- Arnold Schwarzenegger, 74, works out every day for up to 1.5 hours, rides a bike and lifts weights.
- As a professional bodybuilder, he used to work out for five hours a day, he told Insider.
- In his acting career, Schwarzenegger changed his training depending on his role.
Six decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger started bodybuilding, he still works out every day, he told Insider.
bodybuilding legend, actorand former politician who turns 75 on July 30, exercises up to 1.5 hours a day: biking for 45 to 60 minutes and lifting weights for 30 minutes.
Exercise is as much a part of your daily routine as eating and sleeping, and always has been, he said.
“Now I work out to maintain as much as I can as I get older,” he told Insider from Toronto, Canada, via Zoom, as he sipped the Austrian brandy.
Maintaining Muscle Is Much Easier Than Building It In The First Place – Personal Trainer Luke Worthington previously told Insider. However, muscle mass begins to gradually decrease from the age of 40, which is known as sarcopenia, nutritionist Nichola Ludlam-Raine previously told Insider.
“It’s a half hour of maintenance training every day,” Schwarzenegger said. “But the important thing is that I’ve always done it regularly.”
Schwarzenegger used to exercise for five hours a day
Schwarzenegger began lifting weights as a teenager in his native Austria, and in 1970, at the age of 23, he became the youngest winner of Mr. Olympia, considered the most prestigious bodybuilding competition, in his first contest.
Schwarzenegger won six more times between 1970 and 1980.
Although Schwarzenegger is still very active by most people’s standards, his current regimen is not a patchwork of how the former Mr. Olympia used to train, as a competitive body-builderhe lifted weights for five hours a day, he said.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1985.
Harry Langdon/Getty Images
Over the years, this amount of time has gradually decreased, he said, and Schwarzenegger has tailored his training based on his goal or acting role.
For his role in the 1976 comedy “Stay Hungry,” for example, the director asked Schwarzenegger to lose 30 poundshe said.
“A great thing about bodybuilding and Weight training is that you can really tailor it to sculpt your body no matter what the need is,” he said.
When he was cast in the eponymous role in the 1982 film “Conan the barbarian“Schwarzenegger had just won Mr. Olympia, but director John Milius wanted him to look ‘a little rounder, a little less cut,'” the actor said.
His physique too closely resembled that of a competitive bodybuilder, not the average person, Schwarzenegger said.
Fitness is like a game of chess, said Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger compares physical aptitude to a game of chess where there are so many different moves you can make.
Whether you want to change your physique or have a health or performance goal, this can be achieved with the right training and nutrition, he said.
“There are millions of movements you can do, millions of exercises, millions of training principles, just like with food supplements and nutrition,” Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger co-founded the sports supplement company Ladder with the four-time NBA champion Lebron James in 2018.
“If you want to gain weight, if you want to lose weight, if you want to keep it off, if you want to get more energy, whatever, you can sculpt and make adjustments,” Schwarzenegger said.
