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Usually, after I’m requested to pen a tribute to somebody, that somebody shouldn’t be within the form of situation that might lend himself to ever know what I mentioned about him. On the uncommon event although, the project comes down for an individual not in such dire straights. This time it did; the bloke is simply merely retiring. In his wake although, he leaves one of the profitable bodybuilding careers on file, racking up 13 beginner titles and 21 professional wins over his 19-year profession, together with seven consecutive 212 Olympias, in addition to the winner of the primary Arnold Basic 212. So far as the 212 class goes, this monster from the UK shouldn’t be solely the GOAT, but in addition posed a reputable risk to the open if he ever acquired to take his foot off the brakes. To say Flex Lewis is entitled to a tribute is to say a post-verdict Johnny Depp is entitled to a mega-pint.
The very first thing I instructed Flex Lewis when he picked up the cellphone is that I need this to be a tribute to his profession by his eyes. I wish to know what had been the pivotal factors in his profession, the anecdotes, the individuals, the locations, that outline his reminiscences. I need his perspective, not the pundits. So, I’ll just about simply be steering the course; the dialogue is all Flex.
With that, I have to provide the next caveat. The foregoing would possibly sound good on paper, however in case you’ve ever mentioned something with Flex, in any degree of element, you’ll know that holding him on level is 4 ranges more difficult than herding feral cats. He’s in all places. And he is aware of it. The one intolerance, nonetheless, is the clock. If I had the time, I’d be more than pleased to let him go on down by the best way; wherever he goes it’s going to be attention-grabbing. However, however, if you wish to make a deadline, or know the reply to a selected query, significantly a poignant one, be ready for a number of walks away from – to not – the purpose.
Don’t get me incorrect. The stroll is bound nice sufficient. Kinda jogs my memory of asking for instructions from an outdated southern gentleman on a scorching summer season day, with nothing to do and a tall glass of candy tea in his hand. And that might be for the condensed model of his reply to me when asking him one thing similar to, “How did you make the choice to surrender Rugby and pursue bodybuilding full time?” A minimum of seven instances I assumed he was telling me, however we ended up someplace else. We lastly did get to the purpose. And because it was such a battle, I believe that’s the place I’ll begin…
Earlier than I do this, let’s get the “Flex” factor out of the best way. In Lewis’ case, the nickname was a by-product of 1 given to him on the age of six by his Rugby mates, as a result of he was so versatile. “At first it was “Flexy” then, inevitably, all the way down to “Flex,” he mentioned. “I went all by faculty – my whole childhood – at all times being referred to as ‘Flex.’ I by no means heard ‘James’ besides from my mother and pop.”
With that cleared up, again to the pivot from Rugby to bodybuilding. Flex emphatically states, “I began coaching with weights to assist me be higher at Rugby… And, as a result of I needed to draw women with my muscular tissues.” It doesn’t get extra humble and sincere than that.
His preliminary attraction to bodybuilding was one thing a bit distinctive. All of us have our story of how the bug bit us, however that is out of left subject. Flex Lewis had an aunt who was a nurse in London. She attended – of all issues — a Tom Platz seminar that was given at her nursing faculty. He was doing an look there and doing his ordinary speak on vitamin, weight-reduction plan, and coaching, and he did a visitor posing. Afterward, Tom was promoting his merchandise, when Auntie purchased considered one of Tom’s books and he signed it. “She left the ebook in her bookcase,” Flex remembered. “I discovered it after I was 12 — I used to be staying in her room throughout a go to and, me being a 12-year-old boy, was snooping by her shit and I discovered this ebook on Tom Platz. I began flipping by it and I mentioned, ‘holy shit take a look at these legs!’ I used to be enjoying Rugby and needed legs like that. So, I took the ebook dwelling.”
“You simply took it?”
“Let’s simply say I borrowed it.”
“Okay, so you could have the ebook, however what did you elevate?” I requested. “Did you could have any weights?”
“Dad had an outdated Weider weight set with the plastic plates – bear in mind these? They had been stuffed with sand. He had them within the shed by the backyard. As a result of the home is constructed right into a hill, the backyard was form of like on the second flooring. I couldn’t change the weights as a result of the collars had been so corroded. So I needed to roll the weights from the shed, down the hill, and thru the home, and up the steps, and into my room, and conceal them beneath the mattress. Each evening I’d pull out the wights and take a look at to determine easy methods to do a squat, utilizing the mattress as a squat rack. Finally, I figured it out and saved doing squats.”
