Ronnie Coleman, King of Bodybuilding (Lifting Legends #1) | Ep 353
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Eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman didn't just build a legendary physique. He created a blueprint for what dedication, consistency, and love for lifting can achieve.
His famous "light weight, baby!" was about an approach to training that transformed his body and an entire culture of lifting.
This is the first episode in our new Lifting Legends series, where we connect modern training science with the rich history of lifting culture to extract timeless principles that are relevant today more than ever.
Main Takeaways:
Ronnie's blueprint for greatness: consistency, simplicity, and genuine love for the lifting process
Why fundamental movements (squats, deadlifts, presses, rows) built the greatest physique in bodybuilding history
How to channel Ronnie's commitment while training smarter for long-term health and sustainability
The difference between training hard and training smart (and why you need both)
Episode Mentioned:
Timestamps:
0:02 - The King's blueprint for greatness
4:22 - Ronnie's humble beginnings at Metroflex Gym
6:30 - Ssimplicity executed at an elite level
12:56 - Why Ronnie's methods align with modern science
17:13 - Building your own lifting legacy
18:44 - What to emulate vs. what to avoid from Ronnie's approach
23:25 - Excellence + sustainability
26:48 - THIS separates legends from everyone else
Ronnie Coleman and the Power of Consistency
Ronnie Coleman’s journey is one of those rare stories that goes far beyond the stage or the weight room. He wasn’t the kid born into a life of bodybuilding glory. He was a police officer in Arlington, Texas, training in his spare time at a no‑frills gym called Metroflex. That humble, sweltering space with concrete floors and zero air conditioning became the crucible that shaped an eight‑time Mr. Olympia. The message here isn’t about chasing perfection in equipment or waiting for the perfect conditions. It is about showing up, working hard, and letting consistency compound over years.
You can look at old photos of Ronnie and not immediately see the future legend. He had above‑average genetics, sure, but nothing that screamed world champion. What he did have was a work ethic that bordered on unstoppable. He genuinely loved lifting. Watch his old training clips and you see someone smiling, shouting his famous “Lightweight, baby!” before handling weights most lifters will never even attempt. That phrase wasn’t a show. It was his way of reminding himself to stay loose, confident, and excited about the work ahead.
Simplicity executed at the highest level
A lot of lifters get stuck chasing the next best program, the newest piece of equipment, or an overly complex split. Ronnie’s program was almost shockingly simple. Chest and triceps one day, back and biceps another, legs on their own day. Heavy compound lifts formed the backbone: squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bent‑over rows. These weren’t flashy or exotic movements. They were the fundamental patterns of human strength, pushed to extremes with relentless progression.
He didn’t waste energy overthinking. He didn’t abandon a plan every time he got bored. He perfected what worked and then pushed it as far as humanly possible. This is a principle that will outlast every fad in the industry. If you focus on the basics and get incrementally better over months and years, the results will come. It might not be an Olympia physique, but it will be the best version of you.
A culture of effort and respect
Metroflex Gym wasn’t designed to impress anyone. It was designed to build lifters. Ronnie trained alongside everyday gym‑goers, and by all accounts, he treated them with the same respect he gave his own goals. That environment mattered. When you train somewhere that values effort over excuses, it changes the way you show up. Even if you train alone in a garage or a small apartment gym, you can create your own culture by setting standards for yourself and following through.
Ronnie’s joy for training was contagious. He didn’t dread the hard sessions. He lived for them. And that’s another lesson worth stealing: find something about the process that you genuinely enjoy. Maybe it’s the feeling of getting stronger, maybe it’s the focus lifting brings, or maybe it’s simply knowing you’re building a better version of yourself.
Balancing intensity with longevity
We can’t ignore the reality that Ronnie’s career also came with a cost. Years of lifting at the very edge of human capacity led to injuries and long‑term physical challenges. He has said he wouldn’t change a thing, and that mindset is part of what made him great. But most of us aren’t trying to compete at that level. We want to train for decades, not just a few peak years. So take his consistency, his simplicity, and his mindset, but pair it with smarter recovery and self‑awareness. Listen to your body. Train hard, but train smart.
Build your own legacy
Ronnie Coleman proved that greatness comes from showing up, loving the work, and mastering the basics. You might not be aiming for a stage or a title, but you can still create your own legacy. Every rep you do with focus is a brick in that foundation. Every day you show up when you could have skipped is another step toward something extraordinary.
