Apparently 4 years.... Arnold stopped for like 5 years (1975-1980) and he came back inside of 6 weeks SUPPOSEDLY.... Sergio, Ferrigno and many other guys did it at Levrone's age.
Levrone would be a serious threat at the 2010 Arnold's. Wouldn't that be cool for him to win it in 2010 and shut all these fat asses up once and for all.
no, not 6 weeks. He trained almost a full year for it, pretending to be training for Conan (which was in pre-production only after the 80 Olympia), he was supposed to judge the 80 O, and when people started to suspect about a month out, the 6 week excuse came up. George Butler was called up 2/3 months before by Arnold to do the mini doc. He told Butler, "dont worry, Im ready", when Butler asked if he was serious.