That’s basic! And, he’s doing it behind his dad and mom’ again. Flex Lewis by no means fully defined to me why he felt he needed to sneak within the weights. However, it’s true, that they had no concept what he was doing up there. However, as with all issues we did behind our dad and mom’ backs once we had been children, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than the mission is now not covert.
“One evening my dad hears all this grunting by the door and bursts into the room considering I’m cracking one out, and he sees as an alternative I’m lifting weights! He stood there and bellowed, ‘What the fuck are you doing??’!!”
I cracked up. “It in all probability would have been the identical response in case you had been wanking.”
He laughs, “Yeah, in all probability.”
However I needed to know, “what was it concerning the weights your dad and mom had been towards?”
“I used to be 12 and my mother thought it might stunt my development.”
“Have been your dad and mom tall?” I puzzled.
“No!” He roared, “They had been each like 5’5!!”
However, what mother says goes; the weights must wait… So far as coaching at dwelling went anyway. It was too late. The bug had already bitten Flexy. He began watching WWF wrestling and noticed how massive the fellows had been. “I simply needed to be jacked on the rugby subject,” he mentioned. “After Each sport I went straight to the health club, all muddy, to coach. The coach hated me as a result of I used to be at all times all soiled and I’d depart mud all around the health club… You couldn’t hold me out of there although. I needed Platz’s legs.”
“That was it then, Rugby and weights?” That’s form of a slim path for a younger teenager rising up in Wales.
“No… no,” he replied. My mom put me in all the pieces; not simply Rugby. I did gymnastics — I can nonetheless do a again flip if I’ve a number of whiskies — observe and subject, boxing….”
“Boxing?” I used to be puzzled. “Aren’t all guys from the UK born understanding easy methods to battle?”
He cracked up. I at all times inform him how I routinely extol the toughness and scrapping prowess of my bros on the opposite facet of the pond. He agreed, however, he mentioned, “Boxing is a little more formal than road preventing, however sure, you’re proper. We do a whole lot of scrapping within the UK. It’s accepted. Guys at all times get into fights. A minimum of they used to. It’s unimaginable what’s taking place. This technology…… Everyone seems to be such a pussy in the present day….. You realize the factor that basically irks me…?”
Oh, man… I noticed the place that was going. Such a diatribe would final half-hour. And I’d comply with him proper down that rabbit gap too. “So, wait….” I ended him. I needed to. “Wait… What about observe & subject? You participated in that for a very long time, together with Rugby, all by faculty. If I bear in mind appropriately, you could have a nonetheless unbroken file, don’t you?”
“I did,” he replied. “I really ended up working for my nation and received a gold medal within the indoor hurdles. And, sure, I nonetheless maintain that file in Wales.”
So, the following apparent query is, “Why didn’t you retain working? You may have a freak’n gold medal!”
He chuckled, “One would assume. I used to be working indoors and doing effectively, however I wasn’t in love with it. Then I began having issues with my
toes. I used to be getting shin splints….. I simply needed to deal with Rugby. I went to varsity enjoying Rugby. I used to be scouted. I used to be at a really excessive degree. There have been a whole lot of alternatives to play abroad; I toured the world enjoying. My palms are scarred, all my entrance enamel are pretend from scrapping on and off the sector.”
I made notice of the gratuitous scrapping. “See, once more with the preventing! I do know Rugby is a sport infamous for scrapping however isn’t that as a result of it was invented within the UK? The place everybody fights?”
Flex Lewis cracked up once more. “I suppose it’s considerably true he admitted. My grandfather labored within the mines when he was a child. He labored on his palms and knees with a decide and a shovel all day. He was in three cave-ins! He’d climb out and return to work. After work, he’d battle for pennies, so my grandmother might feed the household. Scrapping is simply a part of the tradition within the UK. He taught me at a really younger age that whenever you’re robust, you don’t need to flex. You simply need to know easy methods to defend your self……However this technology has gotten delicate as fuck! My grandfather was a miner when he was a child! They needed to make use of children within the mines as a result of they had been small they usually might ship them into tight, harmful, locations….. In comparison with now? Oh my god, social media has created ball-less males……..”
