Markus Ruhl Competing at the Olympia Shows That Size Does Matter

By Joe Pietaro
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Updated: July 7, 2009

With Dexter Jackson and Kai Greene winning the last two prominent titles in bodybuilding, it seemed that the worm started to turn as far as freaky mass taking home the biggest check. The Mr. Olympia contest has been dominated by size since Dorian Yates won his first Sandow in 1992, through the seven year-reign of The Shadow, eight years of Ronnie Coleman and two of Jay Cutler. But last September, the aesthetic Jackson edged out Cutler and a new precedent appeared to have been set. Bigger was not necessarily better.

Greene, while being bigger than Jackson, has the appearance of a smaller bodybuilder due to his narrow waist and small joints. He took home the Arnold Classic championship over the larger Victor Martinez and Branch Warren.

This year in Las Vegas, the best of the best will be on the stage at The Orleans Arena and amongst the much larger competition, Jackson will find it difficult to repeat. Not only will The Blade be facing the aforementioned Cutler, Martinez and Warren, but Markus Ruhl has recently announced that he will be bringing his monster build to the Olympia. Let’s not forget Phil Heath, who finished in third plce a year ago at his rookie O.

The 5’11”, nearly 300-pound German finished in third place at the New York Pro in May and originally intended on retiring from the sport. But as reported by Muscular Development, Ruhl has changed his mind and will be furthering his career. The 36-year-old will make his legions of fans extremely happy with this decision and brings great presence and character to the stage.

With an offseason weight that can get up to an amazing 340 pounds, Ruhl has a few ‘rules’ that he lives by. It was by no accident that he became the “Freakazoid,” and after hearing some of his training methods it will be no surprise.

Ruhl believes in straight sets using heavy free weights and not resting on his laurels. He believes that getting stronger and going heavier will build more size. As far as reps and sets go, he will go as heavy as he can for as low as four to six reps. Using this method, Ruhl can blow out 25 to 30 sets per body part without feeling that he is overtraining. He also trains to failure, something that he feels makes or breaks the growth spurt.

By hitting each muscle so hard, Ruhl only trains one body part per day. By doing so he can assure that each one will get the maximum effort.

Proper nutrition is just as important as training to Ruhl and he consumes approximately 7,000 calories per day, which includes 400 to 500 grams of protein. Even with all of these calories, Ruhl makes sure to keep his diet clean and it consists of chicken, beef, fish, rice and potatoes.

This may be his last hurrah so expect Ruhl to come in looking more massive than ever before. He will leave a lasting impression with size never seen before even more so than a top six placing.