He pursued a difficult goal at the exclusion of all else. Including his health.
It’s as simple as acknowledging he’s probably done things he’d never let his kids do. In order to win.
And I’m 100% sure he’d do it again, and good luck to him. People like him show what can be done. Not what “should” be done.
when you hear people talk about “normal wear and tear”, the body will start to show the effects of just living life… My brother (the dpt) always says that by age 40, if you’ve “done anything physical” in your life, you can see the effects,… now, imagine what Coleman did, for as long as he did.
My brothers were high school athletes,… HIGH SCHOOL, and now, in their late 30’s-early 40’s they’ve got shoulder surgeries, lumbar disc issues, you name it… and we’re not talking high level training here, just two guys who stayed in pretty good shape after school, and TIME played it’s hand.
Obviously there will be people who show no effects like these, but Coleman,… he did what he felt he needed to do to be the best, and according to his own interviews, he has no regrets despite something like 11 surgeries I believe.
S
Obviously he had issues with his back before the surgeries started, but I think a large part of his current condition is from the idiot surgeons, not the weights. He’s had 11 surgeries largely because he kept having surgeries to fix the previous surgeries. It seems pretty clear that the first couple of surgeons had no clue what they were doing with someone like him.
I’ve watched his documentary on Netflix so many times and I’m always amazed. He was such a strong and brutal man in the gym, and yet outside, he’s so kind to his kids. He really is a wonderful human being.
I get the impression that he is a nice person as well. Seems like he would be nice to fans, show interest in others.
It is a shame what happened to him. IMO, he was the most impressive bodybuilder of all time.
In terms of sheer mass, absolutely. Once the 90’s left, bodybuilding went down the shitter, IMO. Everything is just focused on pure size as opposed to aesthetics.
Classic physique is making strides which is much more comparable to 50s/60s/70s/and maybe even 80’s, which is fantastic.
I guess what I am saying is that his physique is probably the hardest to obtain. I personally, would not want that size and the things that come with it (winded going up the stairs, tying shoes is tough).
Big Ramy is huge, but Coleman was almost the same, but with far better conditioning, and better proportions. I think if Ramy got to Coleman’s conditioning (in his better years), he would not be in the 300s, and would probably be smaller than Coleman.
If I am choosing what I look like it would be the 70s/80s look.
The crude reality is continual spinal loading is placing a great strain on the discs. Chuck in other factors like poor posture, either training or sitting around all day, chronic inflammation due to training stress and diet (I’d love to see the C-reactive protein results from the blood tests of elite athetes) and you soon have all the necessary ingredients for chronic injury.
In Coleman’s case, he is a stimulus addict. He even finished his leg workout despite hearing a disc pop while squatting. And continues to train as hard as he can despite his condition.
He is a lovely guy buy he did things his own way and you see the results.
There is a general bravado that persists when it comes to pumping iron. Heavy squats and deadlifts are in that bracket. I recall Poliquin going on about how folks must squat… blah, blah.
Maybe I’m just bitter after tearing my L5 disc and herniating L4. But if I could turn the clock back I would have ditched those movements much sooner because, 10 years later, I’m still not rid of the symptoms.
I always fluctuate between being a powerlifter and bodybuilder. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I will say I rarely squat and pull very heavy anymore, unless I’m feeling really good. A lot of my heavier squats are done in the 8-10 rep range and most of my pulls are done rack pull fashion.
I think it’s rare that you find any athlete/physical competitor doing this for a long duration and not showing some sign of the effects.
I had an orthopedic surgeon look at my arm a while back (before any of my surgeries) and he was amazed at the lack of arthritis and wear and tear. He even commented on how I must be doing things “correctly”. Of course in hindsight, even doing things correctly doesn’t guarantee anything.
S
I wonder if there is some brand of athlete that are significantly less injured despite their sport because there’s something smart that they do as an auxiliary to the training. I’ve seen some gymnasts do shoulder dislocated with barbells and their hands shoulder width apart and I wonder if that’s good or bad for shoulder longevity.
Curling comes to mind.
Swimmers.
I’ve known a good hand full of swimmers that aren’t all banged up from their sport.
There’s a doc on Coleman where he talks about his injuries and even what he was doing. He has videos of the first herniated disc he had and was doing front squats. He even called it a light set (I think it was 6 plates) and couldn’t believe he got injured on that light weight. Thing is that 600-700 lbs is still 600-700 lbs and your skeletal system and intervertebral discs don’t care if your muscles are strong enough to move it. They can still on handle so much loading before they give way.
In fairness there are also a very large amount of swimmers (particularly freestyle) with jacked-up shoulders.
I do have to say though, swimming probably is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, impact sport out there
I know a swimmer who’s coach dislocated her shoulder stretching her before a race.
I think swimmers are like throwers with the repeated overhead motion against resistance. Their shoulders get beat up.
I think I stepped in it with that one, didn’t I?
That’s pretty metal. I saw a study a while back that sampled ~80 D1 college swimmers. About 80% had painful shoulders.
In fairness though, that’s the highest proportion I saw, most reported 30-50%
I heard in a podcast yesterday that bar gymnasts show their hand rips as an entrance ticket to gymnast parties
I swam competitively growing up, then got into lifting. Never have had shoulder trouble in either pursuit. However, now if I go swim it tears up my shoulders. Apparently 20+ years of benching isn’t the best for swimming.