whole level when it came to size and symmetry.

Size and symmetry.

You know, we had someone like Dorian that introduced mass

into the bodybuilding era,

but then Ronnie did it with aesthetics as well.

I don't think there's still been anybody since

that, you know, brought the same combination

of size, shape, and condition.

Not only with a great chest, not only with a great back,

not only with all those arms and everything...

shoulders, glute, hamstring.

It was just unparalleled.

He just had it all.

He had the training, he had the crazy diet that was...

He was able to eat, you know, all these crazy things,

and be able to still get that kinda shape.

He brought a lot to the table, you know, and, uh...

He was the strongest Mr. Olympia of all time.

Oh, yeah!

- Keep going! - Yeah, baby!

Lightweight, baby!

Yeah!

Yeah! Lightweight!

Yeah, baby!

He was a beast, and, you know, he set a new standard

for bodybuilding, which, you know, came to my time,

and I couldn't get as big as him.

Phil Heath took over, he's not even close to big as Ronnie was.

You know, they can't compare Phil Heath to Ronnie Coleman.

Ronnie Coleman was challenged by Hall of Fame bodybuilders,

and, of course, in Phil Heath era, he's not.

And I say this today, I still think that

Ronnie Coleman, at his best, would still win the Mr. Olympia today.

I don't know if you can say mindfuck, but it's a mindfuck to the max.

Like, you can't imagine coming from being the upper echelon of your sport

to not being that anymore,

and then just having to deal with that part.

To be on the other side of that is pretty hard, you know?

I won't lie, I cried the first time.

You know, I never told him that or anything, but, you know,

seeing him like... 'cause to me, his strength was supernatural.

I mean, it was so above and beyond everybody else's.

You know, it was very, very hard to see that, you know,

especially when the hips went

and he had to use a walker and all that.

That was tough for me.

And, you know, he got down to, I don't know, 215 pounds

probably at one point, maybe. You know, 220.

And I mean, I'd never seen him that small ever, you know?

- Lola. - Hello.

Wake up.

I know.

The Nuggets whisper up on the Clippers for the eighth spot.

- Where you at? - About five minutes away.

- Okay, all right. I was just... - Five minutes away.

...making sure you made it okay.

Oh, yeah. Be there in just a minute.

- You okay? Doing good? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm all good. Ready to get this over with.

I heard that, man. Wish it was already done.

You and me both.

All right, we'll see you in a minute.

- All right, big bro. - All right, bye.

See, this surgery's gonna last only like three hours,

but the only thing about it is...

instead of going through my back,

because I've had so many back surgeries

and I have so much scar tissue there,

they've gotta go through the front now.

In order to go through the front,

there's all this stuff in the front, you know, to get to the back.

So he's gotta take out my intestines.

Gotta take those out to get to the back.

So, he said this surgery should last about three hours,

but the recovery time is gonna be the same as the last surgery.

Six months again.

- You made it in, huh? - Of course.

Yeah, the traffic's always fun.

You ready to go, ready to do this thing?

I remember the doctor said when he took a break

he would always go out and talk to my mom.

She was there the whole time.

Unfortunately, she's no longer here 'cause she passed away in August

from, you know, pancreatic cancer.

You know, she was always there at all my surgeries.

So, you know, that's gonna be real hard to go through

and not have her there, 'cause I'm so used to,

you know, waking up and seeing her.

All right, Ronnie. Let's get this thing done.

Yeah, buddy.

- We're gonna back you in. - Okay.

It's very sad, you know?

It hits hard for me, because...

remember, I stood next to him,

and battled him, and, uh...

I admired the way he trained,

and sometimes I wish...

I'd go, "Man, I wish I could do that."

And now I look at it and say, "Wow," you know...

You know, "What did it?"

I don't know the answer,

'cause Ronnie's not gonna cry about anything.

That's the thing about Ronnie Coleman.

He's not gonna make excuses for himself,

"Well, this is why it happened."

He'd rather just say... you know, when people say, "Hey..."

You know, "You're laid up.

You had this many surgeries. What do you think?"

He goes, "Well...

I'm really disappointed I only squatted 800 twice."

That's just Ronnie.

Everything negative is a positive to him, and that's why he's great.

I think I could've got five with 800.

I could've got five reps.

I think I could've got five easy reps,

But I went... I did the 800 squat, and then I went to the leg press

and I put 2,300 on there, and I got 8 reps.

So I kinda made up for it there.

I can't feel sad for Ronnie Coleman, because I knew

that there would be a price to pay for what he was doing,

and I think, for him, that price was worth it.

Ronnie Coleman was one of the few bodybuilders

that paid his house off, bought his mom a house,

took care of his entire family, created his own supplement line,

and had multiple opportunities worldwide

to see the globe, as a result of what he did.

So, if this is the price you have to pay,

I think if you ask Ronnie, he'd say he'd do it again.

If you ask me, I would say it's foolish.

I would never do that.

I don't want any of those Sandow trophies

to have the body that 53, 54-year-old Ronnie Coleman has.

It wouldn't be worth it for my lifestyle.

And that's why you gotta respect the guy, because he could be crying to everyone,

"Well, I'm so beat up," and, you know,

"Bodybuilding did this to me,"

but Ronnie's enjoying his time with his kids,

he's doing his travel still.

He's making the best of it. He's wheeling in expos in a wheelchair.

I feel sorry that it happened,

but I don't think Ronnie feels sorry about it,

because, you know what? He just did what he had to do

to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

And he will go down in history as the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

Hold on tight, Laila.

I've been bodybuilding for 10 years...

and I've been working here for 12.

And the famous question is, "Why do you still work here...

and you're Mr. Olympia, two-time Mr. Olympia?"

My answer to that question is,

"Because I love it."

I was just in China, you know...

and, you know, there's a language barrier and everything,

but whenever I said something like...

- Lightweight, baby. - Lightweight.

..."Lightweight, baby," everybody got it without the interpreter.

Ronnie took the time to write back to every fan.

And the people around us would be like,

"Man, I can't keep up to Ronnie," you know?

He had everything timed perfect,

but he would sit and do his emails, like,

at that super early time of the morning, to every fan.

I had to throw everything I had from New York,

and he said the best burgers are in Texas.

I said, "No way, Ronnie," I took him to...

I had to take him to Old Homestead.

I'm just kinda looking at him,

"Oh, I hope I'm right. I hope...

I hope I'm right."

You know, took Mr. Olympia, you know, arguing with him

on the best burger in Texas.

So, bites into this burger...

all he kept saying was,

"Man, this ain't no burger.

This ain't no burger!"

And I was like, "Yes, I think I got him."

And after years of hard work and struggles, you know,

I was able to get that Olympia title.

But, you know, that's not the reason why I got into it.

The reason why I got into it was 'cause he told me

he'd give me a free membership.