The greatest bodybuilder in the history of the sport Arnold Schwarzenegger turns 60 years old today and I wanted to pay a special tribute to the man who first inspired me to start training. Although there have been a number of other bodybuilders who have since gotten physically bigger than Arnold since he retired from professional bodybuilding, he was the best bodybuilder up until that point in history and has without doubt done more to promote the sport of bodybuilding than any other bodybuilder in history. Arnold was the guy who put bodybuilding on the map and now it’s here to stay.
Back in the 1970’s Arnold was the undisputed King of Bodybuilding and the most muscular man of all time. Arnold actually has the distinction of being the world’s most muscular man in the Guinness Book of World Records still to this day. Sure there have been more muscular men since like Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates and Gary Strydom but these guys have come into a sport after it has evolved through many years and as we have seen over the course of history, athletes do become better over time. Having said that, if Arnold was just starting his bodybuilding career today he would in my opinion still be a champion since it was never his body that made him the real champion he is, it was his greatest power which was his incredibly powerful mind.
Ever since Arnold officially retired from professional bodybuilding after winning his seventh and final Mr. Olympia in Sydney Australia in 1980, he has gone from strength to strength in terms of his own personal success. Arnold is perhaps one of the greatest individual success stories in all of modern human history since almost everything he touches turns to gold. The reason for his phenomenal success is his belief in himself and in his ability to use his subconscious mind to get what he wants in life. We all have this power within our minds but unfortunately very few people are aware of how to harness this power. Arnold however, knows how to focus on what he wants and then takes it when the opportunity presents itself.
It was 20 years ago this year that I went to the cinema and watched Arnold in Predator when I was 17 years old and I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. I walked out of that cinema with my two best mates from school and said to them I want to look like that Arnold guy. They both laughed and told me I will always be skinny and to forget about it but within weeks I had my dad’s old weigh set and my dad bought me a second hand bench from the for sale section of the newspaper. Within 10 years of dedication to bodybuilding I reached my heaviest bodyweight of 260 pounds. Even today at 37 year old I am still over 240 pounds and I stay quite hard all year round. As a bodybuilder you can remain in good shape for the rest of your life if you keep training.
Although Arnold turns 60 today he still works out regularly within his busy schedule as Governor of California and I am sure his dedication to his training has been one of the reasons that has allowed him to keep a healthy body and mind and still continue to achieve the goals he sets for himself. I highly doubt if Arnold will ever read this article but I wanted to pay tribute to him on my Big-Arms.com website on his 60th birthday since he has had such a big impact on my life. Even though I am an Aussie I personally hope he becomes President one day. If any non American born person was ever going to become the President of the USA, Arnold would be that man.
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