{"id":1249,"date":"2025-01-03T09:08:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T09:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/mens-health\/welcome-to-our-website-we-are-excited-to-have-you-here-and-hope-you-enjoy-exploring-our-content.html"},"modified":"2025-01-03T09:08:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T09:08:05","slug":"arnold-schwarzeneggers-journey-from-austrian-bodybuilder-to-hollywood-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/health\/arnold-schwarzeneggers-journey-from-austrian-bodybuilder-to-hollywood-legend.html","title":{"rendered":"Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was hard to imagine a bodybuilder chatting with Johnny Carson<\/a> until we saw him on The Tonight Show<\/em>. We couldn’t have pictured someone with 21-inch biceps as the highest-paid actor in show business until we saw him in Conan the Barbarian<\/a><\/em>. We couldn’t have imagined the guy who played a convincing killer robot in The Terminator<\/a><\/em> becoming the governor of our most populous state.<\/p>\n

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Decades later, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s journey from Austrian bodybuilder to Hollywood legend is one of the greatest American success stories. Despite highs like being a seven-time Mr. Olympia and a two-time governor of California, he has also faced lows such as steroid use, Gropergate<\/a>, and a public divorce.<\/p>\n

After leaving public office in 2011, Schwarzenegger has been involved in promoting bodybuilding through events like the Arnold Sports Festival<\/a> and returning to movies with the upcoming Terminator 6<\/em>. He continues to be involved in politics, advocating for climate change through R20<\/a> and supporting better education and fitness opportunities for disadvantaged children.<\/p>\n

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Men\u2019s Health<\/em>‘s former fitness director Lou Schuler spoke with the 71-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger in Budapest, where he was filming the new Terminator<\/em>. Despite his aged appearance, his iconic voice remains unmistakable.<\/p>\n

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So we limited it to a couple months before competition, so that we wouldn\u2019t be on it at all times and get hooked.<\/p>\n

Why do you think people still take steroids?<\/strong><\/p>\n

People always want the easier way out to become better. It\u2019s human nature, and you could probably write a book about all of the different ways we enhance ourselves and what that means and whether we need to cut back. People take drugs to focus more, to sleep better, to feel better mentally, to feel less pain, to build muscle, to lose fat\u2014you name it. If there was an option to wave a magic wand and get rid of all illegal performance enhancing in sports, where someone can\u2019t find the next big thing that can\u2019t be spotted on a test, I am all for it. I\u2019d do it tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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People always want the easier way out to become better. It\u2019s human nature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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When I look at pictures of bodybuilders from the \u201970s, even knowing you guys used steroids, I can still get fired up to train. But it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone being motivated by today\u2019s top bodybuilding pros. Why do you think the aesthetic changed?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Sports develop, and the performances evolve, and it gets exaggerated. The good thing is that after enough complaining about it by certain people, including myself, the [International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness] recognized that not everyone wants to see pregnant-looking men onstage. In the old days, we posed every day for half an hour. To flex every muscle in your body is very strenuous and takes a lot of oxygen, but we trained ourselves to smile anyway. It says to the judges, \u201cLook, I\u2019m showing you the biggest muscles in the world, and I\u2019m smiling while I do it.\u201d It\u2019s like Ali used to laugh while he was boxing. It showed his superiority.<\/p>\n

Today, by the fourth pose they\u2019ve run out of energy and they\u2019re shaking. When you see the faces onstage, it\u2019s horrifying. I would be very tough in the judging, like in gymnastics: \u201cHere\u2019s a certain amount of poses you have to do, and you\u2019re going to be scored on the way you go from one pose to the next and if you can sustain a pose-off for 15 minutes.\u201d It\u2019s what the people like to see. They like to see action.<\/p>\n

How do you think today\u2019s bodybuilders would react to those changes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would take a while for them to learn. It\u2019s like people that don\u2019t understand there\u2019s global warming and they\u2019re creating pollution and it\u2019s killing people.<\/p>\n

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\"Muscle,<\/p>\n

Getty Images\/Hulton Archive<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Whoa, I\u2019ve never heard anyone connect bodybuilding and global warming. Explain!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

The whole idea [in the mid-\u201970s] was to make bodybuilding popular and understood by the public. That it\u2019s not only a competitive sport, where you try to get a 21-inch arm, but that it\u2019s something anyone can enjoy and use this activity as a means to improve whatever sport they are doing. Or just for longevity, to feel more strong and feel more proud of yourself.<\/p>\n

The bodybuilders from way back were hiding in dungeon gyms and coming out posing onstage and disappearing again. It was easy to attack: \u201cAll those muscle guys are oiled up and looking at themselves, and it must be a sport for gay people. They\u2019re trying to compensate because they\u2019re small somewhere else. And maybe because they\u2019re mentally not there, they want to make up for it physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I had a different approach. I hired a publicist in \u201974 and systematically went out there on talk shows to disarm people with the personality \u2014 what we call the Austrian Schm\u00e4h<\/em> [\u201ccharm offensive\u201d]. That\u2019s when I started this fitness crusade, because I realized the whole movement needed explanation. So I did endless seminars, I wrote books, I did TV interviews, Pumping Iron<\/em>. I would go to prisons to talk about weight training. I would go to military bases. I would go to battleships. I would go to women\u2019s gyms.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Do you think being an immigrant gave you a stronger work ethic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What mentality does it take to leave your home? And to leave your parents, your friends, and your country and start fresh? My upbringing was tough. My father made me do pushups before I was allowed to have breakfast. To earn breakfast, as he said, you have to do pushups and knee bends. And carry water from the well 200 yards away in the deep snow. I grew up with that. My desire, therefore, was really great. It was like, that or nothing. There was no plan B. I had the will, but I still needed all the inspiration and all the people to open up the doors of opportunity.<\/p>\n

