July 28, 2025 • 30 mins
Get the new RESOLUTE 5-day Powerbuilding Program in Physique University and stop second-guessing your approach to lifting. Join for just $27/month and get a custom nutrition plan included when you tap this special link for podcast listeners
--
Eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman didn't just build a legendary physique. He created a blueprint for what dedication, consistency, and love for lifting can achieve.
His famous "light weight, baby!" was about an approach to training that transformed his body and an entire culture of lifting.
This is the first episode in our new Lifting Legends series, where we connect modern training science with the rich history of lifting culture to extract timeless principles that are relevant today more than ever.
Main Takeaways:
- Ronnie's blueprint for greatness: consistency, simplicity, and genuine love for the lifting process
- Why fundamental movements (squats, deadlifts, presses, rows) built the greatest physique in bodybuilding history
- How to channel Ronnie's commitment while training smarter for long-term health and sustainability
- The difference between training hard and training smart (and why you need both)
Episode Mentioned:
Timestamps:
0:02 - The King's blueprint for greatness
4:22 - Ronnie's humble beginnings at Metroflex Gym
6:30 - Ssimplicity executed at an elite level
12:56 - Why Ronnie's methods align with modern science
17:13 - Building your own lifting legacy
18:44 - What to emulate vs. what to avoid from Ronnie's approach
23:25 - Excellence + sustainability
26:48 - THIS separates legends from everyone else
🎓 Join Physique University for just $27/mo + get a FREE custom nutrition plan with this special link: bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan
👥 Join our Facebook community for Q&As & support
👋 Ask a question or find me on Instagram
📱 Try MacroFactor 2 weeks free with code WITSANDWEIGHTS (my favorite nutrition app)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:02):
eight-time mr olympia, ronnie coleman didn't
just build one of the greatestphysiques in history.
He created a blueprint for whatdedication, consistency and a
pure love for lifting canaccomplish.
His famous lightweight babywasn't just about the weight on
the bar.
It was about an approach totraining that transformed his
(00:22):
body and an entire culture.
Today we're exploring what madeRonnie legendary, how his
methods shaped modern lifting,and the timeless principles you
can take away from his journeyto build your own greatness,
because when you understand whatdrove the king, you'll discover
lessons that go beyond the gymLessons about consistency,
(00:42):
simplicity and the relentlesspursuit of becoming your best
self.
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
(01:03):
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're going to celebrate
one of lifting's most inspiringfigures, while taking away some
of the wisdom that can help youwith your own training.
And this is the first episodein what I'm planning as a series
connecting our modernunderstanding of training with
this rich history of liftingculture something that I feel
(01:24):
like is getting forgotten or notdiscussed enough and it's a lot
of fun to look into the pastand see what those guys did and
what we can learn from them,good and bad, to inform what we
do today beyond just the science.
Now the iron right, the ironculture.
We've been learning lessonsfrom that culture for
generations and many of us areborn in this century or born,
(01:47):
like myself, toward the end ofthe last century and haven't
taken the time to study thosegiants that came before us.
But what we do, we seeprinciples that are still
relevant, and they were relevantthen, but we didn't quite tie
it into the science.
In fact we sometimes dismiss itas bro science, and I'm here to
rectify that with this seriesand I think it's gonna be a lot
(02:07):
of fun.
So when you look up the podcastgoing forward, if it says
Lifting Legends, number one,number two, number three, that's
the series we're talking about.
Now let's start with RonnieColeman.
I picked him intentionallybecause he's got a colorful past
and he's got things that areflawed about him and they and
everyone does, and I want togive thing, give this the
(02:32):
treatment it deserves.
So Ronnie Coleman is is a veryspecial piece of this history of
iron culture, not just thesuccess he had, but he had a
particular approach to thesuccess.
That gives us some, helps ustake a step back.
For anyone who is serious aboutbuilding their strength and
physique, and if you want to dothis yourself, if you want to
build your own legacy, it'shelpful to have to understand
history and it's also helpful toput this into a personalized
(02:55):
systemic approach for you.
So just a quick note so thatyou're aware I have something
called Wittemate's PhysiqueUniversity where you get a lot
of the tools we talk about onthis show to train with purpose,
to eat with intention andclarity, to fuel yourself, to
build consistency.
That separates good liftersfrom great ones.
And we just relaunched at alower price.
(03:17):
It used to be 87 a month, nowit's 27 a month.
And if you use the linkexclusive in the show notes for
listeners, you'll also get acustom nutrition plan for free
from me.
And, by the way, I'm doinganother episode soon on a brand
new training template we droppedthere for power building.
It's called Resolute and it's,in fact, inspired a lot by the
guys we're going to be talkingabout in this lifting series.
(03:38):
So use the link in the shownotes $27 a month and you'll get
a free nutrition plan if youuse that link only.
All right, let's talk about thislegend, ronnie Coleman.
What made him so extraordinary?
So quick history.
He was born in 1964 in Monroe,louisiana, and he didn't really
start serious bodybuilding untilhis mid-20s.
You hear guys like Arnold whostarted as young as they could
(04:00):
possibly get their hands on abarbell.
But he was working as a policeofficer in Arlington, texas and
he discovered Metroflex Gym.
It was a very simple, no frillskind of temple to training.
It's not something you see alot these days unless you really
look for it, and it wouldbecome legendary largely because
of what Ronnie accomplished inthat facility, metroflex.
(04:22):
What's fascinating about hisstory is how it began, because
he wasn't necessarily giftedwith perfect genetics from day
one, although definitelysuperior to many, even though
people assume you know, oh,genetic freak, it comes easy
right.
If you look at the early photosyou see a good physique, but
nothing that screamed future MrOlympia.
But what he had was a workethic that you could call
(04:46):
unshakable right.
It was just part of the fiberof his being.
He had a genuine love for theprocess of getting stronger, and
I know a lot of you don'tnecessarily love the process of
lifting.
You do it for a reason and youtie it to a reason and we talk
about that, whereas others and Ikind of raise my hand here
really do just love lifting theiron and doing the thing, and I
(05:07):
think for a lot of us that comesto us as we do it and get the
result.
But I feel like when you look atRonnie's history, he was just
in it from the beginning.
He trained with joy that's whatI would call it.
It was like this infectious joy.
You look at his smile.
I mean he's just a charming guy, right?
You watch any of his trainingvideos and you'll see a guy
that's not suffering throughworkouts.
It's someone who, like this ishis calling, right?
(05:29):
He's just going to pursue itwith all the enthusiasm he can
muster.
And there's a famous quote hewould say lightweight baby,
lightweight baby.
And, by the way, try thatyourself in the gym when you're
about to go for a PR and see ifit doesn't, you know, jack you
up a little bit mentally whenyou're about to hit that.
So I don't think it was bravado, right.
I think it was this genuineexcitement about moving
(05:50):
heavyweights and pushing hisbody to new levels, and
obviously the results speak forthemselves.
He had eight consecutive MrOlympia titles from 1998 to 2005
.
It's a record that has stood tothis day as the gold standard,
nearly two decades later.
And, you know, sometimes peoplesimplify it to just that.
But there's a lot behind that,right, it's more than just the
(06:13):
titles.
I think Ronnie created atraining culture that emphasized
the fundamentals, done withextraordinary consistency.
All right, really importantthings.
Listen up, fundamentals,consistency.
This is what we're going to hiton today and why I think this
is so important.
