Young Arnold Schwarzenegger :)

Arnold Schwarzenegger is without any doubt one of the biggest stars Hollywood has ever known. And then we aren't only speaking about size. He's also the proof that everybody with a dream and a lot of perseverance can realize his dreams. Arnold was born on July 30, 1947 in Thal (4 miles from Graz), Austria. He grew up on the second floor of the 300-year-old home at 145 Thal-Linak with his parents Gustav and Aurelia and his older brother Meinhard.

  Although the Schwarzenegger household came with Gustav's job as a police commandant, it had absolutely no modern amenities (no plumbing, no central heating, no phone, no carpeting and just a few lights. For many years they didn't even had a refrigerator. Can you imagine? Arnold and Meinhard would have to fetch water from a well 150 yards away from their house).
  He started his career in Graz, Austria, with only one thing in mind: capturing the Mr. Universe title. The costs to be a member of a gym were too high, so he equipped his own gym in the basement of his parent's home. But in 1961 he met Kurt Marnul, the former Mr. Austria. Marnul was impressed of Arnold's body and asked him to train in the Athletic Union in Graz. And of course he wanted that. In 1965 he enlisted in the Austrian army (where he served as a thank driver at the Graz Tank Unit Panzer battalion from October 1, 1965 until the end of September 1966), but to compete in Stuttgart, Arnold had to go A.W.O.L and for that he was jailed when he came back. But he won the competition and was awarded the title of Jr. Mr. Europe. By the age of twenty he's named Mr. Europe and he also was the youngest Mr. Universe in history. Later in his career he won many other titles and he decided to try his luck somewhere else. The obtaining of the Mr. Universe title seemed to be a good reason to go to Hollywood. He arrived in America in 1968.
  After a brief stint as a road worker in Santa Monica, California, he competed with his boyhood idol, Reg Park in 1970 and won the Mr. Universe title again. In 1970 he also wins his 1^st Mr. Olympia title. But there's more; he also stars in his first movie, Hercules in New York! And again in 1971 Arnold wins his 2^nd Mr. Olympia title.
  But 1971 is also the year in which Arnold's older brother Meinhard died in a car accident. 2 years later Arnold's father, Gustav Schwarzenegger also passes away.
  After winning his 6^th Mr. Olympia title in 1975, Arnold retired from the sport of bodybuilding. 1977 brought Arnold a lot of success. He writes a bestseller (The Education of a Bodybuilder) and he wins a Golden Globe Award for his role in "Stay Hungry". He also was named "honorary weightlifting coach" for the Special Olympics International (a post that he still holds today).


More pictures available at:
http://acidcow.com/famous/13631-young-arnold-schwarzenegger-100-pics.html

RESPECT As his physique started developing, so did his self-confidence. Very soon he discovered the thing somebody described as the "power of size". And, as his muscles grew, so did the respect he was receiving from his peers. The growing of his muscular mass, started influencing his relationships with other young men and, of course, with women too. He realized that some women were decidedly turned on by his physique, whereas others seemed to be disgusted by it. "I wanted to become even bigger, so that I'd be able to really impress the girls who dug muscles and... irritate even more the ones who disliked them."
MISTAKES Even Arnold made mistakes. "I was pretty inexperienced - he
says - so I was observing other bodybuilders' routine and tried to imitate them. There was a famous bodybuilder who smoked cigars and drank whisky, so I thought that if I did the same I'd be winning too! God, how awful I felt!
So, I learned the hard way never to do that again, backstage, or before a contest." Mistakes could also be of a psychological nature. Arnold recalls that, while he was on the flight to London, in 1966, to participate in a contest, he started looking at the pictures of men he would have to compete against. "I started thinking: I can beat this one, but I can't defeat that one and so forth. In so doing, I had already defeated myself - mentally - even before I set foot on stage for the competition."FIRST VICTORY The first step toward stardom for Arnold was the junior Mr. Europe, held in Stuttgart in 1965. In those days, Arnold was drafted in the army and he asked permission to attend the contest, permission which was denied. He left anyway. In spite of not having the vaguest idea about how to pose, he won anyway and that first success officially started his bodybuilding career. Upon his return to military camp, he was punished with one week in detention, however, his victory seemed to favorably impress his commander, who - from then on - encouraged him to persevere in further training.
THE IDOL Finally, Arnold met his idol, Reg Park, and started training with him and even went to visit him in South Africa, where Park lived. Arnold claims he learned a lot from Park like many useful tips on how to better train the parts of his physique more in need of development. Most importantly though, he learned from Park how to improve himself as a human being. "At the time I was just a punk, a bully, always ready to show off. I used to get in fights almost daily. Coming in contact with Reg helped me getting rid of my behavioral problems. He was such an accomplished gentleman and it certainly wasn't difficult for me to admire him and wanting to emulate him."
ASCENDING TOWARD STARDOM The beginning of Arnold's true ascent towards the top of the bodybuilding ranks took place in 1967. He went back to London to compete for NABBA Mr. Universe and, as he had promised, he triumphed. To achieve that, he had to defeat Dennis Tinnerino, the freshly crowned Mr. America. Arnold is still particularly fond of that memory: "I beat them all, including Tinnerino. That was the first time I heard the crowd calling out my name out loud." Taking notice of this important victory, among others, was Mr. Joe Weider. "I kept hearing about this massive young athlete," says Joe, "so I asked my European associates to find out more about him. I already knew that someone like Arnold would be very beneficial for our sport.[from BodyBuilding Universe]