You don’t need the perfect gym, the perfect program, or the perfect timing. You need commitment. You need to care enough about your goals to keep going when it’s early, when it’s cold, when you’re tired, and when it feels like no one is watching. That’s what separates legends from everyone else. Ronnie showed us what is possible when you commit fully. Now it’s your turn to take those principles and write your own story under the bar.
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Transcript
Philip Pape: 0:02
eight-time mr olympia, ronnie coleman didn't just build one of the greatest physiques in history. He created a blueprint for what dedication, consistency and a pure love for lifting can accomplish. His famous lightweight baby wasn't just about the weight on the bar. It was about an approach to training that transformed his body and an entire culture. Today we're exploring what made Ronnie legendary, how his methods shaped modern lifting, and the timeless principles you can take away from his journey to build your own greatness, because when you understand what drove the king, you'll discover lessons that go beyond the gym Lessons about consistency, simplicity and the relentless pursuit of becoming your best self.
Philip Pape: 0:58
Welcome to Wits and Weights, the show that helps you build a strong, healthy physique using evidence, engineering and efficiency. I'm your host, philip Pape, and today we're going to celebrate one of lifting's most inspiring figures, while taking away some of the wisdom that can help you with your own training. And this is the first episode in what I'm planning as a series connecting our modern understanding of training with this rich history of lifting culture something that I feel like is getting forgotten or not discussed enough and it's a lot of fun to look into the past and see what those guys did and what we can learn from them, good and bad, to inform what we do today beyond just the science. Now the iron right, the iron culture. We've been learning lessons from that culture for generations and many of us are born in this century or born, like myself, toward the end of the last century and haven't taken the time to study those giants that came before us. But what we do, we see principles that are still relevant, and they were relevant then, but we didn't quite tie it into the science. In fact we sometimes dismiss it as bro science, and I'm here to rectify that with this series and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. So when you look up the podcast going forward, if it says Lifting Legends, number one, number two, number three, that's the series we're talking about.
Philip Pape: 2:17
Now let's start with Ronnie Coleman. I picked him intentionally because he's got a colorful past and he's got things that are flawed about him and they and everyone does, and I want to give thing, give this the treatment it deserves. So Ronnie Coleman is is a very special piece of this history of iron culture, not just the success he had, but he had a particular approach to the success. That gives us some, helps us take a step back. For anyone who is serious about building their strength and physique, and if you want to do this yourself, if you want to build your own legacy, it's helpful to have to understand history and it's also helpful to put this into a personalized systemic approach for you. So just a quick note so that you're aware I have something called Wittemate's Physique University where you get a lot of the tools we talk about on this show to train with purpose, to eat with intention and clarity, to fuel yourself, to build consistency. That separates good lifters from great ones. And we just relaunched at a lower price. It used to be 87 a month, now it's 27 a month. And if you use the link exclusive in the show notes for listeners, you'll also get a custom nutrition plan for free from me. And, by the way, I'm doing another episode soon on a brand new training template we dropped there for power building. It's called Resolute and it's, in fact, inspired a lot by the guys we're going to be talking about in this lifting series. So use the link in the show notes $27 a month and you'll get a free nutrition plan if you use that link only.
Philip Pape: 3:45
All right, let's talk about this legend, ronnie Coleman. What made him so extraordinary? So quick history. He was born in 1964 in Monroe, louisiana, and he didn't really start serious bodybuilding until his mid-20s. You hear guys like Arnold who started as young as they could possibly get their hands on a barbell. But he was working as a police officer in Arlington, texas and he discovered Metroflex Gym. It was a very simple, no frills kind of temple to training. It's not something you see a lot these days unless you really look for it, and it would become legendary largely because of what Ronnie accomplished in that facility, metroflex.
Philip Pape: 4:22
What's fascinating about his story is how it began, because he wasn't necessarily gifted with perfect genetics from day one, although definitely superior to many, even though people assume you know, oh, genetic freak, it comes easy right. If you look at the early photos you see a good physique, but nothing that screamed future Mr Olympia. But what he had was a work ethic that you could call unshakable right. It was just part of the fiber of his being. He had a genuine love for the process of getting stronger, and I know a lot of you don't necessarily love the process of lifting. You do it for a reason and you tie it to a reason and we talk about that, whereas others and I kind of raise my hand here really do just love lifting the iron and doing the thing, and I think for a lot of us that comes to us as we do it and get the result.
