Welcome back to another episode of Arnold's Pump Club.

I have some personal news to share.

Last Monday I had surgery for a pacemaker and became a little bit more of a machine.

I have to tell you, just saying this to all of you goes

against so much of my upbringing in Austria where nobody ever talked about

medical issues. Everything related to health care was kept to yourself.

But I've gotten so many messages and emails from people who were born with a bikersbid

Orik valve like me telling me that talking about my valve

replacement surgeries has given them courage and hope to deal with their own.

Since I know that going against my secretive instinct and being transparent helps people,

it only feels right to talk about this.

First of all, I want you to know I'm doing great. I had my surgery on Monday and by Friday I was already at a big environmental

event with my friend and fellow fitness crusader Jane Fonda.

By the way when we talk about exercise being the only magic pill

to slow down aging, look at Jane.

She's 10 years older than me turning 87 this year and she's healthy

and looks fantastic. Nobody would ever have thought I started the week with a surgery. I want to thank my whole team at the Cleveland Clinic.

All of the doctors and nurses took amazing care of me and made the surgery as painless as possible.

They also advised me that it was time to go through with this

because some scar tissue from my previous surgery

had made my heart beat irregular. It had been like that for a few

years. So I stayed in touch with my medical team and visited in person at least once a

...