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My upbringing was tough. My father made me do pushups before I was allowed to have breakfast.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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When you were 18, shortly after you entered the Austrian army, you went AWOL to go to Germany to win Junior Mr. Europe. But when you got back, you had to go to jail, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t really jail. I was there for one night so they could say, \u201cWe punished him.\u201d But they were proud. Then I went back to tank-driving school.<\/p>\n

Were you a good tank driver?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was a fantastic tank driver. Tank driving is all about if you have the guts. The commander says to drive straight, and you see in front of you a lake, and on the lake is ice, and you say to yourself, \u201cThis couldn\u2019t be true.\u201d But without any question I drove straight. And so, of course, the tank crashed into the ice. They do it to test you. What kind of balls do you have? Ice-cold water rushed over my head. Then he said, \u201cStop, okay, go back,\u201d and I backed out. He jumped down and said, \u201cThat was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you could be the Terminator and go back in time, what would you tell your younger self about how to live?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Long pause.<\/em>] You know, the question is if you tell yourself anything. There\u2019s a saying in German: Selbsterkenntnis ist der beste Weg zur Besserung,<\/em> which means \u201cSelf-knowledge is the best way to improve.\u201d I believe in that. When you fail, the trick is to get up again and evaluate in an honest way what went wrong. Yes, it\u2019s easy to say, \u201cDon\u2019t do Hercules in New York<\/em>.\u201d But that was an interesting experience. Each one of the things I made a mistake in, I eventually learned from that, and it made me a better person. It made me more experienced. It made me wiser.<\/p>\n

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\"'Wonders<\/p>\n

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Juan Naharro Gimenez<\/span>\/\/<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

Schwarzenegger greeting fans at a film premiere in 2017.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

In 2003, long before #MeToo, you were questioned about your behavior toward women<\/a>. Would you want to treat the women in your life differently than you did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking back, I stepped over the line several times, and I was the first one to say sorry. I feel bad about it, and I apologize. When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that no one, including me, ever makes this mistake. That\u2019s why we took sexual harassment courses, to have a clear understanding, from a legal point of view and also from a regular-behavior point of view, of what is accepted and what is not.<\/p>\n

Have your views of masculinity changed? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve not changed my view. I\u2019m a guy. I would not change my view of who I am. The woman I was originally most in love with was my mother. I respected her, and she was a fantastic woman. I always had respect for women.<\/p>\n

Fatherhood is really the greatest joy. Watching all five of my kids grow into their own successful lives is fantastic. Spending time with them, working out together, answering their questions makes me so happy. They were also all there for me after my surgery, so you start to realize, wow, they are really growing up and now it\u2019s not just me pumping them up. We are all pumping each other up.<\/p>\n

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“Looking back, I stepped over the line several times.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n

Kids are the next best thing after cloning\u2014even though you realize every child has a different personality. If you really want to spread your philosophy, whether it\u2019s about giving back, fighting for fitness, or, just like my dad told me, making the world a better place than you inherited, you\u2019d better do a good job as a parent.<\/p>\n

Do you ever regret referring to your political opponents as “girlie men”<\/a>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

At the time it felt like the right thing to do. It was in my gut. I improvised it. I called them girlie men because they weren\u2019t willing to take risks. They were afraid of everything. Politicians in general want to do little things so there\u2019s no risk involved. But it was shortsighted. In the long term, it\u2019s better to not say that, because you want to work with them.<\/p>\n

Modern politics often feels like the plot of one of your movies, where one side is trying to eliminate the other side. Do you also get that feeling? <\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have a little sense of history, you know that the best things are accomplished when both parties work together and start compromising, like Ronald Reagan did with Tip O\u2019Neill. They argued in public and attacked each other, but with a little wink. That\u2019s why so much got done in the Reagan administration.<\/p>\n

When you can reach out across the aisle and work together, you can get much more accomplished, rather than \u201cgirlie men\u201d or \u201cfuck you\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s my way or the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re starting a new wellness brand with some elite athletes. What do you hope to accomplish?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I became the chairman of the President\u2019s Council [on Physical Fitness and Sports, in 1990] to reach out to everyone. Everyone has the right to be fit. How can I democratize fitness? This project will help with that by giving expert health, fitness, and nutrition advice. We\u2019ll also sell protein, energy, and greens that are NSF Certified for Sport. Supplements are what they\u2019re called: They\u2019re supplementing regular food. But there is no secret pill. Everything is hard work and eating well.<\/p>\n

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“I\u2019m a big advocate of ‘get off your fucking couch and do something about it.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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If you were Conan the King, what would be your first royal decree?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Access for everyone to health care. And to get off the arms race and to get off Verschmutzung <\/em>[polluting]. It\u2019s inexcusable to have so much plastic floating around in the oceans.<\/p>\n

Do you think any of those things will happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It will not happen if people just sit around and complain when they hear something on the news. I\u2019m a big advocate of \u201cget off your fucking couch and do something about it.\u201d If you believe there\u2019s something being done wrong by legislators, go out and do everything you can to unseat that person. The same if you see a president acting strange: Do everything you can to unseat that president. My father said to me, \u201cBe useful.\u201d Useful not only to yourself, but useful to your neighborhood, your country, the world. It entails everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It was hard to imagine a bodybuilder chatting with Johnny Carson until we saw him on The Tonight Show. We couldn’t have pictured someone with 21-inch biceps as the highest-paid actor in show business until we saw him in Conan the Barbarian. We couldn’t have imagined the guy who played a convincing killer robot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}