Markus Ruhl - Made in Germany

I was part of the panel who voted for Markus Ruhl as MD's first recipient of its annual Freakazoid Award, and I must confess it was a fairly brainless decision for me. I have been a fan of this humble giant ever since 1998, the year he began competing as a pro. I didn't attend that year's Night of Champions where he made his debut, but I did happen to catch him a few months later in the pro shop at Gold's Gym in Venice. I saw him from behind as he flipped through some clothes on a rack, and this was the widest human being I had ever laid eyes on. 

Ruhl's shoulders and upper back looked to be about four feet across and I had to sneak around to see who this hulk was. Instantly, I recognized him from magazine coverage of the NOC that had only been out in the last couple of months. "Markus?" I asked. He looked up, almost bewildered- his English at that time was fairly nonexistent- and nodded in affirmation. My German sucked even more, of course, so I gave him the thumbs up and said one of the only words I know, "wunderbar," which means wonderful. Not too eloquent and probably not even remotely appropriate, looking back on the exchange now. But I do remember what I said to myself as I walked away: "Damn, what a freak that guy is." And of course, in bodybuilding, that's the highest compliment.

            Markus has come a long way since then, having now won two pro shows and ascended to the elite top five at the Mr. Olympia. He may not be Mr. Olympia, and ultimately he may never win that title, but that does not diminish his accomplishments or his unique stature in the sport of bodybuilding. Aside from Ronnie Coleman, it's safe to say that no other man packs so much outrageously thick muscle mass on a human frame as Markus Ruhl. It's no wonder he won the MD Freakazoid Award; who else exemplifies the ideal of freaky, insane, sick size combined with striations and shape more so than this man?

German-Made

Ronnie Coleman's two training videos, "The Unbelievable" and "The Cost of Redemption" have become the standard by which all other tapes and DVDs of this type are compared. In 2004, Markus released his long-anticipated training DVD, "Made in Germany." If you enjoy Ronnie's videos and found them inspiring, then Ruhl's DVD definitely belongs in your collection, as well. I saw it for the first time when my friend and occasional training partner, Jason Kurker let me borrow his copy. Like Dorian Yates' classic "Blood and Guts," the training sequences in "Made in Germany" are in black and white, giving them a gritty, hardcore feel. Markus is a very strong man, as you might imagine, but nowhere on this DVD are there feats of strength that compare to Ronnie's 800-pound squats and deadlifts. Ruhl also uses a lot more machines in his training than Coleman. But the critical difference, and the reason I think you all need to see this DVD, is that Markus trains much more like a bodybuilder than Ronnie does.

Personally, my own style of training is much more like Ruhl's in that he focuses on working the muscle as hard as humanly possible, with an intense focus on quality contractions, rather than just throwing and heaving a lot of weight around like Ronnie, who is, in essence, a weightlifter who just happens to have developed into the world's greatest bodybuilder in spite of his imperfect exercise form. (I understand that good and bad form are relative terms, and these are purely my opinions).

 "Made in Germany" has training, lifestyle and a few outtakes. For most MD readers, selecting the "Full Training" versions of each body part is the best option, as it shows you each set of every workout. Clicking on the Audio Commentary (you may want to select English) also allows you to hear Markus' voiceover as he discusses his training methods and preferences for each muscle group, along with any other comments that pop into his head. The only thing missing is English subtitles to catch his banter with his girlfriend, Simone. I would like to kick off this first column by going through what Markus does for chest, since this man has what is possibly the freakiest chest in the sport today. 

Chest/Brust

The action takes place at the Sportstudio Ottwald in Kelsterbach, Germany. Markus is wearing a bandana and a tank top from Metroflex Gym in Arlington, Texas, that bears its name and the proud phrase "Home of Mr. Olympia" on the front and reads "Kick Ass" on the back. Even flat and before he has a hint of a pump, Ruhl looks enormous. While Ronnie trains to gangsta rap for the most part, this gym seems to prefer non-stop techno, though I doubt Markus pays much attention to the music. 

