In the bodybuilding world, a person’s strength and fitness level are usually measured by how many times they’ve won Mr. Olympia’s title. But some incredible bodybuilders, even if they have amazing bodies, have just touched the stage and gotten back.

This 58-year-old bodybuilding legend is one of them. He made it to the final round of the competition a few times, but even though he had everything needed to win, he never actually became the champion. The bodybuilder recently spoke about his bodybuilding journey on a podcast.

Tough phases of Flex Wheeler’s journey

In a podcast with Rick Richey named the NASM CPT Podcast, on Spotify titled “Special Guest: IFBB Hall of Famer Flex Wheeler”, Flex Wheeler shared his life story, and it’s full of ups and downs. Wheeler began bodybuilding when he was a teenager and had an acquaintance with Neal Spruce, who used to own NASM. He also went through serious health issues like blood clots and kidney problems, which resulted in part of his right leg being amputated. Wheeler mentioned about the fact that he went through trauma multiple times, which led to him attempting to take his life more than once. The 58-year-old hopes that by sharing his journey, he can inspire others.

In the podcast he said “So people like might like me that come from the other side of the road tracks, you know, that wasn’t the smartest, you know that came from the go and Welfare and stuff like that that you know, you can make it as long as you dream in persevere and work hard and lastly it’s just a promise that I made to somebody, you know a long long time ago and you know, they said, you know, I told him I could never pay him back. For everything he has done for me, He’s doing for me.”

In the podcast, Rick Richey began by introducing the Hall of Famer, and then he let him talk about his life and introduce himself. The first thing Wheeler mentioned was his actual name, which is Kenneth Wheeler. He also talked about his experience in martial arts and how he got into bodybuilding.

The story behind Wheeler’s nickname

Richey asked Wheeler about his nickname “Flex”. He asked, “Alright so this is let me ask the question is it true or not true I heard I read somewhere that Flex wasn’t a name that was given to you because of bodybuilding it was given to you for another reason.” Wheeler quickly agreed and said, “Yeah uh… Like there’s one story because of my flexibility…”.

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His amazing ability to do splits on stage was one reason for the nickname, but there was also a not-so-nice meaning behind it. As an IFBB pro, he mentioned “People making fun of me saying I am tiny I guess I always walked around you know like I’m a little big man …It was a derogatory name.” What do you think about Flex Wheeler’s journey and the difficult phases he has gone through? Share your views in the comments.

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