Philip Pape: 5:11
But I feel like when you look at Ronnie's history, he was just in it from the beginning. He trained with joy that's what I would call it. It was like this infectious joy. You look at his smile. I mean he's just a charming guy, right? You watch any of his training videos and you'll see a guy that's not suffering through workouts. It's someone who, like this is his calling, right? He's just going to pursue it with all the enthusiasm he can muster. And there's a famous quote he would say lightweight baby, lightweight baby. And, by the way, try that yourself in the gym when you're about to go for a PR and see if it doesn't, you know, jack you up a little bit mentally when you're about to hit that. So I don't think it was bravado, right. I think it was this genuine excitement about moving heavyweights and pushing his body to new levels, and obviously the results speak for themselves. He had eight consecutive Mr Olympia titles from 1998 to 2005. It's a record that has stood to this day as the gold standard, nearly two decades later.
Philip Pape: 6:07
And, you know, sometimes people simplify it to just that. But there's a lot behind that, right, it's more than just the titles. I think Ronnie created a training culture that emphasized the fundamentals, done with extraordinary consistency. All right, really important things. Listen up, fundamentals, consistency. This is what we're going to hit on today and why I think this is so important.
Philip Pape: 6:30
So now let's talk about his training philosophy, and here's what made it so powerful Simplicity executed at an elite level. All right, simplicity executed at an elite level, the highest level Simplicity so many of us get hung up in. Things need to be more and more complex. We think advanced trainees, it has to be more and more complex and it's true, a lot of bodybuilders to this day get caught up in complex routines and a lot of exotic exercises, and you see it in the training programs out there, and sometimes we seek it out because we're looking for more variety and fun and it's okay to do that. Right, that's part of the process If it, if it helps you enjoy it and be consistent.
Philip Pape: 7:12
But Ronnie was all about the basics, man. He you know squats, deadlifts bent over rows, bench press the big lifts Right, and they weren't just like the, they weren't just the main lifts, they were kind was textbook. If you go watch videos, even with massive weights, I mean it's incredible. And he essentially proved that, look, you don't need complicated programming to build an incredible physique. I think that's a big takeaway here, right? The takeaway that we make lots of excuses. We taught, we program hop, we think we need to know more, more, more, more, more. And at the end of the day, if you're not doing the basic things to begin with, go back to those and it kind of frees you up, right, it frees up the mental stress. And if you just get really good at those, even though they might be a little boring, sure you're going to build something incredible. And of course, you need consistent progression. Right, it's about movement patterns. It's how the body moves through space, it's how we are able to sling around such massive weights and build the strength and size that we're going for.
Philip Pape: 8:15
And his training split was just a very bare bones, classic split chest and triceps, back and biceps, legs but he executed it at a high level of both intensity and consistency. And I want to be clear you can't necessarily start all out with both from day one. If you're a beginner, right, you're going to apply intensity in terms of your progression, but you need to do it in a way that you recover, that you're able to get back into the gym the next session and that you can be consistent based on the number of days per week and the hours that you have and the equipment that you have and so on. All that is important. But he kind of combined the intensity and the consistency in a very elite level, I'll say. And then I think more impressive than that is the maintenance and sustainability of that approach throughout his career. Right, he just stuck with it. He didn't chase new methods, he didn't get distracted by whatever the trends were. Fortunately, he didn't have social media for the most part, maybe until later on. No, no, he figured 2005,. The iPhone hadn't even come out. Right, he found what worked, he committed to it, that's it. And look, what works for one person should generally work for another, at the principle level, but maybe not at the specific method level. But when it comes to lifting, I think if you went back and looked at Ronnie's program and just followed it, you'd probably have great results too.
Philip Pape: 9:35
So let's talk about the culture at his gym, right, metroflex. I think this is really interesting. His home gym, called Metroflex was. It wasn't like a fancy, it wasn't a Planet Fitness type gym. Of course it was gritty, concrete floors, basic equipment, I understand they didn't have air conditioning. And this is in the Texas heat. Okay, I grew up in Florida. I live in Connecticut now, but I'll tell you the summer still get hot and humid and I don't know if Texas is a little bit drier or what, but you know to to train in that kind of temperature. I know how it feels. I know mentally what it takes to decide you're going to do that where it's not as comfortable. But it's where serious people came to do serious work, right?
