Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen in 1983 and married reporter Maria Shriver in 1986. During the 1990s he became increasingly active in the Republican Party at both the state and national levels, and in 2003 he was elected governor of California in a recall election. In his initial years in office, Schwarzenegger pushed for a number of restrictive measures that proved unpopular, especially with organized labour. Nevertheless, he was reelected in 2006. He earned key legislative victories on issues relating to the environment, including a landmark act to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in California, and successfully advocated for ballot propositions to reform the state’s redistricting process and political-primary format.Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe NowAt the same time, his governorship was encumbered by the state’s enormous budget deficit, which ballooned to $26 billion in 2009. Despite a battery of service reductions and salary cuts enacted to stem the fiscal crisis, the state’s economy continued to struggle, and Schwarzenegger suffered from consistently low approval ratings. Because of term limits, he did not run for reelection in 2010. In May 2011 Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced that they were separating; a few days later it was revealed that he had fathered a child with a woman who had worked in the household staff. Shriver subsequently filed for divorce.Although Schwarzenegger had put his movie career on hiatus to devote attention to politics, in 2010 he made a cameo in The Expendables, an action film that brought together several aging stars of the genre. He also appeared in the movie’s 2012 and 2014 sequels. The Last Stand (2013) marked his first leading role in 10 years. He later starred with Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller Escape Plan (2013), took top billing in the action drama Sabotage (2014), and reprised his Terminator role in Terminator Genisys (2015) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019).In July 2011 a museum dedicated to Schwarzenegger’s life opened in his childhood home in Thal, Austria. The following year he published the memoir Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (written with Peter Petre).
Bodybuilding, a regimen of exercises designed to enhance the human body’s muscular development and promote general health and fitness. As a competitive activity, bodybuilding aims to display in artistic fashion pronounced muscle mass, symmetry, and definition for overall aesthetic effect. Barbells, dumbbells, and other resistance training devices are used in the exercises. For the use of similar exercises for sports training and conditioning, general conditioning, and rehabilitation therapy, see weight training.
Bodybuilding by the ancient Greeks served as the origin and inspiration for its practice by most later societies. Modern competitions grew largely out of European strongman theatrical and circus acts of the late 19th century. The first American physique contest, staged by physical culturist Bernarr Macfadden (1868–1955), took place in 1903 in New York City. The winner, Al Treloar, was named “The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World.” Similar contests were held by Macfadden in 1921 and 1922, with Charles Atlas the winner both times. But bodybuilding contests were rare until the inception of the Mr. America contest in 1939 under the auspices of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) of the United States. Thereafter, Mr. America winners John Grimek (1940–41) and Steve Reeves (1947) served as role models for a generation of aspiring bodybuilders. The sport developed quickly after World War II, and the AAU Mr. America contest reached the height of its popularity in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Concurrently there emerged two rival organizations, the International Federation of BodyBuilders, founded by Canadians Joe and Ben Weider in 1946, and in Britain the National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association, founded by Oscar Heidenstam in 1950. The latter’s Mr. Universe contest, staged in London, was the most prestigious international bodybuilding event for about 25 years. It was surpassed in the 1970s by the Mr. Olympia competition conducted by the Weiders.The most important figure in the history of bodybuilding is the Austrian-born American bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won the Mr. Olympia title seven times (1970–75, 1980). His awesome physique, winsome personality, and subsequent successful career in films was revolutionary in its impact, fostering a greater acceptance of bodybuilding and fitness-related activities in American society. His Arnold Classic, a physique and fitness gala held annually in Columbus, Ohio, has become a premier event for physical culturists. Six-time Ms. Olympia Cory Everson sparked a similar awakening in women’s bodybuilding, which began holding competitions in the 1970s.