Joe Rogan Experience #1489 - Ronnie Coleman

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... one. Mr. Coleman.…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      ... one. Mr. Coleman.

   2. RCRonnie Coleman0:01

      What's going on? (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      Great to meet you, brother. It's a real honor. I mean, you are, uh, li- 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.

   4. RCRonnie Coleman0:16

      (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:16

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

   6. RCRonnie Coleman0:20

      Yeah, I felt like I probably could too, like, in those days. (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:23

      I mean, goddamn, you were freakishly huge. It was crazy to see. It was like, you know, I remember w- f- s- paying attention to bodybuilding from the beginning, like the Franco Columbu and Schwarzenegger days-

   8. RCRonnie Coleman0:33

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:33

      ... to what you guys had become, you know, when you were in your prime. You just redefined everything. Everything was just so extreme.

   10. RCRonnie Coleman0:42

       Yeah, we was, we were pretty, pretty, uh, tough back in the old day. E- everything was hard, you know. The guys that I was competing against were real good. And, you know, I just came out of nowhere, you know, because I, I got into 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, uh, Texas and started working for the police department.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       How old were you at the time?

   12. RCRonnie Coleman1:04

       I was about 24.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       So that's when you started bodybuilding?

   14. RCRonnie Coleman1:07

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

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       For sports?

   16. RCRonnie Coleman1:12

       Yeah, well, no. I had- I was on the powerlifting team.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:14

       Oh, okay.

   18. RCRonnie Coleman1:15

       I did powerlifting, uh, in high school. So I was on the powerlifting team. And, you know, I got ... Where I'm from, Louisiana, it's a real small town. Most of the, 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, na- uh, a natural gift, you know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:35

       Mm-hmm.

   20. RCRonnie Coleman1:35

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

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:41

       Have to have a nice base.

   22. RCRonnie Coleman1:42

       Yeah, you have to have a nice base, and you have to have a little talent. (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       Yeah.

   24. RCRonnie Coleman1:47

       You know, like that, this guy, uh, I think, I can't even remember his name, but, uh, he deadlifted 1100 pounds.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:53

       Oh, that, uh, the, the Game of Thrones guy?

   26. RCRonnie Coleman1:56

       Yeah, yeah. Uh-

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:58

       The Mountain?

   28. RCRonnie Coleman1:58

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

   29. JRJoe Rogan2:01

       Yeah.

   30. RCRonnie Coleman2:01

       Yeah, yeah, he's gifted. Everybody can't do that, you know. I, I did 800, you know, for a couple of reps, but, uh, (laughs) I don't think I can do 1100.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah, yeah. Well, you…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      can't believe that you didn't really get serious until after you won Mr. Olympia. That's, that's hard to believe.

   2. RCRonnie Coleman15:05

      Yeah, yeah. Well, you gotta understand, you know, I never had any dreams of being a Mr. Olympia. I never had any dreams of being a bodybuilder. I only did it because the guy gave me a free membership to the gym.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:20

      (laughs)

   4. RCRonnie Coleman15:20

      (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:20

      But once you started getting going and you won Mr. Olympia and you realized, "Wow, I'm, I'm the best. I gotta throw myself into this."

   6. RCRonnie Coleman15:30

      Exactly, exactly.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:30

      'Cause the way you worked out, man. I watched a video of you working out once, and, um, e- like, just the intensity and thinking like, "This guy's not just doing ... This guy's doing this for 12 weeks straight."

   8. RCRonnie Coleman15:43

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:43

      The intensity that you had in the gym, like you were a ... There's a certain level, no matter what the sport is, champions have a certain level of focus and dedication.

   10. RCRonnie Coleman15:52

       Yeah. Exactly.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:53

       And I remember watching that video and going, "That's what a champion looks like."

   12. RCRonnie Coleman15:56

       Yep.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:56

       "That's what a champion looks like."

   14. RCRonnie Coleman15:57

       Well, you gotta also think, realize that, you know, I, I started working out when I was 12. I kind of fell in love with it when I was 13. And it just kind of became a hobby when I ... once I joined the, uh, powerlifting team.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:10

       But-

   16. RCRonnie Coleman16:10

       So I enjoyed working out.

