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Normally, once I’m requested to pen a tribute to somebody, that somebody just isn’t within the type of situation that will lend himself to ever know what I mentioned about him. On the uncommon event although, the task 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 some of the profitable bodybuilding careers on document, racking up 13 newbie 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 Classic 212. As far because the 212 class goes, this monster from the UK just isn’t 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 advised Flex Lewis when he picked up the cellphone is that I need this to be a tribute to his profession by way of his eyes. I wish to know what have been the pivotal factors in his profession, the anecdotes, the individuals, the locations, that outline his recollections. 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 supply the next caveat. The foregoing would possibly sound good on paper, however in the event you’ve ever mentioned something with Flex, in any stage of element, you’ll know that conserving him on level is 4 ranges more difficult than herding feral cats. He’s far and wide. And he is aware of it. The solely intolerance, nonetheless, is the clock. If I had the time, I’d be very happy to let him go on down by the way in which; wherever he goes it’s going to be attention-grabbing. But, 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 improper. The stroll is certain nice sufficient. Kinda jogs my memory of asking for instructions from an previous southern gentleman on a sizzling summer time day, with nothing to do and a tall glass of candy tea in his hand. And that will be for the condensed model of his reply to me when asking him one thing similar to, “How did you make the decision to give up Rugby and pursue bodybuilding full time?” At least seven instances I assumed he was telling me, however we ended up some place else. We lastly did get to the purpose. And because it was such a wrestle, I believe that’s the place I’ll begin…
Before I try this, let’s get the “Flex” factor out of the way in which. 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, right down to “Flex,” he mentioned. “I went all through school – my entire childhood – always being called ‘Flex.’ I never heard ‘James’ except from my mom and dad.”
With that cleared up, again to the pivot from Rugby to bodybuilding. Flex emphatically states, “I started training with weights to help me be better at Rugby… And, because I wanted to attract girls with my muscles.” It doesn’t get extra humble and trustworthy than that.
His preliminary attraction to bodybuilding was one thing a bit distinctive. We all have our story of how the bug bit us, however that is out of left discipline. 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 typical discuss on diet, weight-reduction plan, and coaching, and he did a visitor posing. Afterward, Tom was promoting his merchandise, when Auntie purchased certainly one of Tom’s books and he signed it. “She left the book in her bookcase,” Flex remembered. “I found it when I was 12 — I was staying in her room during a visit and, me being a 12-year-old boy, was snooping through her shit and I found this book on Tom Platz. I started flipping through it and I said, ‘holy shit look at those legs!’ I was playing Rugby and wanted legs like that. So, I took the book home.”
“You just took it?”
“Let’s just say I borrowed it.”
“Okay, so you have the book, but what did you lift?” I requested. “Did you have any weights?”
“Dad had an old Weider weight set with the plastic plates – remember those? They were filled with sand. He had them in the shed by the garden. Because the house is built into a hill, the garden was kind of like on the second floor. I couldn’t change the weights because the collars were so corroded. So I had to roll the weights from the shed, down the hill, and through the house, and up the stairs, and into my room, and hide them under the bed. Every night I’d pull out the wights and try to figure out how to do a squat, using the bed as a squat rack. Eventually, I figured it out and kept doing squats.”
That is basic! And, he’s doing it behind his mother and father’ again. Flex Lewis by no means utterly defined to me why he felt he needed to sneak within the weights. But, it’s true, they’d no concept what he was doing up there. But, as with all issues we did behind our mother and father’ backs after we have been youngsters, it’s solely a matter of time earlier than the mission is not covert.
“One night my dad hears all this grunting through the door and bursts into the room thinking I’m cracking one out, and he sees instead I’m lifting weights! He stood there and bellowed, ‘What the fuck are you doing??’!!”
I cracked up. “It probably would have been the same response if you were wanking.”
He laughs, “Yeah, probably.”
But I wished to know, “what was it about the weights your parents were against?”
“I was 12 and my mom thought it would stunt my growth.”
“Were your parents tall?” I questioned.
“No!” He roared, “They were both like 5’5!!”
Nevertheless, what mother says goes; the weights must wait… As 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 huge the fellows have been. “I just wanted to be jacked on the rugby field,” he mentioned. “After Every game I went straight to the gym, all muddy, to train. The coach hated me because I was always all dirty and I’d leave mud all over the gym… You couldn’t keep me out of there though. I wanted Platz’s legs.”
