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Ronnie Coleman

Ronnie Coleman

Net Worth

$2,000,000

Born in (City)

Monroe

Born in (Country)

U.S.

Date of Birth

13th December, 1964

Date of Death

-

Mother

Jessie Benton

Father

unknown

Children

  • Jamilleah Coleman
  • Valencia Daniel Coleman

About

Ronnie Dean Coleman is an American retired professional bodybuilder. Popularly known as the greatest bodybuilder Ronnie has won the title of Mr. Olympia eight times in a row. He has been married twice and has four kids from his second marriage. Now a successful endorser and businessman, Fitness Volt puts Coleman’s net worth (unverified) somewhere between $10 – 12 million. Pushing one’s limit does not mean disassociating bodily integrity. Coleman’s hard work and achievements are much revered. The body-building royalty has always had a smiling face and a positive attitude but is so much pain and agony worth the effort?

Early Life

Coleman graduated from Grambling State University with a B.Sc in accounting but was unable to find a job as an accountant. Forced by his poor financial condition he worked at an outlet of Dominos pizza and survived on the complimentary pizzas. His conditions were so pathetic that he did not even have money to buy proper food. His life changed when he became a police officer in Arlington, Texas in 1998. During his tenure as an officer, he joined the Metroflex gym on the recommendation of a fellow officer. Life took an interesting turn for Coleman when the gym owner, Brian Dobson, an amateur bodybuilder himself offered him free lifetime membership on the condition that Coleman would let him train him for Mr. Texas. Ronnie agreed and trained rigorously for the title. As a result of the hard work, Coleman won first place in heavyweight and overall categories. There was not stopping after this during the mid 90’s Coleman won much competition from the Canada Pro Cup to Russian Grand Prix, he had been there and done it all.

Road to Success

In terms of gaining international acclaim, Coleman’s career graph has been slow, according to experts. He won his first Mr. Olympia in 1998 and from there bagged the title for eight consecutive years. Coleman is also known as 8x Mr. Olympia. The last time he competed for the title was in 2007. It is because of his hard work, dedication, and perseverance towards the sport that Coleman is now a renowned figure across the globe. Product endorsements, guest appearances at gym openings followed with his worldwide acclaim. In 2011 he even launched Ronnie Coleman Signature Series providing sports nutrition and wellness products to weightlifters and athletes. He has even done three videos– The Unbelievable, The Cost of Redemption, On the Road - giving tips to weightlifters about the dos and don’ts of heavy weight lifting. He has also appeared in multiple podcasts the most recent being on the Joe Rogan Experience where he talked about the sheer amount of hard work he put into the gym. In 2018 Netflix released a documentary, titled Ronnie Coleman: The King, featuring Coleman's life and career. The documentary also portrays his surgery in 2018 which was his eighth.

Challenges

Ronnie is known to push his limits and overdo his workout. He has bore the brunt of this by undergoing a series of surgeries ranging from hip replacement to high doses of drugs to alleviate chronic pain to repairing damaged intervertebral discs. Once it was so bad that the doctors had to take out his intestines to fix a screw in his back and make space for the scar tissue. The surgeries had their own complications not to mention the cost of the surgery (one of the most recent ones ranging from US $2 million). The most recent surgery took place a couple of months back. In spite of being a minor surgery, it had everyone on their haunches. The surgery did go well and Ronnie received tons of support from his fans and followers. Ronnie never backed down, soon after the surgery, one would find him in the gym getting back in shape. While others were busy with post-op therapy and recovery all Ronnie could think about were his weights. Staying in the hospital after the surgeries have been really tough on the King. With respect to his body and fitness regime, Ronnie has no regrets and completely owns up to his actions. Coleman has definitely been an inspiration to many young upcoming athletes and weight lifters. He has even revolutionized bodybuilding as a professional sport. Catchphrases like “light weight baby” and “yeah buddy” have made him very famous. He did express his disappointment in the doctors in a couple of interviews. In one of his messages to his fans, he even went on to say that "he would have been able to walk a long long time back if the doctors would have done the surgery right."

Failures

Coleman's reign as Mr. Olympia came to an end in 2006 when Jay Cutler, the three-time consecutive runner-up heading into the contest, finally earned his first win. It was only the second time in contest history that a reigning multi-champion Mr. Olympia had lost his title. As does every reign come to an end. Coleman did too when even after sustaining grievous injuries, he continued to train which resulted in him not being able to walk and remaining crippled without assistance.

Achievements

Canada Pro Cup in 1995, 1996.|Mr. Texas (Heavyweight and Overall) in 1990.|World Amateur Championships (Heavyweight) in 1991.|Grand Prix Russia in 1997.|Mr Olympia in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

Quotes

  • Hard work and training. There’s no secret formula. I lift heavy, work hard and aim to be the best.
  • I've been in pain for so long now I'm just used to it.