Muscle Digest: What do you think about your victory at Mr. Olympia 80?
Arnold Schwarzenegger: I'm very happy about this victory. First: this was my seventh victory in these competitions. The victory raised the number of my records, as well as this victory over many new bodybuilders who have appeared over the past five years. I didn't speak out against them before. It was a great feeling - I beat all the new athletes. However, I must say that I was not in peak shape at these competitions, compared to, for example, 1975. My friends told me this, and I myself saw it in photographs. But this was enough to defeat these guys and win the competition. The victory was very difficult, because... The competitors were in excellent shape, which made these competitions very rough, which was more so than in my other starts.
Muscle Digest: How much percentage do you rate your terrain compared to the best terrain?
Arnold: I think it's somewhere around 90%.
Muscle Digest: Which bands were lagging behind?
Arnold: In my opinion, the overall definition was not perfect. I also haven’t been on stage for 5 years, this was my first meeting with the audience. I was surprised that during the compulsory program I had to perform to music. This victory was very difficult for me.
Muscle Digest: You've said in the past that you're tired. What made you change this statement, and at what point did this happen? Do we understand that the decision was not made until the last minute?
Arnold: That's right, I started training after a vacation in Europe at the end of July, beginning of August. We had a meeting with the directors of the film "Conan" - they decided to shoot the film in London and Spain in October. Conan was very healthy and well built, and also muscular. The director of the film asked if I could make the weight 220 pounds (105 kg) for filming in October, although he had previously asked me to weigh 215 pounds (97.5 kg). I agreed. However, I have to be as lean as possible at this weight. He said that you don’t need the same type of terrain as in competitions, you need to look muscular and big, because... During filming, the weight will change. In October, the director wanted me to weigh 230 or 240 pounds. I trained very hard - once a day, then twice, more and more intensely and harder, and when there was little time left before the competition, Vader and Franco (approx. we are talking about Franco Colombo) told me: “Why don’t I perform at “Mr. Olympia" and don't change "Mr. Olympia"?"
Muscle Digest: Who said that? Franco and who else?
Arnold: And Vader, Joe Weider. They said why don't I try to change the results of Mr. Olympia. This happened 3 weeks before the competition. I still refused, I really didn't want to perform. I'm tired. I'm risking too much. But one day I felt the desire to try - you know, it didn’t even happen consciously.
Muscle Digest: Were you planning to perform a demonstration program?
Arnold: No, I had to judge the competition.
Muscle Digest: When did you make your final decision?
Arnold: 2 or 3 weeks before the competition.
Muscle Digest: You didn't tell anyone about this?
Arnold: No one, because. I didn't know if I could stand it all. I could not do as Paul Graham advised - sign up for the starting list; I was not confident in myself. I've been working really hard, in the last two weeks I've had a lot of injuries due to overtraining and I've had to have cortisone injections for my shoulders. Cortisone retains water in the body. My ankles were swollen, but Franco said that was a side effect from the cortisone. I said that I would pose all day to improve the terrain and remove the water. I spent Friday posing and getting more and more ripped. After all this, I asked Ben Weider to tell Bill Pearl that I was participating in the competition.
Muscle Digest: When did you do this?
Arnold: Friday evening, the day before the competition.
Muscle Digest: Was this decision a tactical move? Were they surprised to hear this?
Arnold: I don’t know how others reacted, because... I lived in another hotel. Dennis Tinerino and others lived in the same hotel. The rest lived on the Sydney coast. Apart from Tinerino, I didn’t communicate with anyone else. I did not meet anyone until I arrived at the Opera House on Saturday at noon. There I saw Christina and Frank Zain. We shook hands, they laughed and joked: go back to the hall or something like that. Christina: "We wish you success, because today you really need it." I replied: “Yes, you are right.” After that, we had a meeting on weight categories, one or two weight categories, and also about refereeing - whether it is necessary to change judges. Finally, Bill Pearl was eliminated as a judge, Chris Dickerson was eliminated, and Bill Drake was eliminated because of me. But I really didn’t know the reaction of my opponents. I felt a certain coldness in my approach, but this always happens before a competition.
Muscle Digest: We want to ask a few specific questions that many people have been wondering: the names of the authors are not important. On the one hand, we heard that you were the best that night, despite shortcomings in muscle definition - and that the fight was very stubborn, victory was not clear until the last minute?
Arnold: I have to say that it was. It was a difficult battle. I didn't know anything about musical accompaniment until someone told me about it and it threw me off balance. I think some guys posed better than me.
Muscle Digest: Did no one warn you about the need for musical accompaniment?
Arnold: No, however, they had a recording of "Ixodes", which was the music I performed to in 1975, so I chose that again.
Muscle Digest: The second thing we heard was that when the mandatory posing began, you did everything your own way, and not the way the judges required. Still, judging by the protocols, you received the most points for the compulsory program.
Arnold: That's a lie. Looking at the judges' reports, you will see that judge Julien Rlommaert reduced the score for my behavior on stage. He gave me 18 points because... I, in his opinion, did not follow the judges’ commands, did not do the poses that they asked. However, we can not talk about Arnold's new behavior, but about the old behavior to which I always remained faithful: first I did the pose that the judges required, and then my own. This is how I spoke against S. Oliva in 1970. After all, when you know that you are not very good in this pose, then you try to make the judges forget about your shortcoming by doing the second pose. If the judges ask to show the abdominals, I will do this pose, but not more than 3 seconds and after that I will do the “most muscular” pose. The judges have the option to ignore my second pose or accept it. And I did it, but it was not new, strange behavior. The rules had changed a bit and I was waiting for someone to warn me.
