'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?'

Once the most famous chiselled bod on the planet, Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s struggling to come to terms with his bulging belly – but he’s putting the wisdom of age to good use by sharing his life lessons in a new book

- MAXINE PETERS

HIS muscular physique saw him terminating his challengers during bodybuilding competitions. A lean, mean, oiled machine, he’d confidently squash any rival with his bulging biceps, thick ropes of veins and abs of steel.

But that was then. These days when Arnold Schwarzenegger looks in the mirror, he says, “Yep, you suck.” In what many a middle-aged person can relate to, Arnie is feeling the effects of age on his body and he’s not always happy with what he sees.

In a candid interview with radio host Howard Stern, the 76-year-old former bodybuilder opened up about how he’s struggling to come to terms with his changing body after being in such great shape in his youth.

Arnold, who won the Mr Universe title at the age of 20 before winning the Mr Olympia contest a whopping seven times, practically built his acting career on his demi-god stature.

But everything changed after he had open-heart surgery at 50, leaving him feeling like “damaged goods”.

“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. I mean, what the hell is going on here?” he said.

The action star, who still pumps iron regularly and eats only two meals a day, acknowledged he’s in better shape than most people his age.

Yet he can’t get to grips with the fact he’s no longer a block of rock-hard muscle, and that his belly – or his “boodle” as he calls it – is more prominent these days. “I never, ever thought about that when I was 30 years old or 40 years old, that this was going to happen,” he said. “It just sucks.”