Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder

"Arnold Schwarzenegger is the dominant figure in physical culture of our time. He came to own weight-lifting to such an extent that, because he is a bodybuilder, most people refer to all forms of weight training as bodybuilding, even though that’s no more accurate than referring to all forms of music as the waltz. Schwarzenegger also came to own the concept of muscle. So, if you have even a passing interest in contemporary physical culture, or particularly in weight training and muscle, Arnold’s memoir is a must-read. The book is funny, it’s candid. It is full of practical information. A lot of the best-known people in physical culture learned to lift weights by reading this book. It still serves as a good guide for an absolute beginner and it’s a great refresher for advanced lifters, too. Ancient Greek athletics began in a ritual religious context. Classicists such as Harvard’s Gregory Nagy believe that the oldest athletic event was a race from one altar to another. The distance of the race was about 200 modern meters. The purpose of this race was to be the first person to reach an altar to Zeus where a priest was standing with a torch. The winner would take that torch from the priest and light the fire of sacrificial offerings of meat to Zeus. This was the pivotal act in the preparation of a ritual feast involving the whole community. So, the victor wasn’t just winning for himself, he was winning for everybody. The strength that allowed him to win was seen not as an individual accomplishment, but as a gift from the gods—and he exercised that strength on behalf of the community. There’s a stark contrast between that ancient, communal understanding of athletics and our modern, individualistic view of competition."