Besides earning eight Mr. Olympia titles, Ronnie Coleman also stunned the world with his intense workouts ranging from 800-lb squats to brutal chest presses. And he thinks committing to such taxing workouts requires more than just physical strength.

Recently, Coleman took to his Instagram to reshare a video of himself chest pressing with two 200lbs dumbbells for 12 reps, and the caption revealed his advice for committing to lifting heavy.

Coleman mentioned, "These 200lb dumbbells weren’t no joke!!
You gotta get your mind right before attempting weight like this…that’s why it ain’t nothing but Light Weight Baby!!”

Coleman’s philosophy is simple: lift heavy and believe in yourself. The video first surfaced five weeks out from his third Olympia competition, where he was performing a chest-day workout.

After the startling chest workout, he immediately moved to incline dumbbell presses with the same weight and knocked out seven reps.

Well, lifting 200 lbs is far from being easy, and it was proven when Larry Wheels repeated Coleman's workout. He nearly ripped his pec muscles. Later, he said, “I was very tempted to tilt it and tap my chest. But you know, that could be an inch away from a pec tear. So that was my body’s limited range of motion.”

But while Coleman's heavy-lifting-focused workout made him an iconic figure in the bodybuilding community, it didn't happen without setbacks.

Ronnie Coleman Had To Pay the Price of Greateness

Trying to replicate Coleman’s lifts? Well, think again. The 8x Mr. Olympia lifted some truly superhuman weights, but it left him with multiple herniated discs and degenerative spinal issues. Since 2007, Coleman has undergone 13-major surgeries, eight on his back, three on his neck, and two hip replacements.

In one of his conversations with the media, he revealed that the screws broke inside his spine, which forced the doctors to rebuild his back using rods, bolts, and titanium cages. “The screws broke about four times, and every time they would break, they would have to go in and replace them.”

As a result of these medical procedures, Ronnie Coleman’s mobility has severely declined, and he still suffers today, as he can barely walk properly: “My mobility only got worse with every surgery… mainly due to the faulty broken screws!!”

So, after considering these cases, it seems like such heavy lifts are also accompanied by injuries, but then, greatness doesn't come without cost.

Have you ever tried lifting like Coleman?

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Souvik Roy