Philip Pape: 10:11
The culture Ronnie created there was, as I understand it, about mutual respect and shared purpose. Everybody is there for a reason. It's not like when you go to the gym and nobody talks to each other. Everybody has their earphones in. I don't even go to commercial gyms anymore. I work out at home for the purpose that, for the main reason that I'm just there to get the work done and focus and build something. But it also saves me time. But I also understand that. I've been to gyms, even even the CrossFit gym that I used to go to, they had a camaraderie there. They had a community. Everybody was intending to do the same thing, and so it kind of elevates everyone, right? Especially when everyone's better than you and when everyone's there to get better, you end up supporting each other and feeding off of that.
Philip Pape: 10:49
And I think Ronnie, even though he was a multi-time Mr Olympia, he trained alongside regular people, right, because that's how they pay the bills at these gyms. Right, you hear the stories that, like the famous guys, the power lifters are the ones that are not. They're not making the money off of them. Right, they're making money off of regular members. But I understand that he treated people with respect, with encouragement. He's a good guy. And, again, a lot of this is secondhand, guys, as I do the research for this episode, because I don't know Ronnie personally, if he's out there listening to this and wants to correct me, or if he wants to say, yeah, that's, that's what it's about, please reach out, dude, but this is my understanding.
Philip Pape: 11:24
And so if you look at that environment, then what can we take from that? Well, your gym doesn't have to be perfect, but the way that you commit to the intentional process. Does you know? Ronnie didn't have superior equipment or facilities. He didn't have the big fancy gyms you see on YouTube walkthroughs today with you know 500 pieces of equipment specialized for every single thing I've got. You know friends that send me reels and photos and YouTube videos of all this equipment that I would just love to have and then kind of step back and say, do I really need that? Right, and Ronnie succeeded because of his effort.
Philip Pape: 11:56
His effort was superior and far above the average person, but something we can all absolutely strive for. And then he was consistent to whatever environment he was in, cause I'm sure he lifted it other places throughout his career. So don't worry about having the perfect equipment or home gym or the fanciest you know facility and options. You can adjust that stuff right. I mean, we do it in Physique University all the time. People say, well, I don't have access to that or that.
Philip Pape: 12:24
And what we say is look, here's a list of substitutions, let's figure it out, let's train around it, just like when you train around injury. You got to find something that works. You just have to have that, that grit, that mindset, that willingness to show up consistently, independent of the circumstances. And to me. That's what principles are about. That's what rock solid principles are. It's like I don't care what you throw at me. Throw, throw me in in a jungle with some rocks and I'm going to figure out how to train. So that's you know, and I don't know if I'm. I don't know if that's just me or if you feel me on that.
Philip Pape: 12:56
So when we then tie this to today and tie it to the science because at the end of the day, I would love to show you that there is a connection between the things we study today in labs to essentially validate what bro science has known for many years is that a lot of the instinct that these guys had? Like Ronnie, his training choices align with what we know today about building muscle optimally. And, honestly, it's not too much of a surprise when you think, hey, I do this, it makes me stronger, it makes me bigger, ergo, I'm going to stick with that. Right, makes sense. People have experimented for years. There's been coaches and trainers for far before we had all the modern research studies on this stuff, and so I tend to actually give more credence to a lot of that than I do research, even though we're evidence-based and we're evidence-based, we're not just science, paper-based, we're evidence-based. What is evidence? Evidence includes anecdote, coaching experience, personal experience, your own individual experience is your evidence too.
Philip Pape: 13:50
Anyway, back to Roddy. He had a huge emphasis on the compound movements and I will always, to the day I die, talk about how powerful using basic movement patterns, as a human is, is to getting a result If you have nothing else but just the compound movements, the squatting, pulling, pushing right, which can translate to a lot of different exercises. Yes, the big ones squat, deadlift, press, bench press and overhead and rows, but also variations of those. We know to this day that these exercises stimulate the most muscle mass, create the strongest strength and hypertrophy adaptations they use, you know, the full range of motion in a natural human movement. It makes total sense. It makes total sense.
Philip Pape: 14:30
And here's a guy that was doing it long before we had to put that in paper, long before starting strength came around and just wrote it in a book, very excellently, I should add, but we've known it. We've known it for a long time. And then, as far as progression, right, that's the other piece. Consistent, progressive loading, progressive overload. We call it the fundamental, you know, driver of the growth over time, of challenging yourself right to that limit and then continuing to progress.