“That was it then, Rugby and weights?” That’s type of a slim path for a younger teenager rising up in Wales.
“No… no,” he replied. My mom put me in all the things; not simply Rugby. I did gymnastics — I can nonetheless do a again flip if I’ve a couple of whiskies — observe and discipline, boxing….”
“Boxing?” I used to be puzzled. “Aren’t all guys from the UK born knowing how to fight?”
He cracked up. I all the time 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 bit more formal than street fighting, but yes, you’re right. We do a lot of scrapping in the UK. It’s accepted. Guys always get into fights. At least they used to. It’s incredible what’s happening. This generation…… Everyone is such a pussy today….. You know the thing that really 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 track & field? You participated in that for a long time, along with Rugby, all through school. If I remember correctly, you have a still unbroken record, don’t you?”
“I did,” he replied. “I actually ended up running for my country and won a gold medal in the indoor hurdles. And, yes, I still hold that record in Wales.”
So, the subsequent apparent query is, “Why didn’t you keep running? You have a freak’n gold medal!”
He chuckled, “One would assume. I used to be operating indoors and doing nicely, 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 wished to deal with Rugby. I went to varsity taking part in Rugby. I used to be scouted. I used to be at a really excessive stage. There have been plenty of alternatives to play abroad; I toured the world taking part in. My fingers are scarred, all my entrance enamel are pretend from scrapping on and off the sector.”
I made observe of the gratuitous scrapping. “See, again with the fighting! I know Rugby is a sport notorious for scrapping but isn’t that because it was invented in the UK? Where everyone fights?”
Flex Lewis cracked up once more. “I guess it’s somewhat true he admitted. My grandfather worked in the mines when he was a kid. He worked on his hands and knees with a pick and a shovel all day. He was in three cave-ins! He’d climb out and go back to work. After work, he’d fight for pennies, so my grandmother could feed the family. Scrapping is just part of the culture in the UK. He taught me at a very young age that when you’re tough, you don’t have to flex. You just have to know how to defend yourself……But this generation has gotten soft as fuck! My grandfather was a miner when he was a kid! They wanted to employ kids in the mines because they were small and they could send them into tight, dangerous, places….. Compared to now? Oh my god, social media has created ball-less males……..”
Yup…. there we go once more. Back 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 you were powerlifting to help you with Rugby, right? Where did bodybuilding come in?”
“I trained at the gym where all the bouncers trained,” he started telling me. “And the ‘family guys.’ if you know what that means. I trained around these guys and found myself doing more and more bodybuilding work. Then I met a guy named Steve Naylor; he had a very ‘Arnold look.’ Good enough to win the Mr. Wales, but nowhere else. He was running through training partners like Kamala Harris is running through staffers, especially for legs. No one would show up on leg day. So he asked me If I wanted to train. One day while we were training, someone put up a poster for a bodybuilding show and Steve and I went. It was the first time I’d seen the transition from off-season to competition shape. I was totally blown away. I was 19 by then. Naylor and I kept at it, and one day the poster went up again. The gym owner said, ‘Flex if you compete in that show I’ll give you a free membership.’ That was huge! That was a lot of money to me at the time.”
“How did you prep for it?” I requested. “How did you figure out how to diet and dial in for a show?”
“I’d periodically buy Flex magazine if I had the money. It was my bible. I read them cover to cover. Over and over. But there was rarely any info on diet. Then, finally, an article on Gunter Schlierkamp came out that talked in detail about his diet. (I still have the issue). I followed it by half, and cut out all the carbs. I was like a zombie. I just kept going because I needed the free membership!”
“So, the show comes and I win! I won the teen and the novice. It was a big deal. My friends came and brought air horns. There was an open bar. There were fights outside (would you expect anything else?) My friends brought me a big bag of my favorite chocolates and Snickers bars. I ate some chocolate to appease my friends. But, really, I just wanted to drink! Then I heard this voice behind me that said, ‘mate, are you doing the British championships? You can beat all these cunts! You have to represent your country. Who helped you for this show?’ I told him no one. He said, ‘I’ll help you. Monday, drive to my house.’ and he gave me the address. That was Neil Hill. And we’ve been together ever since. Nineteen years. We won 13 amateur shows together and 21 pro wins. That’s loyalty brother.” It certain is.
