The strongest man in Russia Mikhail Koklyaev. Daily regimen and diet of the weightlifting legend

Mikhail Koklyaev is an eight-time Russian weightlifting champion in the weight category over 105 kg, admired by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. He is the former holder of the absolute record of Russia in the deadlift – 417.5 kg. Referee and presenter of power extreme competitions, as well as presenter of bodybuilding and powerlifting competitions.

Russian power sports athlete, weightlifter, powerlifter, host of T24 TV channel

Some people think that the secret of strength is in the sports nutrition store. No, friends, without training and proper nutrition nothing will work, nothing is given for nothing. Your body is yours, you can’t borrow it, you can only make a figure yourself, and that’s plowing.

In the 90s, everyone in the neighborhood knew that at school I was a nerd, and in the gym I was a plowman

In the 80-90s, my family and I lived in the factory district of Chelyabinsk, on its very outskirts. I saw advertisements for vodka, beer, cigarettes, whatever there was. Now I realize that our worldview was bought for bling. But back then I didn’t realize it, but I understood perfectly well why I went to the gym.

I saw the state of degradation in my peers and older guys. Teenagers could be found drunk a couple of hours after school. I had an antipathy, I was motivated to gain mass, to get big, to be above it all. And I didn’t want to be in this subculture, where there was a perpetual Friday, a perpetual mood of borrowed money.

I also had very low self-esteem. No sense of dignity, I felt like a useless boy from the suburbs. I was very shy to talk to girls, I tried not to conflict, even tried to run away, not, of course, when one of my friends is beaten, the first in the company just got me, because I was the tallest.

Everyone in the neighborhood knew that in school I am a nerd, and in the gym plowman, that I want to be a weightlifter, not a gangster or racketeer. In other situations, I ran away whenever possible. To be quite honest, I think that if I had acted differently, it is quite possible that we would not be talking to you today.

When I became a candidate master of sports and weighed 100 kg, I was 15 years old, that’s when I realized well that I should not run away. I was in the ninth grade, there were high school students around, and I understood perfectly well who was stronger.

Guys much older than me from neighboring yards, who used to kick me, started shouting when I met them: “Oh, Micha, hi! How are you?” They started shaking hands, back and forth. And I would come up and look at them from above, they were all so small (laughs).

The main motivation at that time was the desire not to be on the street. I realized that the further I was from the subculture of that time, the more I would do for the future and the less I would be connected to the hangouts.

All that hard work in the gym was compensated for. Already at the age of 23-25 I could afford a lot of things, restaurants and trips. By that time I was already married, I had a child, we lived in comfortable conditions in terms of finances. So, at first you put up with it, you work hard, and then everything comes back to you a hundredfold.

As my mom says, I gained weight “in the holy spirit.”

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t get paid for two months, three months. Where did they get the money? We lived with my grandparents on their pension. There was no variety, but we had a vegetable garden, we had vegetables, fruits, cherries, apples, pears. The whole family got food, we worked on the land, I helped, and in this respect we were well provided for.

But there was a problem with protein. Anyway, I believe in the myth that my body synthesized it from porridge! (laughs). But I really had such a huge desire to be strong and powerful! It’s not that I didn’t leave the table for the sake of it, no, I ate three times a day and accustomed myself to this regimen. But I grew up.

Back then, sports nutrition was just beginning to appear, and there were a lot of counterfeits.

Somebody thought that the secret of strength was in the sports nutrition store. No, brothers, the secret was in the rigid regime of my life: I studied well at school and went to the gym right after. Home-school, home-gym, such a letter V, Victoria – victory – that was the path I tramped for myself then.

I remember the first time I went to the store with my comrades and I saw soy protein, it was called “Olympic”. Packed in bags, and they printed on those ancient printers stickers and the inscription: protein 90% Oh! And it was soy protein for cattle feed, additional protein nutrition.

My guess is that some slick enterprising folks just discounted the stockpile with this feed and pulled it into the market for athletes.

