Arnold Schwarzenegger Aghast With Bodybuilders Risking Their Lives for Gains: "People Are Dying"

Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 29, 2023. It has since been updated.

Seven times Mr. Olympia title winner and veteran Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has slammed young bodybuilders for being obsessed with size, lifting weights that are too heavy for their tendons, and consuming steroids. The former governor of California is a retired professional bodybuilder himself and is known to follow a disciplined regimen to remain fit, which also includes being a strict vegan. 

Lashing out at the rise of 'influencer bodybuilding,' he said, “Bodybuilding always, always was considered a safe sport. But now, it’s not. Now people are dying. They’re dying because of overdoses of drugs, and they don’t know what they’re doing... We are at a time now, where we always look for the easy way to make money, the fast way to get rich, the easy way to be an influencer. Any time you abuse the body, you’re going to regret it later on. I want young people to know that I have seen people getting kidney transplants, and suffering tremendously from it.”

According to Fandomwire, the Fubar actor is horrified with the young bodybuilders relying on drugs to 'increase their muscle size.' An obsession with bulking up muscle is known as muscle dysmorphia or 'bigorexia,' and an estimated 10% of bodybuilders are affected by the same, reported Insider. The Terminator actor believes that this unhealthy obsession is 'killing' young men. "They have taken it, in my opinion, too far. It has gotten too competitive. They're gonna take more and more stuff that they're not supposed to, and sometimes it kills people," Schwarzenegger said. 

While Schwarzenegger acknowledged that bodybuilding was once labeled as the 'safest sport,' he has recently called it the 'most dangerous sport' due to a string of deaths related to drugs and steroid consumption. Speaking during the Open Bodybuilding, MMA competition last year, he said, “Let’s not forget, they don’t have to take all of this stuff that some of the other guys are taking to be bigger. This is, I think, what the danger is. In this sport, it’s the most dangerous sport in the world. In MMA fighters, you’ve had four guys die in the last ten years. In bodybuilding, you’ve had 14 guys over the last ten years. So it just shows you how dangerous it is to take some of those medications and things that those guys take.”

Giving his opinion about performance-enhancing drugs that cause long-term damaging effects on the body, including heart attacks, Schwarzenegger said, "Sometimes they are taking drugs that are damaging for their health and are making them so strong that the tendons and bones were not meant for that weight, so then it gets into a really dangerous situation." 

However, the 75-year-old bodybuilding legend expressed that the sport has changed a lot over the years, and it can also include 'positive' results when done the right way. He explained, "The benefits of bodybuilding have been tremendous worldwide. When performed safely, lifting weights has many positive effects, including building muscle, burning body fat, strengthening bones and joints, reducing injury risk, and improving heart health. There's a gym in every hotel, every YMCA, every sports club, every university, every college, every high school, every police station, every fire station, every military base, I mean, everywhere. It has changed so much."