8 Valuable Lessons to Learn from ”The King” Ronnie Coleman

In our lives, there are some people who sacrifice everything to leave a legacy. They were born to write history and leave us amazed and inspired by their stories and how they believe in their visions…And one of these people is the bodybuilding champion and 8 times Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman.

Ronnie Coleman is a 54 years old legendary retired bodybuilder. He has been called one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. And he won the Mr. Olympia title 8 consecutive times. Mr. Olympia is the most prestigious title in the bodybuilding world.

This is all the good side of the story.

But the sad side of the story is that due to the intensive workout routine that Ronnie always followed, and the super heavyweights that he was training with, he had major problems in his back, and he had to undergo several major surgeries (6+ according to the information on the internet) including a hip replacement surgery.

Do you think this discouraged Ronnie? If you think so, then you do not know him still. See his statement that he shared with the world on Instagram. (You can either press the link to check the statement on Ronnie's account, or you can read it below).

‘’So you guy's still wanna be like me, you still want to have the same work ethic is I had. Well as you can see I'm 8 X Mr. Olympia, and I can't walk. I endured an 11 hour major back surgery last Tuesday. Do I have any regrets?, if I had a chance to do it all over again would I change anything? Yes if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would change one thing. That is when I squatted that 800 lbs I would do 4 reps instead of 2, that is my only regret in my career. Those 2 reps I did still haunt me today because I know I had 4 in me but the coward in me only did 2. That is my only regret.‘‘- Ronnie Coleman

Around two weeks ago, a documentary about Ronnie called ‘’The king’’ was released.

After watching the movie, here are some of the lessons that I have learned from it that I would like to share with you.

These lessons will help you in your professional as well as your private life:

1- Consistency is the key to Success.

In the movie, even after the surgeries, and even though doctors recommended him not to do, but he still wakes up every day very early to go to the gym and train at 04:30 am. And before the injury and while he was still competing, he used to train intensively 6 days per week.

2- Accept the outcomes of your Decisions and Actions.

He repeated it over and over that each day he feels incredible pain, but he doesn’t regret anything he has done. He only regrets that he had done 2 repetitions instead of 4 when he was training squats with 800 pounds.

3- Your chances to succeed are far higher when you love what you do.

He was already 2 times Mr. Olympia, and he was already sponsored and earning enough money to focus only on bodybuilding, but he continued to work as a police officer (his original job) for long years in parallel to bodybuilding.

Of course, this meant more pressure and effort. And because of this, he used to train one intensive time only during the day instead of 2 times as the other bodybuilders usually do. 

When he was asked, why are you still working as a police officer and accepting this time pressure, he said ‘’because I love working as a police officer.’’

4- It is not wrong to ask for the advice of people who are better than you (even if they were your Competitors).

Before being a champion, when he found out that he is doing all that he can do and still not winning, he went to one of the famous and successful bodybuilders, Kevin Levrone, one day before a contest that they were competing in together and asked him to give him some advice.

5- Sometimes a minor change can make all the difference.

When he asked Levrone to give him some advice, Kevin told him that he must relax and asked him not to be so hard on himself.

And to make him feel a little relaxed, Levrone asked him if they can drink a glass of alcohol together. Ronnie refused in the beginning and told him that -as a bodybuilder- he should not drink, especially that they have a contest the next day.

After they drank some glasses together, Ronnie went to sleep. The next day in the contest, Ronnie transformed. His body changed dramatically because it was dehydrated, and the alcohol that he drank improved the hydration and his figure on stage.

6- Determination and hard work can transform your life faster than you can imagine.

For long years he was competing in the Olympia and not winning. And he was always bouncing between the 15th place and the 6th place. And in 1997, the year before he won his first Mr. Olympia title, he was already 9th. And accordingly, in 1998 before the contest, he was not even considered a tough competitor or as a top contender. 

But suddenly he shocked the world and won the Mr. Olympia title and jumped from the 9th place in 1997 to the 1st place in 1998. And this was an achievement that never happened in history.

It never happened in the history of bodybuilding that a Mr. Olympia winner jumped 9 places directly and won the title in the same year.

7- Never lose hope.

Before being a Mr. Olympia Champion, he used to travel to compete in a lot of contests around the world, and this meant a lot of effort and money, even though theoretically he had no chance to win these contests.

And one day Kevin Levrone was competing against him in a contest abroad, and he asked him ‘’why are you coming here to compete? I will not prepare for a contest and travel to compete unless I know that I have a big chance to win the title.’’ Ronnie answered him and said, ‘’because I love bodybuilding’’.

8- If you want to write History, you will have to make sacrifices.

There is nothing that I can add to explain this point. Simply, to be memorialized, you need to sacrifice.

Now it is time to share your opinion with me. Based on the tips that I shared with you, what do you think is the best tip or lesson learned? And If you were in the place of Ronnie Coleman, would you sacrifice and push yourself to the limit to build a legacy? Or in other words, do you agree with what he did or not?

But the fact that we always need to remember is that no matter what our opinions are, Ronnie will always be a legend.

Ronnie, I wish you a speedy recovery…You will always be a Warrior. You will always be ''The King''.

If you are interested in what you read, then I recommend you to watch the movie and extract from it your own lessons learned. And if you want, you can come back here and share your lessons with us. It is really worth it (p.s: please note that I do not have any benefit from this recommendation, nor I am an affiliate. It's just my personal opinion based on my personal taste).