Body Transform

Ronnie Coleman
At 5’11” and around three bills in contest shape, Big Ron couldn’t possibly have used all that cartoonish muscle, right? But unlike some others on our list, eight-time Mr. Olympia (1998–2005) Coleman wasn’t especially strong in one thing: pushing or pulling or squatting; he was ridiculously strong in everything.

There are videos of him squatting 765 for four reps and 800 for two and deadlifting 800 for an easy double. But low-rep lifts were something he did mainly for the cameras.

Coleman generally stuck to moderate reps but never moderate weights. He bench-pressed 200-pound dumbbells for 12 and leg-pressed a ton (literally) for 10. In August 2004, I saw him T-bar-row 645 before snapping the handle.

And then there are tales of his doing parking lot lunges with 365. No one racked up more absurd-but-true numbers than the eight-time Mr. O.