Arnold The Education of a BodyBuilder

Thoughts

Oh man, Arnold really hits home with this one. From his confidence to his mentality as a kid. I felt that I was reading the thoughts of my own mind. No wonder he is where he is today. The Education of a Bodybuilder is a two fold book. A first person tale of his come up in the bodybuilding world, and the latter half of the book details a routine for young and beginner bodybuilders. Always giving back that guy is.

There’s a lot in this book that you might not have ever known about Arnold. How he was fascinated with bodybuilding at an early age. How we was getting paid by the military to train, and how he escaped as well to go compete in a contest. It just shows the true drive, but also the reflection looking back at his achievements. Arnold has a good sense of self, and talks about how some of his behaviors were young, wild, and stupid. That growth is pretty telling about Arnold in his age now, being able to be humble and own up to his mistakes.

His approach to bodybuilding for his time was unique, and I didn’t realize how much foundation he actually laid for the typical gym bro and bodybuilding knowledge today. From diets, stretching, two a days, and entrepreneurship in the sport. The one thing this book does well is focus on his early bodybuilding days and not about his success in movies and politics later, which I feel like most books tend to sway towards his later years. Anyway, he doesn’t dive too deep into his exact routines if that’s what you are looking for, but he talks about what set himself apart from the others. Speaking of his competitors throughout this whole book Arnold looks up to Reg Park and many others, but speaks so highly of them.That’s cool to see, where you have arguably the greatest bodybuilder alive, but then Arnold is describing his friends and competitors with elaborate all seemingly more ‘sculpted’ then he is.

This is a book for a fan of Arnold, and his bodybuilding era. This is for the hardcore fan, with no nonsense of the movie and action stardom. He talks bluntly about his come up, rise, and attitude. It’s the perfect book for the kid or adult reading who can look at a story like this, and say you know what? Yes, I can do it.