Written by Ron Harris
24 March 2017

17flex-part1

A Star Profile: Flex Wheeler - The Sultan of Symmetry Part 1

 

 

I first met Ken “Flex” Wheeler back in the spring of 1991, just weeks before he took a painful second place to Mike Matarazzo at the USA Championships in Santa Monica, CA. His trademark shape and perfect proportions were there, but Matarazzo simply had him on pure size and condition. A year later, Flex came roaring back bigger and more ripped, and dominated the USA with a perfect score. Just months later, he shocked the bodybuilding world by winning his first three pro contests, including the prestigious Arnold Classic, and took second place at his Mr. Olympia debut to a Dorian Yates in his prime. The following decade was fraught with triumphs, disappointments, and tragedy, as Flex racked up contest wins, but also had to deal with a car crash that nearly ended both his bodybuilding career and his life, and a rare kidney disease that was even tougher to defeat. Yet through it all, Flex became an icon of aesthetics, representing the type of physique that had previously only been dreamed up by artists working for Marvel Comics. A living sculpture, to many fans Flex Wheeler represents the most perfectly developed male body that has ever walked this earth. But there is a lot more to Flex than merely his muscles. There is a complex man behind the physique, one that isn’t always obvious from the surface. I am lucky enough to know Flex the man, and hopefully I can convey a bit of his true personality here.

Interview conducted in 2008.

 

RH: Flex, a lot of people, including no less than Arnold himself, have stated that they believe you possessed the most perfect physique in the history of bodybuilding. Is it humbling to hear that type of praise?

FW: Yeah, especially from Arnold. He hardly ever gives anyone a nod like that, because he is such a fiercely competitive man. I have had similar compliments given to me from many of my peers, all great champions of the past and present, and that means a lot to me. As far as if it’s true, physiques are something we all look at differently. What’s perfect to one person isn’t always perfect to someone else.

 

RH: Does it bother you when you hear writers comparing pretty much anybody with nice shape to you and predicting they are ‘ the next Flex Wheeler?’

FW: Yes and no. I’m a true predator at heart, and part of me always bristles a little bit when I hear about every Tom, Dick, and Harry being likened to me. But on the other hand, how great is that? It means my physique represents a certain elite standard that many aspire to. And it’s good to be mentioned so much. Every champion athlete wants to be remembered.

 

RH: It seems that a lot of the most aesthetically pleasing physiques ever, like yours, Frank Zane’s, Lee Labrada, and Dexter Jackson, just to name a few – belong to guys that are naturally more on the ectomorphic side. Do you feel that starting out with a light bone structure is more conducive to developing a ‘pretty’ physique?

FW: I think so. Of course, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, once again. To many people, the pure mesomorphs like Jay, Ronnie, Dorian, and Nasser are the ultimate achievement, because they have that extremely powerful look. But with a smaller-boned man, the muscles flare and sweep out more dramatically from the smaller joints. Like I say, a 22-inch arm looks a lot more impressive on a guy with a 7-inch wrist than it does on a guy with ten or eleven-inch wrists. Smaller hips and waists also tend to make the V-taper a lot more pronounced. So when an ectomorph is able to build a lot of muscle mass, it tends to look more appealing, more pleasing to the eye.

 flex1

RH: A lot of people thought you looked your best ever in your first couple pro shows when you weighed only about 215 pounds, and feel that you started to ruin your physique when you played the mass game. How heavy were you when you were taking second to Ronnie in 1998 and 1999, and which version of your physique do you prefer, looking back?

FW: I was 246 at my heaviest, in 1999. You know, I actually liked both looks. The 1993 Flex Wheeler didn’t have the size to win some of the later shows I did. I don’t think I ever lost my shape or symmetry. What I lost by putting on the additional thirty pounds was a lot of the details and striations I had at the lighter weight. It’s just not possible to have that crazy detail when you are packing as much mass on your frame as it can possibly carry, and I was right about there at my limit at the end.

 

RH: I know you appreciate all types of physiques, but personally, do you feel the mass game has gone too far and some guys have really overdone it?

FW: Yes, because they have lost the balance and the shape. There is nothing wrong with weighing 280 or 290 pounds as long as you still have that balance of mass, shape, and symmetry. But when you have the big bellies, the giant butts, the wide waists, that’s when you have gone the wrong way with a physique.

 

RH: Who are your favorite physiques out there right now?

