“In weeks that followed, I refined this vision until it was very specific. I was going to go for the Mr. Universe title; I was going to break records in power lifting; I was going to Hollywood; I was going to be like Reg Park. The vision became so clear in my mind that I felt like it had to happen. There was no alternative; it was this or nothing. My mother noticed right away that something was different. I was coming home with a big smile. I told her that I was training, and she could see I found joy in becoming stronger.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Just like in bodybuilding, failure is also a necessary experience for growth in our own lives, for if we're never tested to our limits, how will we know how strong we really are? How will we ever grow? ”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Mass is vital to a bodybuilder’s physique. But it is the shape and the quality of this mass that win contests.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Kurt Marnul can win Mr. Austria," I thought, "and he's already told me that I could too if I train hard, so that's what I'm going to do." This thought made the hours of lifting tons of steel and iron actually a joy. Every painful set, every extra rep, was a step toward my goal of winning Mr. Austria and entering the Mr. Europe competition.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Because lower-back pain afflicts more than three-quarters of all Americans at some point, the sit-up is fairly universally contraindicated.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“From the bodybuilding days on, I learned
that everything is reps and mileage. The more miles you ski, the better a skier you become; the more reps you do, the better your body.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“If you want to turn a vision into reality, you have to give 100% and never stop believing in your dream.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“I love it when people say that something can’t be done. That’s when I really get motivated; I like to prove them wrong.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The better you get, the less you run around showing off as a muscle guy. You know, you wear regular shirts-not always trying to show off what you have. You talk less about it. It's like you have a little BMW - you want to race the hell out of this car, because you know it's just going 110. But if you see guys driving a ferrari or a lamborghini, they slide around at 60 on the freeway because they know if they press on that accelerator they are going to go 170. These things are the same in every field.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“All I know is that the first step is to create a vision, because when you see the vision – the beautiful vision – that creates the want power.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“If you don’t find the time, if you don’t do the work, you don’t get the results.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“For me, life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The competition physique should be as much pure lean mass as possible, with any excess body fat stripped away. As the saying goes, “You can’t flex fat.” But fat on your body makes you feel bigger than you actually are, and this sense of being bigger is psychologically satisfying to most bodybuilders.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
