Stack3d – Before we kick off the interview we’d just like to say its an honor to be able to talk directly to the king himself. Especially now that your name has been stretched across a successful supplement range. The first question we have is what was the inspiration behind making your own supplement brand?
Ronnie – Thank you, happy to do the interview. Well, I have been in this industry a long time and used every supplement there was along the way and to be honest some were great but some were also… well not so great. I always wanted to come out with a supplement line that was truly my own. One where I would have influence over all of the formulas, flavoring and operations of the company. I had to wait until the right time and that time finally is here. I have always been grateful for my fans throughout my career because without them there would be no Ronnie Coleman. I really wanted to be able to do something to give back to them. The best thing I could think of was my own line of supplements that they knew they could trust and really be a part of. I take all of their feedback and use it when coming up with or changing products. That’s for real. I’m pretty active on social media and the boards these days and one thing I kept getting from my fans was that they liked the performance of my products but not so much the flavoring system. So after I heard enough I went back to the drawing board and totally changed the entire flavoring system which is coming out real soon. Also, they told me that they wanted the “buzz” effect from Myo-Blitz to be stronger, so… I made it a WHOLE lot stronger. That’s coming out soon too. All in all, it is a great way for me to stay active with the industry I love and continue to interact with my fans. I want my products and what they represent to inspire people to reach their fitness goals.
Stack3d – On the topic of supplements you have been around for a long time and seen a lot more than most over the years. Was there any sort of product that you thought was missing from the market. Either one you have already produced, or one that’s on the way?
Ronnie – Great question. Yes, actually there was one category that I thought was almost nonexistent and it surprised me because it is so important for trying to change your body. SLEEP. There has been some ZMA stuff here and there and those formulas definitely had an effect but they were so basic. I had a crazy and strange schedule all the way from when I was a police officer to traveling all over the world and I never was able to sleep much. I knew sleep was important for growth, recovery and hormone balance so I had to find a way to make my hours of sleep more efficient. I used a lot of the ingredients that you see today in RESSURECT-PM to help my sleep be as efficient as possible. Of course I had to order them all separately and some were just the raw powder that didn’t taste so great. So I decided I wanted to put all of those into one concentrated sleep and recovery formula. I added a few more ingredients at the suggestion of my formulators but all of the base ingredients were things I had been using for years.
Stack3d – For us recovery and sleep go hand in hand, which is why we rate that product so highly. Getting back to the inspiration of the signature series, with so many other Mr. Olympias this year producing their own lines off the backs of other companies. Was it a tough decision for you to go it alone and build your own name and image? As opposed to aligning with a known supplement brand.
Ronnie – Last step for Resurrect and all my concentrates was to change the flavoring system. Which we did and now it tastes incredible and works. There have been a lot of other Mr.O’s and athletes coming out with their own lines since I came out with mine… guess I started a trend! You know what they say, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But hey, good for them. I’ll be excited to do battle with them again just like we did on stage… and we all know what happened there. It was tough to go it alone and start the company myself with no vested interest from a large manufacturer or an already established brand. Honestly, it was much harder than I imagined. But, I don’t like to do things the easy way because the easy way usually ain’t the right way. I’m extremely proud that my team and I did it basically by ourselves. Having another company back your brand from the start is definitely a huge help but it just ain’t my style.
Stack3d – Going out on your own definitely seems to have worked out. The Signature Series has got one of the largest fan bases in the industry, one that combines both followers of yourself and your supplements. With that large fan base and so many other achievements, is there anything left for you to do, goals yet to accomplish?
Ronnie – It really did. I’ve said it many times but I’ll say it again, I have the best fans in the world. I think I was able to transfer that fan base from me as an athlete to my supplement line and that’s exactly what I wanted to do because as I mentioned that gave me so much that now I want to give them as much as I can by providing some of the best products in the market that they know work and that they can trust. Oh there is plenty left to do. First of all I have three little girls that will keep me busy for a long time to come! Second, there is always room for improvement and though RCSS is doing great there is always room for improvement, room to grow and expand and new products and ingredients to be released. The pursuit of perfect is a constant and never ending battle for improvement…. That’s the mindset we have over here.
Stack3d – Talking about your supplements and the path you took with them, specifically your protein powder Pro-Antium. What made you take the angle that you did with the great taste, strong formula, and slightly higher price. As opposed to a cheap mainstream formula? On the same topic of products, what made you choose the supplements that you did to start out with? Leaving off some of the more traditional things like a creatine and fat burner.
Ronnie – I feel that protein intake is the most important thing for anyone trying to build muscle and change their body so I knew I had to offer a great tasting high protein product that delivered. The flavoring I wanted to be top of the line but also unique which is why we added the real cookie pieces to it. It gives it an added element that no one else has. Also, with 29G of protein, 5G creatine and 2.5G of betaine per scoop Pro-Antium delivers a lot in every scoop. I always want to put the very best into all of my products and as you can see from the 3rd party testing that tigerfitness has done on my protein it tests out to exactly what is on the label. We actually only started with 2 products, Myo-Blitz and Resurrect-P.M. Remember we did this all on our own so we had to start fairly small and work our way up. The market has so many products and brands out there so I decided to start with a popular category like pre-workouts as well as a category that doesn’t really have a whole lot of options which is sleep so that we could truly take over that category. We then came up with Testogen-XR next. Again, there are a lot of test boosters but I wanted one with clinically proven ingredients like D-AA as well as offering value by making it 2 products in one being that it is a nitric oxide booster as well. Also, we were the first to do this in a powder form. The fat burner took a little longer than expected but when you are combing so many potent ingredients you need to make sure that they all react and work well with each other and if you are off by 1mg it could throw everything off. So we worked and worked on it until we got it perfect.
Stack3d – If testagen was not the first then it would’ve been one of the first testosterone powders. After it became popular a lot of big names started doing flavored test supplements. Another thing that separated the signature series was it’s distribution correct? You built an audience around the world before actually bringing your range to the US. What was the Idea behind that?
Ronnie – Correct, there were some others that came out with similar products right after testogen-xr. I think it’s great, means we did something right. Yes, we started backwards so to speak. I have fans all over the world and thought it would be a good idea to start overseas and build from the fan base there. Plus, we wanted to build up a little steam heading into the saturated US market.
Stack3d – Well that about wraps it up for us, we can’t thank you enough for your time and wish you all the best for both you and your brand. Especially with all the new supplements you have coming down the line.
Ronnie – Oh no problem thanks for having me and for the support. I look forward to working with Stack3d in the future on all of my supplement news, you guys do a great job.
Sincerely – Big Ron