Philip Pape: 14:53
And Ronnie did that. He was always religious about adding weight or reps over time. He used the body traditional body part split that I talked about, but he trained six days a week. Now you know he was enhanced. We're going to talk a little bit about some of the maybe negatives, I should say, or the extra help he had. But you know he was in six days a week and doing a body part split so that each muscle group could be trained frequently enough to to optimize his results. Now Arnold also did six days. He did two a days. If you ever read his bodybuilding encyclopedia it's insane. I would not recommend that to most people again, unless you're enhanced.
Philip Pape: 15:27
But the principles are still what matters. You know sufficient frequency, sufficient volume, basic lifts, hitting them consistently. I did an episode recently called the 12 Rules of Training Volume that I think you should go check out if you haven't, or listen to it again to get refreshed on what are those principles. And then, when it comes to effort, to me effort in the context of training is training with proximity to failure, for sufficient mechanical tension. So you're effectively pushing yourself to your limits.
Philip Pape: 15:55
I think, ronnie, this is an example where we could argue and say did Ronnie push too much to the limit, right Right to the end, right to failure on everything, even massive, big lifts? And again you have to think about the advantages he had. Yes, maybe extraordinary genetics I know I mentioned they weren't perhaps far above average when he was younger. It's always hard to tell that. Obviously, his physique was genetically blessed in terms of the shape and the symmetry and all that. But pharmacological support, right, peds okay, we can't deny it. All those guys were on drugs, and the ability to train and recover goes way up as a result, and so he could basically, for his full-time job, be training, and we're not trying to do that.
Philip Pape: 16:33
The principles, though, are accessible to all of us. We just have to understand that our recoverability is different. We might not be training six days a week. It might make more sense to do four or five. I will say I have trained six days a week, but then, when I've done that, it's much shorter sessions, much fewer exercises per session, because, again, I don't have the same recovery support and I'm in my 40s, etc. Not excuses, just data that tells me. Here's how I respond and how I need to modify my training, wanted to give you another reminder here that if you're trying to build your own lifting legacy and you want to be systemic about it and and take a system-based, data-based approach, we can definitely help you out inside physique university.
Philip Pape: 17:13
I'm talking about that a lot now because people are always reaching out, listeners are reaching out with questions, and I can get. I sense the not desperation, but I sense the overwhelm from all the information that's out there and we want to give you tools to train with purpose, to eat in a way that is aligned with you, that is flexible. You don't have to do diets, you just build consistency to become a really great lifter, an athlete of aging, and so Physique University is where we do that. It's 27 a month. If you join now, using my exclusive link, I'm going to build a free custom nutrition plan for you. That's normally an add-on, but we just relaunched and I'm really trying to get the group to grow here and take advantage of everything we have to offer to get you that result and the education to build your system and get rid of all the restrictive dieting and all the nonsense out there. So that was just an aside.
Philip Pape: 18:06
And back to Ronnie how do we take his approach and we adapt it to modern life? How do we extract his principles, learn from his successes and his mistakes? So let's be honest about what we should emulate and what we shouldn't. So what should we emulate? His consistency, his simplicity, his love for training. Those are solid. With that alone, his love for training, those are solid. With that alone, mic drop, you can be successful the rest of your life If you show up. Keep things simple, focus on the fundamentals and find a way to love what you do. Find a way to love the process. Either you love it naturally or there's a way. That's the psychology piece we get into, sometimes Absolutely copy that Now.
Philip Pape: 18:44
He also had a tendency to train through injuries and to push max loads, to always go for PRs, to push right to the limit, and again, some of that is because of his higher recoverability. But maybe we don't do that right and understand the differences. You know, ronnie famously said he wouldn't change anything about his approach, even knowing the physical cost. And I'm not gonna get into everything that's happened to him in, say, the last 10, 15 years. You can Google it. He's in the hospital recently, not necessarily related to this, but he's had some struggles in his older years right, and it's admirable that he is loyal to the path that he has followed. Is it wise? I don't know, that is not for me to decide. We can honor his dedication while being more strategic about our long-term health, and so I think the big takeaway from the negative or the dark side is focusing more and more on recovery, and you can't compare yourself to guys that are in PDs, elite level bodybuilders, unless they're natural right. If they're natural bodybuilders, you probably have a little bit more applicability there.
