While Arnold Schwarzenegger is probably the fittest 76-year-old on the block, even he couldn’t escape some serious injuries throughout his life. The former bodybuilder was born with a congenital heart condition that led him to multiple surgeries and scary situations. However, he managed to bounce back and film for his movies.
In his daily newsletter, Arnold’s Pump Club, the ‘Terminator’ star answered a fan’s concerns about recovery. Sustaining serious injuries requires time to heal, and the fan was curious to know how the star pulled off the balance between his routine and recovery.
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The fan reported how they were suffering from a rotator cuff repair and wanted Schwarzenegger’s advice. How does one ensure full recovery while also keeping routine training in check? In fact, the former bodybuilder suffered from many injuries, either due to his condition or on-set accidents. So how did he keep himself occupied?
Schwarzenegger revealed his philosophy behind training during injury. Since the body was still healing, apart from basic physiotherapy, overexertion could be dangerous. Therefore, he admitted:
“I treated my PT the same way I treated my workouts. I marked it off, did my tally marks even in the hospital on the dry erase board after my heart surgery.”
Those who train regularly often have periodical goals set up to achieve. Injuries might hamper the progress of these goals, and that’s what Schwarzenegger aimed to fight. Treating his physiotherapy as a daily workout, the star could heal through intensive open-heart surgery without further complications.
Acknowledging how training every single day consistently is not always possible, the Austrian Oak ended his note with an observation.
“The key is that we still have a goal in front of us!”
So what happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger during his heart surgery?
The star might have glossed over the fact that he bounced back from major heart surgery, but the 76-year-old went through a scary episode. Schwarzenegger was born with a congenital heart condition that needed medical attention in 1997. That was when he had his first surgery.
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A pulmonic valve replacement was necessary for the star since heart conditions ran in his family. The next replacement he had was in 2018. However, he surprised fans in 2020 when he reported that he had to be wheeled in for emergency surgery for the third time. That was when he got an aortic valve replacement due to a “mistake” during a non-invasive procedure.
