They call him “the King” for a reason. Ronnie Coleman, eight-time Mr. Olympia winner and purveyor of household staples like “Yeah, buddy,” had one of the best physiques to ever grace a bodybuilding stage.
- Coleman popped a squat into bodybuilding’s seat of power with his first Olympia victory in 1998. Just a year prior, Coleman had placed a modest ninth. He’d continue to keep the throne warm and rack up Sandow trophies until 2005.
But his bodybuilding advice leaves a bit more to be desired. Sure, Coleman got a few things right, and we’re going to start with those — but you’ll also find three nuggets of wisdom from the King that haven’t stood the test of time.
Here are some of Ronnie Coleman’s best and worst bodybuilding tips ever.
Ronnie Coleman Bodybuilding Tips
- Ab Training
- Muscle Growth Principles
- Exercise Selection
- Protein Intake
- Training for the Pump
- Squats for Supersets
Good: Ab Training
Coleman’s era came to an end almost 20 years ago now, which makes dating footage from his prime difficult. During an interview from his competitive years, Coleman touched on his philosophy regarding ab training:
- “I do abs every other day,” Coleman explained. “I try to hit them at least three times a week, and I mix up my exercises a lot.”
When it comes to ab training, this is a stellar tip from Coleman. Core workouts can be a bit dull, but you do need to perform a certain amount of it each week to ensure your abs get bigger and stronger.
How you allot that weekly volume quota is mostly up to you. Hitting your core three times per week with fewer movements is a great way to ensure you aren’t slacking on ab training. And to Coleman’s credit, some studies have shown that regularly rotating exercises leads to better strength gains than sticking with the same moves for too long. (1)
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Good: Muscle Growth Principles
Despite a few iconic training videos, including 800-pound deadlifts and squats — Coleman told NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe he could’ve squatted 800 for six, by the way — the King was no ego lifter. In fact, his philosophy on muscle hypertrophy comports pretty well with what we know today.
Here’s Coleman speaking to bodybuilding journalist Greg Merritt for FLEX magazine:
- “My three most hallowed training principles are to use the most weight possible; with the most correct form; through a full range of motion.”
The sacred texts, indeed. Coleman’s three-pronged treatise on muscle growth is hard to argue with, even 20 years on from his last Olympia win.
Lifting heavy enables progressive overload, (2) training a full range of motion maximizes growth potential, (3) and, of course, good technique is essential to developing robust mind-muscle connection and reducing injury risk. Coleman was on the money with this one.
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Good: Exercise Selection
Bodybuilders revere a well-developed back — Coleman’s was his calling card. The back is an intricate web of muscles that you can’t hope to adequately train with one or two exercises. Coleman’s approach to bodybuilding exercise selection likely helped separate him from the pack in this regard.
It’s a semi-common practice now, but Coleman would perform two distinct back workouts each week, one emphasizing thickness and the other width. Here’s a sample, courtesy of FLEX:
Ronnie Coleman Back Thickness Workout
- Deadlift: 4 x 6-12
- Barbell Row: 3 x 10-12
- T-Bar Row: 3 x 10-12
- Dumbbell Row: 3 x 10-12
Ronnie Coleman Back Width Workout
- Barbell Row: 5 x 10-12
- Seated Cable Row: 4 x 10-12
- Machine Lat Pulldown: 3 x 10-12
- Underhand Pulldown: 3 x 10-12
FLEX says Coleman would perform each workout once per week. We couldn’t agree more with this approach — studies show twice-weekly training optimizes muscle growth (4) and slightly varying the exercises to target weak points and maintain variety can help you avoid boredom.
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Bad: Squats for Supersets
Coleman lost the plot a bit on this one. The King believed squats were the ultimate leg exercise (they are) and that squats were, “ideal for supersets.” They are not.
- “No other position permits such a quick and easy transition from one exercise to another,” he continued.
To his credit, you can get a lot of work done in the squat rack, sure. When selecting for supersets, you’ll generally want to pair movements that won’t demand too much of your cardiovascular system or that work entirely different muscles.
Other than supersetting squats with, say, lateral raises, there aren’t many other leg exercises worth spending your valuable rest periods on. In fact, squats are so demanding on their own that you’re better off just sitting down and taking a breather.
