Arnold Schwarzenegger: discipline and working on your weak points
Arnold was seventeen when he told his parents about two possible paths: either the Austrian army, or the road to Germany and from there on to America. This story shows how a big goal, honest self-assessment and daily discipline began to truly shape a young bodybuilder.
Why Arnold saw his path so clearly
“Arnold Schwarzenegger Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Douglas Kent Hall” gives that period a fairly immediate tone. At home, one option seemed sensible to his father: army service, the officer’s path, firm order and a solid future. For the father, the Austrian army meant a secure career. For Arnold, it was more of a stopover.
His ultimate goal was different: to win Mr. Universe and get to America. He felt that Austria had become too confining, and not only in terms of space but in terms of thinking. Too much contentment, too little big dreaming. Frankly, this is a familiar spot in many athletes’ stories: your environment can be supportive, but it can also end up too small.
Still, the army had its value. It would have provided food, clothing, education and, for an athlete, the chance to train. Vienna had a military academy specialized in sports, which might well have had a decent gym. Arnold saw in it a system he could put to work for his own benefit.
Arnold and the honest list of weak points
At the time, Reg Park was a strong influence on him. He did the old, well-known exercises, because Reg trained that way too, yet he did not copy everything blindly. When barbell curls didn’t deliver enough, he added dumbbells. When the biceps needed a better shape, he thought about how to change the exercise and the muscle feel.
A simple truth: progress starts where a person stops fooling themselves. Arnold wrote the weak muscle groups on sheets of paper and hung them on the mirror, so they were in sight all the time. The triceps were the first to go on the list. He had trained biceps and triceps equally, but the biceps grew while the triceps lagged behind.
The legs were the same story. Even with plenty of hard squats, the legs didn’t develop as fast as the chest. The shoulders didn’t improve as quickly as the back. After two years it was clear that some areas had hardly changed at all. That was the point to rebuild the training program rather than simply repeat more of the same.
What did he actually change?
He added exercises, experimented with angles and judged the muscles by results. It was not a quick trick. It was a slow, never-ending process. At eighteen, his body was not yet evenly developed, and the weak spots demanded intense work.
Arnold in the army: order, tanks and training
“I was drafted into the army in 1965,” Arnold says in the story. The service lasted a year, and after that a choice about the future could be made. The army suited him surprisingly well, because strict order and discipline were nothing new. At home, his father had acted like a general: food, studying and behavior all had to be in order.
His father’s influence also led to him becoming a tank driver in a tank brigade. It sounds impressive, but he admitted he wasn’t the ideal man for it. He was too tall and only eighteen years old, while the minimum age for a tank crew member could be twenty-one. Even so, he wanted to do it.
The location of the camp mattered too. It was near Graz, so he could keep training. Bodybuilding was still the top priority. The uniform, the daily schedule and the tanks were all around, but his sights stayed set on the stage.
What Arnold teaches today’s trainee
So what actually happens when a person looks their weak points in the eye? Your training becomes more precise. You no longer choose exercises only by what you like or what comes out well. You also choose by what needs work.
- Set down one clear goal, not ten at once.
- Write down the muscle groups or skills that are lagging behind.
- Change your program based on results, not on mood.
- Keep your discipline even when progress is slow.
- Don’t let your environment decide how big your goal is allowed to be.
This doesn’t mean every young trainee should dream of the Mr. Universe title. But the mindset is valuable. If the chest develops and the legs fall behind, the legs need more attention. If the biceps grow and the triceps don’t keep up, you need to find a better way of working. In bodybuilding, as in life, chance won’t fix what you refuse to notice.
At the end of the story, an invitation arrived to compete in the Mr. Europe contest in the junior class. The competition took place in Stuttgart, Germany. He was in good shape, but the waiting list for leave from the unit ran to six weeks. In the end, Arnold made his choice: he slipped out and climbed over the unit’s wall with nothing but the clothes on his back.
This isn’t advice to break the rules. It’s a sign of how much tension can build when your goal and the system pull in different directions. In his story, bodybuilding mattered more than the convenient option.
FAQ
Why did Arnold write down his weak muscle groups?
Because a problem that’s out of sight tends to come back. With his triceps, legs and shoulders listed by the mirror, he had to deal with them every day.
Was discipline something new for Arnold?
No. He grew up in a strict home environment and carried the same attitude into his training. The army simply amplified that sense of order even further.
What can the average lifter take from this story?
Don’t train only your strong points. Take an honest look at what’s lagging behind, change your program and give it time. That’s where balance comes from.
(To be continued)
Author: joker
Source: WHO – physical activity.
Come and train! ArtGym
