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FLEX ON LINE January 2006
TOP-DOG THIGHS
Written by: Greg Merritt.
Amidst brambly weeds in the sweltering Texas heat is
a kennel, and in the lead pen -- reinforced with steel
bars so the occupant can’t tear through the chain-link
door and kill one of its coworkers again -- is a pit
bull named Max.
Max is the “muscle” that delivers the crippling
bites when he and his expertly trained kennel mates
hunt wild boars in the dark. On all but the hottest
nights, the dogs wear Kevlar, and even then the tusks
of a 400-pound razorback can end a dog’s days.
Max has bucked the odds and thrived as the leader of
the pack for more than seven years. Despite all challengers,
so has the man who toils just a few feet away, on the
other side of a crumbling gym wall: bodybuilding’s
undisputed top dog, Ronnie Coleman.
GETTING SMALL | It’s 98 degrees and exactly four
weeks before the 2005 Mr. Olympia when photographer
Kevin “Hardcore” Horton and I cruise down
the craggy lane, past auto repair garages and junked
autos, to MetroFlex Gym. “Home again,” Horton
exhales. We love this place! We’re in Arlington,
at the country’s most hardcore gym, where the
world’s top bodybuilder trains alone. This is
what I journeyed halfway across the country and Englishman
Horton journeyed halfway across the world to capture.
This is what bodybuilding is all about.
Max, his canine cohorts and MetroFlex belong to Brian
Dobson, who carries only a spear and a knife on boar
hunts and typically hikes 15 miles through rugged woods
in the dark.
If you ask whether Mr. Olympia ever joins in, Coleman’s
quick answer is “Hell no,” and the three
best reasons are long hike, rugged woods and dark --
factors that led to Dobson blowing out a knee.
Despite using prodigious weights, a significant part
of 41-year-old Coleman’s success is the fact that
he has never suffered a serious injury.
Before he begins his leg workout, Mr. O spends no time
stretching or repping out light leg extensions. Instead,
he strides to the squat supports and searches for a
barbell. After a warm-up set with 135 pounds, he pronounces,
“That ain’t the right one,” and begins
the search anew.
Having found a barbell without much bend, Robert Lee
slides two plates on each side. Lee (who placed fourth
in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Nationals)
trains in the morning, but he returns in the afternoon
to load weights for his good friend.
Catch the rest of this rousing Ronnie Coleman experience
in the January 2006 issue of FLEX available on newsstands.
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