Arnold’s Roots

One thing I like about Arnold Schwarzenegger is that he has never turned his back on the activity that made him famous: bodybuilding. Having risen from the bodybuilding ranks first into Hollywood and now into the upper reaches of politics, some might expect Arnold to be a bit embarrassed about his origins–especially after the raunchiness of those days became an issue in the recall campaign. Not so, however; he continues to sponsor the Arnold Classic, one of bodybuilding’s biggest events. Here he hands out the trophy to this year’s winner, Jay Cutler:

Here, Arnold interviews the Figure International winner:

This shot of Arnold, in front of a magazine cover from his heyday as a bodybuilder, shows how sadly shrunken he is. Arnold quit taking steroids at some point, and he probably doesn’t have much time to get into the gym these days:

Far from distancing himself from his bodybuilding days, Arnold has announced that he will take over as Executive Editor of the two flagship publications of Joe Weider’s empire: Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazines. While the time commitment will no doubt be modest, Arnold obviously needs neither the money, the notoriety nor the additional headaches that will come from increased involvement with Weider’s magazines.
So why does he do it? I assume for the same reason he doesn’t turn his back on the sport that put him on the map: loyalty. It was Joe Weider who gave Arnold his start in bodybuilding and in life, and Schwarzenegger doesn’t forget his friends. An attractive quality, if you ask me.