Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals Muhammad Ali training method that left him mesmerised

Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed the painstaking measures that Muhammad Ali went through to become one of sport's GOATs.

Ali is widely regarded as the best boxer ever having held the Ring Magazine heavyweight title from 1964 to 1970 and being the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978.

It was during this reign that Schwarzenegger also came to prominence in the world of body-building, with the Austrian starting to get recognised in the USA, eventually leading to a stellar career in Hollywood.

Movie star and politician Schwarzenegger crossed paths with Ali and even trained with the legendary fighter on occasion.

Even by Arnie's extraordinary standards, he was left stunned by the legendary boxer's approach to being the best.

Speaking on Virgin Radio's Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Schwarzenegger said: “He had this unbelievable waistline and not only a slim waistline, but when he got punched – in boxing you can get hit below.

“They can go upstairs, downstairs so they hit you so that you run out of breath and so he had to take a lot of punishment.

“Do you remember the fight with George Foreman and how many times Foreman hit him in the waist? He flexed his abs and he could take the punishment, but how did he get there?

“I asked him ‘ how many reps do you do? In bodybuilding we do a thousand reps a day, so how many do you do?’

“He said ‘I don’t start counting until it hurts’.

“To me, that said everything about his training because in body building we also had a thing of ‘do your reps until it burns and hurts and your muscles fail you, then force out another few reps because that’s when your muscle grows with the forced reps.

“What I want to make people understand is that this isn’t just in body-building or in training for any sport.

“In order to physically grow and go towards perfection you have to go through the pain period and the torture, but the mind is built in the same way.

“The more we take our mind through torture and the more you can sustain punishment and the more misery you can sustain, the stronger you will get and the stronger your character will get.

“This is what I tell people, there will be moments in life when you will struggle and cry and you say ‘why do I have to go through this’ but go through it, because it will only make you stronger.

“As X said, ‘that what does not kill you will make you stronger’ and I’ve seen it.

“I’ve written about failure in my book, because failure is painful and you’re down on the ground, but you have to get up again – losers stay down, but winners always get up, dust themselves off and keep going.

“Go through these painful periods because they make you stronger in the end. You learn from your mistakes, you learn from your losses and that is an important message.”