Arnold Schwarzenegger Talks Bodybuilding, Steroid Use on ‘The Howard Stern Show'

Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared last Wednesday on The Howard Stern Show for a nearly two-hour interview to promote his upcoming book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life (out October 24). During the sit-down, he explained why he felt his success in bodybuilding was greater than some of his peers, and spoke about the increased use of steroids within the industry.

When Stern asked Schwarzenegger if the star found it peculiar that many of his contemporaries trained just as much as he did without achieving the same success, the former California governor responded frankly that he didn’t.

“A lot of it is genetics,” he said. “Some of it is they have no genetic ability to ever become a Mr. Universe or Mr. Olympia. And they know that. They have fun with the training and all that and then become trainers or instructors and make a lot of money from that. But in most cases, it’s because their head is not there.”

Schwarzenegger elaborated that the difference often comes down to people who “sculpt” their bodies as opposed to those who are “piling on mass.”

“I did my sets always until it burned. I was aching. There was pain,” the True Lies star recalled. “I had to realize the more pain there is, the more resistance there is, the more the muscle will grow. Whereas these other guys just went through the motion. If you just go through the motion, it’s not going to happen.”

The FUBAR actor then gave his opinion on the use of performance-enhancing drugs, which he sees as antithetical to the idea of fitness. “It’s called body-building, not body-destroying,” Schwarzenegger joked. “Don’t you know what this is all about? It’s about building a healthy body so that you’re fit, you feel strong, you feel energetic. That’s why you go to the gym, not to destroy the body. It’s ridiculous.”

Schwarzenegger admitted to using small amounts of steroids early on in his career but said it was nowhere near the level some bodybuilders are now taking. “I remember we took some of that when I was competing, but it was always under doctor supervision. You’d take it like two months [or] three months before [a competition].”

He concluded by saying those looking for a shortcut to their wildest dream were destined to fail. “To me, it’s all about hard work. There’s no shortcut. You can only strengthen your character and become a really strong person inside if you have resistance. If you fail, if you get up again, if you work hard, if you work your ass off. The more you struggle, the further you’re going to go and the stronger you’re going to get.”

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life hits shelves on October 24.