Arnold Schwarzenegger had once come across a magazine with Reg Park’s picture on it, dressed as Hercules. The muscles and structure of the star’s body immediately inspired him to become the next Hercules. In a recent conversation with retired Navy officer and author Jocko Willink, he recalled how he began apeing his idol’s training routine to become a bodybuilding sensation.
Reg Park was a British bodybuilder living in South Africa with his family. He won the Mr. Universe in 1951, 1958, and 1965 and was colloquially known as Hercules due to his on-screen portrayal of the character. Schwarzenegger recalled meeting him at 19 after he stood second at the Mr. Universe 1966.
Before he got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Schwarzenegger’s road to becoming a bodybuilder was strewn with hurdles. Locals in Austria didn’t respect the sport, and there was no way he could train unless he squeezed his way into strength sports first. He picked powerlifting as his sport of choice and trained for competitions while practicing bodybuilding workouts at home.
This was where his idol played a huge role in shaping his career. Park had often spoken about his routine, including exercises like incline dumbbell presses, barbell presses, and many more. Schwarzenegger took these as a guide to form his workout and get jacked.
“I couldn’t copy everything because I didn’t have certain machines like I didn’t have a pulley machine and I didn’t have a leg extension machine, I didn’t have a calf machine…I didn’t have any of that.”
Despite these struggles, Schwarzenegger would manage to train for both sports. The interesting consequence of this was, how he always had an edge over other bodybuilders in his era due to his experience in strength training. When he finally met Park, the British star promised him a reward.
“That’s when he invited me and he said…this coming year, you have to win the Mr Universe contest…you could be the youngest Mr. Universe ever with the age of 20…if you win, I’m going to bring you down to South Africa, and you do a bunch of posing exhibitions for me, make some money.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Schwarzenegger won the contest in 1967 at 20, becoming the youngest Mr. Universe ever. Park invited him to South Africa, thus keeping his promise. This marked the beginning of a series of successes for the bodybuilding sensation, who ended up learning life lessons, from his stay with his idol.
How Reg Park taught Arnold Schwarzenegger the true power of his mind
At 76, Schwarzenegger has often talked about the right mindset to achieve the biggest accomplishments. This lesson was one of many that he learned from his idol, Park. During his stay in South Africa with the Hercules star’s family, the duo would train together every day. He recalled those significant memories in his book ‘Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story’.
Noticing how Park held immense power over his brain and body, Schwarzenegger witnessed how the limit was only in one’s mind. This observation inspired him to shoot for the stars and achieve more than what he would have expected.