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       When you won the first Mr. Olympia, how old were you then?

   18. RCRonnie Coleman16:15

       34.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:16

       Okay. So you had a solid eight years of lifting.

   20. RCRonnie Coleman16:19

       Mm-hmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       You know, this is-

   22. RCRonnie Coleman16:20

       Yeah, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:21

       ... after you were on the force for a while.

   24. RCRonnie Coleman16:22

       Yeah, exactly. And I had alre- I already had the base too, you know?

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:27

       Mm-hmm.

   26. RCRonnie Coleman16:27

       Being in high school on the powerlifting team.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:30

       Now, powerlifting and lifting heavy is always a very controversial thing amongst bodybuilders, right? 'Cause some bodybuilders never lifted as heavy as you did.

   28. RCRonnie Coleman16:39

       No, no.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:40

       What was your philosophy on that?

   30. RCRonnie Coleman16:42

       Uh, to each his own, you know? I lifted heavy because that's what I liked to do, and that's what I was able to do. And like I said, I just was kind of like ... in a way, I was kind of gifted to be, uh, strong like that, you know? And it was something that I was ... I, I always was. E- even when I was in high school, I was benching about 350.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Uh, I mean, you…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

   2. RCRonnie Coleman30:00

      Uh, I mean, you know, maybe one day they'll come out with something that'll help get it stronger. I was thinking about trying the stem cell thing.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      Yeah.

   4. RCRonnie Coleman30:09

      Yeah. They said that, that should help a lot too right there.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:13

      Well, there's, uh, a bunch of places that they do it where they could do it with a lot stronger stem cells than they could do in America, like the-

   6. RCRonnie Coleman30:20

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:20

      ... place in Colombia does it, and, um, there's a place in Panama that I actually sent my mom.

   8. RCRonnie Coleman30:25

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:25

      My mom, they wanted to, uh, give her a knee replacement, and, um, the doctors just didn't want to operate right away. And I was like, "Mm, I want... Let me, let me see-"

   10. RCRonnie Coleman30:35

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:35

       "... if we can send you down to Panama. Let me see if Dr. Reardon..." He'd been in here before with-

   12. RCRonnie Coleman30:40

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       ... uh, Mel Gibson, and he was talking about Mel Gibson's dad. And Mel Gibson's dad was in real bad shape when he was 92.

   14. RCRonnie Coleman30:47

       Ooh.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:47

       And then, now, he's 100 and he's fine.

   16. RCRonnie Coleman30:49

       Wow.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:49

       I mean, he's gone back there a bunch of times, keeps going back for stem cells.

   18. RCRonnie Coleman30:53

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       Anyway, long story short, my mom was scheduled to get a knee replacement. I sent her down to Panama and six months later, it started to feel good. Eight months later, no pain at all.

   20. RCRonnie Coleman31:03

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:03

       It, it, it really did a great. And then I sent her down a second time. It's, it's pretty amazing stuff, what they can do.

   22. RCRonnie Coleman31:09

       Yeah. So that's, that's, that's my thing to do next.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:12

       Yeah.

   24. RCRonnie Coleman31:12

       And, uh, people I've talked to that, they, uh, think it will do me a lot of good, lot of good.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:18

       So is it, there's scar tissue around the nerves that's pushing against the nerves now? 'Cause if all the discs are gone and everything's fused, what's irritating the nerves?

   26. RCRonnie Coleman31:28

       Scar tissue, uh, all that hardware. I got 14 screws-

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       (exhales) .

   28. RCRonnie Coleman31:35

       ... two, two cages. Uh, I got two rods about this long in there too. So it's a lot of hardware, a lot of cages, and, uh-

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:47

       What do the cages look like?

   30. RCRonnie Coleman31:50

       (sighs)
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. RCRonnie Coleman45:00

      on all the time.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      Mm-hmm.

   3. RCRonnie Coleman45:01

      So I was drenched every day after work, so I'm a- I'm always drinking water there. So y- y- you have to drink a lot of water.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:10

      Now-

   5. RCRonnie Coleman45:10

      You have to.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:11

      ... a- as far as, like, supplements and nutrition and vitamins and things along those lines, you were talking about what you ate, but, like, what other stuff would you take?

