Thursday, June 15, 2023

Arnold (documentary, Netflix)

The new Netflix docuseries about Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Arnold" has a lot going on. It's difficult to believe that one man could have done so much, but listening to Arnie's philosophy as he's interviewed today, at 75, you can see how he managed to push himself to get it all done. 

One thing that stood out to me is almost the first scene, a couple of minutes in. Arnold, at 22, wins the Mr. World championship, the career breakthrough that led to a string of bodybuilding titles. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1970

That's him (from Muscle Builder, reprinted at the Joe Weider website.) Incredible size--he weighed 230lbs. There are (nowadays) much bigger bodybuilders with much better cuts (and much better steroid regimes, it should be said), but this photo was taken when he was 22.  Talk about genetically gifted. I don't know how it's even possible for someone to grow this much by that age. Building muscle takes time as well as hard work. 

From the same webpage, here's Arnold in a line-up with Sergio Oliva (R) and Reg Park (L) at that Mr. World. 




Arnold is 22, Reg is 42 and Sergio is 29.  I can just about believe a man could get to Sergio's size approximately 17 years after puberty, but to get to Arnold's size after 10?

Anyway, there's about three hours more of the documentary after this, Arnold going from (sorry, I'm going to say it...) strength to strength. Jimmy Page once said that he (Jimmy) had followed Crowley's precepts, which he described as first determining your true will, then "forge ahead like a steam train."  In Arnold's case I guess he was built like a steam train and carried on from there. 

(I also watched the Arnie vehicle "FUBAR" which is also new on Netflix. Although Arnie is his usual lovable self, the series is barely watchable. If you're interested to see how many cliches and tropes it's possible to throw against the wall and see what sticks and then pick up the ones that didn't stick and use them as well, you can watch it with a cliche bingo card. If that's not your thing, watch something else.)


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