Incline Smith Machine Press

            While loading up two 45s on each side of the Smith machine, where he has set up an incline bench, Markus tells us a bit about what he does for those massive pec slabs of his: "I train chest once a week and I prefer bench press as my first and main exercise. I just make three exercises as the workout and start with very heavy bench pressing." It should be noted that during the training portion of the video, Markus had competed in the 2003 Arnold Classic six weeks beforehand and had remained in very hard condition at nearly 300 pounds at 5-foot-11. 

            He wraps his wrists tightly and the camera pans over to a serious-looking Simone, chewing gum, two weeks away from a pro qualifying contest in Germany. Simone is a very thickly muscled woman that most men would be intimidated by, but apparently Markus can handle her. The first set is with 225 for 20 reps, and for the last few reps he actually stops the bar on his chest and lets it sit there for a couple of seconds before driving it back up. His form is textbook style; he slowly lowers the weight down to touch his chest on all the reps and brings it up to forcefully squeeze his pecs. In contrast, Ronnie Coleman's reps are much faster; the range of motion is more limited and he rarely, if ever, consciously flexes the muscle at the point of peak contraction as Ruhl does.

During the set Markus tells us: "I start with very easy weights, very light weight, and bring from set to set the weight up. I put on 20 pounds each side. [This is a slip- he actually means 20-kilogram plates, or 45 pounds]. It's very important that you bring the weight down the whole way and up to the top."

            He sits up, breathing heavy and beginning to swell up with a pump.  Ruhl adds a third plate to each side to make it 315. Between sets, he unwraps his wrists, as they are so tightly wound they must cut off circulation to his hands. Now he wraps them back up as Simone gets behind him to spot. She doesn't end up actually helping during this set, but Ruhl explains:

            "It's important for me that my training partner give me the support when I train very heavy. Normally, it's just for my mind that I'm sure that I get no injury when I press very heavy, that my training partner stand behind me." He takes more time to set his body up just right under the bar for this set, then nails 16 good reps. Markus sits up and hits what I call a "clasp most muscular," his hands pushed together at his waist. Incredibly, Simone gets under the bar and does 11 reps with the same weight. Rather than comment on how ridiculously strong she is (she can't weigh more than 170 pounds), Ruhl actually apologizes for her form. "My girlfriend is only two weeks out from the show; that's the reason why she don't bring the weight down the whole way, ‘cause it's very important that she don't get no injury at this time." 

            Markus puts a fourth plate on one side while Simone gets the other one.  Both of them can flip the big plates around like Frisbees, twirling them once before sliding them on the collars. Ruhl sits down to psyche up, bowing his head. "It's now 190 kilograms, it's. . . 410 pounds."

            This set takes some real effort, as he cranks out 12 reps with a tiny boost from Simone at the end. He gets up and in the voiceover tells us why he's so winded. "I breathe very heavy after every set, especially after the heaviest sets in my weight, because I try to bring 110 percent in each set."

            A fifth plate is added to the bar. Now he puts on a thick leather powerlifting belt with his last name stenciled on the back and tells us the weight is now 220 kilograms, or about 450 pounds. His metric conversion skills are far superior to my own, but here he shortchanged himself. Assuming the bar is 45 pounds, the weight should be 495. He gets seven reps, his pecs swelling up so thick they must be about eight inches off the sternum. From this angle, they actually resemble two steep hills rising from his torso when they are fully contracted. His training must have changed quite a bit since I first interviewed him around 2000, because at that time he was doing up to 10 sets per exercise and using free weights almost exclusively. The bar is stripped to just one plate a side and Markus does a set of 18 reps, at which point he pauses the bar at his chest, followed by 10 rapid reps for a total of 28. The last five or so are non-lockout from the chest to about two-thirds of the way up.

            "That's my last set of my first exercise," he says. "Just to bring the whole blood in my chest and get a perfect pump. It's not very heavy, but it's important that you concentrate, that you are very focused on your chest when you make this exercise. I bring the weight down and try to hold it two to three seconds on my chest, and bring it up to the top. Then you get a perfect pump in your chest. Just only for a pump."

            While thus inflated to truly larger-than-life dimensions, Markus inspects the results of the workout so far by thoughtfully striking a few poses. "I look in the mirror sometimes to see how big is my chest in the workout. If I get a good pump, if you got a great pump in your chest, then you made everything right." Markus often says "make" or "made" instead of "do" or "did," as the verbs for "to do" and "to make" are the same in German, if memory serves correctly. I know they are in Spanish. I could tell you for sure if only I had married a German instead of a Cuban.

