Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son, Joseph Baena, is storming into professional bodybuilding with a powerful start, and he recently secured his second victory.

In the last week of March, Joseph Baena won his first gold, in the form of three gold medals, at the NPC Natural Colorado State Championships in Denver.

And within a week, he again made history by winning his second professional bodybuilding competition. Baena shared his feat with an Instagram post on April 5, containing a carousel of snaps and videos. Its caption read, "Your new INBA Iron Gladiator Classic Physique Champion!”

Appreciation from the bodybuilding world chimed in on his Instagram post.

Victor Martinez posted, “his blood is bodybuilding royalty”, and no one can deny that. His father, Schwarzenegger, has won Mr. Olympia seven times. Besides that, the Austrian Oak is the founding stone of the world's second-best bodybuilding contest: The Arnold Classic.

Apart from that, from 7-time Mr. Olympia winner Phil Heath to 4-time Mr. Olympia winner Jay Cutler, all share the proud moment with Baena with a simple yet powerful and motivating message: “congratulations”.

The legends of bodybuilding also congratulated Baena when he won the trio of titles in Colorado, which includes:

• The Men’s Open Bodybuilding Heavy Weight Class
• Men’s Classic Physique True Novice
• Men’s Classic Physique Novice.

According to Men's Health, he started training as a teenager after his father gave him a copy of The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. And he also committed to staying in natural bodybuilding while focusing on intense workouts.

In 2022, Baena said to Men's Health, “One of the big things I learned from Dad was not to have the 10-rep mentality. It's pushing yourself to the limits and going that extra mile, getting those extra reps and half-reps till you're basically dying”.

While Baena is certainly making his legendary father proud with his physique and titles, he did not always have the same toned physique that the champion himself revealed.

Joseph Baena Opens Up About His Struggles Before Bodybuilding

While Baena is following in his father's footsteps, on July 25, 2025, he opened up on Instgram about how he did not always have the perfect physique.

He captioned the video, “People sometimes forget that I used to be chubby in high school. I got cut from my basketball and soccer team because I couldn’t keep up with the other kids.”

Later, he revealed what changed his life entirely. Baena said, “Swim[ming] didn’t have tryouts, thankfully, and completely changed my life forever. That was my introduction to Fitness and training”.

Apart from that, in 2022, during an interview with People, Baena admitted that his classmates used to harass him in class. He said, “I was bullied when I was a kid, elementary, middle school, and not really in high school, but I just felt like an outsider in high school at the beginning."

He continued, "So, that was really a big struggle for me in finding myself and figuring out and creating that ambition to change my weight and my physique.”

So, the 28-year-old bodybuilder’s resilience appears to be the primary factor behind his rising success in the field where his father once ruled.

Do you think Baena will be able to complete a three-peat after his victories in the two contests he has competed in so far?

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Souvik Roy