So you think you know everything about Ronnie Coleman’s training, huh?
Pop quiz, hot shot. Sharpen your No. 2 pencil, put aside your old issues of FLEX and journey with us to MetroFlex Gym in Arlington, Texas, to watch the legend train chest. The Coleman comprehension exam begins now.
1. True or false: Coleman built his physique with heavy weights for low reps.
FALSE. Coleman has long used prodigious weights, including such legendary lifts as an 800-pound squat (for one rep) and an 805-pound deadlift (for two reps), but these feats don’t reflect the manner in which he has regularly trained during his 15-year pro career.
Over the years, Coleman has almost always kept his reps in a moderate range of 10-12 per set. In the workout we witnessed – only two weeks before the 2006 Olympia – he did 365-pound bench presses for 10 reps and 315- pound incline presses for 12.
“I go for 10 reps per set,” he says. “Sometimes I might only get eight or nine, but I was going for 10. Missing 10 doesn’t happen very often, though – maybe just the last couple sets of a workout. If I can keep going at 10, I do, but if I get more than 12, the weight was too light, and I’ll use more next time.”