“It was the summer I turned fifteen, a magical season for me because that year I’d discovered exactly what I wanted to do with my life” (Schwarzenegger 13). Arnold explains in his book, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, that at such a young age he was driven by the motivation of becoming the best bodybuilder in the world, and in effect the best-built man. Although most kids dreamed of the possible futures of becoming firefighters, astronauts, detectives, etc. Arnold felt as if his goal of becoming the best bodybuilder was not a fantasy, but a set future. Being inspired by his father, a champion in the sport of ice curling, Arnold was involved in sports at a very young age. Arnold played soccer, boxed, swam, competed in the javelin throw and shot put. One of his coaches for soccer decided an effective training method was lifting weights for an hour each day. This is where it all began, Arnold fell in love with weight training the second he laid eyes on “the huge and brutal” guys in the gym and desired to transform his body to fit this image. He began training intensely and became obsessed with the results he saw in both size increase and definition. Arnold began to read American magazines including Muscle Builder, and Mr. America and idolized the men he saw in them, mainly Reg Park.
Arnold pursued his goals, became a professional bodybuilder, moved to America, and laid precedence for the sport of bodybuilding to evolve into what it has today. He went on to win the Mr. Universe competition five times, and the Mr. Olympia seven times. Through his achievements and movie, Pumping Iron, Arnold changed the view of society on the freakish concept of bodybuilding, and also inspired many to participate in bodybuilding. Below are two images of Arnold in his glory days.
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| (Arnold Posing) |
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| (Arnold) |
Works Cited
Arnold. Web. 15 March 2011. <http://healthandfitness777.blogspot.com/>.
Arnold Posing. Web. 15 March 2011. <http://graphicsdb.com/>.
Schwarzenegger, Arnold. Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977. Print.
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