Interview to Arnold Schwarzenegger about his career as a bodybuilder.

Interviewer: Benjamin Samaniego Erazo, RUT: 19.015.228-6.

1) Q: When do you discovered your passion for sports?

A: I had been participating in sports, like soccer, since I was 12 but I was 15 when I
discovered my personal passion. I meta ll these athletes who were working out by the lake
in my village, doing chin-ups on the branches of a tree, and the introduced me to the local
weightlifting club. But i wanted more than that, I wanted to be unique, to win, to become
a professional bodybuilding champion.

2) Q: It was difficult to became a professional bodybuilding in that years?

A: Yes it was really difficult, it’s easy to want to be a world champion bodybuilder, but it’s
another thing to actually do it. When I came to America, there was no money in
bodybuilding, so besides going to school and getting an education, I also worked as a
bricklayer and took acting classes. If you want to get to the top, you learn that there’s no
shortcut to anything.

3) Q: Who public figures inspired you?

A: The walls of my bedroom were plastered with the pictures of all these athletes I
admired. I was particularly fascinated with Reg Park. Also Mohammed Ali it’s still an
inspiration for me, for his mentality to have the greatest confident to become a champion.

4) Q: How important do you think it’s having a goal?

A: It’s the most important thing. If you don’t have a goal where to go you drift around and
never end up anywhere. Have a goal it’s a part to be happy, visualising your goal and going
after it makes it fun.

5) Q: What things bother you?

A: The negative people, the people who say: I dont have time, we all have the time, the
day have 24 hours, you need to be organized and don’t waste any single minute of ours
live.
6) Q: Why do you think people say I don’t have time?

A: Because it’s the easy way, have an excuse to don’t do that, to not going out of his
comfort zone. Don’t be one of those persons who in the majority on the time like to
criticize.

7) Q: Are you afraid of failure?

A: No I never been afraid of fail. I have always told everyone, don’t be afraid of failing,
because there is nothing wrong with failing, you have to fail in order to climb that Ladder,
there is no one that doesn’t fail, I guarantee. What it’s not okay it’s when you fail and you
stay down, winners fail and get up.

8) Q: What lessons has bodybuilding left you in daily life?

A: Be disciplined, organized, believe in me, you learn to love your body, but it’s not
neccesary that you became a bodybuilder to have this lessons, you could do any sport,
reading, study, etc, whatever makes you happy.

9) Q: What’s worst advice you’ve ever received in your life? Why?

A: I don’t have one specific worst advice in my life. Instead I recieved a lot of comments of
negative people in my early years in bodybuilding, even in my career as an actor.
Naysayers tell me: No, that is imposible, you can’t do it, you can’t have a role, you are too
muscular, your accent it’s too weird, etc, but I don’t lisen’t to that people, in every It’s
imposible I received, I listened It’s possible.

10) Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in your life? Why?

A: I would say believe in yourself, follow your vision, not the vision of the rest. My dad
wanted that I became a police officer like him, my mother wanted that I have a “normal
life”, she wanted to I finish my studies and have a bunch of kids. You are the owner of your
life and you can follow whatever your vision is.

11) Q: What advice you would gave to every young who it’s starting to lifting weights?
 A: I give two principal advices, one is never forget your start, so you can see your progress
and that give you the extra motivation when you need. The second advices it’s focusing on
get stronger, I know every young guy want to have big bíceps, but you need to focus first
in multi joint moves or compound moves, like the squats, bench press and deadlift. Once
you gained some good lean muscle you are ready to add a great variety of excercices to
your routine.

12) Q: What’s the best advice you can give to the people, not only in matters of
bodybuilding.

A: Set a goal, and follow that goal. The majority of people (around 75% of people in EEUU)
doesn’t like what they do or in what they work, because they don’t have a vision about
what they wanted to do, they just aimlessly drift around and there is a job opening, so
they get the job because they need to work, they need the money. But then, when time
passes, they start to be unhappy, they see his work as a torture. So if you think, the
minority of population really enjoy what they are doing in life, if you want to be part of
that minority, set a goal, and follow your vision, once you are close to accomplishing that
goal you are going to be happy, no matter if it is to be stronger, finish your career, there
it’s not better feeling to accomplish a long term goal. Also, I hate plan B, because I said
earlier, you give the opportunity to the no sayers people comment on you, the people
who say to you that’s impossible, because the option of have a plan B you start doubting
yourself and that’s dangerous, because you would start thinking, if my plan doesn’t work I
have a fall back plan, a plan B. We take away the energy away from plan A, and it’s very
important to know that we function better if there is no safety red, and have a plan B
become a safety red. It’s knowing people perform better without a safety red, without a
plan B and the main reason of people to have a plan B it’s because they are afraid of fail,
and as I mentioned before, there is nothing wrong with failing.

This is the end of the interview, I hope everyone who listen this got the necessary
motivation to set a goal or keep fighting to accomplish yours.