Pumping Iron Collection

From Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, California, to the showdown in Pretoria, amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests, in this part-scripted, part-documentary film. The five-time champion, Arnold Schwarzenegger, defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young deaf, Lou Ferrigno, whose father is his coach; the ruthless champ psyches out the young lion. Sardinian Franco Columbu competes in the lightweight class; at home in Italy, he solves a tight parking problem by lifting the car into place. Joe Weider is the marketer; Mike Katz and Ken Waller go for the title of Mr. Universe. Bodybuilding and a celebrity-to-be go mainstream.

"Pumping Iron," the film that turned the obscure sport of male bodybuilding into an overnight phenomenon and made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, broke the ground. Now, experience PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN, a film that is changing the way the world views the female physique-creating "a new definition of the female form." Join four women as they prepare for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup Championship: the sultry and curvaceous Rachel McLish, the current champion; the almost manly, super-muscular Bev Francis, Rachel's toughest competition; and newcomers Lori Bowen and Carla Dunlap. Four women who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of their conception of the "perfect" female form, spending grueling hours torturing themselves on Nautilus machines and browning themselves under tanning lamps. Learn their personal struggles and public triumphs that make up their unique world as they struggle both with their bodies' limitations and the world's limitations on what that body ought to look like. If muscles make a man "masculine," what do they make a woman?

A documentary on the making of "Pumping Iron" to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Aired on Cinemax.