“I’ll be back!”—that’s probably the most famous line from *The Terminator*, which in turn is likely Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous role. And he kept that promise not only in the movie but also in real life. In the 1960s, he lived in Munich for three years and remains connected to the city to this day. Let’s take a look at this very eventful period in Arnie’s life, which paved the way for his subsequent career.
The 18-year-old bodybuilder
On July 30, 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Styria, Austria. At just 14 years old, he worked out in a gym for the first time and quickly developed an interest in weightlifting. At first, he only wanted to build leg muscles because his soccer coach had advised him to do so, but he soon became interested in bodybuilding. Four years later, in 1965, he competed in his first contest in Stuttgart and won it. Among the judges was Rolf Putziger, chairman of the German Bodybuilding Federation, who discovered Arnie there.
He offered the 18-year-old a job as a trainer at his Munich gym, the Herkules Studio at Schillerstraße 36. Putziger also wanted to cover the travel expenses for young Arnold to compete in the Mr. Universe contest in London. Arnold accepted the offer and began working at the Herkules Studio in 1966, even living there at first. In return, Putziger demanded sexual favors from the young athlete, who refused. He was still allowed to live at the gym, but Putziger broke his promise and did not finance the trip to London after all. Instead, his competitor Reinhard Smolana—who also ran a bodybuilding gym in Munich—covered the costs.
Once a gym, now a hotel
At the competition in London, Arnold took second place; a year later, he even took first. This prompted Putziger to rename the Herkules Studio the Universum Studio. Schwarzenegger’s success rubbed off on the studio, and it became a hot spot on the German bodybuilding scene. Membership quadrupled because clients wanted to train with Mr. Universum. In the meantime, he had moved from the studio to an apartment at Christophstraße 1, near the Hofgarten. From there, he walked to work at the Herkules Studio every day until he finally moved to the U.S. in 1968.
Today, there’s no longer a gym at Schillerstraße 36. Instead, the Hotel Brunnenhof—a family-run business in a central location—stands there. The interior has changed significantly, but the historic staircase from back then is still preserved. So if you want to stay where Arnie used to train and even climb the same stairs he did, you can do so by spending the night at the Brunnenhof. Maybe you’ll get lucky and even run into Arnold Schwarzenegger, who enjoys taking photos with fans in front of the Brunnenhof during his visits to Munich. He himself, however, prefers to stay at the Bayrischen Hof when he comes to Oktoberfest every year.
