It's Good to be King

Now a family man, the Undisputed Olympia 212 Champ weighs in on his origin story, The Legacy he’s building, and what it takes to earn it. (Spoiler Alert: Sleep isn’t on the list.)

- Eric Velazquez

Fans routinely speculate on what it would be like to train with reigning Olympia 212 Showdown champ Flex Lewis. But you don’t necessarily have to toss iron around with him in the gym to share in his exhaustion. All you have to do is listen to him summarize his normal day as he preps for competition.

“My structured day in a nutshell is getting up, spending time with my daughter, then doing cardio, and then it’s a short window to eat breakfast, go to the warehouse, train, work in the office until about 4 p.m., come home, then have treatments—massage or whatever else—and then spend time with my daughter, put her to bed, cardio in the evening, then I’m up until around 2 a.m. working. I get up around six or seven, so I get about four or five hours of sleep a night and that’s it. That’s how I function. No naps, no nothing. I run on very little sleep and that’s how I’ve always done it. If I get six hours, that’s a great night of sleep.”

He has actually conditioned his body to thrive on less rest, a discouraging fact for any of his competitors who may be reading this. Because in all likelihood, while you’re flipping through these pages, Lewis is doing something right this second to ensure his supremacy at the top of the 212 food chain.

“When I’m in prep mode and my metabolism is flying, sleep is not a tool I use for anything,” he says. “People say, ‘Oh, you need your sleep, you need your sleep.’ No. Not when I’m prepping. I know that I have to get up and start my day.”