1990, and construction begins
Markus tells us how it all began in the very beginning of his DVD. As we watch home video footage of a very stocky young Ruhl posing for us in the Hot Skins lycra shorts that were fashionable among meatheads the world over back then, he says:
“I can?t believe it. These pictures are from 1992, and I just training two years when I make these pictures. I started bodybuilding at the age of eighteen years, and I was a very, very small guy because I play soccer ten years before, and my bodyweight was 120 pounds before I go in the gym the first time.”
It should be noted that even in this early footage, you can see the genetically weak and strong points that are still clear today with a hundred pounds more muscle. His chest, traps, biceps, and legs were already quite developed, while his lats and particularly triceps lagged behind. In fact, in his side chest pose back then, his triceps flat-out sucked. Rather than being two-thirds of the upper arm, they appeared to comprise less than half the total mass. We then see footage of him outside with his back to a car, grabbing it from underneath and pushing with his legs to lift it a good foot off the ground in a playful stunt. We also see him in the gym using a standing shoulder press machine, quite similar to the one in the footage of him training in 2003 later on. He continues:
“The reason why I go in the gym was my doctor says to me, I have a big injury in my left knee from the soccer, and I have to go in the gym and build some muscles in my left leg, that?s the reason why I go at this time. So when I start training, I will say not bodybuilding, but training for fitness, I don?t want to go on stage one day, or I want to be a professional bodybuilder. I just go to the gym to have fun and be a little bigger than the other guys, or my friends.”
As it turned out, Markus quickly grew estranged from his childhood friends, and forged new friendships in the gym with those who shared his interests in getting bigger and stronger. Gradually, as his body expanded and took shape, a new sport called his name.
“So, after five years of training, one day I say to me, I am so big I have to go on stage, and that?s the reason why I go on stage after five years of workout.”
Actually, Markus had planned on competing after four years, and had targeted the 1994 Newcomer Championships in Hessen as his first show, but injured his shoulder while preparing for that. It was 1995 when he made his delayed debut at the Bachgau Cup in Babenhausen, winning the Heavyweight and Overall titles at 5-11, 243. Can you imagine that, weighing 243 pounds at your first contest? Even Ronnie Coleman was only about 212 at the same height when he won his first show, the NPC Texas. The next week Ruhl went to the Grosser Preis von Hessen, or the Hessen Grand Prix, and took second in the Heavyweights in a tougher lineup. He knew he needed more size before he was ready to advance to the higher levels of competition beyond his native Germany. For two years, he put everything into his bodybuilding aspirations while working at a Volkswagen car dealership.
1997
After seven years of training, Ruhl dieted down to a new high bodyweight of 258 pounds and demolished his competition at the Hessen Championships before blowing away the field at the German Nationals a week later. Wayne DeMilia was so impressed at the blonde giant that he became the first German to be granted his pro card solely on the basis on his national title (typically Europeans have to win the IFBB European Championships, or their weight class at the IFBB World, formerly known as the Universe). So, shortly afterward, Markus jumped right into that year?s IFBB Grand Prix held in Offenbach. His tenth place may not seem too impressive until you take a look at the top five in that show: winner Kevin Levrone, followed by Nasser El-Sonbatty, Lee Priest, Paul Dillett, and a Texan named Ronnie Coleman down in fifth. In tenth place, Markus was right behind veteran pro Vince Taylor and ahead of Mike Matarazzo.
1998
After such an overwhelming experience of being thrust among the world?s very best bodybuilders before the ink on his pro card had even had a chance to dry, Markus took a good look in the mirror and knew he needed to be better next time to stand as an equal among them. He and his training partner Marc Arnold went back to the gym with a vengeance, his goals being more mass combined with a more refined and detailed look. Ruhl was coming to American for the ?98 Night of Champions, and he wanted to make an impact his first time on US soil. Markus arrived in New York at 265 pounds and looked to be top-six material, but the judges only allotted him ninth place. The crowd, however, took notice of him and would be on the lookout next time. One thing about the New York fans is that they appreciate a freak. Markus would become something like the mascot of this show over the next few years. Though he was disappointed at not doing better, the crowd response fueled his motivation.