   7. RCRonnie Coleman45:19

      Uh, I had a nutritionist, so he did my whole plan. And, uh, some of the stuff I don't even remember that he (laughs) had, had, had me doing. But it was, it was quite a bit of stuff.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:31

      Was it based on blood work? Like, do your blood work and then-

   9. RCRonnie Coleman45:34

      Yeah, I did blood works probably, like, three, three times a year. And, uh, uh, he, he made sure I, I got, got plenty of vitamins and plenty of minerals and other things, you know. 'Cause I didn't, I didn't, I didn't like vegetables, so he would kinda supplement, you know, (clears throat) vitamins and stuff for that.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       You didn't eat vegetables at all?

   11. RCRonnie Coleman45:56

       At all.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:57

       Really?

   13. RCRonnie Coleman45:57

       No.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       Some people think you don't need them. There's a whole-

   15. RCRonnie Coleman46:01

       That was me. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       (laughs) There's a bunch of people that are on what's called a carnivore diet. Have you heard that?

   17. RCRonnie Coleman46:06

       Yeah, that, yeah, that's me. (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:08

       Yeah, uh, there's a bunch of people that don't eat vegetables. They basically mostly eat meat.

   19. RCRonnie Coleman46:13

       Yeah, I would, I would eat, uh, baked potato and, uh, rice. That was about it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:22

       But m- why is it mostly chicken? Why does, why do bodybuilders mostly eat chicken? 'Cause it's so lean?

   21. RCRonnie Coleman46:27

       Lean, yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:28

       Mm-hmm.

   23. RCRonnie Coleman46:28

       Lean, uh, chicken breasts, you know, it's the leanest you can get, pretty much.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:32

       D-

   25. RCRonnie Coleman46:32

       I, I also had steak at least once a day also. Lean steak, you know, like filet mignon.

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:38

       Mm-hmm.

   27. RCRonnie Coleman46:39

       So I'd eat chicken three times a day, turkey also, and, uh, steak.

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:46

       Now, when the competition was over and you won, did you pig out? Did you go crazy?

   29. RCRonnie Coleman46:50

       I w- I went crazy.

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:51

       (laughs)
5. 1:00:00 – 1:13:30

   Yeah. That's... I couldn't…

   1. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:00

      to be trained up all the time.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:03

      Yeah. That's... I couldn't agree more. I mean, it sounds horrible for people to hear, but I think they need more funding.

   3. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:08

      Yeah. You need more funding-

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      Even though the police are fucked up-

   5. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:10

      And you need-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:10

      ... they need more education.

   7. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:12

      You need more money.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:13

      More money, more training.

   9. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:15

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

       Yeah. And I feel like they should be trained the same way the military is trained and that-

   11. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:18

       (sighs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:18

       ... that way they weed out the weak people too.

   13. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:20

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:21

       Weed out the people with the weak minds. Weed out the bullies. Weed out the sociopaths.

   15. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:25

       Yep. But, uh, (sighs) I guess it's just a hard job to get, you know, a, a not wanted job, I'll say.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:36

       Yeah. But I think there's also just p- in everything, every job there is, there's people that suck at it.

   17. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:42

       Yeah, that's true.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:42

       And you're gonna... You can't suck at being a cop.

   19. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:46

       No.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       You know? You just...

   21. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:48

       You can't, but (sighs) like I said, it's, it's, uh-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

       A lot of people do.

   23. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:51

       Yeah. (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:00:53

       Yeah.

   25. RCRonnie Coleman1:00:53

       And like I say, it's kinda hard to find (clears throat) good candidates sometimes.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:00:56

       Are you still in touch with all the guys on the force that you worked with?

   27. RCRonnie Coleman1:01:00

       Uh, no. All the guys I worked with have re- retired. (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:02

       All of them did? Yeah.

   29. RCRonnie Coleman1:01:03

       Yeah. Yeah. That was a, that was a while ago. Yeah. Uh, see, I, I started in 1989. So you gotta remember that's, what, 30 some years later?

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:14

       (laughs)

Episode duration: 1:32:49