Yup…. there we go once more. Again down the rabbit gap. I couldn’t cease him that point. Not when a person is paying tribute to his grandfather. After that dialogue ran its course, I requested him once more about that transition from Rugby to bodybuilding. “Okay, so that you had been powerlifting that can assist you with Rugby, proper? The place did bodybuilding are available in?”
“I skilled on the health club the place all of the bouncers skilled,” he started telling me. “And the ‘household guys.’ if you realize what meaning. I skilled round these guys and located myself doing an increasing number of bodybuilding work. Then I met a man named Steve Naylor; he had a really ‘Arnold look.’ Ok to win the Mr. Wales, however nowhere else. He was working by coaching companions like Kamala Harris is working by staffers, particularly for legs. Nobody would present up on leg day. So he requested me If I needed to coach. Sooner or later whereas we had been coaching, somebody put up a poster for a bodybuilding present and Steve and I went. It was the primary time I’d seen the transition from low season to competitors form. I used to be completely blown away. I used to be 19 by then. Naylor and I saved at it, and in the future the poster went up once more. The health club proprietor mentioned, ‘Flex in case you compete in that present I’ll provide you with a free membership.’ That was large! That was some huge cash to me on the time.”
“How did you prep for it?” I requested. “How did you determine easy methods to food plan and dial in for a present?”
“I’d periodically purchase Flex journal if I had the cash. It was my bible. I learn them cowl to cowl. Time and again. However there was not often any information on food plan. Then, lastly, an article on Gunter Schlierkamp got here out that talked intimately about his food plan. (I nonetheless have the problem). I adopted it by half, and lower out all of the carbs. I used to be like a zombie. I simply saved going as a result of I wanted the free membership!”
“So, the present comes and I win! I received the teenager and the novice. It was a giant deal. My mates got here and introduced air horns. There was an open bar. There have been fights outdoors (would you count on anything?) My mates introduced me a giant bag of my favourite goodies and Snickers bars. I ate some chocolate to appease my mates. However, actually, I simply needed to drink! Then I heard this voice behind me that mentioned, ‘mate, are you doing the British championships? You possibly can beat all these cunts! It’s important to characterize your nation. Who helped you for this present?’ I instructed him nobody. He mentioned, ‘I’ll enable you. Monday, drive to my home.’ and he gave me the deal with. That was Neil Hill. And we’ve been collectively ever since. Nineteen years. We received 13 beginner reveals collectively and 21 professional wins. That’s loyalty brother.” It positive is.
So, This Is Actually It…
I’ve been on this business for effectively over 30 years and considered one of my largest disappointments shouldn’t be attending to see Flex Lewis compete within the Olympia open. I used to be so happy to study of his intent in 2020 and thought there was a really distinct risk that I’d get to witness historical past being made, as Flex might have been the primary and solely winner of each the 212 and open Olympias. The one different competitor in historical past who might even have pulled it off, however didn’t, is Lee Priest. The business as an entire suffered a little bit of a letdown on this probably historic case, what occurred?
Because the story goes, 2017 was going to be Flex’s final 212 Olympia. It ended up being the worst yr of his life. Three weeks earlier than the Olympia, Flex’s coaching associate, Dallas McCarver, handed away immediately. Shortly thereafter, 10 days earlier than the present to be precise, an enormous hurricane started bearing down on south Florida. “So we boarded up the home and went to Vegas,” he mentioned. “We lived in a lodge the entire time earlier than the Olympia. As quickly as we acquired there, everybody who knew Dallas needed to speak to me. On the Meet the Olympians occasion, I had a line of individuals ready to see me. They had been all crying. It was so emotional for me, however I needed to suppress all that. And, on prime of that, I had a digital camera crew for BBC following me round the entire time….. They had been cool and ended up doing a tribute to Dallas within the documentary.”
For sure, his suppressing of emotion might need executed the trick, as a result of he received the 212 once more and he did once more the following yr, 2018. The choice was made then to go for the 2020 Olympia open. He took 2019 off to placed on dimension. He was pushing actually exhausting for 2020, then acquired actually sick, the results of which made consuming a little bit of a problem. No urge for food, couldn’t eat, no matter he might power down normally didn’t keep down. Then there was the shoulder damage… “It was horrible,” Flex remembers. “I used to be going to so many medical doctors’ appointments. I used to be lacking meals, I couldn’t practice proper for a championship. I felt like shit.”
