Some clearly don't understand strength. Arnold never benched 500 pounds. At his strongest he might have had a mid-400s in him. The man had fantastic genetics for pec size and worked out several times each week without strength being a goal. Arnold was never a particularly large man, from an elite strength perspective, "only" being mid-200s during his competitive years. Back then, to be this light and of champion-level strength required incredibly focussed strength training, not the muscle-pumping routines shown in Pumping Iron.
Lou was likely capable of pressing 500 at his biggest but also never gave two shits towards being maximally strong. I seriously doubt he ever even attempted such a poundage.
Today, many more can lift such weight because of, mostly, the amounts and kinds of drugs used. There are go-nowhere wanks everywhere who routinely plug two or three grams worth of hormones into themselves, for fuck sake. That is A LOT. In Arnold's day this would have been considered suicide by most in the scene.
