At 76, Arnold Schwarzenegger says he's still 'full of energy'
Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to jump back into action: ‘older people don’t retire, they just reload’
Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke with Fox News Digital about filling potholes for the city of Los Angeles, his new action hero series, and his relationship with Bruce Willis.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is not one to mince words.
"Every day I do look, you know, in a mirror and I say, ‘Yep. You suck,'" he admitted on "The Howard Stern Show" of aging.
"'Look at this body. Look at those pectoral muscles that used to be firm and perky and kind of like really powerful with a striation in there. Now they're just hanging there,'" he continued, self-admonishing himself. "I mean, what the hell is going on here?"
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S BODYBUILDER SON IS SPITTING IMAGE OF FAMOUS DAD
Arnold Schwarzenegger admits he struggles with his aging body and how different it looks from his bodybuilding days. (Jack Mitchell/ Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
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"It's sad also because I say to people, It's one thing to see yourself get older, and more and more out of shape, but most of the people…never have been in shape. So what does it mean getting out of shape? They've always looked at a sh---y body."
"It's just - when you've been hailed for years as this supreme body," he says of himself, "And you have the definition. You see the veins coming down your abs, and you see veins on top of your chest…You roll the clock forward 50 years and now you're standing there and you don't see that anymore. So that's kind of like, ‘Wow.'" he divulged.
Schwarzenegger, a prominent and celebrated professional bodybuilder before turning actor and politician, says it's hard to see his body regress.
Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his many muscles in photos taken in October 1976. (Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)
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"I never ever thought about that when I was like 30 years old or 40 years old - that this is gonna happen….That one time we're going to look at this body and - I mean it still looks better than majority of bodies - but I mean, it just sucks."
"The Terminator" actor, who is promoting his new book "Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life," says he realized things had changed when he underwent his first heart surgery, nearly three decades ago.
Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes on Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
"Just before I turned 50, I had the heart surgery," he recounted, adding that he felt like "damaged goods" once the procedure was over.
"This is the first time where I felt, kind of like, vulnerable. Where all of a sudden the doctor says, ‘You know, you shouldn't lift that heavy anymore.' Or, ‘Just pay attention when you breathe when you exercise.’"
Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on "The Howard Stern Show." (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
"Now all of a sudden you have to start thinking about those things - to warm up for this, to warm up for that. But am I upset about it? No, cause there's nothing that I can do about it," the former Governor of California says. "I just feel like as those challenges come my way, I take them on, you know, because it's just the only choice we have."
"The bottom line is I'm 76 years old. I'm full of energy, I'm full of enthusiasm. I'm as enthusiastic and as excited as I was when I was 30 years old. I just always see mountains in front of me to be climbed. And so as long as I see those mountains, I keep my enthusiasm and I keep my excitement and that fire in the belly to keep climbing and climbing and climbing. And that's what it's all about."
Representatives for Schwarzenegger did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer. Story tips can be sent to
