Transcript
In 1966, Scott won his final Mr Olympia con-test. This was the year Arnold started competing. Larry Scott was a little under ten years older than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whether or not he was copying Scott, Arnold Schwarzenegger adopted a lot of poses made famous by Scott, mainly poses that showcased arms. Scott was known for his long, full biceps and Schwarzenegger was known for his mountainous peaks. Both were super responders to the supplements of the day. There are mid 1960s shots of Larry Scott looking like the Michelin man. That level of ballooning was unheard of prior to the 1960s.
We’ve all likely seen shots of Schwarzenegger doing this one arm pose showcasing his biceps. It’s amazing that these biceps would be considered incredible over forty years later, even on a current Mr Olympia stage. Here is Larry Scott, several years earlier than Schwarzenegger, displaying his full bellied biceps. Arnold employed plenty of three quarter twisting, tilting, back double biceps poses in his career. Larry Scott did more of a lunging version a few years earlier. Arnold thought so much of this one arm biceps pose he included it on the cover of his book, Arnold, the Education of a Bodybuilder. Scott, had a great version of the same pose. He’d switch up between looking at his arm and facing the camera or audience. For him, the pose showcased his forearms as much as his upper arms. Scott and Schwarzenegger did a variety of, arms extended, side poses. This outdoor shot of Larry Scott, taken years after his final Mr Olympia contest, is reminiscent of this earlier photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It’s hard sometimes to judge the frame of a lot of bodybuilders because often they’re sticking their arms out to appear wider in both the shoulder and lats regions. Steve Reeves had such a great structure that he looked superior in this photo taken in a totally relaxed position, taken completely off guard. Larry Scott was known for being narrowly structured in the shoulders but had cannonball delts to offset the narrowness. Schwarzenegger didn’t have narrow shoulders but they were sloped and you can see to what extend when he totally relaxes.
Both Larry and Arnold had clean vascularity, meaning they’re bodies weren’t cluttered with a bunch of random twisting veins, their striations were what mattered and they had just the single cephalic vein going down each arm and not branching off in different directions.
Morphs are a great way to contrast and compare builds. Scott was a lot more forearm dominant. Schwarzenegger’s brachialis is much more prominent laterally and his chest was much more developed and his lower pecs are covered in shadow. He also is sucking in the waist a bit as he flexes his abdominals. Scott’s triceps are longer. Schwarzenegger’s shoulders are shorter top to bottom-wise, probably more so than most bodybuilders. This made his biceps look more prominent. Notice Scott’s shoulders versus Arnold’s when they morph back and forth. Please comment on additional similarities or contrasts.
Finally, Schwarzenegger and Scott seem to have trained smartly throughout their lives and preserved their arms. A number of top bodybuilders either seem to tear their biceps or their biceps shorten over time. In this shot, an over fifty Larry Scott shows, not only an impressive biceps, but well developed forearm with full muscle bellies. Scott is possibly pulling his shirt down over his shoulder somewhat so that the bicep appears to slope back downward near the shoulder, to create the appearance of a higher peak, but if you look at comparison photos of Larry Scott’s arms as he aged, he appeared to have more of a peak over time. Following in the footsteps of Vince Gironda, Scott was always tweaking elements on all exercises, not just arm movements, trying to optimize every movement, angle, et cetera. Schwarzenegger also maintained his arm shape over time. This still shot taken from the movie The Sixth Day, when Arnold was roughly age 53, shows the classic Schwarzenegger peak. He doesn’t have the amount of forearm mass Larry Scott showed but Arnold likely didn’t take as much of an interest in forearms as Scott did. Scott had longer muscle bellies than Arnold in his upper and lower arms and he liked to train both equally. Schwarzenegger has lost height over time and suffered heart issues, but muscle-wise, he’s maintained the shape of his muscles pretty well as he’s aged. Whether Scott and Schwarzenegger had very injury resistant tendons, whether they trained safely, had a lot of luck, or a combination of all of the above, they maintained their bicep’s shock value when they hit a biceps pose, throughout their lives.
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