So, as an alternative of doing the 2020 open Olympia, Flex Lewis went to Columbia for stem cell remedy to attempt to assist rehab his shoulder and reset his intestine. “I used to be so focussed on rehabbing accidents and doing the stem cell remedy,” he mentioned. “I took off 4 months of coaching. That was exhausting. My health club was my church. I used to be going nuts. To take my thoughts off my distress, we determined to promote the health club in Florida, transfer to Vegas and open one up there. Whereas I used to be off of all the pieces, my spouse and I made a decision to have one other child. After we came upon she was anticipating, I referred to as Neil and we determined to go for it once more, and do the Olympia open in 2021. Then
the identical factor occurred. My guts had been shot. I might have purchased a home with what I spent on medical doctors and therapies to get again on stage. I nonetheless couldn’t eat. My life was depressing. I needed to step again and analyze my life. I wasn’t residing. I used to be force-feeding. I needed to be the first-ever two-division champion, but it surely simply wasn’t within the playing cards.”
Properly, if I’m upset in not attending to witness such potential historical past, I can solely think about how my buddy feels. The best way he positions it is smart although, “In case you’re the perfect you don’t need to say so. I’m not going to speak about what by no means was. However, I do know sufficient individuals, to not point out Neil, who’ve seen me with the brakes off, and we all know. Staying beneath 212 was so exhausting. I knew if I might have exploited my full potential I might have received the open. However the medical doctors’ visits and hospital stays weren’t making me a champion.”
Well being
About well being generally, Flex Lewis has this to say: “Up till the final couple of years, I’ve been very wholesome all by my profession. I knew precisely what I used to be doing. I’ve executed issues as minimally as attainable. Folks take a look at my situation and say issues about medicine. It’s not true. I suffered. I suffered lots. If I had executed the medicine I knew a few of these guys did, I’d by no means have made the load class. It scares me what a few of these guys do. Some don’t even get yearly check-ups. I proposed to get medical clearance at first of every season. I believe it’s the one solution to save these guys.”
On Joe Weider…
“I can’t say sufficient about Joe Weider and Peter McGough. I used to be broke and struggling after I acquired a name from Peter. He mentioned Joe desires to give you a contract. I bear in mind I used to be in Ralph’s grocery retailer. I used to be on a burner cellphone and was afraid to reply as a result of they’d cost me. I mentioned, ‘Peter are you taking a piss?’ In the course of Ralph’s I yelled, YAAAAAAAA!!!!!! Like an out-of-your-heart yell. At that second all the pieces modified.”
What About Arnold?
Flex Lewis says, “There’s no higher individual, apart from possibly the Rock, who has paved the best way for us just-let-me-show-you form of guys. As cliche as it might sound, he was an enormous inspiration. I exploit him for a blueprint now. He’d been instructed, identical to me, you’ll by no means make it. He got here to this nation, identical to me, and needed to realize the perfect.”
“You received his first 212 Arnold Basic in 2014,” I mentioned. “That will need to have been a giant deal for you.”
“It was a giant deal. It was a present I didn’t know if I used to be going to have the ability to pull off. After the Olympia, I at all times take off for a number of months. I began prepping for the Arnold at beneath 200 kilos. So, I grew into that present – old skool. Neil stayed with me for six weeks. It was an enormous feat that I nonetheless can’t consider we pulled off.”
“Would you say that’s essentially the most memorable present of your profession?”
“It was up there,” He replied humbly. “However the present I at all times bear in mind most is the final present.”
Each champ desires to stroll away a winner, not as a result of he misplaced. Flex’s most memorable present is his final present – his eighth consecutive Olympia. Not a nasty reminiscence to tug round with you for the remainder of your life.
And that’s it of us, posing trunks on a hook, tanning goop within the bin, a Cubano in a single battle-scarred hand and a whisky over ice within the different. He could even be carrying a straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt proper now, with simply sufficient of a breeze blowing to rustle the palm fronds. It’s over. As disappointing for some as which may be, there’s no denying it was one hell of a run. And he did it proper. Historical past will show that no pantheon of recent bodybuilding could be full with out Flex Lewis on the desk.
