Does IFBB catapult bodybuilders to success, or are bodybuilders the reason for IFBB's success? Frank Martinez seems to believe the latter.

In the latest episode of the Generation Iron podcast, former bodybuilder Victor Martinez shared a piece of his mind regarding the relationship between Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzegger.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger made Joe Weider, [it's]not the other way around."

Martinez has always maintained a pro-athlete stance on this widely discussed topic. Joe Weider may be known as the father of bodybuilding, but according to the 52-year-old, Weider couldn't have reached today's stature without bodybuilders like Schwarzenegger.

Weider provided the platform and the infrastructure for professional bodybuilders, and Schwarzegger, with his iconic poses and aesthetics, helped popularize bodybuilding among the masses.

Martinez emphasized his point by recounting the 1980 Mr. Olympia competition. He described how Schwarzenegger was already a popular movie star at that point, and his popularity helped publicize the event significantly.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger-Joe Weider friendship

Joe Weider wasn't just a bodybuilding enthusiast. He was the founder of the International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) and can also be called the man who discovered Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Talking about the Austrian Oak, Weider said, "Every sport needs a hero, and I knew Arnold was the right guy." Weider once said this about Schwarzenegger.

He found Arnie in Europe and brought him to the US, and mentored him into becoming one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. Schwarzenegger has also credited Weider for his success on multiple occasions.

Following his mentor's death in 2013, Schwarzenegger said, "I knew about Joe Weider long before I met him. He was the godfather of fitness who told all of us to be somebody with a body. He taught us that through hard work and training, we could all be champions."

After learning all this, do you feel that Martinez was exaggerating Schwarzenegger's impact in Weider's notoriety when Schwarzenegger himself views him as the "godfather of fitness?"

Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Souvik Roy