Part 2
Muscle Digest: People said that you made posing a joke, that your performance took precedence over sports performance and that you made entertainment out of the show?
Arnold Schwarzenegger: I can't agree with that. On stage I am a personality. I'm especially happy when I go on stage. Sometimes I do everything with humor, but this is not a new behavior. -In South Africa, while posing with Franco, there were a lot of jokes. We laughed and talked. We pushed each other and joked around, but it was a serious rivalry, and Franco wanted to take the title from me. It's the same with Sergio. The kids these days are very serious, but I don't blame them for that. Probably now there are different times, new things that I don’t understand and which seem very serious to them. However, I will always remain true to my behavior. If I want to joke on stage, I will do it, but not out of disrespect for the sport. Quite the contrary, I did a lot for sports.
Muscle Digest: Some have said that another Mr. Olympia win will help keep you a movie star and promote a new role as Conan. Does this have any basis?
Arnold: The Mr. Olympia competition has nothing to do with Conan. They add nothing and take nothing away from the picture. I don't need advertising to win. After all, I have won so many times, and this victory no longer solves anything. I didn’t want international publicity, I didn’t want to be talked about as a reborn bodybuilding star, because... I devoted a lot of time to the goal of becoming an actor. There were no plans for advertising. After all, the star "Conan" - 5 times "Mr. Universe" and 6 times "Mr. Olympia" sounds just as good as 5 times "Mr. Universe" and 7 times "Mr. Olympia" . No difference. Universal invested 10-15 million in the film, so we got enough from it. I didn't need the Mr. Olympia competition for the film to be successful.
Muscle Digest: How much did you weigh on the day of the show?
Arnold: 225-230 lbs.
Muscle Digest: Some people claimed that the judges at the competition were your friends?
Arnold: No one could say that. When you devoted 18 years to bodybuilding, when you organized world championships for five years, when you are involved in the politics of bodybuilding, then you are friends with everyone and every judge. We live in a certain world, but if the judges at competitions choose you, it is for a completely different reason. I already said that my best friends were not for me. For example, Dan Howard, one of the judges and my ski partner, put me in third place, and my old friend from Belgium Blommert put me in sixth or seventh. It was with him that I had the most friendly relations. Frank Zane spoke bitterly about the competition after losing to Franco in 1976. The competition and judging were really not up to par. Franco said the opposite - the competition was wonderful, because he won! The next year, when Frank Zane won, the same people judged and everything was the same as the year before, he told me: “Thank you, Arnold, it was the most wonderful attempt of my life. The judging was wonderful, everything was great, I really I want to thank you." And in the next two years he told me the same thing. And Robbie Robinson and Bowyer Coe were disappointed with the refereeing. I think that after every competition the picture is the same, the winner always says that everything was wonderful, and the rest - that it was unfair. I'm the kind of person, if I lose, I was either fat or this guy is better. I remember how Zane "beat" me in 1968. He was better than me. He had better relief, that was obvious. He proved that volume doesn't always win. When Sergio beat me in 1969, it was clear that he was better, I agreed with it and was happy.
Muscle Digest: Some participants said that this was wrong, they trained for a whole year, and Arnold came, who had not competed for 5 years, trained for 2-3 months and won. What do you think about it?
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Arnold: There can be no such question. You can't say at competitions: "I trained for so long, but Arnold only trained for 8 weeks." It won't help. If you are in a car race with a car that you have invested all your money in, and Paul Newman gets a brand new car from the factory and wins the competition. This does not mean that he won unfairly, but that he spent less effort on winning. I have a rule - to achieve greater success with the least amount of effort. This is why I think Mike Mentzer's training principles are very suitable for many bodybuilders, because... The greatest success is achieved with the least effort.
Muscle Digest: Suppose you lose?
Arnold: It would be scary, especially losing to a kid like Chris Dickerson. Losing to Frank Zane, Franco Colombo or Sergio Oliva is one thing, but losing to Dickerson would be a big blow.
Posted ImageMuscle Digest: Have you seen any slides or photos of these competitions?
Arnold: No. They will be very useful to me for a new book in the future. So I'll go to the reporters and get some good pictures.
Muscle Digest: People said that you weren't in the best shape, that you shouldn't have won. What can you answer?
Arnold: I'm not like other bodybuilders. I have so many other things to do that I don't pay attention to such things. The day after Olympia, I left Sydney, flew home, put on a suit and went to Columbus to organize the Mr. Universe competition. I didn't even talk about it. If you measure the reaction of the audience, you will notice that my performance was greeted with greater applause than others. In my opinion, if there are as many complications this year as you say, it is because these guys were shocked. They put a lot of time and effort into preparation. It was a shock to go up against someone who had trained for such a short time and won. In the past, you could lose glory in competitions. Now it's money. The guys are planning what they will do with a check for 20 or 30 thousand dollars. Things are getting too serious. The guys sit and expect rewards from the money and effort invested, but if you don’t win competitions, then the money is lost. But they should do other things, like me or Franco. He made great efforts to obtain a medical degree. While the boys were lying on the beaches, Franco was laying bricks and cement to earn money for classes at medical college. Bodybuilders shouldn't wait for a check, they should do other things too.
Muscle Digest: Some judges put you in third, fourth or fifth place. How do you rate this?
Arnold: I feel like a winner. I am very happy about this victory.
Who is interested in "The New Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding" by Arnold Schwarzenegger with the participation of Bill Dobbins?
Link, there are several parts! At the bottom of the page there is a transition to new chapters or parts
