Haney Comments on Ronnie's Training

I don’t know anything about the rest, but if you’re in a job that’s regularly drug tested, you know to keep the script.

I know to hand it to the pharmacist and never see it again in the old days. Now they don’t even give it to you to begin with, it just goes electronically to the pharmacy of your choice.

Ronnie could walk past a gym and add 5lbs of muscle but it definitely seems that he was gifted in his ability to tolerate PEDs as well.

No question Ronnie was gifted in the genetics dept, but yes, you’ll hear people with actual understanding of PED usage talk about hyper-responders, and how well some individuals can tolerate certain compounds. I’ve always held that the top pros in the sport would be at the top if no one was using gear. The end all be all, assuming everyone is training hard and focused on proper nutrition and recovery, is always going to be your genetics.

Look at Levrone, the guy won his first show that he wasn’t training for (he was competing in a powerlifting contest the same day and his friends talked him into jumping onstage). Ronnie looked like a bodybuilder when he was just playing college ball. Dorian hit the weights as a young teenager who did a stint in juvie-hall and had surprising results… I’m sure the list goes on.

(I’m also pretty sure Haney won his 1st Olympia in his early 20’s,… his EARLY 20’s!!!)

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Look at how young Yates was in this pic (came up on my IG feed today)… who looks that solid and complete in their first amateur contest?

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Ronnie looked bigger and more solid at his first amateur powerlifting contest. Not even a BBing contest.

What is even more impressive is the lifter after Ronnie. He hits 220 kg deadlift and looks to be in his 80s, and about 130 lbs.

500lbs deadlift is a decent amount of strength but there’s no beating father time…

This is so amazing, it’s difficult to comprehend. Forget winning–it’s astonishing enough to contemplate an unprepped individual just being able to look like they belong onstage. But actually winning? Talk about unicorn genetics…

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So many of those guys from the 90s really were just amazingly genetic monsters. I’m not discounting what was going on in terms of chemical enhancement, but there’s a reason why people still compare what we’ve seen the last two decades in a less favorable light to what we saw during the 90s.

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The 90’s was the Platinum Era.

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2000’s until now everything went a bit mutant, so it would have to be the Uranium Era.

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It really was A crazy era for bodybuilding. Shawn Ray was amazing but look at them next to Dorian. pretty sure this wasn’t even dorians best Olympia showing.

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Yates was just inhuman.

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I couldn’t believe Dexter Jackson’s showing at the O last year. Almost 50 and comes in that shape and manages a 4th 12 years after his Olympia win - just crazy. Even chemically altered that’s an impressive achievement. How many other pro athletes are still competing at 50?

I think he said this year’s O will be his last.

My god I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since he won, feels like 5 or 6.

lol I know… a few years ago I decided I had to purge some of my old muscle magazines, but I made sure to painstakingly go through each one and keep “the really good ones.”

So in addition to what you’d expect, the ones that cover each year’s Olympia and Arnold, I also kept the ones that covered my favorite pros… just crazy to realize just how much I followed the sport, and for how long… and now I’m concerned about them “taking up space” in my office :slight_smile:

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My old man got me some Flex magazines with release dates from early to late 90s at a garage sale. They are quite the trip. Lots of the products they were advertising, the 90s feel. Some of the same people are still in them though (it is amazing to me that a few of the pros do this sport for so long).

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I have a bunch of terrible 90s martial arts magazines laying around somewhere. I will need to see if I can dig them up - they had the best ads, makes the bodybuilding ones look sensible haha

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Whatttt?! That old dude looks like he can barely hold himself up, then just causal as you like picks up that bar. That’s insane!

I wonder how strong that dude would have been had he started lifting early in life? Most posters on T Nation can’t lift that weight.

I’d have assumed he started young and that’s the result as he’s aged; he can still rock a good deadlift.

If that’s 220kg it is (shamefully) bigger than mine.

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