#1489 - Ronnie Coleman

Joe Rogan (0:00)

One, Mr. Coleman.

Ronnie Coleman (0:01)

What's going on?

Joe Rogan (0:02)

Great to meet you, brother. It's a real honor. I mean, you are, when I was like really into bodybuilding and reading the magazines, and I always said that you look like a dude who they invented in a Marvel comic book to kill the Hulk.

Like, that's what you looked like when you were in your prime, man.

Ronnie Coleman (0:19)

Yeah, I felt like I probably could too, back in those days.

Joe Rogan (0:23)

I mean, god damn, you were freakishly huge. It was crazy to see. It was like, you know, I remember, paying attention to bodybuilding from the beginning, like the Franco Colombo and Schwarzenegger days, to what you guys had become, you know, when you were in your prime, you just redefined everything. Everything was just so extreme.

Ronnie Coleman (0:41)

Yeah, we were pretty tough back in the old days. Everything was hard, you know.

The guys I was competing against were real good. And, you know, I just came out of nowhere, you know, because I got in bodybuilding real late. You know, where I'm from, we didn't have it, and I didn't find out about it until I graduated college, went out to Texas, and started working for the police department.

Joe Rogan (1:03)

How old were you at the time?

Ronnie Coleman (1:04)

I was about 24

Joe Rogan (1:05)

So that's when you started bodybuilding.

Ronnie Coleman (1:07)

That's when I started, but I had been working out, you know, since I was 12, 13

Joe Rogan (1:11)

For sports?

Ronnie Coleman (1:12)

Yeah, I was on the powerlifting team.

Joe Rogan (1:14)

Oh, okay.

Ronnie Coleman (1:15)

I did powerlifting in high school. So I was on the powerlifting team, and, you know, I got, when I'm from Louisiana, a real small town, a lot of the guys are kind of big like me, kind of strong like me, you know, a lot of people don't understand, but strength is something like a natural gift, you know.

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

Joe Rogan (1:40)

Have to have a nice base.

Ronnie Coleman (1:42)

Yeah, you have to have a nice base, and you have to have a little talent. You know, like this guy, I think, I can't remember his name, but he deadlifted 1,100 pounds.

Joe Rogan (1:53)

Oh, that Game of Thrones guy?

Ronnie Coleman (1:56)

Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan (1:58)

The Mountain?

Ronnie Coleman (1:58)

That's a gift, you know, that's talent.

Joe Rogan (2:00)

Yeah.

Ronnie Coleman (2:01)

Yeah, he's gifted. Everybody can't do that, you know.

I did 800, you know, for a couple of reps, but I don't think I can do 1,100.

Joe Rogan (2:10)

That's a lot of weight.

Ronnie Coleman (2:10)

That's a lot of weight.

Joe Rogan (2:11)

He's an enormous human being, though.

Ronnie Coleman (2:13)

Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:14)

That's a viking right there.

Ronnie Coleman (2:15)

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

Joe Rogan (2:19)

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

Ronnie Coleman (2:26)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like I was saying, you know, I started power lifting when I was in high school, you know.

I had like the gift of strength, you know. I was pretty strong in high school, you know, all throughout my college days. And, you know, it was just something that I... I think I was kind of born with it a little bit, you know.

Because you don't just start lifting heavy weights like that all of a sudden, you know. You have to have a... Like I said, you have to have some kind of natural talent for it.

Joe Rogan (2:52)

Well, there's some crazy photos of you during the midst of the Olympiad days when you were a police officer.

Is that you? Look at that.

Ronnie Coleman (2:58)

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

Joe Rogan (3:02)

What happened to your arm on the left? You got a cast on.

Ronnie Coleman (3:04)

Yeah, I broke my arm.

Joe Rogan (3:05)

You fucked somebody up.

Ronnie Coleman (3:06)

Yeah, no.

I was playing football, and I think I fell on my wrist or something. And I cracked it or something. And that's me winning the Mr. Universe, turning pro in the middle. And that's me winning the 1999 Mr. Olympia, far right there.

Joe Rogan (3:28)

Damn, you were big.