Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, confesses he struggles with his aging body and feels like ‘damaged goods’ in candid interview: ‘It just sucks’
Arnold Schwarzenegger confessed he’s still coming to terms with his body image as a 76-year-old man.
During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, the actor and former California governor revealed feeling like ‘damaged goods’ and admitted that seeing signs of aging ‘sucks.’
The actor shared that he’s struggled with the body he now sees in the mirror after spending most of his life in rock-solid shape as a bodybuilding champion and action hero of Hollywood.
‘I kind of just smile because everyday I do look in a mirror and I say, “Yea, you suck. Look at this body. Look at those pectoral muscles that used to be firm and perky and really powerful with a striation in there. Now they’re just hanging there.’
‘I mean, what the hell is going on here?”‘ he told Stern, while promoting his new self-help book Be Useful: Seven Tools For Life.
‘It sucks’: Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted he’s still coming to terms with aging and his body image as a 76-year-old man after being ‘hailed for years as this supreme body’
While the seven-time Mr. Olympia champion knows most people deal with the same body image crisis, he made the case that most people don’t know what it feels like to go from am idealized ‘Superman’ physique to an average man.
‘Most of the people have never been in shape. So what does it mean in getting out of shape? They always looked at a sh**y body. So therefore it gets sh**tier as time goes on,’ he explained.
‘It’s just that when you’ve been hailed for years as this supreme body, and you have the definition and you see the veins coming down your abs, and you see veins on top of your chest and now you cut and roll the clock 50 years and you’re standing there and you don’t see that anymore,’ he said of his changing body.
Although the Terminator star clarified that he looks better than the ‘majority’ of people his age, he still isn’t satisfied.
‘I never, ever thought about that when I was 30-years-old or 40-years old that this [was] going to happen,’ he added. ‘It just sucks.’
The Thai, Austria native then turned the topic of conversation back on the host by praising him for staying lean.
‘I’m always amazed at how lean you stayed. You didn’t gain any weight,’ the father of five said to Stern.’But this is smart. You can only live longer and healthier if you are lean.’
He went on to reveal he only eats two meals a day: breakfast and dinner, in his strategy to try to stay lean and in shape.
Harsh reality: ‘I kind of just smile because everyday I do look in a mirror and I say, “Yea, you suck. Look at this body. Look at those pectoral muscles that used to be firm and perky and really powerful with a striation in there. Now they’re just hanging there,’ the actor and former politician revealed to Howard Stern
Coming to terms: Although the Terminator star clarified that he looks better than the ‘majority’ of people his age, he still isn’t satisfied with his body at 76
High praise: ‘I’m always amazed at how lean you stayed. You didn’t gain any weight,’ the father of five said to Stern.’But this is smart. You can only live longer and healthier if you are lean’
Realization: Schwarzenegger revealed everything changed for him after he had open heart surgery at 50, leaving him feeling like ‘damaged goods’ for the first time
The Predator actor says everything changed for him after he had open heart surgery at 50, leaving him feeling like ‘damaged goods’ for the first time.
‘That was the first time where I felt kind of vulnerable,’ the exercise guru said.
‘Where all of a sudden the doctor says, “You shouldn’t lift that heavy anymore. Or just pay attention when you breathe. When you exercise exhale, don’t keep the air pressed inside because that is too much stress on your valves in your heart.
Schwarzenegger went on to share that he doesn’t think life is the same as when he was 30 or 40-years-old ‘where you could do anything and you never had to think about anything’.
‘Now all of sudden you have to start thinking about those things to warm up for this, and to warm up for that. But am I upset about it? No, because there’s nothing I can do about it.’
He tries to take aging all in stride, which includes taking on those challenges as they come his way
It’s the only choice we have,’ he said before adding, ‘The bottom line is I’m 76-years-old. I’m full of energy. I’m full of enthusiasm. I’m as enthusiastic and as excited as I was when I was 30-years-old.’
Legendary: The native of Thai, Austria first gained recognition for being a bodybuilding champion that includes seven Mr. Olympia titles
Action hero status: Schwarzenegger used his ripped physique to forge ahead with a wildly successful career in film, first as an action hero
Promo mode: Schwarzenegger is currently out promoting his upcoming new self-help book Be Useful: Seven Tools For Life, which is scheduled to be available on October 24
Schwarzenegger then went deeper into his mindset to disclose how he takes each day as it comes.
‘I just see mountains in front of me to be climbed,’ he said. ‘And so as long as I see those mountains I keep my enthusiasm and I keep my excitement and that fire in the belly to keep climbing and climbing and that’s what it’s all about.’
Schwarzenegger’s upcoming new book Be Useful: Seven Tools For Life is scheduled to be available on October 24.
In it he shares his seven rules to follow to ‘realize your true purpose in life’ by opening up about his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement that includes being at one time in his life the world’s greatest bodybuilder; the world’s highest-paid movie star; and the leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy as California governor from 2003-2011.
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