Ronnie Coleman Net Worth

Ronnie Coleman Net Worth: $2 Million
Nationality:American
Born: 13th May 1964 (57 Years Old)
Profession: Former Professional Bodybuilder
Children: 8 (including Step-children)

According to celebritynetworth.com, the former professional bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman net worth iS $2 million.

Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Coleman began his road to success in the early 1990s, and he was active for 20 years.

Coleman’s Early Life

Ronnie Dean Coleman was born on 13th May 1964 and he was a large baby who almost cost his mother her life.

By the time he was 12 years old, Ronnie had weighed 80 kg and 180 cm tall.

Ronnie Coleman aged 7
Ronnie Coleman aged 7. Credit: YouTube

Ronnie is the eldest of four. His mother was a single parent who worked hard to support her family by washing cars.

When Ronnie was old enough, he helped his mother by working a couple of jobs in the evening and after school.

Coleman is an intelligent man. He graduated with honours from Grambling State College with a degree in accounting.

Interests and Direction

Ronnie was always into sports, and he played college-level football while studying.

Ronnie's first love was Football (No 57)
Ronnie’s first love was Football (No 57). Credit:Instagram

However, once he had graduated, he was unable to find accounting work and instead worked at the famous pizza chain Dominoโ€™s Pizza.

Owing to his financial struggles, Coleman was unable to afford to eat at home and survived by eating complimentary pizza each day at work.

In 1989, Coleman changed direction.

He moved to Arlington in Texas, where he became a police officer. He was a serving officer for 11 years and was a reserve for a further three years.

Coleman as a police officer in the 90s
Coleman was a police officer in the 90s. Credit: Instagram

Getting Into Weight Training

While serving as a police offer, one of Colemanโ€™s colleagues told him about the Metroflex gym.

The gym was owned by Brian Dobson, an amateur bodybuilder. Dobson immediately saw the potential Coleman had and how his natural physique would be perfect for bodybuilding.

After weeks of trying to convince Coleman to take up the sport of bodybuilding, Dobson eventually came up with an offer that would change the young policeman’s life forever.

The offer Dobson came up with was that if Coleman would train for the Mr Texas bodybuilding competition, he could have a lifetime membership of the gym for free.

Dobson finally got his wish as the pair got to work immediately in preparation for the contests.

Ronnie with Brian Dobson in the early days
Ronnie with Brian Dobson in the early days. Credit: YouTube

Not only did Dobson help the young Coleman to lift weights he also was instrumental in helping Coleman to learn how to prepare for a competition and how to pose.

Posing is often an overlooked part of the sport but without this key knowledge of how to impress the competition judges all that time in the gym would be worthless.

Dobson’s intuition that Coleman would be a great bodybuilder were correct as after training for the Mr Texas contest, Coleman came 1st in both the overall category and the heavyweight category.

When Coleman switched to being a professional bodybuilder, he managed to win the 1995 Canada Pro Cup. He also won the 1996 competition.

But Ronnie didn’t experience the quick success in the professional ranks that he did in the amateurs. When he first took part in Mr Olympia in 1992, he didnโ€™t even rank.

It was at this time that Coleman took things to a new level in terms of his training regime, and diet.

He knew that in order to emulate the success of bodybuilding icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger he would have to dedicate his life to becoming the best bodybuilder he could be.

His efforts didn’t go unnoticed as he slowly started to gain higher rankings.

In 1994 he came 15th, in 1995 he was 10th, in 1996 he was 6th, and in 1997, he ranked 9th.

Winning Mr Olympia

In 1998, Ronnie Coleman won Mr Olympia for the first time.

After years of scraping into the top 10, Coleman’s perseverance and dedication had paid off.

For those who go into the sport of bodybuilding, winning the Mr Olympia is widely regarded as the pinnacle.

It doesn’t get any better than this and Coleman had reached the top.

So what did the champion do next?

After dedicating years of his life to the sport, from preparing his 6-7 meals per day to getting up at 6am to do a his cardio workout, not to mention his gruelling weight lifting regime you may be forgiven for thinking that Coleman would have taken a step having achieved so much.

But one of the remarkable traits of this legendary bodybuilder is his perseverance.

Coleman didn’t give up on bodybuilding and in fact managed to hold onto this title for an astounding eight more years!

Coleman holds the joint record for the most wins of the Mr Olympia with fellow American Lee Haney.

He finally lost his reign to Jay Cutler in 1996. Cutler had been the runner up for three years.

Ronnie Coleman winning the Olympia.
Ronnie Coleman winning the Olympia. Credit: Instagram

Coleman’s dominance of the sport during the late 90s meant that he was able to have much more work and career opportunities like travelling and product endorsements when he did finally decide to retire.

The multiple Mr Olympia champion had acquired a legendary reputation in the bodybuilding industry similar to that of Schwarzenegger.

Similarly to the Austrian, Coleman’s life subsequently has involved touring the country and making guest appearances to open gyms across the United States.

Movies

“Pumping Iron” was the groundbreaking 1977 documentary that detailed the life of bodybuilders in California. It was a huge success and gave the star of the documentary, one Arnold Schwarzenegger, his first taste of being in front of a camera.

Since then bodybuilding documentaries have gone on to have a wide appeal throughout the world, as many are fascinated by the lengths these athletes are willing to push themselves in order to become the best.