So now let's talk about histraining philosophy, and here's
(06:33):
what made it so powerfulSimplicity executed at an elite
level.
All right, simplicity executedat an elite level, the highest
level Simplicity so many of usget hung up in.
Things need to be more and morecomplex.
We think advanced trainees, ithas to be more and more complex
(06:54):
and it's true, a lot ofbodybuilders to this day get
caught up in complex routinesand a lot of exotic exercises,
and you see it in the trainingprograms out there, and
sometimes we seek it out becausewe're looking for more variety
and fun and it's okay to do that.
Right, that's part of theprocess If it, if it helps you
enjoy it and be consistent.
But Ronnie was all about thebasics, man.
He you know squats, deadliftsbent over rows, bench press the
(07:18):
big lifts Right, and theyweren't just like the, they
weren't just the main lifts,they were kind was textbook.
If you go watch videos, evenwith massive weights, I mean
it's incredible.
And he essentially proved that,look, you don't need
complicated programming to buildan incredible physique.
(07:40):
I think that's a big takeawayhere, right?
The takeaway that we make lotsof excuses.
We taught, we program hop, wethink we need to know more, more
, more, more, more.
And at the end of the day, ifyou're not doing the basic
things to begin with, go back tothose and it kind of frees you
up, right, it frees up themental stress.
And if you just get really goodat those, even though they
might be a little boring, sureyou're going to build something
(08:01):
incredible.
And of course, you needconsistent progression.
Right, it's about movementpatterns.
It's how the body moves throughspace, it's how we are able to
sling around such massiveweights and build the strength
and size that we're going for.
And his training split was justa very bare bones, classic split
chest and triceps, back andbiceps, legs but he executed it
(08:24):
at a high level of bothintensity and consistency.
And I want to be clear youcan't necessarily start all out
with both from day one.
If you're a beginner, right,you're going to apply intensity
in terms of your progression,but you need to do it in a way
that you recover, that you'reable to get back into the gym
the next session and that youcan be consistent based on the
(08:47):
number of days per week and thehours that you have and the
equipment that you have and soon.
All that is important.
But he kind of combined theintensity and the consistency in
a very elite level, I'll say.
And then I think moreimpressive than that is the
maintenance and sustainabilityof that approach throughout his
career.
Right, he just stuck with it.
He didn't chase new methods, hedidn't get distracted by
(09:08):
whatever the trends were.
Fortunately, he didn't havesocial media for the most part,
maybe until later on.
No, no, he figured 2005,.
The iPhone hadn't even come out.
Right, he found what worked, hecommitted to it, that's it.
And look, what works for oneperson should generally work for
another, at the principle level, but maybe not at the specific
method level.
But when it comes to lifting, Ithink if you went back and
(09:30):
looked at Ronnie's program andjust followed it, you'd probably
have great results too.
So let's talk about the cultureat his gym, right, metroflex.
I think this is reallyinteresting.
His home gym, called Metroflexwas.
It wasn't like a fancy, itwasn't a Planet Fitness type gym
.
Of course it was gritty,concrete floors, basic equipment
, I understand they didn't haveair conditioning.
And this is in the Texas heat.
(09:50):
Okay, I grew up in Florida.
I live in Connecticut now, butI'll tell you the summer still
get hot and humid and I don'tknow if Texas is a little bit
drier or what, but you know toto train in that kind of
temperature.
I know how it feels.
I know mentally what it takesto decide you're going to do
that where it's not ascomfortable.
But it's where serious peoplecame to do serious work, right?
(10:11):
The culture Ronnie created therewas, as I understand it, about
mutual respect and sharedpurpose.
Everybody is there for a reason.
It's not like when you go tothe gym and nobody talks to each
other.
Everybody has their earphonesin.
I don't even go to commercialgyms anymore.
I work out at home for thepurpose that, for the main
reason that I'm just there toget the work done and focus and
build something.
But it also saves me time.
But I also understand that.
(10:32):
I've been to gyms, even eventhe CrossFit gym that I used to
go to, they had a camaraderiethere.
They had a community.
Everybody was intending to dothe same thing, and so it kind
of elevates everyone, right?
Especially when everyone'sbetter than you and when
everyone's there to get better,you end up supporting each other
and feeding off of that.
And I think Ronnie, even thoughhe was a multi-time Mr Olympia,
(10:54):
he trained alongside regularpeople, right, because that's
how they pay the bills at thesegyms.
Right, you hear the storiesthat, like the famous guys, the
power lifters are the ones thatare not.
They're not making the moneyoff of them.
Right, they're making money offof regular members.
But I understand that hetreated people with respect,
with encouragement.
He's a good guy.
And, again, a lot of this issecondhand, guys, as I do the
(11:15):
research for this episode,because I don't know Ronnie
personally, if he's out therelistening to this and wants to
correct me, or if he wants tosay, yeah, that's, that's what
it's about, please reach out,dude, but this is my
understanding.
And so if you look at thatenvironment, then what can we
take from that?
Well, your gym doesn't have tobe perfect, but the way that you
commit to the intentionalprocess.
Does you know?
Ronnie didn't have superiorequipment or facilities.
(11:37):
He didn't have the big fancygyms you see on YouTube
walkthroughs today with you know500 pieces of equipment
specialized for every singlething I've got.
You know friends that send mereels and photos and YouTube
videos of all this equipmentthat I would just love to have
and then kind of step back andsay, do I really need that?
Right, and Ronnie succeededbecause of his effort.
His effort was superior and farabove the average person, but
(12:02):
something we can all absolutelystrive for.
And then he was consistent towhatever environment he was in,
cause I'm sure he lifted itother places throughout his
career.
So don't worry about having theperfect equipment or home gym
or the fanciest you knowfacility and options.
You can adjust that stuff right.
I mean, we do it in PhysiqueUniversity all the time.
People say, well, I don't haveaccess to that or that.
(12:24):
And what we say is look, here'sa list of substitutions, let's
figure it out, let's trainaround it, just like when you
train around injury.
You got to find something thatworks.
You just have to have that,that grit, that mindset, that
willingness to show upconsistently, independent of the
circumstances.
And to me.
That's what principles areabout.
That's what rock solidprinciples are.
It's like I don't care what youthrow at me.
(12:44):
Throw, throw me in in a junglewith some rocks and I'm going to
figure out how to train.
So that's you know, and I don'tknow if I'm.
I don't know if that's just meor if you feel me on that.
So when we then tie this totoday and tie it to the science
because at the end of the day, Iwould love to show you that
there is a connection betweenthe things we study today in
labs to essentially validatewhat bro science has known for
(13:08):
many years is that a lot of theinstinct that these guys had?
Like Ronnie, his trainingchoices align with what we know
today about building muscleoptimally.
And, honestly, it's not toomuch of a surprise when you
think, hey, I do this, it makesme stronger, it makes me bigger,
ergo, I'm going to stick withthat.
Right, makes sense.
People have experimented foryears.
There's been coaches andtrainers for far before we had
(13:30):
all the modern research studieson this stuff, and so I tend to
actually give more credence to alot of that than I do research,
even though we'reevidence-based and we're
evidence-based, we're not justscience, paper-based, we're
evidence-based.
What is evidence?
Evidence includes anecdote,coaching experience, personal
experience, your own individualexperience is your evidence too.
Anyway, back to Roddy.