FW: Obviously, I am a big fan of both Victor and Dexter. Anybody that reads my articles knows that. I also like Silvio Samuel for his incredibly round muscle bellies. Phil Heath has a beautiful physique, he just needs a little more mass and he will be dominating the sport. Kai Greene is coming along. He just needs to bring up a couple bodyparts before he is right there with the top Olympia competitors. And I have to give it up to Toney Freeman, too.

 flex2

RH: All those guys sort of have a bit of that classic ‘Flex Wheeler look,’ don’t they? There I go, comparing them all to you!

FW: Naw, it’s cool. They do. I think we all tend to lean toward our own body type when we are talking about our favorite pros. A lot of the big mass freak guys will tell you their favorites are Ronnie, Jay, Markus Ruhl, guys like that. It only makes sense.

 

RH: Do you think the overall quality has been going down? Why don’t we have more new pro’s out there doing damage right away the way guys like you and Kevin did when you were rookies?

FW: I hate to say it, but yeah. You just don’t see too many guys coming out of the blocks ready to battle the very best pros anymore. Some of the newer guys like Kai, Silvio, and Phil are very close to that.

 

RH: You won the Arnold Classic four times and the Ironman a mind-boggling five times. The only title that eluded you was the Olympia. Being objective about it, do you think you should have beaten Dorian or Ronnie at least once in all those years?

FW: At the time, it is very hard to be objective because it’s all still too close and too emotional. I actually spoke with Sergio Oliva about this one time. He said it really takes years before you can look at the pictures or video and see it all for what it was. Having said that, there were at least two years I took second that I felt I should have won, possibly three. But definitely, I do feel I should be at least a two-time Mr. Olympia.

flex3 

RH: No argument there. Who were your best friends in the sport when you were competing? Who were your toughest adversaries?

FW: Friends? Oh man, we all got along back then. You remember how it used to be back in the day. On stage we were at war, but offstage we were buddies. We hung out at the shows together, went out to eat, it was cool. My only adversary was Shawn Ray, and that’s because he set it up to be that way. He later confided to me that he knew he couldn’t beat me physically. My genetics were just too good. Shawn thought that if he could wear me down mentally and mess with my head by getting me upset, it would throw me off. And it did! It was just business to him, but I took it all very personally. We actually get along fine now that we are both retired from competition.

 

RH: You were not known as a very nice guy back in the Nineties when you were doing most of your competing. How have you changed as a person since then, and what made you change?

FW: All of that was really just my insecurity manifesting itself as arrogance. I was foolish back then and never really appreciated what I had. I did not know how to deal with compliments, so I would respond with sarcasm. But I am a different person now. I am more understanding, more patient. My family has made me a more loving man who is quick to forgive. I count my blessings every day instead of taking it all for granted. That old aggression I used to have has gone. I guess I have mellowed with age, or maybe got some of that wisdom you’re supposed to get.

 

RH: I think you have the best nickname the sport has ever seen. How did you get it?

FW: It actually began as a put-down. When I started bodybuilding, I was competing long before I had any real muscle mass to speak of. People around me would see this stick figure with jheri curls posing in the gym mirror, laugh, and say, “Why you always flexin?” That shortened to Flex, which is what they called me as a joke. This promoter Steve Bohnstedt heard about it, and he announced me as Flex Wheeler. The crowd loved it, and from that day on I was Flex.

 flex4

RH: Not everyone knows about your greatest health problems. Can you run down briefly the nightmare that began right after the 2000 Mr. Olympia?

FW: Yeah, I knew something was very, very wrong with me, but like an idiot I was ignoring a lot of symptoms. I was diagnosed with FSGS, or focal segmental glomerulsclerosis. It’s the most deadly kidney disease known to mankind. There is no cure for it. Once it progresses, you have to be on dialysis twelve hours a day every day until you get a kidney transplant, and there is no guarantee a transplant will take. I was on dialysis for several months in 2003 until a woman from my church offered me her kidney. Thank God for her, because the waiting list is normally six to seven years!

 

RH: But it wasn’t just one surgery, was it?

FW: No, I had a total of nine surgeries in eleven weeks. I lost a ton of weight and hardly had the energy to do anything. But I made it through and I am grateful for every day of life I have now.

 

DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM

READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS IN BODYBUILDING NEWS

 

 

FOLLOW MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT ON:

FACEBOOK: MuscularDevelopment Magazine

TWITTER: @MuscularDevelop

INSTAGRAM: @MuscularDevelopment

YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2fvHgnZ