1999
Markus set his sights on the 1999 NOC and returned looking every inch the champion at 270 pounds of shredded prime beef. In a highly controversial decision, Ruhl was deemed an inexplicable fourth place while Paul Dillett, considerably off his best condition, was called out as the winner. New York fans don?t take such injustice without letting their dissatisfaction being known. Loud chants of ?BULLSHIT!? reverberated angrily inside the Beacon Theater as trash was hurled on stage. Head judge Steve Weinberger turned to face the mob, looking on the verge of violence himself in all the heated emotion. But there was one positive outcome for Markus ? he had qualified for that year?s Mr. Olympia. Stoked at the chance to get on stage with the likes of Ronnie Coleman and Flex Wheeler, he managed to gain another ten pounds and came to Las Vegas at 275 earth-crushing pounds. But as is often the case for Olympia rookies, he didn?t get called out for comparisons until quite late in the prejudging. To make matters much worse, his urine tested positive for diuretics and he was disqualified. Still, encouraged by the experience of competing in his first Olympia, he went on to the British Grand Prix in Manchester and finished seventh in a show won by Ronnie.
2000
Y2K would be a breakout year for Markus. In February as he began preparing for the Toronto Pro and his third try at the NOC, he tore a ligament inside his shoulder joint. His doctor advised him to take four to six weeks off from training. Having a flashback to 1994 when he had to bail out of his first contest with an almost identical injury, Ruhl decided to abbreviate his time off to just five days. He had a feeling this spring was his time to make it or break it, and sitting out would be a missed opportunity. Instead, he carefully worked around the injury and lightened the weights when necessary. His instinct proved to be correct, as Markus defeated Dexter Jackson in Canada to win his first IFBB show. Along with the prize money came a new motorcycle, which Markus was forced to sell, as he didn?t know how to ride it and had no desire to learn. Next he placed second to Jay Cutler, who was also scoring his first pro win that year at the NOC. At that year?s Olympia, Markus competed too heavy at 280. Though he was the heaviest man in the show, the best he could manage was seventh place, which was still a major improvement from 1999 where he didn?t officially place at all. Ruhl also competed in the British Grand Prix again and placed fifth. Meanwhile, his bellybutton had ruptured while in the final stages of preparation for the Olympia, and as soon as the grand prix contest was over he had hernia surgery. While he was recovering back in Germany, I did a Star Profile interview with Markus for Musclemag International. I asked him if he felt that he was at a publicity disadvantage, since the judges were far more familiar with the more famous names like Ronnie Coleman, Kevin Levrone, and Flex Wheeler. “That is true,” he replied, “but one day the famous names will be Ruhl, Cutler, and Jackson.” Did this guy call it, or what? I also asked him where he saw himself in five years. In a true Jean Dixon moment, he told me he would be top five in the world by then. Less than four years after this prediction, he placed fifth at the Mr. Olympia.
2001
2001 was something of a setback for Markus. He decided to forego the spring shows and just do guest posing and appearances until gearing up for the Olympia that fall. Because he had been too heavy at the previous Olympia, he made up his mind to be totally shredded this time. In his zeal, he performed two hours of cardio every day, in addition to two daily weight-training sessions of two hours each. His upper body lost much of its typical fullness. Then, five weeks out from the show, his belly button ruptured again, with no time for surgery. This time it looked far worse, like a big fat fleshy knob poking out of his navel. Probably repulsed at this disfigurement, the judges failed to give him decent callouts, and he wound up in fourteenth place. After all the time and effort he had put into getting ready, Markus went into a depression. In his frustration and intense sense of disillusionment, he very seriously contemplated retirement at just twenty-nine years of age. Thankfully, friends and family, along with his legion of fans, encouraged him not to give up and that the best was still ahead of him. Markus eventually came around and shook off the horrible fall of 2001.
2002
Markus had learned his lesson from the overtraining follies of the previous year. Determined to finally win the NOC title that had thus eluded him on three occasions, he cut back on his cardio and volume of weight training. Ruhl shunned the scale and went only by the mirror, judging his fullness and condition visually as he knew the judges would. 2000 NOC champ Paul Dillett was way down in sixth this time around, and when the evening came to a close, it was Ruhl?s hand that was held in victory. Elated and humbled both at the judge?s recognition of his superiority that day and the tremendous adulation of the New York crowd, Markus felt his spirit renewed. While carbing up for the Toronto show the next week, some spoiled oatmeal gave him digestion problems that led to him losing ten pounds of fullness, from 280 at the NOC down to 270. This opened the door for Art Atwood to beat him and nail his first IFBB win, and Markus shook his hand and congratulated the rookie. Ruhl rounded out the year with an eighth place at the Olympia.
