The Ruhl deal: twenty-five things you didn't know about Markus Ruhl

Flex, July, 2004 by Greg Merritt

Until now, Markus Ruhl was an enigma. He and Dennis James are the two best current pros living outside the United States, but, unlike James, you don't see precontest shots of Ruhl on the Internet or read frequent news updates about him. D.J. spent the final eight weeks before the last Olympia in Southern California; his workouts there were documented in FLEX.

Ruhl stays in his German town, only venturing to America for contests, guest posings or FLEX photo shoots and only for a few hectic days. What we know best about Markus Ruhl is that he's really big.

That's why I was so eager to interview him in person. That's why, minutes after Peter McGough told me Ruhl was shooting with FLEX's chief photographer, Chris Lund, I was on the freeway heading toward Fullerton and Milos Sarcev's Gold's Gym.

After three hours of heavy lifting for the camera, Ruhl was hungry. Lund's assistants had told Ruhl about In-N-Out, a California-based burger chain; so that's where we ate, and that's where he talked about shoulder presses, Synthol, pet parakeets and a host of other topics.

When the German Beast refilled his cup with Diet Coke, a teenage boy asked me, "Man, who is that?"

"Markus Ruhl. A pro bodybuilder."

"Dang, he's a big dude."

He is, of course, one of the biggest dudes in the world, but he is also much more.

PERSONAL

1 | Early Years

Markus Ruhl was born February 22, 1972, the youngest of three children. His father died when he was two. His mother, a laundress, raised her children in suburban Frankfurt, Germany. Young Ruhl played soccer, basketball and ice hockey.

2 | Late Start, Quick Results

To rehabilitate his knee after a soccer injury, 18-year-old 120-pound Ruhl took up weight training. He was 20 before he got serious about bodybuilding. "That's pretty late," he admits. "I never thought I'd be a bodybuilder. I just went to the gym to have fun and train, but I saw the big guys, and more and more, I wanted to look like them. I watched what they did, and I read FLEX." At 23, he entered his first bodybuilding contest; two years later, he was a professional bodybuilder.

3 | British Idol

"I don't have an idol in bodybuilding," Ruhl explains. "I have an idol in business, and that's Dorian Yates. He keeps his name going after his [competitive] career, and he's making a lot of money now even after he retired from the stage."

4 | Future Mrs. Ruhl

Ruhl met Simone Ehrlich in a gym six years ago. They began living together soon after. Now engaged, they plan to marry next year. "Simone loves bodybuilding, and that's very important, because when you have a girlfriend who doesn't love what you do, you can't love together. [Ehrlich won the 2003 German Bodybuilding Championships and then retired from competition.] She gives me so much support. After 2001, when I made a very bad placing [14th] in the Mr. Olympia, I wanted to end my career, and she was the one who told me 'You are coming back to do it again.' Six months later, I won the Night Of Champions."

5 | Friendly Fowl

Ruhl has two parakeets, Mobbi and Bobbi. "They talk and say my name." Laughing, Ruhl imitates the birds' screaky voices. "'Hello, Markus. How are you?' Stuff like that. I've had them six years. It takes a long time until they learn words, and you have to talk a lot to get them to remember things."

6 | Bodybuilding in Germany

In addition to Ruhl, other pro bodybuilders hail from Germany, including Gunter Schlierkamp and Ronnie Rockel, and German-speaking Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up in neighboring Austria, so you might assume the region is receptive to competitive posing. You'd be wrong. "In Germany, they think all bodybuilders are criminals or stupid," Ruhl states. "I get much more respect here [in the United States]. One time, I was on German TV, and people sent me letters saying 'I didn't think you'd be so nice and talk so well.' What do you think, that I fight with everyone or I'm some animal? I'm a normal person. The only difference is I have big muscles."

7 | German Reunification

Ruhl grew up in democratic West Germany; his girlfriend grew up in communist East Germany. The reunification of the two nations into one country in 1990 was a seminal event in Ruhl's life, but he explains that the marriage of two unequals has been rocky. "We're still butting heads. West German people have to pay for the East Germans to bring that country up to the same level, because they were not nearly as advanced as we were when we reunified. Now for 14 years, we've been paying and paying and paying, and that's a problem."

8 | America

Emotionally bound to family and friends, Ruhl will continue to live in central Germany, but he loves America, just as his American fans love him. One of his favorite things to do on stateside trips is to shop for the sort of fashionable oversized clothing he can't find in Europe. Baggy jeans are always high on his shopping list.

TRAINING

9 | Sets and Reps

"Normally, for each bodypart, I do three or four exercises and 12 to 15 sets total. I don't count how much weight I use. It's important how you feel. When I feel good, I use a little more weight; when I feel bad, I use less. I do between two and 15 reps. I start with a warm-up set and then go up and up. At my heaviest, I may do only two or three reps. Then I do one more easy set where I do higher reps."