I started way back as a weightlifter. I always liked the idea of lifting weights and being a bodybuilder. From the first moment when I gripped a barbell and held it around the bar and lifted the steel above my head, I felt this exhilaration, and I knew then that this is something that I'm going to do; that I was in love with that, and this is going to be something that I'm going to do. I'm going to pursue the sport of weightlifting and bodybuilding.
我出道时是个举重运动员。我一直都喜欢举重运动,渴望能成为一名健美运动员。自从第一次抓紧杠铃、将其高高举过头顶之际,我就为此感到异常兴奋。那时我知道,我迷上了这项运动,这将是我要做的事情,我将从事举重和健美运动。
Now, I remember the first real workout that I had. It was eight miles away from my home village in Austria there was a gymnasium, and I rode to that gymnasium with a bicycle. And there I trained for half an hour, because they said that after half an hour you should stop because otherwise your body will get really sore. But after half an hour I looked at my body, and nothing had happened. So I said, "I'd better work out for another half hour." So I lifted some more. My strength didn't improve, I didn't see the muscles pop out or anything like that, so I trained for another half an hour. And then after another half hour I trained another half hour, and all together I trained two and a half hours.
我还记得最初那次真正的训练。当时我骑着自行车前往一家健身房,那儿离我在奥地利一个小村庄里的家有八英里之遥。在那里我训练了半个钟头,因为他们告诉我,训练必须半小时一停,否则你会全身酸痛。但半小时之后,我看看自己的身体,一点变化也没有!于是我说,“最好再练半小时吧。”就又多举了几下。可是我的力气并未因此增强,也不见肌肉鼓起来。然后我又练了半小时,再加半小时……结果总共练了两个半小时。
Well, let me tell you something. After two and a half hours--I left the gymnasium, even though they told me that I shouldn't train that much or I would get really sore--I rode my bicycle home. And after the first mile I got numb, and I couldn't feel anymore the handle of the bicycle, and I fell off the bike and I fell into the ditch on the side of the road. So I got up again and I tried it again. Another few yards, I felt off the bicycle again. And I tried it three, four more times, and I just couldn't ride my bicycle because my body was so numb and my legs felt like noodles.
让我告诉你们,尽管他们告诉我不能练那么久,否则会浑身酸痛,但我训练了两个半小时,然后我离开健身房骑车回家。刚走一英里,我顿觉四肢麻木,连车把都感觉不到了,结果整个人从车上摔下来,掉进了路边的水沟里。我站起来,又试了一次,但没骑多远又摔了下来。接下来我又试了三四次,但依旧不行,因为我全身异常酸麻,感觉腿就像面条一样软弱无力。