Philip Pape: 19:44
So the first thing I'm going to say here is to embrace this idea of simplicity but periodize over time, meaning you don't, you don't want to just do starting strength for the next 10 years. You don't want to just do strong lifts or five by five or like one single simple program for the next 10 years. You, you, you want to base your training on the fundamental movement patterns, but you want to cycle through periods of different intensity and variations, through that. We've talked about that on the show many times the inherent benefit of variation and how you can progress so that you can fill in weak spots and symmetry and avoid connective tissue degradation and things like that. It's still simple, though, when every time I write a training program or a template, I have a goal in mind and then I very simply strip it down to how do we get to that goal? All right, we need the main lifts, maybe some developmental variations and maybe some accessory work, and then the scheme by which you program. That might vary depending on what you're going for right. Are you going for a base of strength, going for volume, or are you going for peak intensity? So that's the first thing is embrace the simplicity but still have periodization and variety in there.
Philip Pape: 20:50
The second thing is I would also want to emulate his consistency right, always showing up, but listening to your body at the same time, and your biofeedback, not being soft and giving up right away or assuming that a little soreness is gonna. You're gonna call it quits, and I don't mean to insult you or trigger you with that, but it's true. A lot of people are a little bit soft when it comes to lifting and need to be pushed a bit. This is why I like having a coach. This is why I invite you to Physique University so we can have form checks. You could put videos up there. You can get lifted up by the culture we have of lots of people working hard at this and doing it the right way, rather than being stuck watching YouTube videos and being like, eh, I don't know if this works.
Philip Pape: 21:38
Showing up and having the consistency and then intelligently listening to your body and understanding if some days call for backing off a bit, especially if there's pain and that's your body telling you there's a point of issue in your body and so where am I going with this? Sometimes you are intentionally depriving yourself of resources, like when you're in a diet, like when you're in a calorie deficit okay, and then you have to change some things, right. The third takeaway here is find joy in the process. Find joy in the process. Respect your limits, of course, but you know, find joy in it. If you can just love training itself, that's awesome. You've got to love something about it to want to do it for decades, decades. If you're in your 40s, you're going to live to your 90s, you know, barring an accident or something, if you are training and staying healthy, right, just assume you're going to live another five decades. How are you going to enjoy doing this for five decades? There's a way for sure, but how is that going to be for you.
Philip Pape: 22:28
The fourth takeaway here that we can do is respect the fundamentals right, the, the, the basic movement patterns, and make sure that we are recovering for your capability, your age, your lack of PEDs, right, stress, managing your sleep, right, not pushing too hard with, let's say, joints and tendons that need more attention, maybe some stretching, maybe some mobility, it depends right, physical therapy, whatever you need. Just make sure to respect that All right. So I think, if you want to have one big thing that Ronnie Coleman teaches us is that to get to that level of greatness right, and I'm not saying we're going to get to his level of greatness, it's great to strive for that. But to get to that level of greatness right, and I'm not saying we're going to get to his level of great, it's great to strive for that. But to get to that level, you have to have an almost irrational commitment. And when you think about a more balanced approach, for us that's challenging the commitment or channeling that commitment, but doing it intelligently.
Philip Pape: 23:25
You know, and he, he achieved something very extraordinary because of what he did. Right, he refused to accept limits and then I think he paid a price for that. Many of us wouldn't choose to pay that. But that is what trade-offs are about, isn't it Right? We all have to make trade-offs. The beautiful thing is we don't have to make those trade-offs. We can choose to make the trade-offs we want, right? We don't have to be mediocre, that's for sure. But we don't have to self-destruct either.
Philip Pape: 23:48
There's a happy medium where you are excellent and you have longevity and sustainability. I think that's the key here, right? Excellence combined with sustainability, and then you could build something truly amazing and preserve your long-term health and preserve your long-term function, especially many of us getting started older in life. We definitely want to have that as a priority. All right, you have the same opportunity. Ronnie did no-transcript with our understanding of the importance of recovery. Channel the enthusiasm for the process, but respect what your body is telling you. I think these are all reasonable things to do and then think about what you want your lifting legacy to be. It's not something we think about a lot, is it? We just kind of go through the motions. Sometimes we listen to wits and weights. Thank you very much. We apply these things. Maybe you're making great progress, but like what is the long-term legacy right? Not just the physique you build. That's going to come and go. It's not going to be that important to you the older you get. Honestly, it's that example you set it's.