(13:51):
He had a huge emphasis on thecompound movements and I will
always, to the day I die, talkabout how powerful using basic
movement patterns, as a human is, is to getting a result If you
have nothing else but just thecompound movements, the
squatting, pulling, pushingright, which can translate to a
lot of different exercises.
(14:11):
Yes, the big ones squat,deadlift, press, bench press and
overhead and rows, but alsovariations of those.
We know to this day that theseexercises stimulate the most
muscle mass, create thestrongest strength and
hypertrophy adaptations they use, you know, the full range of
motion in a natural humanmovement.
It makes total sense.
It makes total sense.
And here's a guy that was doingit long before we had to put
(14:33):
that in paper, long beforestarting strength came around
and just wrote it in a book,very excellently, I should add,
but we've known it.
We've known it for a long time.
And then, as far as progression, right, that's the other piece.
Consistent, progressive loading, progressive overload.
We call it the fundamental, youknow, driver of the growth over
time, of challenging yourselfright to that limit and then
continuing to progress.
(14:53):
And Ronnie did that.
He was always religious aboutadding weight or reps over time.
He used the body traditionalbody part split that I talked
about, but he trained six days aweek.
Now you know he was enhanced.
We're going to talk a littlebit about some of the maybe
negatives, I should say, or theextra help he had.
But you know he was in six daysa week and doing a body part
(15:17):
split so that each muscle groupcould be trained frequently
enough to to optimize hisresults.
Now Arnold also did six days.
He did two a days.
If you ever read hisbodybuilding encyclopedia it's
insane.
I would not recommend that tomost people again, unless you're
enhanced.
But the principles are stillwhat matters.
You know sufficient frequency,sufficient volume, basic lifts,
hitting them consistently.
I did an episode recentlycalled the 12 Rules of Training
(15:37):
Volume that I think you shouldgo check out if you haven't, or
listen to it again to getrefreshed on what are those
principles.
And then, when it comes toeffort, to me effort in the
context of training is trainingwith proximity to failure, for
sufficient mechanical tension.
So you're effectively pushingyourself to your limits.
I think, ronnie, this is anexample where we could argue and
(15:57):
say did Ronnie push too much tothe limit, right Right to the
end, right to failure oneverything, even massive, big
lifts?
And again you have to thinkabout the advantages he had.
Yes, maybe extraordinarygenetics I know I mentioned they
weren't perhaps far aboveaverage when he was younger.
It's always hard to tell that.
Obviously, his physique wasgenetically blessed in terms of
the shape and the symmetry andall that.
(16:18):
But pharmacological support,right, peds okay, we can't deny
it.
All those guys were on drugs,and the ability to train and
recover goes way up as a result,and so he could basically, for
his full-time job, be training,and we're not trying to do that.
The principles, though, areaccessible to all of us.
We just have to understand thatour recoverability is different
.
We might not be training sixdays a week.
(16:39):
It might make more sense to dofour or five.
I will say I have trained sixdays a week, but then, when I've
done that, it's much shortersessions, much fewer exercises
per session, because, again, Idon't have the same recovery
support and I'm in my 40s, etc.
Not excuses, just data thattells me.
(17:00):
Here's how I respond and how Ineed to modify my training,
wanted to give you anotherreminder here that if you're
trying to build your own liftinglegacy and you want to be
systemic about it and and take asystem-based, data-based
approach, we can definitely helpyou out inside physique
university.
I'm talking about that a lot nowbecause people are always
reaching out, listeners arereaching out with questions, and
I can get.
I sense the not desperation,but I sense the overwhelm from
(17:24):
all the information that's outthere and we want to give you
tools to train with purpose, toeat in a way that is aligned
with you, that is flexible.
You don't have to do diets, youjust build consistency to
become a really great lifter, anathlete of aging, and so
Physique University is where wedo that.
It's 27 a month.
If you join now, using myexclusive link, I'm going to
(17:45):
build a free custom nutritionplan for you.
That's normally an add-on, butwe just relaunched and I'm
really trying to get the groupto grow here and take advantage
of everything we have to offerto get you that result and the
education to build your systemand get rid of all the
restrictive dieting and all thenonsense out there.
So that was just an aside.
(18:06):
And back to Ronnie how do wetake his approach and we adapt
it to modern life?
How do we extract hisprinciples, learn from his
successes and his mistakes?
So let's be honest about whatwe should emulate and what we
shouldn't.
So what should we emulate?
His consistency, his simplicity, his love for training.
Those are solid.
With that alone, his love fortraining, those are solid.
With that alone, mic drop, youcan be successful the rest of
(18:28):
your life If you show up.
Keep things simple, focus onthe fundamentals and find a way
to love what you do.
Find a way to love the process.
Either you love it naturally orthere's a way.
That's the psychology piece weget into, sometimes Absolutely
copy that Now.
He also had a tendency to trainthrough injuries and to push max
loads, to always go for PRs, topush right to the limit, and
(18:51):
again, some of that is becauseof his higher recoverability.
But maybe we don't do thatright and understand the
differences.
You know, ronnie famously saidhe wouldn't change anything
about his approach, even knowingthe physical cost.
And I'm not gonna get intoeverything that's happened to
him in, say, the last 10, 15years.
You can Google it.
He's in the hospital recently,not necessarily related to this,
but he's had some struggles inhis older years right, and it's
(19:17):
admirable that he is loyal tothe path that he has followed.
Is it wise?
I don't know, that is not forme to decide.
We can honor his dedicationwhile being more strategic about
our long-term health, and so Ithink the big takeaway from the
negative or the dark side isfocusing more and more on
recovery, and you can't compareyourself to guys that are in PDs
, elite level bodybuilders,unless they're natural right.
(19:40):
If they're natural bodybuilders, you probably have a little bit
more applicability there.
So the first thing I'm going tosay here is to embrace this idea
of simplicity but periodizeover time, meaning you don't,
you don't want to just dostarting strength for the next
10 years.
You don't want to just dostrong lifts or five by five or
like one single simple programfor the next 10 years.
(20:01):
You, you, you want to base yourtraining on the fundamental
movement patterns, but you wantto cycle through periods of
different intensity andvariations, through that.
We've talked about that on theshow many times the inherent
benefit of variation and how youcan progress so that you can
fill in weak spots and symmetryand avoid connective tissue
(20:21):
degradation and things like that.
It's still simple, though, whenevery time I write a training
program or a template, I have agoal in mind and then I very
simply strip it down to how dowe get to that goal?
All right, we need the mainlifts, maybe some developmental
variations and maybe someaccessory work, and then the
scheme by which you program.
That might vary depending onwhat you're going for right.
Are you going for a base ofstrength, going for volume, or
(20:43):
are you going for peak intensity?
So that's the first thing isembrace the simplicity but still
have periodization and varietyin there.
The second thing is I would alsowant to emulate his consistency
right, always showing up, butlistening to your body at the
same time, and your biofeedback,not being soft and giving up
right away or assuming that alittle soreness is gonna.
(21:05):
You're gonna call it quits, andI don't mean to insult you or
trigger you with that, but it'strue.
A lot of people are a littlebit soft when it comes to
lifting and need to be pushed abit.
This is why I like having acoach.
This is why I invite you toPhysique University so we can
have form checks.
You could put videos up there.
You can get lifted up by theculture we have of lots of
(21:30):
people working hard at this anddoing it the right way, rather
than being stuck watchingYouTube videos and being like,
eh, I don't know if this works.
