Arnold Schwarzenegger famously lost nearly 33 lbs, going from his 240-250 lbs bodybuilding mass to nearly 210-220 lbs to become a leading man in a famous Hollywood movie.

According to Men's Health, the movie was Conan the Barbarian, for which the director, John Milius, asked Schwarzenegger to look less like a bodybuilder.

Now, according to the Hollywood Reporter, when news broke that Arnold Schwarzenegger was returning as King Conan in the sequel to the original movie, the bodybuilding legend's weight-loss story resurfaced again.

During an interview with Men's Journal, the 7-time Mr. Olympia said,

“I had just won the Mr. Olympia competition for the seventh time in Sydney, Australia, and literally two months later, we’re on set filming Conan the Barbarian. The director, John Milius, came to the competition and told me he wanted me to be less cut because he didn’t think it looked natural for the period. So for those two months, I changed the way I was training and my diet to become more rounded.”

However, that change to look like a natural warrior was not easy for Schwarzenegger. The Austrian Oak worked hard for 18 months with Franco Columbu, going from 242 lbs to 209 lbs and reaching nearly 12 percent body fat.

That was indeed not easy for a muscular bodybuilder to lose his hard-earned muscles. However, his dedication to the project was unique. As Schwarzenegger added,

“I wanted to look like a man who’d gotten his muscles from hard work in the world and not from very specific, organized training in the gym. I made the adjustments I needed to make. Milius was very happy, and I looked exactly the way he wanted.”

So, how did Schwarzenegger do it?

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approach to becoming ready for Conan the Barbarian

During the process, Schwarzenegger was no longer concerned about his restrictive diets. His high-volume, high-intensity workouts shifted to a lighter-weight approach.

Some of the vital training approaches that helped Schwarzenegger get Conan into a ready physique include:

• Horse riding
• Swimming
• Running
• Rope climbing.

Even to handle the broadsword correctly, Schwarzenegger took training from martial arts master Kiyoshi Yamazaki.

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil