Discovering Arnold

Muscle enraptured me from a young age, primarily through the rare flex on a TV sitcom (especially Dave Draper on ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’) or certain Tarzans or pro wrestlers. Then too, the comics I read offered their own delights, particularly those featuring Namor, the Submariner, his stunning physique displayed in nought but tiny swim trunks. The periodic Weider ads were another delight, with enticing pics of Draper, et al, flexing big arms. I somehow sensed the taboo nature of my attraction to such sights, so I kept it to myself.

One day, reading a newly purchased copy of ‘The Mighty Thor’ (notable for his tasty arms), I turned the page and set eyes on Arnold for the first time, in another Weider ad. This one was a full-body shot of him hoisting a busty bikini babe (Betty Weider) presumably on a beach. The biggest man I’d ever seen, he was wearing trunks like Namor, and looked utterly magnificent from head to toe, better than most superheroes. His legs were huge, and what we could see of his chest and lats were immense. What really drew me in was the single massive arm he was flexing as the other cradled the chick’s ass. He embodied masculine power, and coupled with a buxom woman, the image’s sexuality was palpably evident even to a child. (This pivotal ad is posted here as a prelude to the posing video.)

A few months later, as my family prepped to visit some relatives for dinner, I was killing time in my room, likely drawing, while half-watching my little black-and-white TV. There weren’t many options back then on a Saturday afternoon, so I’d chosen ‘Wide World of Sports’ over golf or whatever other boring junk was on. Suddenly, the TV came alive with muscle like I’d never seen before. I can’t pretend to recall the whole program, as every second provided new and unforeseen thrills. As rapt as I was, I was vigilant to voices down the hallway, fearing interruption and exposure (of what? I wondered even then). I do remember Draper posing, but he was eclipsed by even bigger, more shocking men – a Cuban named Oliva and this amazing Austrian. OMG, that’s the guy flexing in that ad, I realized. The mists of time are hazy, and I was QUITE young, but I believe I did experience a proto-boner then. Mercifully, I was left to my own devices until the show was over, and my excitement ebbed away, though the images I’d imbibed were etched in my mind forever. Years later, I’d wonder if I had really seen this, but eventually I did find references to it in magazines. It was probably the first bodybuilding contest telecast in the USA and remained a rarity until the 80s. I had given up on seeing it ever again until clips like this appeared online. One day, maybe, the full broadcast will show up online.

Just a couple of months later, another Marvel comic book, this one ‘Amazing Adventures’ featuring the Inhumans, delivered an image so indelible that it quickens my pulse and stiffens my cock to this day. I’m talking about Arnold’s legendary ‘Leather n’ Lead Bracelets’ ad. Today, as cynical adults, we can laugh at the absurdly fraudulent marketing at play here, but that hardly diminishes the effect of the image itself (appended here at the end of the video). At that point in history, NO ONE had ever seen gargantuan muscles like this, certainly not my young self, and I was mesmerized by his seemingly inhuman size. The upraised left arm and the prodigious pecs were amazing, but I could scarcely take my eyes off the sheer, succulent mass of his insane right arm. Perhaps we’re dealing with some forced perspective on that mighty gun in the foreground, but the spectacle of all that juicy meat paved the way for my initial foray into muscle mags some 5 years later. That exploration, spurred in part by discovering and leafing through the newly released ‘Pumping Iron’ in a department store’s book section, brought me back to Arnold, and shortly thereafter, I launched my first sputtering cumshots over pics of his astonishing side-chest pose. And so it began.