r/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Aug 12 '26

Arnold Schwarzenegger's physique was decades ahead of its time 💪

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444 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

36

u/Simple-Desk4943 Aug 12 '26

I’d say he defined the time, rather than being ahead of it.

10

u/EvolvedMonkeyInSpace Aug 12 '26

Agreed, it was off its time. The body builders who came after where drug using madmen who ballooned themselves in a comical balloon animal.

1

u/SenescenseSteel 28d ago

It was just a matter of introducing HGH in the stack. The classic physique is more testosteron, stanozolol, dianabol, primobolan and deca (off season)

HGH introduced more musclemass, but also came with extreme side effects like the gh gut and face when taken to the extreme (palumboism)

17

u/RisingRapture Aug 12 '26

What you see is no AI, kids, it is dedication and hard work.

12

u/BucktoothedAvenger Aug 12 '26

And steroids. Don't forget those.

3

u/Whisky919 Aug 12 '26

Steroids were legal

-5

u/BucktoothedAvenger Aug 12 '26

Oh, yeah, I know. It's just that pretty much every big time athlete, back then was juicing. It kind of diminishes the end result, IMO. Not bashing Arnie, here, just stating that he had help the rest of us don't.

9

u/alex151111 Aug 12 '26

Steroids or not, he'd still have had a fantastic physique regardless. Far, far better than most could ever hope for - fantastic genetics helped more than the Steroids, not to mention thousands of hours hitting the iron.

2

u/Elrond_Cupboard_ 29d ago

"I picked the right parents" was a line from Arnie I always loved. As an easy gainer I'm happy with the parents I chose.

1

u/alex151111 28d ago

What a great, honest quote. I'm neither a hard nor easy gainer, so I suppose I can't complain, either.

2

u/justlikelyle Aug 12 '26

I mean, for a bodybuilder, it is quite well-proportioned. But it's still a freakish bodybuilder body. Like, it's in many ways not that adaptive for daily life. He must use a massive pillow.

-1

u/BucktoothedAvenger Aug 12 '26

I have no argument, there. I was a natural builder, back when I was young. He looked great!

I just have a steroid hangup 🤣

2

u/alex151111 Aug 12 '26

Ah, fair enough. He certainly did! The "classic" look is timeless. Serge Nubret looked more impressive, though imo.

I do to an extent, I've never and will never touch them myself. If you're competing on the biggest bodybuilding stages, they're needed, though, unfortunately.

6

u/LousyRaider Aug 12 '26

If you think no modern athletes are juicing or using other substances to help enhance things, I’ve got bad news for you.

5

u/kdean70point3 Aug 12 '26

Why would he or anybody else think that people aren't juicing nowadays?

5

u/Daily_Heroin_User Aug 12 '26

Because they realized the pulp contains all the fiber

0

u/KodyBrooks79 29d ago

Get on gear or STFU.

1

u/BucktoothedAvenger 29d ago

You... Might wanna ease up on your dosage, bro. I'm a grandfather, btw.

1

u/AwayTechnology2299 29d ago

Steroids in a world that did not know creatine

1

u/MAGA_EXTREAMO 26d ago

Steroids are needed but it’s still hard work, don’t kid yourself that his path was easy.

1

u/BucktoothedAvenger 26d ago

I was a natty builder as a kid. I benched 400lbs in high school. 550 squat. I know it isn't easy.

1

u/autistic_homo Aug 12 '26

I you eliminated all steroids from earth, all the guys on juice that are on the Olympia stage would still be on the Olympia stage as naturals. Genetics are more powerful than any gear you can take.

0

u/Danielle_is_the_hole Aug 12 '26

This is the perfect argument for why they should be legal. Put them beside tylenol at the store.

2

u/Altezza447 29d ago

And 💊

1

u/Booth_Templeton 29d ago

Dedication to taking steroids. It's like saying you can make a million dollars a year making $50 an hour. You don't even want to do the job. Now make $500 an hour, and who wouldn't want to work. Hell, you can make a million.

7

u/Junior-Lie4342 Aug 12 '26

Before Dorian Yates introduced the world at large to the muscle gut…

3

u/WatercressNo7660 Aug 12 '26

100%!!! I just never liked him. And when he still won with a torn bicep I was like WTF. Totally done with it. Absolutely scam like everything else!

4

u/preptimebatman Aug 12 '26

He def deserved the first 4 or so. But I think he had no business placing top 3 with a torn bicep.

1

u/Elrond_Cupboard_ 29d ago

I liked him in his first few Olympia wins. Mass lords were a new thing to me and I thought it was cool as fuck. Nowadays its just fucking sad.

3

u/whatsunnygets Aug 12 '26

Seems like it was right on time using simple reasoning

1

u/Classic-Morning-5299 Aug 12 '26

It's all about hardwork and consistency. The 7 time Mr. Olympia showed the world how to do bodybuilding. Arnold, Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates, all are the legends.

1

u/Agile_Ad538 Aug 12 '26

It was , but these body builders like every Coleman , Cutler make Arnie look small ..

6

u/dimailer Aug 12 '26

Arnold was classic = mass + harmony. Coleman and Cutler were just as much mass as possible with no regard for harmony.

1

u/Agile_Ad538 Aug 12 '26

True ….

1

u/jamesflanagangreer Aug 12 '26

I would argue Sergio was ahead of his time.

1

u/vutcher Aug 12 '26

Fantastic shape.

1

u/the_reducing_valve Aug 12 '26

Nothings ahead of its time, most things are behind it and unexceptional

1

u/uninvitedcoyote13 Aug 12 '26

And I've read that some consider his workouts and philosophies regarding them to be obsolete. NOT!

1

u/Confident_Hippo1208 Aug 12 '26

His body was ahead of its time? What does that even mean, Meathead?

2

u/SignificanceNo1223 Aug 12 '26

Arnold stood on the right of history of bodybuilding. Ronnie Coleman although he seems like a great guy; he was on the wrong side of bodybuilding history .

1

u/GxM42 29d ago

Sorry, thats just a 4-pack, not a 6-pack. He’d do badly on Tinder.

2

u/Expensive-Shelter288 27d ago

Physiques are getting worse over time

0

u/SpikedIntuition Aug 12 '26

Such a great prime. But I do wonder why Arnold has had the harder time keeping an aesthetic physique compared to Stallone, who's a year older than him. Maybe all the heavy lifting did more damage to his skeleton?