Showing up and having theconsistency and then
intelligently listening to yourbody and understanding if some
days call for backing off a bit,especially if there's pain and
that's your body telling youthere's a point of issue in your
body and so where am I goingwith this?
Sometimes you are intentionallydepriving yourself of resources
(21:51):
, like when you're in a diet,like when you're in a calorie
deficit okay, and then you haveto change some things, right.
The third takeaway here is findjoy in the process.
Find joy in the process.
Respect your limits, of course,but you know, find joy in it.
If you can just love trainingitself, that's awesome.
You've got to love somethingabout it to want to do it for
decades, decades.
(22:13):
If you're in your 40s, you'regoing to live to your 90s, you
know, barring an accident orsomething, if you are training
and staying healthy, right, justassume you're going to live
another five decades.
How are you going to enjoydoing this for five decades?
There's a way for sure, but howis that going to be for you.
The fourth takeaway here that wecan do is respect the
fundamentals right, the, the,the basic movement patterns, and
(22:36):
make sure that we arerecovering for your capability,
your age, your lack of PEDs,right, stress, managing your
sleep, right, not pushing toohard with, let's say, joints and
tendons that need moreattention, maybe some stretching
, maybe some mobility, itdepends right, physical therapy,
whatever you need.
(22:56):
Just make sure to respect thatAll right.
So I think, if you want to haveone big thing that Ronnie
Coleman teaches us is that toget to that level of greatness
right, and I'm not saying we'regoing to get to his level of
greatness, it's great to strivefor that.
But to get to that level ofgreatness right, and I'm not
saying we're going to get to hislevel of great, it's great to
strive for that.
But to get to that level, youhave to have an almost
irrational commitment.
And when you think about a morebalanced approach, for us
(23:20):
that's challenging thecommitment or channeling that
commitment, but doing itintelligently.
You know, and he, he achievedsomething very extraordinary
because of what he did.
Right, he refused to acceptlimits and then I think he paid
a price for that.
Many of us wouldn't choose topay that.
But that is what trade-offs areabout, isn't it Right?
We all have to make trade-offs.
The beautiful thing is we don'thave to make those trade-offs.
(23:41):
We can choose to make thetrade-offs we want, right?
We don't have to be mediocre,that's for sure.
But we don't have toself-destruct either.
There's a happy medium where youare excellent and you have
longevity and sustainability.
I think that's the key here,right?
Excellence combined withsustainability, and then you
could build something trulyamazing and preserve your
(24:02):
long-term health and preserveyour long-term function,
especially many of us gettingstarted older in life.
We definitely want to have thatas a priority.
All right, you have the sameopportunity.
Ronnie did no-transcript withour understanding of the
(24:40):
importance of recovery.
Channel the enthusiasm for theprocess, but respect what your
body is telling you.
I think these are allreasonable things to do and then
think about what you want yourlifting legacy to be.
It's not something we thinkabout a lot, is it?
We just kind of go through themotions.
Sometimes we listen to wits andweights.
Thank you very much.
We apply these things.
Maybe you're making greatprogress, but like what is the
(25:02):
long-term legacy right?
Not just the physique you build.
That's going to come and go.
It's not going to be thatimportant to you the older you
get.
Honestly, it's that example youset it's.
Do you want to inspire people?
I don't know if you do or not.
This might be just purelyself-interested, and I have no
problem with that, no judgmentat all, because even that
self-interest allows you to showup for others in your life.
(25:23):
But do you want to inspirepeople and show them what's
possible with your actions, withintelligent, consistent effort?
I know I do.
I know every time I hear fromsomeone who listens to the
podcast and says I changed theirlife, even if they just did it
on their own, love it, in fact.
I know I talk about physiqueadversity.
It's not a sales pitch.
I lowered the cost because Iwant to reach a lot more people
(25:44):
and help a lot more people,right?
Do you still want to be someonewho's training strong and
healthy in your 70s, your 80s?
Yes, your 90s?
Right?
Because I think Ronnie's legacyand why I'm going to enjoy doing
the series isn't about theaccolades or even the price he
paid to get there.
It's being a humanrepresentative of our species,
(26:07):
of how powerful an outcome canbe when you completely commit to
a process.
Again, don't take that to meanwe can all be Ronnie Coleman's
and have that physique.
That's not what I'm saying.
I think, if we wanna honor thelegacy the positive side of this
legacy just bring a level ofdedication to your smart
(26:28):
approach that helps you buildthe greatness you want but still
preserves the ability to enjoydoing it for the next few
decades.
So what is Ronnie doing that noone else is, that few people
are doing what he's doing andmillions of people around the
world refuse to do it, and Ihope we can change.
That is showing up and doingthe work, no matter how he felt
or what obstacles he faced.
Showing up and doing the workCan we do that?
(26:50):
Can we do that together?
Okay so you had a surgery.
Okay so you got sick.
Okay so you went on a trip andcouldn't track your food or find
a gym for two weeks.
So what?
You're gonna show up and you'regonna do the work.
You're gonna show up and you'regonna do the work, regardless
of how you feel.
That's important.
At 5 am, it's cold.
I go to the gym.
I know I have to do squats, Idon't want to do it, and yet I
(27:12):
do it anyway and I feel great.
And it's not just theendorphins, although that helps.
It's the consistency of theprocess and what it does for you
over time.
It helps you do hard things andthat makes everything else
easier in life Easier in theright way, not in the gluttonous
lazy, have things done for you,pay other people to do things
for you, eh, but in the I didthis and I'm a human and I can
(27:32):
show up what kind of way.
Right, you have access to allthe tools.
Come on, you have access to thetools.
You can squat, you can deadlift, you can press, you can row,
you can do those things.
You can move your body in someway.
You can progressively addweight.
It's just a process.
You just got to do it.
You't complain about it, trackit, do it.
I hope there's a little toughlove in here.
You guys know I'm kind of anice guy a lot and I'm even
(27:56):
giving tough love.
Probably doesn't sound liketough love to a lot of you,
because there's people that areway more boisterous than I am,
but you can do it.
You can commit to a consistentschedule.
You just got to do it.
You can approach your trainingwith the same joy and enthusiasm
that made Ronnie famous.
The only question is whetheryou will choose to use these
tools right now at your disposalwith the same dedication that
separates legends from everyoneelse.
(28:18):
Lifting legends, guys, that'swhat it's about.
That's what we're trying to getinspired by with this series.
When you train with that levelof commitment and make the
ordinary extraordinary, throughwhat?
Through consistency and showingup, that's it.
That's the only thing thatseparates the 1% from everyone
else.
Right, and that's how you grow.
That's how you build a betterversion of yourself physically,
(28:38):
mentally, everything, all thethings.
It translates to everything,ladies and gentlemen.
It translates to everything.
There are two things in my lifethat has made me massively
confident and successful.
One of those is learning tospeak publicly, because I was so
afraid of that for so manyyears, and the other is getting
healthy and fit, and that'stranslated to everything else.
All right, I think that's all Iwant to say.
(29:01):
If this episode inspired you tothink bigger about your lifting
journey and how to commit andhow to get support and
accountability, I want you toshare this with someone who
needs to hear this message.
I want you to share this withsomeone who needs to hear this
message.
I want you to text this episodeTo a friend who's been
struggling with consistency, orsomeone who needs to get
inspired, someone who doesn'tknow much about lifting, to
start getting inspired by thegreats.
