[TheCaptainPower]

I am a HUGE fan of Arnold, and I am re-reading his new book for the third time. I keep coming up with all different types of theories about his insane career. A couple examples:

1) His funny accent and humor had a HUGE part in making him famous in the US. When he first got into acting a lot of the talk shows would have him as a guest just to hear him talk. He might have made it big in acting possibly without the bodybuilding titles, just by being a big, funny, German dude.

2) Bodybuilding is fixed to some extent. Arnold and Joe Weider were business partners and in cahootes for YEARS. Arnold probably should have won most of the titles anyway, but he had a couple that were controversial.

3) Sergio Oliva: Arnold almost admits that Sergio was better. Politics had a large part in ruining Sergio Oliva's bodybuilding career.

4) The 1960's steroids were different. Everybody goes on and on about the 1960's and the golden age of bodybuilding, but I think the roids were different. Ferrigno and Oliva competed 15-20 years later and their phyisques were totally changed. The 1960 steroids were probably the best because they still made the athletes look pretty natural. Arnold talks about his 4 hour workouts, but lets be honest, that's all bullshit. The LSD was probably the best in the 60's also.

And my final observation. I have ZERO evidence of this of course, but I am curious if the military gave Arnold medical roids for recovery.

Arnold was in the Army for a year or two, and if you look at the before and after pictures it is insane.

Also the Soviet Union and East Germany were notorious for their gov't run steroid programs for athletes, so who's to say Austria didn't help out their number one athlete?

[Emancipator]

Pure speculation on your part Captain.

Plus Austria wasn't part of the Eastern Bloc, Arnold has said many times though that the Austrian Army did use him as an example for other army members, and they provided him will the nutrition and weights.

Arnold's tank even came equipped with free weights.

[TheCaptainPower]

He said his father (police), hooked him up with a good position in the army. He had plenty of time to train and unlimited food.

I have to check the book again, but I believe he carried his OWN weights with him in the tank when he couldn't use the Army gym.

It's fascinating how uncomplicated Arnold is. He talked about a story where is PHD professor drove a shitty car, and Arnold said "knowing everything doesn't always mean anything". He made it a point in the book so say that people "over think" decisions too much, instead of jumping in and getting their hands dirty. Arnold was on reddit answering questions recently, and some internet monkey was asking him some complicated carbo load question and Arnold's response was like "What? Never heard of it. I just lifted weights and ate chicken with beer" lol.

[Teedub]

Arnold doesn't need steroid, he just needs a beat.



Even the techno viking would struggle to out-rave Arnold.

[vinman]

Body builders back in the day were smarter. They cycled on roids before contest season and cycled off. Guys nowadays are juicing all year round, and stacking multiple steroids, and other pharmaceuticals. Some of the top guys are spending up to about $250,000 annually on all of that crap. That shit cannot be healthy.

[vinman]

(04-13-2013 03:06 PM)Teedub Wrote:  

Arnold doesn't need steroid, he just needs a beat.



Even the techno viking would struggle to out-rave Arnold.

Oh my GOD! That shit is hilarious!

[TheCaptainPower]

I've heard that $250,000 number also, but I read an article on Lee Priest and he said there no way the competition earnings would cover that. More like 2-3K a month.

[Hades]

I doubt that Arnie was on roids until he'd gotten involved with the larger bodybuilding community (after he had won a few titles). The other bodybuilders were surprised that he trained 12 months of the year without breaks and trained twice a day and he spent his time at competitions using his broke ass english figuring out how other guys managed to get their quads and biceps so big (and playing hilarious mind games with the other bodybuilders, but yeah).

Back then the entire country of Austria only had like three or four bodybuilders. When Arnie moved to Munich, the situation was no different. Where was he supposed to get steroids?

[ElBorrachoInfamoso]

I'm reading Arnold's new biography right now as well. I think he's honest when he says he just got a GP to prescribe them, though he's downplaying how important they were.

[kosko]

(04-13-2013 04:31 PM)Hades Wrote:  

I doubt that Arnie was on roids until he'd gotten involved with the larger bodybuilding community (after he had won a few titles). The other bodybuilders were surprised that he trained 12 months of the year without breaks and trained twice a day and he spent his time at competitions using his broke ass english figuring out how other guys managed to get their quads and biceps so big (and playing hilarious mind games with the other bodybuilders, but yeah).

Back then the entire country of Austria only had like three or four bodybuilders. When Arnie moved to Munich, the situation was no different. Where was he supposed to get steroids?

Quote:

Munich, Germany

Germany practically invented the stuff.

As far back as the 1930's they already had chemical performance enhancers. It was something the Nazis saw a lot of promise in and pushed hard whiten their research community. Germany has always been ahead of the pack with it and still is today with their blood and platelets treatments.

[Lemmo]

According to Arnold, he bulked up in the army because it was the first time in his life that he was getting meat to eat on a daily basis. He has said that growing up his family would only have meat once per week.

[Kitsune]

Arnold would definitely have had testosterone, dianabol etc.

The major difference between Bodybuilders of Arnold's generation and the mass monsters of later is likely due to synthesised HGH and insulin usage. I'm not entirely sure on the timeline, but during Arnold's career there probably would only have been cadaver HGH and not the widespread synthesised hormones that bodybuilders today use. HGH and Insulin are, as far as I'm aware, the drugs that cause the cartoon character mutated look.

Also, the reason Arnold and Zane and their contemporaries would have looked more normal than pro bodybuilders today is that the drugs probably weren't anywhere near as concentrated.

In short, they looked more natural because they were more natural. Ultimately though, their physiques are unnatural and can't be attained without drugs.

As for bodybuilding today, I share a gym with quite a candid former IFBB guy, and some of the stories are pretty scary about the drug culture in modern bodybuilding.

[Basil Ransom]

(04-13-2013 12:22 PM)TheCaptainPower Wrote:  

I am a HUGE fan of Arnold, and I am re-reading his new book for the third time. I keep coming up with all different types of theories about his insane career. A couple examples:

1) His funny accent and humor had a HUGE part in making him famous in the US. When he first got into acting a lot of the talk shows would have him as a guest just to hear him talk. He might have made it big in acting possibly without the bodybuilding titles, just by being a big, funny, German dude.

Someone told me that he actually gets lessons on the reg to *keep* his accent.

(04-13-2013 12:22 PM)TheCaptainPower Wrote:  

4) The 1960's steroids were different. Everybody goes on and on about the 1960's and the golden age of bodybuilding, but I think the roids were different. Ferrigno and Oliva competed 15-20 years later and their phyisques were totally changed. The 1960 steroids were probably the best because they still made the athletes look pretty natural.

The bodybuilding community is weird, in that it stopped caring about traditional aesthetics, and instead fetishizes whoever's the biggest, with some concern for symmetry. Maybe it was that way before too, they just didn't have the drugs to get them there. Arnold looks great, and there are natural bodybuilders, both now and in the past, who look great too. If you're training without steroids, you'll probably never look 'too big.'

[TheCaptainPower]

Bodybuilding today is rediculous. Most kids want to look more like John Cena then Jay Cutler, and I don't blame them.

Arnold also said his top bench was 518, and deadlift was 720ish, so he was pretty strong.

[kbell]

How buff do think Arnold will get for his next role? I was reading a thread about his training for a 2011 film which he got in pretty good shape. Hair looks pretty bad for some reason.

[TheCaptainPower]

I don't think he can lift heavy anymore since his heart surgery. The heart surgery that he "swears" had nothing to do with anabolics...