Ronnie Coleman opened up about a run-in with the DEA and the effects of his back surgeries.
Ronnie Coleman is one of the best bodybuilders to ever step on stage. To get to that level, athletes must be willing to put their bodies through hors of training and absorb different substances to build muscle. Because of this, Coleman has been through many surgeries over the course of his career and even ran into some trouble with the DEA.
Coleman holds the record, along with Lee Haney, for most Olympia victories in history with eight. He has spoken about his career in detail since retiring from competition. Recently, Coleman joined the Don’t Be Sour podcast to go in-depth about information that might not be known.
A physique like the one Coleman possessed was eye-opening for all — including the DEA. He was brought in and the agency might have been looking to charge him. Coleman admits that he was buying his steroids through legal means and conducted blood tests.
“Even when I was taking things, I would go to the pharmacy because the DEA came in and brought us all up and I don’t know what they were trying to do, maybe charge us. They came in, brought us all before grand juries, made us testify. This was like 2002. Somewhere in there. Not too long ago. We had, at least I did, we had to go and get our stuff legally,” Ronnie Coleman explained.
Despite buying his steroids legally, Coleman could not avoid a run-in with the DEA. Over the last five or six years of his career, Coleman got his steroids from a place that required blood tests, prescriptions, and specific pharmacies.
“We would go to these pharmacies, and they would take your blood, you know, because you’re a certain age, you can take testosterone.
you know I did everything legally, where I would go to pharmacies and take these blood tests, and they would write a prescription for everything we took.”
Ronnie Coleman Talks About His Many Surgeries
It is no secret that Ronnie Coleman has suffered many injuries over the course of his career. He pointed out a specific incident when he was dealing with a herniated disc back in 1996 before the Arnold Classic.
“I was okay, I still did the Arnold Classic and still continued lifting heavy and working out every single day. I think just over time, you know, it wore itself out.”
Coleman admits to this being the only one he ever had but he did go through eight different back surgeries and three on his neck and hip.
The reason for some of the surgeries would be to replace a screw in his back, which broke on four separate occasions.
“Right out of surgery, I get to my room, nurse comes in and said, ‘Hey, I need to change your bandage.’ I’m like, ‘already?’ She’s like, ‘yeah.’ I turn over, pow! Right there in the hospital bed. It shattered my whole body. Like I said, it happened four times in a row.”
Ronnie Coleman has had a fascinating career and has only made it even better in retirement. Coleman is taking on a new role as a YouTuber and runs a successful page where he provides entertaining videos involving bodybuilding and fitness. He remains a big name in the sport and is extremely active in the gym to this day.
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