Philip Pape: 25:14
Do you want to inspire people? I don't know if you do or not. This might be just purely self-interested, and I have no problem with that, no judgment at all, because even that self-interest allows you to show up for others in your life. But do you want to inspire people and show them what's possible with your actions, with intelligent, consistent effort? I know I do. I know every time I hear from someone who listens to the podcast and says I changed their life, even if they just did it on their own, love it, in fact. I know I talk about physique adversity. It's not a sales pitch. I lowered the cost because I want to reach a lot more people and help a lot more people, right? Do you still want to be someone who's training strong and healthy in your 70s, your 80s? Yes, your 90s? Right?
Philip Pape: 25:57
Because I think Ronnie's legacy and why I'm going to enjoy doing the series isn't about the accolades or even the price he paid to get there. It's being a human representative of our species, of how powerful an outcome can be when you completely commit to a process. Again, don't take that to mean we can all be Ronnie Coleman's and have that physique. That's not what I'm saying. I think, if we wanna honor the legacy the positive side of this legacy just bring a level of dedication to your smart approach that helps you build the greatness you want but still preserves the ability to enjoy doing it for the next few decades. So what is Ronnie doing that no one else is, that few people are doing what he's doing and millions of people around the world refuse to do it, and I hope we can change. That is showing up and doing the work, no matter how he felt or what obstacles he faced.
Philip Pape: 26:48
Showing up and doing the work Can we do that? Can we do that together? Okay so you had a surgery. Okay so you got sick. Okay so you went on a trip and couldn't track your food or find a gym for two weeks. So what? You're gonna show up and you're gonna do the work. You're gonna show up and you're gonna do the work, regardless of how you feel. That's important.
Philip Pape: 27:07
At 5 am, it's cold. I go to the gym. I know I have to do squats, I don't want to do it, and yet I do it anyway and I feel great. And it's not just the endorphins, although that helps. It's the consistency of the process and what it does for you over time. It helps you do hard things and that makes everything else easier in life Easier in the right way, not in the gluttonous lazy, have things done for you, pay other people to do things for you, eh, but in the I did this and I'm a human and I can show up what kind of way.
Philip Pape: 27:34
Right, you have access to all the tools. Come on, you have access to the tools. You can squat, you can deadlift, you can press, you can row, you can do those things. You can move your body in some way. You can progressively add weight. It's just a process. You just got to do it. You't complain about it, track it, do it.
Philip Pape: 27:51
I hope there's a little tough love in here. You guys know I'm kind of a nice guy a lot and I'm even giving tough love. Probably doesn't sound like tough love to a lot of you, because there's people that are way more boisterous than I am, but you can do it. You can commit to a consistent schedule. You just got to do it. You can approach your training with the same joy and enthusiasm that made Ronnie famous. The only question is whether you will choose to use these tools right now at your disposal with the same dedication that separates legends from everyone else.
Philip Pape: 28:18
Lifting legends, guys, that's what it's about. That's what we're trying to get inspired by with this series. When you train with that level of commitment and make the ordinary extraordinary, through what? Through consistency and showing up, that's it. That's the only thing that separates the 1% from everyone else. Right, and that's how you grow. That's how you build a better version of yourself physically, mentally, everything, all the things. It translates to everything, ladies and gentlemen. It translates to everything. There are two things in my life that has made me massively confident and successful. One of those is learning to speak publicly, because I was so afraid of that for so many years, and the other is getting healthy and fit, and that's translated to everything else. All right, I think that's all I want to say.
Philip Pape: 29:01
If this episode inspired you to think bigger about your lifting journey and how to commit and how to get support and accountability, I want you to share this with someone who needs to hear this message. I want you to share this with someone who needs to hear this message. I want you to text this episode To a friend who's been struggling with consistency, or someone who needs to get inspired, someone who doesn't know much about lifting, to start getting inspired by the greats. Not just some podcaster talking, not just what the scientists say on their research papers, but the guys who've done it, the ladies and gentlemen have done it.
Philip Pape: 29:29
I don't, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know who I'm going to cover in this future. I assume there's women I'm going to cover as well. So, ladies and gentlemen, all of the tough ones of the past who've done this right. Sometimes we all need a reminder of what is possible at the extreme perhaps, but far beyond where we are today, so that we can commit and just get our butt in gear and go. That is it. That is it, guys. Until next time, I want you to keep using your wits, lifting those weights, and remember that every rep you do, with intentionality, with consistency, is a step toward building your own legendary story. I'm going to talk to you next time here on the Wits and Weights Podcast.