2003
The following year, Markus continued to cement his position as one of the sport?s best. Oddly, he had never competed in the Arnold Classic before, and he made his debut there with a powerful third place behind Jay Cutler and Chris Cormier. Ruhl also took second place to a far lighter Darrem Charles at the inaugural (and only, so far) version of the Maximus Pro event in Rome, Italy. While training for the Olympia that August, the specter of injury returned to haunt Markus once more. In the midst of performing a set of barbell bench presses, he tore his triceps and had to visit a surgeon yet another time to have it reattached. He was out of the show. I can say that he did attend, and despite not being able to train properly, Ruhl was so enormous from the back that when I saw him exiting Ruffles Café Thursday night that Olympia weekend, I thought he was the late Trevor Smith, a mountain of a man who tipped the scales at 400 pounds.
2004
Markus began 2004 with a return to the Arnold Classic, where he dropped to fifth. Popular opinion decreed that this was a screwing, as he was clearly better than fellow Kraut Gunter Schlierkamp, ahead of him in fourth. Ruhl continued on to the Australian Grand Prix and took third to Dexter and Real Deal, before his landmark fifth place at the 2004 Mr. Olympia. There, he was a huge crowd favorite, and also picked up an additional ten thousand dollars courtesy of MD as their choice for the Freakazoid Award publisher Steve Blechman offered that year. Markus chose after this to wait until the 2005 Olympia to compete again, with the plan of repeating his top-five status and hopefully moving up.
2005 ? a year Markus would probably like to forget
This year began with everything looking up for Ruhl. He had finally broken into the top five at the Olympia, granting him elite status among his fellow pros. Marriage had united he and longtime girlfriend Simone as man and wife, and they moved into a beautiful new home outside of Frankfurt, Germany. Ruhl began negotiations to buy the Ottwald Gym in nearby Kelsterbach, his training headquarters that was featured in his best-selling training DVD, Made in Germany. In the spring, things began to slowly unravel. That?s when the IFBB issued a mandate informing all athletes that from that point on, distended abdomens would be marked down, and V-tapers and pleasing, aesthetic shape would be rewarded over sheer bulk. Since brutal mass was Ruhl?s trademark and he had never been known for having a particularly small waistline, it sounded like the IFBB was coming down on him personally. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had better somehow morph his physique into a smaller, more streamlined version, or else. Going against everything he believed in, Markus stopped training as heavy as he was accustomed to. He hated it, but gradually he saw that his waist was coming down ? along with everything else. As if all this weren?t bad enough, in late August he had to undergo surgery of the nasal passages. Constant use of nasal spray to ease free breathing while he trained had eaten away the membranes, resulting in nosebleeds that would not stop. Markus also suffered a slight muscle tear in an undisclosed region (he isn?t saying) just weeks before the Olympia. Still, he managed to keep it all together and arrived in Las Vegas in very good condition. He knew he was smaller, but he had given the judges what they asked for by improving his taper. At the last minute, an error in his carb-up caused him to spill over. With the clock ticking away to the moment he had to get on stage, Ruhl did his best to shed the excess water, but went too far. In the end, he took the stage smaller and flatter, and knew in the pump-up room before the show started that any hopes he had of remaining in the top five had gone up in smoke ? or down the drain, to be more precise. All of us in attendance that Saturday afternoon were in shock at his appearance. That night, he finished fifteenth, the lowest he had ever placed in the Mr. Olympia. Actually, this was the worst placing he had ever had since he began competing. A dejected Ruhl returned to Germany, where he soon regained his motivation and vowed to redeem himself.
2006 ? The Rühler is back!
Critics and Ruhl?s own heart told him the same thing. He had tried to be something he was not, and the consequences had been disastrous. It was time to bring back the German Nightmare, the earth-quaking Freakazoid that we all knew and loved. Markus went back to the heavy weights with a fury. Ironically, the previous year of training lighter had given his joints a break and a chance to heal, and he was able to now train heavier than he had in years. His weight climbed to an all-time high of 340 at 5-11, and he was ready to seek his vengeance.
Ruhl qualified for the O just weeks before with a controversial runner-up spot to Paco Bautista in Paco?s native Spain at the Santa Susanna Pro (with a few Spanish judges on the panel), then proceeded to Las Vegas. This time he was ripped and ready at an enormous 280 pounds, the second heaviest man in the show after Ronnie. Though he was hoping to do better than eighth, he accepted it and was grateful to be back in the top ten where he belongs. “This was a very tough Olympia this year. You had a lot of guys in very good shape, and everyone was trying to take the title away from Ronnie. I was just glad to show everyone that last year was not the real me.”