(29:21):
Not just some podcaster talking, not just what the scientists
say on their research papers,but the guys who've done it, the
ladies and gentlemen have doneit.
I don't, ladies and gentlemen, Idon't know who I'm going to
cover in this future.
I assume there's women I'mgoing to cover as well.
So, ladies and gentlemen, allof the tough ones of the past
who've done this right.
Sometimes we all need areminder of what is possible at
the extreme perhaps, but farbeyond where we are today, so
(29:44):
that we can commit and just getour butt in gear and go.
That is it.
That is it, guys.
Until next time, I want you tokeep using your wits, lifting
those weights, and remember thatevery rep you do, with
intentionality, with consistency, is a step toward building your
own legendary story.
I'm going to talk to you nexttime here on the Wits and
(30:05):
Weights Podcast.
eight-time mr olympia, ronnie coleman didn't
just build one of the greatestphysiques in history.
He created a blueprint for whatdedication, consistency and a
pure love for lifting canaccomplish.
His famous lightweight babywasn't just about the weight on
the bar.
It was about an approach totraining that transformed his
(00:22):
body and an entire culture.
Today we're exploring what madeRonnie legendary, how his
methods shaped modern lifting,and the timeless principles you
can take away from his journeyto build your own greatness,
because when you understand whatdrove the king, you'll discover
lessons that go beyond the gymLessons about consistency,
(00:42):
simplicity and the relentlesspursuit of becoming your best
self.
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
(01:03):
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're going to celebrate
one of lifting's most inspiringfigures, while taking away some
of the wisdom that can help youwith your own training.
And this is the first episodein what I'm planning as a series
connecting our modernunderstanding of training with
this rich history of liftingculture something that I feel
(01:24):
like is getting forgotten or notdiscussed enough and it's a lot
of fun to look into the pastand see what those guys did and
what we can learn from them,good and bad, to inform what we
do today beyond just the science.
Now the iron right, the ironculture.
We've been learning lessonsfrom that culture for
generations and many of us areborn in this century or born,
(01:47):
like myself, toward the end ofthe last century and haven't
taken the time to study thosegiants that came before us.
But what we do, we seeprinciples that are still
relevant, and they were relevantthen, but we didn't quite tie
it into the science.
In fact we sometimes dismiss itas bro science, and I'm here to
rectify that with this seriesand I think it's gonna be a lot
(02:07):
of fun.
So when you look up the podcastgoing forward, if it says
Lifting Legends, number one,number two, number three, that's
the series we're talking about.
Now let's start with RonnieColeman.
I picked him intentionallybecause he's got a colorful past
and he's got things that areflawed about him and they and
everyone does, and I want togive thing, give this the
(02:32):
treatment it deserves.
So Ronnie Coleman is is a veryspecial piece of this history of
iron culture, not just thesuccess he had, but he had a
particular approach to thesuccess.
That gives us some, helps ustake a step back.
For anyone who is serious aboutbuilding their strength and
physique, and if you want to dothis yourself, if you want to
build your own legacy, it'shelpful to have to understand
history and it's also helpful toput this into a personalized
(02:55):
systemic approach for you.
So just a quick note so thatyou're aware I have something
called Wittemate's PhysiqueUniversity where you get a lot
of the tools we talk about onthis show to train with purpose,
to eat with intention andclarity, to fuel yourself, to
build consistency.
That separates good liftersfrom great ones.
And we just relaunched at alower price.
(03:17):
It used to be 87 a month, nowit's 27 a month.
And if you use the linkexclusive in the show notes for
listeners, you'll also get acustom nutrition plan for free
from me.
And, by the way, I'm doinganother episode soon on a brand
new training template we droppedthere for power building.
It's called Resolute and it's,in fact, inspired a lot by the
guys we're going to be talkingabout in this lifting series.
(03:38):
So use the link in the shownotes $27 a month and you'll get
a free nutrition plan if youuse that link only.
All right, let's talk about thislegend, ronnie Coleman.
What made him so extraordinary?
So quick history.
He was born in 1964 in Monroe,louisiana, and he didn't really
start serious bodybuilding untilhis mid-20s.
You hear guys like Arnold whostarted as young as they could
(04:00):
possibly get their hands on abarbell.
But he was working as a policeofficer in Arlington, texas and
he discovered Metroflex Gym.
It was a very simple, no frillskind of temple to training.
It's not something you see alot these days unless you really
look for it, and it wouldbecome legendary largely because
of what Ronnie accomplished inthat facility, metroflex.
(04:22):
What's fascinating about hisstory is how it began, because
he wasn't necessarily giftedwith perfect genetics from day
one, although definitelysuperior to many, even though
people assume you know, oh,genetic freak, it comes easy
right.
If you look at the early photosyou see a good physique, but
nothing that screamed future MrOlympia.
But what he had was a workethic that you could call
(04:46):
unshakable right.
It was just part of the fiberof his being.
He had a genuine love for theprocess of getting stronger, and
I know a lot of you don'tnecessarily love the process of
lifting.
You do it for a reason and youtie it to a reason and we talk
about that, whereas others and Ikind of raise my hand here
really do just love lifting theiron and doing the thing, and I
(05:07):
think for a lot of us that comesto us as we do it and get the
result.
But I feel like when you look atRonnie's history, he was just
in it from the beginning.
He trained with joy that's whatI would call it.
It was like this infectious joy.
You look at his smile.
I mean he's just a charming guy, right?
You watch any of his trainingvideos and you'll see a guy
that's not suffering throughworkouts.
It's someone who, like this ishis calling, right?
(05:29):
He's just going to pursue itwith all the enthusiasm he can
muster.
And there's a famous quote hewould say lightweight baby,
lightweight baby.
And, by the way, try thatyourself in the gym when you're
about to go for a PR and see ifit doesn't, you know, jack you
up a little bit mentally whenyou're about to hit that.
So I don't think it was bravado, right.
I think it was this genuineexcitement about moving
(05:50):
heavyweights and pushing hisbody to new levels, and
obviously the results speak forthemselves.
He had eight consecutive MrOlympia titles from 1998 to 2005
.
It's a record that has stood tothis day as the gold standard,
nearly two decades later.
And, you know, sometimes peoplesimplify it to just that.
But there's a lot behind that,right, it's more than just the
(06:13):
titles.
I think Ronnie created atraining culture that emphasized
the fundamentals, done withextraordinary consistency.
All right, really importantthings.
Listen up, fundamentals,consistency.
This is what we're going to hiton today and why I think this
is so important.
So now let's talk about histraining philosophy, and here's
(06:33):
what made it so powerfulSimplicity executed at an elite
level.
All right, simplicity executedat an elite level, the highest
level Simplicity so many of usget hung up in.
Things need to be more and morecomplex.
We think advanced trainees, ithas to be more and more complex
(06:54):
and it's true, a lot ofbodybuilders to this day get
caught up in complex routinesand a lot of exotic exercises,
and you see it in the trainingprograms out there, and
sometimes we seek it out becausewe're looking for more variety
and fun and it's okay to do that.
Right, that's part of theprocess If it, if it helps you
enjoy it and be consistent.
But Ronnie was all about thebasics, man.
He you know squats, deadliftsbent over rows, bench press the
(07:18):
big lifts Right, and theyweren't just like the, they
weren't just the main lifts,they were kind was textbook.
