‘You’re never going to get there’

Arnold Schwarzenegger has warned that we could be raising a generation of wimps. Appearing on The Howard Stern Show last year, the 77-year-old Hollywood and bodybuilding legend explained that struggle is a good thing for young people and that without it we are ‘creating a generation of wimps and weak people.’ He said: “You can only strengthen your character and become a really strong person inside if you have resistance, if you fail, if you get up again and if you work hard.”

The Terminator legend also claimed that the more one struggles in life, the more likely they are to succeed as struggling builds resilience before adding that society nowadays is too sensitive and considerate of young people’s feelings. He told Stern: “Anyone that tries to baby themselves and pamper themselves… it’s over. You’re never going to get there.” Schwarzenegger then claimed that younger people need to learn how to “accept pain, misery, and discomfort” in order to become tougher. Speaking about the people that built the USA, Schwarzenegger said: “Is it people that slept in? Is it people that were wimping out? This, ‘Oh, I want to feel good. Oh, I want to be comfortable.’ No.

“This is where ballsy women and men that went out there at five in the morning and got up, and they struggled . . . they fought . . . they worked their butts off. “That’s what made this country great. And so now let’s continue this way.”He concluded that it’s nice to be considerate but that we shouldn’t baby people. He said: “Let’s go and teach kids to be tough… go out and do sports… to struggle… and go through this kind of painful moments sometimes.”