They sold amino acids too, well like, it was actually brewer’s yeast, but cost a lot more. I bought it, I came home and my mom said, “Son, that’s beer yeast!” That’s how we ate feed protein with beer yeast (laughs). Now I realize, well, what a time it was…

I was consuming protein that tasted disgusting because I was motivated to get stronger. But maybe it was unhealthy. At an early age, when I was 15, I became a candidate master of sports, there were not many such guys in our region, I started to get a salary, and more often than my parents. I gave part of it to my mom, and used the other part to buy something for myself – sneakers, sports nutrition, clothes.

A little later, imported sports nutrition appeared, but it was very expensive. A jar is designed for a week, but I stretched it out for a whole month. You save money because it is expensive for a schoolboy, and it is not comical to take money from parents.

At the age of 15 my height was 177 cm and weight 59 kg, like a fashion model

The height to weight ratio was wrong, I should have weighed much more. Now I hear sometimes: “I’ll eat sports nutrition, I’ll get big.” No, friends, it was hell in the gym, you can’t get anything without training, you can’t get anything for nothing.

Your body is yours, you can’t borrow it, you can only make a figure yourself, and that’s plowing.

In 2008 there were competitions in Finland in the city of Kokkola. 12 people participated. It was necessary to move a two-deck steamer. I sat down and towed it by the rope, nothing complicated, I do not consider it an achievement.

But the achievement was 6 thousand 500 tons when I was pulling the Volgar crane in Astrakhan. That was a great job, I pulled 10 meters! When I had to set the record, the commission came, the audience gathered, the crane was moved to a more picturesque place, and it was looking towards the water, the wind was blowing against it.

I made two attempts – 2 meters 20 cm and the second time – 2 meters 50 cm. The representative of the Russian records asked which of the figures we were going to record? I liked the figure of 2.20 and it was recorded.

Now I continue to train and try new directions

I weigh about 150 kg. But I’m already training for my soul, I’m not preparing for anything. Today I do not compete with anyone, only with my age, and I am 44 years old. It gives me pleasure and joy, sport brings dopamine. I’m satisfied with all the work I’ve done. You know, as an artist is happy with his finished work, so I am happy. It’s the best anti-stress for me.

I recently made my debut as an anchor. Now I am starring in the program “Almighty” on the TV channel T24 as a presenter. At first I was overcome with doubts, and my reasoning was as follows: how would a man in his 40s and weighing almost 150 kilograms look wearing these gadgets?

We sat down in the kitchen with my wife, and she convinced me that the program does not discredit me in any way, and besides, there are a lot of people in the fitness world, and I was offered to host the program, which means an opportunity, a chance. After reading the scripts, I realized that the history of the program reminds me of the program that was on in the USSR – “I want to know everything”.

In the media world we need to promote sports education for young people. The filming will help in this. Both adults and children will watch it, learn about me, learn about sports, about training, about dopamine, the hormone of happiness that sports brings to our lives. Well, the prospect of gaining experience as a presenter is a special bonus. If you don’t try, you won’t know, it’s better to try so that you don’t regret missed opportunities, I agreed and said to myself, “Go on, Micha, try, go for it!”

When I was in my peak form, I ate a lot of food

In terms of breakfast, I followed the diet of Russian bodybuilder Sergey Shelestov. Cheese sandwiches, herculean porridge, scrambled eggs from four eggs with one protein. The essence of this diet is simple – there is nothing superfluous in it: fried, sweet, there is nothing that can load the stomach, especially in the morning.

By the way, many people do not pay attention to such a dish as dumplings, but it is the most balanced product. Only it is necessary to take lean meat, and no sauces.

After breakfast I usually went to the first workout, in the gym I closed the “carbohydrate window”. I ate eggs, fish, rice or buckwheat, dumplings with vegetables, cucumber or cabbage. At home, lunch was the same as before – first, second, compote. The second workout and again a snack in the gym, at home for dinner meat or fish and vegetables.

Five meals were obligatory when I was working out and doing two workouts a day. Any bodybuilder is a ready-made nutritionist. Anyone who works out seriously, any 20 year old kid, can talk intelligently about calories/protein/fats/carbohydrates.