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Bad: Training for the Pump
Bodybuilders revere the pump. All-time great Arnold Schwarzenegger even regarded it as, let’s say, his second favorite feeling ever. Coleman took things a step further and, mistakenly, considered a good pump a muscle-making must-do:
- “A muscle receives the maximum benefit only if you can feel it being pumped and burned,” Coleman told FLEX. “As soon as that sensation fades or shifts, you’ve gone too far. I never go to failure.”
There’s plenty of evidence to the contrary online — Coleman trained to failure at least some of the time. But taking his words at face value, what he’s saying here is misaligned with contemporary, evidence-based hypertrophy science.
- Training for a pumped sensation is a good indicator that the exercise you’re doing aligns with your body posturally, but it isn’t indicative of productive lifting. After all, you could curl five-pound dumbbells for 100 reps in a row, get a crazy pump, and build precisely zero mass from it.
- Studies tell us that training to failure is not necessary to induce muscle growth, though many bodybuilding coaches endorse it for machine or cable exercises in particular. (5)
Coleman’s word about load shifting is on point, however. You don’t want to feel an exercise in your joints instead of your muscles, but you also shouldn’t chase the pump at the expense of tension and progression. Based on most of his other advice, Coleman understood this just fine.
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Bad: Protein Intake
In the dark ages — before social media, of course — bodybuilding lore was pretty wild, especially when it came to nutrition. There weren’t many protein intake calculators flying around, so you had to go off of what you heard in a weight room or read in a muscle mag.
Absurdly high protein intake suggestions were fairly common, and Coleman’s own benchmark was no exception.
- During one interview shortly after his competitive years, Coleman noted that his protein intake quota was two grams of dietary protein per pound of body weight.
Protein Intake Calculator
Do not attempt this. To contextualize, Coleman tipped the scales at 287 pounds at the 2003 Olympia. That’s almost 600 grams, or 2,400 calories, of protein alone. Unless you’re pushing 300 pounds and are shredded, it’s more calories than you’d know what to do with before even considering your carb or dietary fat needs.
- Currently, research indicates that for bodybuilders in the off-season or who are not in a calorie deficit, 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight is a sufficient protein intake range. (6) That’s .72 to 1 gram per pound.
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Ronnie Coleman: The King’s Word Is Law?
Coleman remains among the best to ever do it, at least in bodybuilding’s modern era. Does that mean all of his advice is timeless or applicable? Hardly. Good bodybuilders know when and how to marry empirical evidence with real-world experience.
Plus, you’re probably not Ronnie Coleman, so some portions of what worked for him simply won’t have the same effect on you. There’s a lot to learn from the King, just remember to take Coleman’s bodybuilding advice in stride.
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References
- Fonseca RM, Roschel H, Tricoli V, de Souza EO, Wilson JM, Laurentino GC, Aihara AY, de Souza Leão AR, Ugrinowitsch C. Changes in exercises are more effective than in loading schemes to improve muscle strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Nov;28(11):3085-92. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000539. PMID: 24832974.
- Plotkin D, Coleman M, Van Every D, Maldonado J, Oberlin D, Israetel M, Feather J, Alto A, Vigotsky AD, Schoenfeld BJ. Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ. 2022 Sep 30;10:e14142. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14142. PMID: 36199287; PMCID: PMC9528903.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J. Effects of range of motion on muscle development during resistance training interventions: A systematic review. SAGE Open Med. 2020 Jan 21;8:2050312120901559. doi: 10.1177/2050312120901559. PMID: 32030125; PMCID: PMC6977096.
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med. 2016 Nov;46(11):1689-1697. doi: 10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8. PMID: 27102172.
- Santanielo N, Nóbrega SR, Scarpelli MC, Alvarez IF, Otoboni GB, Pintanel L, Libardi CA. Effect of resistance training to muscle failure vs non-failure on strength, hypertrophy and muscle architecture in trained individuals. Biol Sport. 2020 Dec;37(4):333-341. doi: 10.5114/biolsport.2020.96317. Epub 2020 Jul 5. PMID: 33343066; PMCID: PMC7725035.
- Iraki J, Fitschen P, Espinar S, Helms E. Nutrition Recommendations for Bodybuilders in the Off-Season: A Narrative Review. Sports (Basel). 2019 Jun 26;7(7):154. doi: 10.3390/sports7070154. PMID: 31247944; PMCID: PMC6680710.
Featured Image: @ronnie.coleman_fanpage / Instagram
