Arnold talking openly about sex and drugs to Playboy magazine
Body building has come a long way since the day an immortal bully kicked sand into the face of Charles Atlas. Consider Arnold Schwarzenegger. At 6'2" and 240 pounds, he boasts a 57-inch chest, a 31-inch waist and 22-inch biceps. For six years running, he was voted Mr. Olympia, the supreme title in Professional body building. Now, at the age of 29, Schwarzenegger wants to become a movie star—a superstar, to be precise. He has already appeared in two movies: "Stay Hungry," an underrated Bob Rafelson film that starred Sally Field, and "Pumping Iron," a semidocumentary about the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, which was Schwarzenegger's final championship. He made the film to dispel the talk of homosexuality, steroids and obsessive narcissism that comes up whenever body building is mentioned. Most critics liked the movie, some didn't, but on one point all the critics agree: Bodybuilders may come and go, but there is only one Arnold.
As a kid in Graz, Austria, Schwarzenegger played soccer, ran and wrestled. He always seemed to have more energy than his friends, and at the age of 15 he had a vision—as others might see Christ—of himself standing on a stage, winning the world body-building championship. Against the advice of parents and peers, young Arnold devoted his life to that goal, training an unprecedented six hours a day. At the age of 19, he moved to Munich and won the European body-building championship. He turned pro in 1969 and was runner-up for the title of Mr. Olympia. The next year he won and was never thereafter seriously challenged.