“I almost died”: Ronnie Coleman details his darkest point in bodybuilding, leaving Tommy Fury shocked

Bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman has seen it all when it comes to the sport of bodybuilding. Having established his legacy as one of only two athletes ever to lift the Sandow eight times, Coleman underwent his fair share of trauma during his bodybuilding years as well.

During a recent chat with professional boxer and TV star Tommy Fury on his YouTube channel, Coleman trained with the boxer and revealed a lot about his professional career in between hard sets. Talking about his hardest Mr. Olympia prep, ‘The King’ revealed the tale of 2001, when he almost died. He said:

“The '01 when I almost died…Woke up exhausted…Woke up with exhaustion cause I tried to do the Arnold Classic that year. And I found out the body only peaks once a year and I thought I could do it twice, almost took me out. Never made that mistake again.”

“I was on my way to the hospital. My nutritionist told me to grab a gallon of water, that's what I did and I drank it.” (23:45)

Continuing the story, Coleman recalled that he felt a lot better after drinking water. Despite not performing so well at the pre-judging of Mr Olympia 2001, Coleman worked hard with his team to lose all the water and romped to Olympia victory despite facing a death scare just hours before.

“Felt fine but I was holding water and lost the morning show so as soon as I got off stage, as fast as we could, we went to the room and pulled all that water off me,” he added.

Ronnie Coleman’s multiple surgeries

Ronnie Coleman is one of the few bodybuilders to lift super heavy even during a bodybuilding prep. When on a diet, athletes consume very low amounts of calories which makes it very difficult to lift heavy. However, Coleman turned heads with his insane 800lbs squat in 2013 which he performed for two reps.

Because of his heavy lifting throughout his bodybuilding career and a back injury that he sustained in his teenage years playing football, Coleman later underwent multiple back surgeries. As a result, he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

However, despite all this, Ronnie Coleman has very few regrets. His only regret is that he didn’t push for six reps. Talking about this in a podcast with Bradley Martyn, Coleman said:

“Don't have no regrets, the only regret I had is when I was doing that 800-pound squat, I didn't do six reps. Because I knew I had six in me. But I didn't know that until I put it up. Because that was my first time trying it.” (22:00)

What do you think of Ronnie Coleman’s insane work ethic and never-give-up attitude? Let us know in the comments.