Seated Bench Press

            For the next exercise, Markus sets the seat all the way up on a seated vertical bench press machine. Some of you may have also found, as I have, that this minor adjustment changes the angle of pressing so you're pushing downward at a decline rather than straight out. I couldn't see the name of this brand of bench press machine, but it's a selectorized weight stack model on which the handles come slightly toward each other as you press, as the Hammer Strength line of chest machines does, as well. Markus takes full advantage of this feature. Each rep is deliberate and culminates in a pronounced contraction of the pecs as they crush together. While doing his first set, which looks to be with about two-thirds of the stack for 22 reps, Ruhl comments:

"That's my second exercise. It's sitting bench press. I change these exercises every two weeks." And reading the minds of those who must be frowning at the absence of free weights, he adds, "Some people say you don't need to use machines in your workout to build good muscles, but I love to use machines in my chest workout because I'm so very focused on my weight and that I get a good pump in my chest, and not only of the movement."

            He gets up from the first set and hits his trademark crab most-muscular pose, the one where his enormous chest, traps and shoulders seem to almost swallow his head as they all bunch forward in an explosion of thick muscle. He does a second set using about three-quarters of the stack for 25 reps with a little help from Simone, saying: "I love to train with heavy weights, ‘cause only heavy weight gives heavy muscles. And when I see some pro bodybuilders use very light weight, I don't think that it works pretty good."

            He gets up and hits a few more poses. His chest is so thick he can actually tuck the loose tank top in between the two halves of his pecs to get it out of the way in order to see more of the chest. Simone does a set and he tells us, "It's not important for me that my training partner use the same weights like I do. It's more important that my training partner gives me a lot of motivation in my workouts. They need to be aggressive sometimes."

While doing a third set with the stack for 15 reps, Ruhl notes, "My bodyweight at this time was 138 kilograms, that's 295 pounds. . . yeah, 295." A fourth and final set is performed with just over half the stack for 12 reps, with pauses at the start of each rep to tap into each and every last muscle fiber screaming inside his pecs. "I train this exercise the same style I do the bench press. I start with light weight and bring it up from set to set. I make my main set with the heaviest weight I can handle, then make one set just for pump."

Cable Crossover

            "My last exercise in my chest workout is cable cross," he informs us, pronouncing it "cah-buhl."  "This exercise I don't use very heavy weight, I just very concentrate on my chest and make a lot of reps, between 10 and 30 reps each set." With perfect form and a squeeze at the end, he does 20 reps for his first set. During his second set, in which he gets 30 reps, Markus explains how he's a bit more self-made than some of his peers in the IFBB:

            "I never have a trainer in my life, or a nutritionist. I always make my own thing. I look in the magazines and I watch what other pro bodybuilders has, and so I build my own style for training, for my supplements, for my food. I just have help with my training partner Mark and my girlfriend Simone, how I prepare for my next show, or if I can change anything in my posing, whatever." This set is so taxing that Markus apparently cusses, as his words are bleeped out three different times. 

            For a third and final set of 21 reps (a fourth was done and not shown), Ruhl takes the stirrup handle attachments from the bottom pulleys rather than the top, the variation I call "low cable crossovers." He says of it: "This exercise is only for the upper chest. I just make two sets. Very easy and very concentrate on my upper chest, because it looks very good when you have a full-blown upper chest onstage. I'm sure I have one of the best in pro bodybuilding today." Finishing, he poses some more. "I feel very good after I do my chest workout.  I feel full-blown, and that's what I love in bodybuilding." He hits his crab, says something about Kevin, then hits Levrone's famous pose that could best be described as a ""side most muscular." "I love this poses Kevin Levrone does onstage," Ruhl says. The owner of the gym snaps some photos with a digital camera and Markus puts his face right up to the camera lens to block it out, saying "lights out" in German.

            Next month, we'll take a look at what MD's favorite Freakazoid does for his jagged-peak biceps.

Source: "Markus Ruhl: Made in Germany." © 2004 Eibon Films and Markus Ruhl.

Official web sites: http://www.markus-ruehl.de/ (extra e in last name is intentional) and http://www.ruhl-movie.com/.