If you go watch videos, evenwith massive weights, I mean
it's incredible.
And he essentially proved that,look, you don't need
complicated programming to buildan incredible physique.
(07:40):
I think that's a big takeawayhere, right?
The takeaway that we make lotsof excuses.
We taught, we program hop, wethink we need to know more, more
, more, more, more.
And at the end of the day, ifyou're not doing the basic
things to begin with, go back tothose and it kind of frees you
up, right, it frees up themental stress.
And if you just get really goodat those, even though they
might be a little boring, sureyou're going to build something
(08:01):
incredible.
And of course, you needconsistent progression.
Right, it's about movementpatterns.
It's how the body moves throughspace, it's how we are able to
sling around such massiveweights and build the strength
and size that we're going for.
And his training split was justa very bare bones, classic split
chest and triceps, back andbiceps, legs but he executed it
(08:24):
at a high level of bothintensity and consistency.
And I want to be clear youcan't necessarily start all out
with both from day one.
If you're a beginner, right,you're going to apply intensity
in terms of your progression,but you need to do it in a way
that you recover, that you'reable to get back into the gym
the next session and that youcan be consistent based on the
(08:47):
number of days per week and thehours that you have and the
equipment that you have and soon.
All that is important.
But he kind of combined theintensity and the consistency in
a very elite level, I'll say.
And then I think moreimpressive than that is the
maintenance and sustainabilityof that approach throughout his
career.
Right, he just stuck with it.
He didn't chase new methods, hedidn't get distracted by
(09:08):
whatever the trends were.
Fortunately, he didn't havesocial media for the most part,
maybe until later on.
No, no, he figured 2005,.
The iPhone hadn't even come out.
Right, he found what worked, hecommitted to it, that's it.
And look, what works for oneperson should generally work for
another, at the principle level, but maybe not at the specific
method level.
But when it comes to lifting, Ithink if you went back and
(09:30):
looked at Ronnie's program andjust followed it, you'd probably
have great results too.
So let's talk about the cultureat his gym, right, metroflex.
I think this is reallyinteresting.
His home gym, called Metroflexwas.
It wasn't like a fancy, itwasn't a Planet Fitness type gym
.
Of course it was gritty,concrete floors, basic equipment
, I understand they didn't haveair conditioning.
And this is in the Texas heat.
(09:50):
Okay, I grew up in Florida.
I live in Connecticut now, butI'll tell you the summer still
get hot and humid and I don'tknow if Texas is a little bit
drier or what, but you know toto train in that kind of
temperature.
I know how it feels.
I know mentally what it takesto decide you're going to do
that where it's not ascomfortable.
But it's where serious peoplecame to do serious work, right?
(10:11):
The culture Ronnie created therewas, as I understand it, about
mutual respect and sharedpurpose.
Everybody is there for a reason.
It's not like when you go tothe gym and nobody talks to each
other.
Everybody has their earphonesin.
I don't even go to commercialgyms anymore.
I work out at home for thepurpose that, for the main
reason that I'm just there toget the work done and focus and
build something.
But it also saves me time.
But I also understand that.
(10:32):
I've been to gyms, even eventhe CrossFit gym that I used to
go to, they had a camaraderiethere.
They had a community.
Everybody was intending to dothe same thing, and so it kind
of elevates everyone, right?
Especially when everyone'sbetter than you and when
everyone's there to get better,you end up supporting each other
and feeding off of that.
And I think Ronnie, even thoughhe was a multi-time Mr Olympia,
(10:54):
he trained alongside regularpeople, right, because that's
how they pay the bills at thesegyms.
Right, you hear the storiesthat, like the famous guys, the
power lifters are the ones thatare not.
They're not making the moneyoff of them.
Right, they're making money offof regular members.
But I understand that hetreated people with respect,
with encouragement.
He's a good guy.
And, again, a lot of this issecondhand, guys, as I do the
(11:15):
research for this episode,because I don't know Ronnie
personally, if he's out therelistening to this and wants to
correct me, or if he wants tosay, yeah, that's, that's what
it's about, please reach out,dude, but this is my
understanding.
And so if you look at thatenvironment, then what can we
take from that?
Well, your gym doesn't have tobe perfect, but the way that you
commit to the intentionalprocess.
Does you know?
Ronnie didn't have superiorequipment or facilities.
(11:37):
He didn't have the big fancygyms you see on YouTube
walkthroughs today with you know500 pieces of equipment
specialized for every singlething I've got.
You know friends that send mereels and photos and YouTube
videos of all this equipmentthat I would just love to have
and then kind of step back andsay, do I really need that?
Right, and Ronnie succeededbecause of his effort.
His effort was superior and farabove the average person, but
(12:02):
something we can all absolutelystrive for.
And then he was consistent towhatever environment he was in,
cause I'm sure he lifted itother places throughout his
career.
So don't worry about having theperfect equipment or home gym
or the fanciest you knowfacility and options.
You can adjust that stuff right.
I mean, we do it in PhysiqueUniversity all the time.
People say, well, I don't haveaccess to that or that.
(12:24):
And what we say is look, here'sa list of substitutions, let's
figure it out, let's trainaround it, just like when you
train around injury.
You got to find something thatworks.
You just have to have that,that grit, that mindset, that
willingness to show upconsistently, independent of the
circumstances.
And to me.
That's what principles areabout.
That's what rock solidprinciples are.
It's like I don't care what youthrow at me.
(12:44):
Throw, throw me in in a junglewith some rocks and I'm going to
figure out how to train.
So that's you know, and I don'tknow if I'm.
I don't know if that's just meor if you feel me on that.
So when we then tie this totoday and tie it to the science
because at the end of the day, Iwould love to show you that
there is a connection betweenthe things we study today in
labs to essentially validatewhat bro science has known for
(13:08):
many years is that a lot of theinstinct that these guys had?
Like Ronnie, his trainingchoices align with what we know
today about building muscleoptimally.
And, honestly, it's not toomuch of a surprise when you
think, hey, I do this, it makesme stronger, it makes me bigger,
ergo, I'm going to stick withthat.
Right, makes sense.
People have experimented foryears.
There's been coaches andtrainers for far before we had
(13:30):
all the modern research studieson this stuff, and so I tend to
actually give more credence to alot of that than I do research,
even though we'reevidence-based and we're
evidence-based, we're not justscience, paper-based, we're
evidence-based.
What is evidence?
Evidence includes anecdote,coaching experience, personal
experience, your own individualexperience is your evidence too.
Anyway, back to Roddy.
(13:51):
He had a huge emphasis on thecompound movements and I will
always, to the day I die, talkabout how powerful using basic
movement patterns, as a human is, is to getting a result If you
have nothing else but just thecompound movements, the
squatting, pulling, pushingright, which can translate to a
lot of different exercises.
(14:11):
Yes, the big ones squat,deadlift, press, bench press and
overhead and rows, but alsovariations of those.
We know to this day that theseexercises stimulate the most
muscle mass, create thestrongest strength and
hypertrophy adaptations they use, you know, the full range of
motion in a natural humanmovement.
It makes total sense.
It makes total sense.
And here's a guy that was doingit long before we had to put
(14:33):
that in paper, long beforestarting strength came around
and just wrote it in a book,very excellently, I should add,
but we've known it.
We've known it for a long time.
And then, as far as progression, right, that's the other piece.
Consistent, progressive loading, progressive overload.
