Before he made it big onscreen, Arnold Schwarzenegger found fame as a bodybuilder. But just how strong was he in his heyday?
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00:00There was a time in pop culture where you couldn't turn in any direction without running
00:04into Arnold Schwarzenegger or the scores of parodies and imitations he inspired.
00:08I'm Hans.
00:09Jan, I'm Franz.
00:10And we are here to pop your heart.
00:13Before he made it big onscreen, though, Schwarzenegger found fame for being big, as a bodybuilder.
00:18So just how strong was Schwarzenegger in his heyday?
00:21It turns out that he still remembers his stats from his time on the circuit.
00:24My best bench press was 525, my best deadlift was 710, and my best squat was 610.
00:31Okay, sir, we'll take your word for it.
00:34Schwarzenegger started training to build strength and size way back when he was a teenager.
00:37In the 1960s, he picked up several powerlifting prizes in his native Austria, and by the time
00:42he achieved worldwide fame as a bodybuilder, he'd refined his diet to hone his physique
00:46even further.
00:47This is for your flabby, useless stomach muscles.
00:51By the mid-1980s and through the 90s, Schwarzenegger was at the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom,
00:55headlining major tentpole movies.
00:57And in that same period, TV shows from The Simpsons to Tiny Toon Adventures included
01:01characters designed to have fun with Arnie's accent and Austrian machismo, the violent
01:06action films he was most famous for, and the sheer improbability of him reaching the heights
01:10that he did.
01:11Well, well, a big muscle-bound nerd.
01:14The geek shall inherit the Earth.
01:17One of the most famous of these parodies, from Saturday Night Live, actually took its
01:20cues from Schwarzenegger's time as a bodybuilder.
01:23Schwarzenegger even got in on the fun, popping in to berate his cousins for not living up
01:27to his He-Man example.
01:29In truth, Schwarzenegger's status in the bodybuilding world may have owed more to confidence and
01:33strategy than having an outstanding leg up in the physique department.
01:36You don't feel any emotion about it one way or another?
01:40No.
01:41I have to stay functional until my mission is complete.
01:44He actually admitted to using psychological warfare to defeat his competitors.
01:48These days, Schwarzenegger remains happy with his bodybuilding and lifting achievements
01:52and what they did for his life and body.
01:53If you want to win, you need to be fine-tuned and you have to have everything at 10.
01:59But the Terminator star doesn't hesitate to admit that his lifts weren't terribly impressive
02:02compared to what some bodybuilders have achieved in the years since.
02:06In an interview on The Pat McAfee Show, he explained,
02:08I can tell you that, because today there's guys that are squatting with 700, 800 pounds,
02:13and there's guys that bench-press 600 pounds.
02:15Your kids are soft.
02:18You lack discipline, but I've got news for you.
02:22You're mine now.
02:23Training regimens have shifted and evolved over time.
02:26In recent years, there's been a push to lifting heavy early on to build muscle, and there's
02:29more emphasis on strength than there was when Schwarzenegger was competing.
02:33And that's not just a matter of taste or opinion.
02:35There's plenty of research out there about lifting heavy to improve your physique.
02:39As for his physique?
02:41Like most 70-year-olds, Schwarzenegger can't possibly match what he once was.
02:45When the subject came up on Howard Stern in 2023, he had a blunt response.
02:49It just sucks.
02:51That doesn't mean he isn't working hard to stay in shape.
02:54Schwarzenegger loves the bike.
02:55He rides to Gold's Gym, where he works out for 45 minutes every day.
02:59And that daily workout still includes lifts.
03:01But it's more than old habits or vanity that motivate Schwarzenegger to keep up with his exercise.
03:06We always need it.
03:07We always remember, you know, you rest, you rust.
03:11It's that simple.