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Retired bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman is considered to be the greatest bodybuilder in the world. An eight-time Mr. Olympia champion, Coleman is renowned for his dominant physique. He has also served in the police force.
'The King', as he is called by many, appeared on the podcast Joe Rogan Experience, in June 2020. He discussed his bodybuilding journey, peak fitness, and diet and also revealed that he used steroids.
He emphasized that he does not encourage others to do so.
Steroids or performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are the bane of the sports field. They have particularly plagued bodybuilding for several generations. And perhaps sadly, always will.
It is considered impossible to win the Mr. Olympia title without using steroids. As unfair and sad as that is.
Why Ronnie Coleman started using steroids
While many prefer not to speak about it, Ronnie Coleman isn't one of them. On the podcast, he revealed that he started taking steroids when he was 30 years old after staying clean for six years. Coleman began bodybuilding at the age of 24.
Generally, PEDs are taken to gain an illegal advantage or a competitive edge against opponents. Similarly, Coleman started using steroids because he was "tired of getting his a*s kicked" in competitions.
He said:
"The highest I would place was third. The other guys had a competitive advantage...so I was like, ‘Let’s make this thing equal'."
In fact, one of his fellow competitors, Flex Wheeler, was the one who secured him his supply.
At the time, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was trying to crack down on the black market. Ronnie Coleman would obtain testosterone and growth hormone prescriptions from doctors and present them to DEA officials during competitions.
He stated:
"Any kind of test or growth hormone, they’d give you a prescription for it. They’d give it.”
The use of steroids or any kind of PED has to be designed in a specific manner. During the podcast, Coleman said that there was a misconception that he was recklessly using them.
He mentioned:
"I wasn’t taking tons of stuff. I probably wasn’t taking any more than what those baseball players were taking."
As Ronnie Coleman started using PEDs, he started moving up the ranks and winning annual bodybuilding competitions.
Coleman could naturally deadlift 750 pounds. Using steroids didn't make him exponentially stronger or bigger. He just quickly became much more shredded.
He went on to say:
"As far as my conditioning, it was night and day."
"That didn’t bother me one bit" - Ronnie Coleman on going cold turkey
Steroids have far-reaching effects outside the sports field. They may contribute to illegally enhancing performance, but they can cause severe health conditions that can also prove to be fatal.
The use of anabolic steroids has been found to cause higher rates of premature death in men, and some limited studies have also shown that those who abuse steroids are at a greater risk of suicide. The physical and mental repercussions of using PEDs are horrific.
Especially when bodybuilders go off steroids, probably during the off-season, they could suffer from depression, which is a common side-effect.
Podcast host Joe Rogan asked Ronnie Coleman why the DEA was going after bodybuilders and not meth dealers.
He answered:
"They had kids out there taking it and committing suicide."
What was shocking about the revelation was that Ronnie Coleman said that he never cycled off-gear during the off-season. He went completely cold turkey and stopped taking steroids.
He stated:
"That didn’t bother me one bit"
Coleman agreed that his size and reaction to steroids were very rare and attributed it to his genetics.
He shared:
"You have to have genetics. They can’t get that big if they’re not gifted for it."
The fact that he did not suffer from any long-term health conditions due to PEDs is also very uncommon.
Ronnie Coleman was juicing up under constant supervision and his doctor would run blood tests on him, every three to four months. He said that if any bodybuilder is caught by the DEA, they confiscate everything.
Coleman mentioned:
"That was just when the heat was on. I don’t think they got the heat on like that now,"
The 58-year-old emphasized that he does not encourage the use of steroids.