We call it the fundamental, youknow, driver of the growth over
time, of challenging yourselfright to that limit and then
continuing to progress.
(14:53):
And Ronnie did that.
He was always religious aboutadding weight or reps over time.
He used the body traditionalbody part split that I talked
about, but he trained six days aweek.
Now you know he was enhanced.
We're going to talk a littlebit about some of the maybe
negatives, I should say, or theextra help he had.
But you know he was in six daysa week and doing a body part
(15:17):
split so that each muscle groupcould be trained frequently
enough to to optimize hisresults.
Now Arnold also did six days.
He did two a days.
If you ever read hisbodybuilding encyclopedia it's
insane.
I would not recommend that tomost people again, unless you're
enhanced.
But the principles are stillwhat matters.
You know sufficient frequency,sufficient volume, basic lifts,
hitting them consistently.
I did an episode recentlycalled the 12 Rules of Training
(15:37):
Volume that I think you shouldgo check out if you haven't, or
listen to it again to getrefreshed on what are those
principles.
And then, when it comes toeffort, to me effort in the
context of training is trainingwith proximity to failure, for
sufficient mechanical tension.
So you're effectively pushingyourself to your limits.
I think, ronnie, this is anexample where we could argue and
(15:57):
say did Ronnie push too much tothe limit, right Right to the
end, right to failure oneverything, even massive, big
lifts?
And again you have to thinkabout the advantages he had.
Yes, maybe extraordinarygenetics I know I mentioned they
weren't perhaps far aboveaverage when he was younger.
It's always hard to tell that.
Obviously, his physique wasgenetically blessed in terms of
the shape and the symmetry andall that.
(16:18):
But pharmacological support,right, peds okay, we can't deny
it.
All those guys were on drugs,and the ability to train and
recover goes way up as a result,and so he could basically, for
his full-time job, be training,and we're not trying to do that.
The principles, though, areaccessible to all of us.
We just have to understand thatour recoverability is different
.
We might not be training sixdays a week.
(16:39):
It might make more sense to dofour or five.
I will say I have trained sixdays a week, but then, when I've
done that, it's much shortersessions, much fewer exercises
per session, because, again, Idon't have the same recovery
support and I'm in my 40s, etc.
Not excuses, just data thattells me.
(17:00):
Here's how I respond and how Ineed to modify my training,
wanted to give you anotherreminder here that if you're
trying to build your own liftinglegacy and you want to be
systemic about it and and take asystem-based, data-based
approach, we can definitely helpyou out inside physique
university.
I'm talking about that a lot nowbecause people are always
reaching out, listeners arereaching out with questions, and
I can get.
I sense the not desperation,but I sense the overwhelm from
(17:24):
all the information that's outthere and we want to give you
tools to train with purpose, toeat in a way that is aligned
with you, that is flexible.
You don't have to do diets, youjust build consistency to
become a really great lifter, anathlete of aging, and so
Physique University is where wedo that.
It's 27 a month.
If you join now, using myexclusive link, I'm going to
(17:45):
build a free custom nutritionplan for you.
That's normally an add-on, butwe just relaunched and I'm
really trying to get the groupto grow here and take advantage
of everything we have to offerto get you that result and the
education to build your systemand get rid of all the
restrictive dieting and all thenonsense out there.
So that was just an aside.
(18:06):
And back to Ronnie how do wetake his approach and we adapt
it to modern life?
How do we extract hisprinciples, learn from his
successes and his mistakes?
So let's be honest about whatwe should emulate and what we
shouldn't.
So what should we emulate?
His consistency, his simplicity, his love for training.
Those are solid.
With that alone, his love fortraining, those are solid.
With that alone, mic drop, youcan be successful the rest of
(18:28):
your life If you show up.
Keep things simple, focus onthe fundamentals and find a way
to love what you do.
Find a way to love the process.
Either you love it naturally orthere's a way.
That's the psychology piece weget into, sometimes Absolutely
copy that Now.
He also had a tendency to trainthrough injuries and to push max
loads, to always go for PRs, topush right to the limit, and
(18:51):
again, some of that is becauseof his higher recoverability.
But maybe we don't do thatright and understand the
differences.
You know, ronnie famously saidhe wouldn't change anything
about his approach, even knowingthe physical cost.
And I'm not gonna get intoeverything that's happened to
him in, say, the last 10, 15years.
You can Google it.
He's in the hospital recently,not necessarily related to this,
but he's had some struggles inhis older years right, and it's
(19:17):
admirable that he is loyal tothe path that he has followed.
Is it wise?
I don't know, that is not forme to decide.
We can honor his dedicationwhile being more strategic about
our long-term health, and so Ithink the big takeaway from the
negative or the dark side isfocusing more and more on
recovery, and you can't compareyourself to guys that are in PDs
, elite level bodybuilders,unless they're natural right.
(19:40):
If they're natural bodybuilders, you probably have a little bit
more applicability there.
So the first thing I'm going tosay here is to embrace this idea
of simplicity but periodizeover time, meaning you don't,
you don't want to just dostarting strength for the next
10 years.
You don't want to just dostrong lifts or five by five or
like one single simple programfor the next 10 years.
(20:01):
You, you, you want to base yourtraining on the fundamental
movement patterns, but you wantto cycle through periods of
different intensity andvariations, through that.
We've talked about that on theshow many times the inherent
benefit of variation and how youcan progress so that you can
fill in weak spots and symmetryand avoid connective tissue
(20:21):
degradation and things like that.
It's still simple, though, whenevery time I write a training
program or a template, I have agoal in mind and then I very
simply strip it down to how dowe get to that goal?
All right, we need the mainlifts, maybe some developmental
variations and maybe someaccessory work, and then the
scheme by which you program.
That might vary depending onwhat you're going for right.
Are you going for a base ofstrength, going for volume, or
(20:43):
are you going for peak intensity?
So that's the first thing isembrace the simplicity but still
have periodization and varietyin there.
The second thing is I would alsowant to emulate his consistency
right, always showing up, butlistening to your body at the
same time, and your biofeedback,not being soft and giving up
right away or assuming that alittle soreness is gonna.
(21:05):
You're gonna call it quits, andI don't mean to insult you or
trigger you with that, but it'strue.
A lot of people are a littlebit soft when it comes to
lifting and need to be pushed abit.
This is why I like having acoach.
This is why I invite you toPhysique University so we can
have form checks.
You could put videos up there.
You can get lifted up by theculture we have of lots of
(21:30):
people working hard at this anddoing it the right way, rather
than being stuck watchingYouTube videos and being like,
eh, I don't know if this works.
Showing up and having theconsistency and then
intelligently listening to yourbody and understanding if some
days call for backing off a bit,especially if there's pain and
that's your body telling youthere's a point of issue in your
body and so where am I goingwith this?
Sometimes you are intentionallydepriving yourself of resources
(21:51):
, like when you're in a diet,like when you're in a calorie
deficit okay, and then you haveto change some things, right.
The third takeaway here is findjoy in the process.
Find joy in the process.
Respect your limits, of course,but you know, find joy in it.
If you can just love trainingitself, that's awesome.
You've got to love somethingabout it to want to do it for
decades, decades.
(22:13):
If you're in your 40s, you'regoing to live to your 90s, you
know, barring an accident orsomething, if you are training
and staying healthy, right, justassume you're going to live
another five decades.
How are you going to enjoydoing this for five decades?