So, This Is Really It…
I’ve been on this business for nicely over 30 years and certainly one of my largest disappointments just isn’t attending to see Flex Lewis compete within the Olympia open. I used to be so happy to be taught 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 may have been the primary and solely winner of each the 212 and open Olympias. The solely different competitor in historical past who may even have pulled it off, however didn’t, is Lee Priest. The business as a complete suffered a little bit of a letdown on this probably historic case, what occurred?
As the story goes, 2017 was going to be Flex’s final 212 Olympia. It ended up being the worst 12 months of his life. Three weeks earlier than the Olympia, Flex’s coaching companion, Dallas McCarver, handed away out of the blue. 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 house and went to Vegas,” he mentioned. “We lived in a hotel the whole time before the Olympia. As soon as we got there, everyone who knew Dallas wanted to talk to me. At the Meet the Olympians event, I had a line of people waiting to see me. They were all crying. It was so emotional for me, but I had to suppress all that. And, on top of that, I had a camera crew for BBC following me around the whole time….. They were cool and ended up doing a tribute to Dallas in the documentary.”
Needless to say, 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 subsequent 12 months, 2018. The determination was made then to go for the 2020 Olympia open. He took 2019 off to placed on measurement. He was pushing actually laborious 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 may drive down normally didn’t keep down. Then there was the shoulder harm… “It was horrible,” Flex remembers. “I was going to so many doctors’ appointments. I was missing meals, I couldn’t train right for a championship. I felt like shit.”
So, as a substitute 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 was so focussed on rehabbing injuries and doing the stem cell therapy,” he mentioned. “I took off 4 months of coaching. That was laborious. My fitness center was my church. I used to be going nuts. To take my thoughts off my distress, we determined to promote the fitness center in Florida, transfer to Vegas and open one up there. While I used to be off of all the things, 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 have been shot. I may 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 wished to be the first-ever two-division champion, but it surely simply wasn’t within the playing cards.”
Well, if I’m disillusioned in not attending to witness such potential historical past, I can solely think about how my good friend feels. The manner he positions it is sensible although, “If you’re the best you don’t have to say so. I’m not going to talk about what never was. But, I know enough people, not to mention Neil, who’ve seen me with the brakes off, and we know. Staying under 212 was so hard. I knew if I could have exploited my full potential I would have won the open. But the doctors’ visits and hospital stays weren’t making me a champion.”
Health
About well being basically, Flex Lewis has this to say: “Up until the last couple of years, I’ve been very healthy all through my career. I knew exactly what I was doing. I’ve done things as minimally as possible. People look at my condition and say things about drugs. It’s not true. I suffered. I suffered a lot. If I had done the drugs I knew some of these guys did, I’d never have made the weight class. It scares me what some of these guys do. Some don’t even get yearly check-ups. I proposed to get medical clearance at the beginning of each season. I think it’s the only way to save these guys.”
On Joe Weider…
“I can’t say enough about Joe Weider and Peter McGough. I was broke and struggling when I got a call from Peter. He said Joe wants to offer you a contract. I remember I was in Ralph’s grocery store. I was on a burner phone and was afraid to answer because they’d charge me. I said, ‘Peter are you taking a piss?’ In the middle of Ralph’s I yelled, YAAAAAAAA!!!!!! Like an out-of-your-heart yell. At that moment everything changed.”
What About Arnold?
Flex Lewis says, “There’s no better person, other than maybe the Rock, who has paved the way for us just-let-me-show-you kind of guys. As cliche as it may sound, he was a massive inspiration. I use him for a blueprint now. He’d been told, just like me, you’ll never make it. He came to this country, just like me, and wanted to achieve the best.”
“You won his first 212 Arnold Classic in 2014,” I mentioned. “That must have been a big deal for you.”
“It was a big deal. It was a show I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pull off. After the Olympia, I always take off for a few months. I started prepping for the Arnold at under 200 pounds. So, I grew into that show – old school. Neil stayed with me for six weeks. It was a massive feat that I still can’t believe we pulled off.”
“Would you say that’s the most memorable show of your career?”
“It was up there,” He replied humbly. “But the show I always remember most is the last show.”
Every 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 foul reminiscence to pull round with you for the remainder of your life.
And that’s it people, 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 might even be sporting 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. History will show that no pantheon of contemporary bodybuilding can be full with out Flex Lewis on the desk.