Men_s Health Australia - April 2016__

74 APRIL 2016

He told you he’d be back. With Arnie returning to

these shores this month for fitness expo The

Arnold Classic Australia, MH hears from the actor

directors, strongmen and others who helped

shape his path. The result is a unique total recall o

the life and work of a true Hollywood icon

BY JOHN NAUGHTON

IN ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER’S

Encyclopaedia of Modern Bodybuilding

there’s a sub-chapter heading entitled

“Fear of Smallness”. Dealing with body-fat

percentages, it’s a passage almost as brief

as the trunks that used to adorn his nether

regions during the time when he captured

seven Mr. Olympia titles. Arnold has never

really done small. Or, for that matter, fear.

Schwarzenegger has always preached the

power of visualisation, but what has separated

him from others subscribing to the same

philosophy is the vast scale of his ambition

and his ability – undaunted by the obstacles in

his path – to see himself achieving greatness.

Seemingly, the only thing bigger than his body

has been the size of his dreams. Thus in the

three acts that have comprised his life so far he

has all but invented the sport of bodybuilding,

become the biggest movie star in the world

and governed an economy bigger than

Russia’s for seven years. Who else on Earth

has achieved so much in three such discrete

disciplines? It’s like Usain Bolt also becoming

a chess grandmaster and head chef at Noma.

While speaking Mandarin.

Now, he’s embarked on an unlikely fourth

act, a return to the big screen, first with last

year’s return to his most famou

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