"There is always a first time for everything!! Watch me throw 800lb on my back for the first time EVER and get two solid reps in," Ronnie Coleman wrote 12 years ago while sharing the official footage of his monstrous feat on YouTube. The actual lift was recorded even earlier in the early 2000s.

That was just one of a long list of insane lifts like 800lb deadlifts, 200lb dumbbell presses (each hand), and more. Even his biggest rival, Jay Cutler, the man who beat Coleman on the Olympia stage in 2006, confessed he couldn't keep up. On December 6, 'The King' showed why no one could outlift him in the gym.

Ronnie Coleman Walks Down Memory Lane

The eight-time Mr. Olympia posted a montage of the biggest lifts from his prime on Instagram. It shows him banging out incline dumbbell presses, bent-over rows, and squats with serious weight. Form stays tight, reps keep coming, straight from the days that built his name.

While the 61-year-old is well behind his heavy lifting days, the memories are still fresh, as evident from the caption. “Yeah, Buddy, Light Weight Baby. Feels like yesterday I was hitting the 800lb squat at the @originalmetroflexgym!" Ronnie Coleman Wrote.

Comments lit up with fans reliving it all. Some shared how it hit like the early 2000s all over again. Others pointed out that drive in every rep, the same one that carried him to those titles.

The Man Behind the Lifts

Ronnie Coleman is undoubtedly among the most beloved bodybuilder icons in the industry. And the reason is not only what he used to be in his prime, but how he handled the challenges that came after his competitive career. Even after all the surgeries, he refuses to quit and keeps moving.

The Louisiana native said goodbye to bodybuilding in 2007. However, years of neglected injuries had piled up, and the health complications began. He underwent several surgeries, including disc fixes, fusions, and hip replacements, and he knew the reason as well.

Despite all of this, the king never backed down. Even after suffering a serious sepsis scare in June 2025, The King is already back on the road, meeting fans across the world. As Ronnie put it, “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weight.” The grind lives on.

Written by

Amanjeet Singh

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi