In the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been difficult to eliminate. But in real life, the actor and former governor of California has had his issue of health problems that required pieces of surgery and replacement as he aged. In spite of everything, he continues to exercise, a daily regime that includes a bicycle for an hour and 45 minutes with weights, and Schwarzenegger says that the movement is the key to remaining healthy in our 50, 60 and beyond.
“Do something,” said Schwarzenegger at the CNBC CEO council summit on Monday night in Arizona. “I don't care if you play tennis, if you're going to ski, if you play football or if you get weights … but you do something.”
That seems simple, but it says that it is a big problem in a world in which hundreds of millions of people suffer from arthritic conditions that may require surgery, physiotherapy or replacement of the body part, or some combination that involves the three. And too many people, according to Schwarzenegger, are afraid to take the necessary steps, including the replacement of body parts, since they age despite the fact that medical science has traveled a long way.
The alternative to overcome the fear of technology is one that Schwarzenegger put in similar terms to Terminator: “If the movement stops, this is the first step to death,” he said. “If you rest, you oxidize”, it is another statement that he liked to do since he assumed the role of director of Movement of Medical Device Company Zimmer Biomet last year.
According to the CEO of Zimmer, Ivan Tornos, which appeared alongside Schwarzenegger in the CNBC event for CEO, there are 600 million people around the world who live with pain, and that was a main reason why Schwarzenegger sought for the role in creating more awareness about progress in medical devices. Zimmer, which was founded in 1927, is now moving in areas far beyond “plastic and metal,” said lathes, with health monitoring technology through companies such as Apple and Microsoft, AI, mixed solutions of reality and robotics, and 50 products that are launched during the next 36 months, he said.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor (R) California and Ivan Tornos, CEO of Zimmer Biomet, member of the CEO Council of CNBC, who speaks at the CNBC CEO Council event in Arizona on May 19, 2025.
Chris coduto | CNBC
According to the CEO of Zimmer, every day in the USA. There are between 10,000 and 12,000 people who turn 65, and lathes told CNBC last November that many of these people are “waiting to receive treatment” or are afraid to receive treatment. Of the 600 million people in the world with arthritis, lathes have estimated that only 5% is doing something about it. The survival of replacement of the joints was eight to 10 years on average three decades ago, and now he is 25 to 30 years old, he said.
Make the Zimmer Board support the executive role for Schwarzenegger as a messenger on how much medical science has changed, from surgery to therapy and replacement of the body part, it was not easy at the beginning. Toros recalled that he told the Board: “I want the terminator to be the company's spokesman, and wanted to send me to get a drug projection. Some went so far as to say that it would never happen, he will never listen to you.”
But the message resonated with Schwarzenegger, who sees the medical science available for humans as we age as part of his broader philosophy of “movement.”
“My business is to make people move,” he said. “Worldwide, to go and pump them and say you can exercise, train every day.”
Even people who know about the replacement technology of the body part are afraid, he said.
“I see it first hand in the gym,” said Schwarzenegger. “People approach me and say: 'I can't do this elevator anymore, my shoulder hurts and my surgeon no longer wants to operate, now he wants to replace his shoulder, but I'm afraid of that.' I hear all these stories,” he said. “We have to convince people that it is possible to do this,” he said. “They replaced my hip. I made the valves replace in my heart … all these people complaining about problems on the knees, hips and shoulders, stop moving,” he added.
Toros said that now there are millions of people who get involved every day in the campaign that Schwarzenegger leads for Zimmer, called “will return”, an idea that said it was Arnold. “I wanted to call it 'Finish your pain today', and he said: 'That is a stupid idea. It's not about you. It's about them,” he recalled lathes.
The former governor, who remains active in several efforts, including environmental policy and is recently author of the book: “Be useful: Seven Tools for Life”, he also linked his message about the action on living in pain with the current political moment.
“I have no patience when people come to me with excuses,” said Schwarzenegger. “I think the environment always changes. The key is to understand that for each attack, there is a defense. And so, instead of complaining, I think you have to go and move on … I do not want to hear the excuse in which now that Trump is in office, we cannot advance with the environment … it is garbage. It is a cheap excuse.”
The misunderstandings of maintaining our healthy bodies as we age and the replacement of the body part, specifically, are another type of fallacy that wants to fix. “It is extremely important not to stop moving when you are 50 to 60 years just due to joint problems,” he said.
Schwarzenegger emphasized that surgery should never be the first option if therapy can be effective, and the replacement of the body part may not be necessary. But the message that is lost too often is that technology exists today that allows people to “leave” hip surgery, he said. “When I did, I had to stay in the hospital for days and I had months of therapy,” he said. “I want people to know and give them courage to fix those things and continue moving.”
“Don't let anything get in the way,” he said. “Exercise, exercise, exercise”.
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