Breakfast is the head of everything, and I don’t always adhere to other nutritional principles

My wife fries two eggs in bread for breakfast. There’s a cucumber, black bread with melted cheese – three sandwiches and herculean porridge with blackberries. In the 90’s no one said such a word in winter, but now I can afford it. More tea, that’s my breakfast.

For lunch I usually have a salad, first, second and compote. It’s just like in the movie Shurik’s Adventures.
As they say in bodybuilding, you should eat 2 grams of protein per 1 kg of weight to get pumped up, but I honestly say that I do not always adhere to these precepts.

I’m a gym teacher at school. So, I had breakfast and didn’t have time to have lunch at school. And here is my lunch ration at the gas station: two hot dogs, a bottle of tomato juice, 400 ml of cappuccino and a chocolate nut bar.

From the point of view of a balanced diet, there was nothing right about such a lunch, but with a powerful workout I made up for all that wrong.

For dinner I eat meat. For example, in the canteen I had buckwheat porridge, goulash. I also had three beef cutlets, salad and two cups of kefir. I went to bed at home, and at 1:00 a.m. I went and had some more yogurt and some nuts. That’s it.

The most important thing is no fat, it is not recommended at all in body building. You should not eat simple carbohydrates, spicy, fried. It is better to eat boiled or steamed, sometimes grilled. Here are the basic tenets of proper nutrition from bodybuilders.

You should cut down on flour, rolls, bread. All this slows down digestion. That’s why they say: eat with bread, it will be more nourishing.

You should also avoid sauces. Take just a piece of meat on the grill and with sauce, you will get two completely different products. And the same boiled rice and the same rice with milk, with butter and simply salted – different products and the impact on the body will have a different.

A sports motto that has made it into the citations of modern athletes.

The case was in the USA, there I had a conflicting conversation with my compatriots. Only I said goodbye, literally closed my mouth, immediately a man with a camera appeared and asked: “Uncle Mish, how to become so strong?”

And I was so angry, I said: “You have to work hard every day in the gym and in the canteen! And love your homeland and family. And don’t betray your friends.” That’s my sports motto, the video, by the way, gained a million views, went viral on all publicks and not only sports. The video is easy to find on the Internet.

Strength is not just a physiological quality or a genetic quality

I put a lot more into the concept. Strength is when you live, do not disturb anyone, create, love your mighty, great Russian people, live a happy and right life.

And suddenly, let’s say, there comes such a situation that you get, let’s say, into captivity, and you are forced to renounce everything you love, beaten, tortured. This is the moment when you need strength not to give any chance to the enemy and to stand.

And strength in my understanding is not to be a consumer, but a creator, a person who does not wait for something, but someone who shares and gives.

Strength is when you are responsible for your loved ones, for your family. You can’t betray your relatives for the sake of a bright new interesting and young, your family needs you, your family needs you, that’s where strength is needed too. It’s also the ability to fight your fears.

I know all about physical strength. Yes, I’m not an Olympic champion, but no Olympic champion will repeat my path. You don’t want to lift a rock, don’t call yourself the strongest, be respectful to me because you don’t do in strength what I do. It’s the same in other sports, I have achievements in powerlifting, although I’m a weightlifter, I have achievements in power extreme.

Some achievements in Russia no one has surpassed yet. There is a world record for throwing a 25 kg kettlebell to a height of 5 meters 81 cm, then I broke the same record and threw it to 5 meters 84 cm. I still hold the Russian record for lifting a log – 210 kg, no one has ever lifted more.

I teach schoolchildren, and they teach me

It seems to me that I still learn something from children myself. I try to teach schoolchildren that movement is life. The school is private, there is an opportunity to pay attention to everyone, to take into account interests, temperament in sports and so on.

At lessons it is important not to be stuffy, during games sometimes I talk about important things in life and in sports.

I act as a moderator in physical education lessons, who comes up with everything and plays as a team. I try to adjust to each class, in 4-5th grades I behave more like Santa Claus, in 6-7-8th grades I have to include a folder, in the ninth grade I am like an older brother, and in 10-11th – a friend. The guys are adults, they have their own jokes and pranks, but, of course, everything is within the boundaries of “righteous humor”, as I call it, and without panic.