There's a way for sure, but howis that going to be for you.
The fourth takeaway here that wecan do is respect the
fundamentals right, the, the,the basic movement patterns, and
(22:36):
make sure that we arerecovering for your capability,
your age, your lack of PEDs,right, stress, managing your
sleep, right, not pushing toohard with, let's say, joints and
tendons that need moreattention, maybe some stretching
, maybe some mobility, itdepends right, physical therapy,
whatever you need.
(22:56):
Just make sure to respect thatAll right.
So I think, if you want to haveone big thing that Ronnie
Coleman teaches us is that toget to that level of greatness
right, and I'm not saying we'regoing to get to his level of
greatness, it's great to strivefor that.
But to get to that level ofgreatness right, and I'm not
saying we're going to get to hislevel of great, it's great to
strive for that.
But to get to that level, youhave to have an almost
irrational commitment.
And when you think about a morebalanced approach, for us
(23:20):
that's challenging thecommitment or channeling that
commitment, but doing itintelligently.
You know, and he, he achievedsomething very extraordinary
because of what he did.
Right, he refused to acceptlimits and then I think he paid
a price for that.
Many of us wouldn't choose topay that.
But that is what trade-offs areabout, isn't it Right?
We all have to make trade-offs.
The beautiful thing is we don'thave to make those trade-offs.
(23:41):
We can choose to make thetrade-offs we want, right?
We don't have to be mediocre,that's for sure.
But we don't have toself-destruct either.
There's a happy medium where youare excellent and you have
longevity and sustainability.
I think that's the key here,right?
Excellence combined withsustainability, and then you
could build something trulyamazing and preserve your
(24:02):
long-term health and preserveyour long-term function,
especially many of us gettingstarted older in life.
We definitely want to have thatas a priority.
All right, you have the sameopportunity.
Ronnie did no-transcript withour understanding of the
(24:40):
importance of recovery.
Channel the enthusiasm for theprocess, but respect what your
body is telling you.
I think these are allreasonable things to do and then
think about what you want yourlifting legacy to be.
It's not something we thinkabout a lot, is it?
We just kind of go through themotions.
Sometimes we listen to wits andweights.
Thank you very much.
We apply these things.
Maybe you're making greatprogress, but like what is the
(25:02):
long-term legacy right?
Not just the physique you build.
That's going to come and go.
It's not going to be thatimportant to you the older you
get.
Honestly, it's that example youset it's.
Do you want to inspire people?
I don't know if you do or not.
This might be just purelyself-interested, and I have no
problem with that, no judgmentat all, because even that
self-interest allows you to showup for others in your life.
(25:23):
But do you want to inspirepeople and show them what's
possible with your actions, withintelligent, consistent effort?
I know I do.
I know every time I hear fromsomeone who listens to the
podcast and says I changed theirlife, even if they just did it
on their own, love it, in fact.
I know I talk about physiqueadversity.
It's not a sales pitch.
I lowered the cost because Iwant to reach a lot more people
(25:44):
and help a lot more people,right?
Do you still want to be someonewho's training strong and
healthy in your 70s, your 80s?
Yes, your 90s?
Right?
Because I think Ronnie's legacyand why I'm going to enjoy doing
the series isn't about theaccolades or even the price he
paid to get there.
It's being a humanrepresentative of our species,
(26:07):
of how powerful an outcome canbe when you completely commit to
a process.
Again, don't take that to meanwe can all be Ronnie Coleman's
and have that physique.
That's not what I'm saying.
I think, if we wanna honor thelegacy the positive side of this
legacy just bring a level ofdedication to your smart
(26:28):
approach that helps you buildthe greatness you want but still
preserves the ability to enjoydoing it for the next few
decades.
So what is Ronnie doing that noone else is, that few people
are doing what he's doing andmillions of people around the
world refuse to do it, and Ihope we can change.
That is showing up and doingthe work, no matter how he felt
or what obstacles he faced.
Showing up and doing the workCan we do that?
(26:50):
Can we do that together?
Okay so you had a surgery.
Okay so you got sick.
Okay so you went on a trip andcouldn't track your food or find
a gym for two weeks.
So what?
You're gonna show up and you'regonna do the work.
You're gonna show up and you'regonna do the work, regardless
of how you feel.
That's important.
At 5 am, it's cold.
I go to the gym.
I know I have to do squats, Idon't want to do it, and yet I
(27:12):
do it anyway and I feel great.
And it's not just theendorphins, although that helps.
It's the consistency of theprocess and what it does for you
over time.
It helps you do hard things andthat makes everything else
easier in life Easier in theright way, not in the gluttonous
lazy, have things done for you,pay other people to do things
for you, eh, but in the I didthis and I'm a human and I can
(27:32):
show up what kind of way.
Right, you have access to allthe tools.
Come on, you have access to thetools.
You can squat, you can deadlift, you can press, you can row,
you can do those things.
You can move your body in someway.
You can progressively addweight.
It's just a process.
You just got to do it.
You't complain about it, trackit, do it.
I hope there's a little toughlove in here.
You guys know I'm kind of anice guy a lot and I'm even
(27:56):
giving tough love.
Probably doesn't sound liketough love to a lot of you,
because there's people that areway more boisterous than I am,
but you can do it.
You can commit to a consistentschedule.
You just got to do it.
You can approach your trainingwith the same joy and enthusiasm
that made Ronnie famous.
The only question is whetheryou will choose to use these
tools right now at your disposalwith the same dedication that
separates legends from everyoneelse.
(28:18):
Lifting legends, guys, that'swhat it's about.
That's what we're trying to getinspired by with this series.
When you train with that levelof commitment and make the
ordinary extraordinary, throughwhat?
Through consistency and showingup, that's it.
That's the only thing thatseparates the 1% from everyone
else.
Right, and that's how you grow.
That's how you build a betterversion of yourself physically,
(28:38):
mentally, everything, all thethings.
It translates to everything,ladies and gentlemen.
It translates to everything.
There are two things in my lifethat has made me massively
confident and successful.
One of those is learning tospeak publicly, because I was so
afraid of that for so manyyears, and the other is getting
healthy and fit, and that'stranslated to everything else.
All right, I think that's all Iwant to say.
(29:01):
If this episode inspired you tothink bigger about your lifting
journey and how to commit andhow to get support and
accountability, I want you toshare this with someone who
needs to hear this message.
I want you to share this withsomeone who needs to hear this
message.
I want you to text this episodeTo a friend who's been
struggling with consistency, orsomeone who needs to get
inspired, someone who doesn'tknow much about lifting, to
start getting inspired by thegreats.
(29:21):
Not just some podcaster talking, not just what the scientists
say on their research papers,but the guys who've done it, the
ladies and gentlemen have doneit.
I don't, ladies and gentlemen, Idon't know who I'm going to
cover in this future.
I assume there's women I'mgoing to cover as well.
So, ladies and gentlemen, allof the tough ones of the past
who've done this right.
Sometimes we all need areminder of what is possible at
the extreme perhaps, but farbeyond where we are today, so
(29:44):
that we can commit and just getour butt in gear and go.
That is it.
That is it, guys.
Until next time, I want you tokeep using your wits, lifting
those weights, and remember thatevery rep you do, with
intentionality, with consistency, is a step toward building your
own legendary story.
I'm going to talk to you nexttime here on the Wits and
(30:05):
Weights Podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.