Dear friends,

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

>>> Video greetings <<<

Kind regards

Markus

	Record: Even just the keyword "Markus" suffices to place the website at the first Google ranking.

Dear bodybuilding friends,

I like to thank you all so much for your regular visits, guestbook entries, clicks, downloads and links to my website.

Today I found out, that your assiduous interest in my website made it possible, that the ranking of my website stands even just with the keyword of my forename "Markus" at the very first place at the leading search engines like Google.

Furthermore I like to thank you all for your nice e-mails and encouragements after my bad placing at the Mr. Olympia contest. I am so glad to see, how many friends and fans I have in the world. That really means a lot to me.

I will be bigger and better in 2006. I won’t disappoint you.

Kind regards

Markus

> more pictures from Mr. Olympia 2005

My dear bodybuilding friends,

Regarding my bad placing at this year’s Mr. Olympia contest I like to give you a short review. More informations will follow within the next two weeks.

I am very surprised and dissapointed about what happened wrong during my contest preparation.

During the carbing-down season I got pretty hard and dry and was very pleased with my shape. But somehow there got something terribly wrong during the carbing-up. Even at the last night before the contest I thought my shape would be good enough for a Top-6-placing.

But when I arrived backstage at the following morning I did not feel very well anymore. My veins were hiding, my back went smooth and even my traditional body volume was not present anymore.

So I had no chance at the pre-judging and my low placement became determined.

After the judging I went to my room to have a copious meal and some Gatorade drinks.

Somehow that seemed to bring back about 70% of my former shape, but nevertheless I had no chance to place successfully anymore.

That was a very dissappointing experience for me.

In the meantime I am looking optimistically to the my future again and I am thinking about my next plans and contest schedules.

I will keep you posted.

Markus

PS:

Thank you so much for all those motivating words in my guest book. That really means a lot to me.

Dear bodybuilding friends,

this are the last news you will get from me before the Mr. Olympia contest.

Henceforth I will not be available via email until October 22nd, because I will travel to Las Vegas very soon.

My contest preparation is still going pretty well. There was no big injury or illness yet. I am 2-3 pounds heavier than last year and a look at my belt told me, that my waist got smaller.

Yesterday I had my only single guest appearance within the recent constest season at a shopping mall in Germany. Since that event there are some really bad pictures of me (from www.body-xtreme.de) circulating through different internet forums.

For that reason I have attached some better pictures and a video clip to this report, so you can see, that I definately do not look as those pictures show me.

I hope that my contest preparation will keep on going well during the next two weeks, so that I will be able to show a great shape at the Olympia.

Kind regards

Markus

preparation for guestposing in shopping mall, Oct. 1st 2005

My dear fans in Great Britain,

much to my regret I must inform you, that I will not be able to appear in Wales on September 11th because of a serious injury.

Today morning I was taken into the emergency room, because since yesterday I have been suffering from nosebleed, that did not stop anymore.

I got very nervous when I realized last night, that I did not have any chance to stanch it anymore.

So my wife has driven me to the hospital immediately.

After the doctor had tested me for the reason of the bleeding, he came very soon to the conclusion, that I definately used too much nasal spray during a little cold, I had catched a few days before.

I always have used those sprays for years to keep my airways open if my nose was blocked during the training.

It seems as if this was a bad idea. Although it sounds like a bagatelle, it will cost me almost one weeks of serious training as my nose has to get operated (obliteration of the nasal passage).

Most of all I want to apologise to my fans and friends in Great Britain about not being in Wales this weekend as scheduled.

Please do not blame the organiser of  this event for my missing. It is definately not his fault.

Kind regards

Markus

Dear bodybuilding fans,

first of all I like to say sorry, because it was very silent about me during the last months.

Now I want to inform about my recent condition in regard to the upcoming Mr. Olympia contest.

After my off-season in spring my body weight was 150 kg (about 330 lb) and as heavy as never before.

Now – six weeks until the Olympia will take place – my weight is still 137 kg (about 302 lb).

I was able to reduce my waist and hope the judges will appreciate my shape on stage.

If is always difficult for me to rate myself as long as I cannot make any comparison with any other competitors.

All things considered I really can say that this year’s preparation has gone reasonably well. My only injury was a rupture of a muscle fiber a few weeks ago. It was pretty painful, but it cured very fast and did not interrupt my training too much.

Furthermore a lot of people have asked me about new photos concerning my Mr. Olympia preparation. Everyone, who knows me a little bit closer, is aware that I never publish any photos about me during my contest preparations. Sorry, my friends - But this would make me kind of nervous and jumpy. It is always very hard for an athlete (at least for me!) to be confronted with criticism based on early photos just a few weeks before the most important contest will take place.

But everyone please rest assured that my recent training and my Mr. Olympia preparation has been being documented very well. So everything will be published, when the right time has come. So stay tuned!

Dear bodybuilding fans,

a lot of people have asked me about my prognosis regarding the upcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger Classics, so here is my forecast (and no - as I said, I myself won't compete at the Arnold's this year!).

List of competitors (no guarantee):

Troy Alves

Melvin Anthony

Art Atwood

Gustavo Badell

Darrem Charles

Chris Cormier

Mark Dugdale

Anthony Freeman

Dexter Jackson

King Kamali

Victor Martinez

Lee Priest

Frank Roberson

Craig Titus

Idrise Ward El

At first view it seems to become a high-class competition.

After careful consideration it is quite plain to me, that Dexter will be the top favorite, although Chris could be a very strong rival.

I guess Gustavo, who looked really great at the Mr Olympia, will have to prove his shape this year again. If he succeeds, he could beat Chris again.

However I think he could place before Lee Priest who might get a 4th place. (I have heard, that Lee was in an accident. I keep my fingers crossed, he did not get injured.)

If he competes, Victor could become fifth, Darrem closely to him sixth and Kamali, Melvin and Troy something between seventh and ninth.

It is not easy to calculate Art Atwood's position. On the one hand he has been placed very high at the last competitions, on the other hand he is one of the most massive athletes on stage. Something about 10th place I guess.

The remaining places will be fought out between Anthony Freeman, Frank Roberson and Mark Dugdale.

It will be an exciting contest!

I wish all athletes an injury-free preparation and most of all my friend Dexter the success he deserves.

Good luck, colleagues!

Kind regards

Markus Rühl

Dear bodybuilding fans,

first of all I like to wish you all a Happy New Year and good luck for 2005.

Concerning my contest schedule for the new year I have made the decision to cancel my planned appearance at the Arnold Classics. After competing in spring and fall for the last couple of years I like to pause until the next Mr. Olympia ’05. So I work out just 3-4 times per week and enjoy my off-season.

Furthermore Simone and me are going to have a house built, thus we are very busy with the planning at the moment.

I will continue my regular training in April and will start the Mr. Olympia preparation in June.

Kind regards

your Markus