When Coleman started to dominate the bodybuilding game, at a time when it was immensely popular, everybody wanted to know what he was doing differently to everyone else.

He featured in a number of documentaries/movies that followed him throughout his life.

The first was Ronnie Coleman: The Unbelievable! It was released in 2004 and ran in at 1h22 minutes long. The documentary followed Coleman throughout his time at his penultimate MrOlympia.

His second film Ronnie Coleman: The Cost of Redemption, was released the following year.

In 2006, Coleman released Ronnie Coleman: On the Road. This was filmed a mere five days after his 8th Mr Olympia victory.

It was shot over three days in Australia.

2018 was when Coleman was the subject of Vlad Yudinโ€™s Netflix documentary entitled Ronnie Coleman: The King.

This film showed Ronnie retired from bodybuilding and what his body has been through as a professional bodybuilder.

Awards

In 2001, Coleman was awarded the Texas Navy Certificate Award Admiral four for his bodybuilding achievements and physical fitness promotion.

In 2020, Coleman became the first bodybuilder to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Health

Due to Colemanโ€™s bodybuilding career and the intense pressure his body has been under as a powerlifter, he has had some physical health problems as a result.

During his career, he would do deadlifts and squats with 800lb (362kg) weights, which has taken its toll.

Ronnie Coleman squatting.

When interviewed in 2020 on The Joe Rogan Experience, Coleman admitted that he ignored one of his first big injuries โ€“ a herniated disc.

He said โ€œThere was a loud crunching sound, I lost a little strength. I heard it, but the athlete in you is like โ€˜Letโ€™s go on.โ€™โ€

Cost of Coleman’s Health

Due to his intense training Coleman has endured numerous surgeries, including two hip replacements and surgeries to try and alleviate pain caused by damaged discs.

Despite the pain, he didnโ€™t stop training, though he no longer trains with heavy weights.

Since his surgeries havenโ€™t been too successful, he needs aids to walk. With long-distance travel, he uses a wheelchair.

Coleman blames a surgeon for messing up one of his surgeries.

Coleman still has trouble walking today.

The bodybuilderโ€™s opinion on his self-induced physical condition is that he has no regrets. No matter the cost, he wanted to be the best bodybuilder.

Coleman told Muscular Development Magazine in 2018, that he had spent more than $2 million on surgeries.

He admitted that these surgeries had done more harm than good and that his body had endured a lot of damage as a result.

Nowadays, Ronnie Coleman is undergoing stem cell treatment to help improve his pain.

Personal Life

Ronnie Coleman is a Christian.

He met his first wife, Rouaida Christine Achkar, in 1998 at a sports exhibition in Paris.

Achkar was a personal trainer. They couple married in 2007 but divorced soon after.

With Rouaida, Coleman had two children, Jamilleah and Valencia Daniel.

Ronnie went on to marry his long-term friend Susan Williamson.

Ronnie and Susan.
Ronnie and Susan. Credit: Instagram

She was one of his former coaches. They both had children from their previous marriage and went on to have four together, taking their total to eight.

Ronnie Coleman’s Famous Catchphrases

Many people love Ronnie Coleman for his catchphrases.

We have all seen the famous YouTube videos of his screaming out his famous phrases before he starts lifting a monstrous amount of weight.

The phrases have become staples in the bodybuilding community and every knows who they are referring to when they shout, “yeeaah buddyโ€, โ€œlightweight babyโ€, or โ€œnothing but a peanutโ€.

Add in the comments below any phrases that we have missed out.

Ronnie Coleman Quotes

โ€œIt seems that every day, a new brand is popping up, and everyone has become an expert on supplements and training. Hey, thereโ€™s a lot of great brands and products out there, but there are also those just looking to grab a piece of the money pie.โ€

โ€œEverybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but donโ€™t nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight.โ€

โ€œHard work and training. Thereโ€™s no secret formula. I lift heavy, work hard and aim to be the best.โ€

When you hit failure, your workout has just begun

Ronnie Coleman

โ€œI know that in order for something to work for me, it has to be extremely powerful.โ€

โ€œI quit working in the police force full time only after I won my third Mr Olympia.โ€

โ€œNever underestimated the power of wide-grip pull-ups to develop width and size.โ€

โ€œI love you all. Yโ€™all made me have the best life that a guy could ever have. I could have never done it without you all.โ€

โ€œIโ€™ve been in pain for so long now Iโ€™m just used to it.โ€

Summary: Ronnie Coleman Net Worth

  • Ronnie Coleman has a net worth of $2 million.
  • He was born in Louisiana to a single mum with four children.
  • Growing up, Coleman was an intelligent young man who graduated with honours with a degree in accounting.
  • Coleman was always into fitness and played sports at college level.
  • Before making it into bodybuilding professionally, Ronnie Coleman worked in Dominoโ€™s Pizza and then trained as a police officer.
  • Ronnie has a slow rise to success, but once he hit the big titles, he continued to earn them year after year.
  • Ronnie Coleman has suffered from his physical health and can no longer walk unaided due to his bodybuilding career. However, he continues to train with lightweights to reduce muscle loss.
  • He married his first wife in 2007 and had two children, but they divorced soon after.
  • Coleman is now happily married again and has eight children together with his wife (including some from both of their previous marriages).

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