Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Workout
Introduction
Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15 and is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, becoming the youngest Mr. Universe at age 20 and going on to win Mr. Olympia a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport.
If you are looking to be the strongest man then there is probably no better workout to model than Arnold’s workout.
Mon, Wed, Fri
Chest:
Bench press – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Flat bench flies – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Incline bench press – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable crossovers – 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Dips – 5 sets, to failure
Dumbbell pullovers – 5 sets, 10-12 reps
Back:
Front wide-grip chin-ups – 6 sets, to failure
T-bar rows – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated pulley rows – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell rows – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Straight-leg deadlifts – 6 sets, 15 reps
Legs:
Squats – 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg presses – 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg extensions – 6 sets, 12-15 reps
Leg curls – 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Barbell lunges – 5 sets, 15 reps
Calves:
Standing calf raises -10 sets, 10 reps
Seated calf raises – 8 sets, 15 reps
One-legged calf raises (holding dumbbells) – 6 sets,12 reps
Forearms:
Wrist curls (forearms on knees) – 4 sets, 10 reps
Reverse barbell curls – 4 sets, 8 reps
Wright roller machine – to failure
Abs:
Nonstop instinct training for 30 minutes
Tues, Thurs, Sat
Biceps:
Barbell curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated dumbbell curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Dumbbell concentration curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Triceps:
Close-grip bench presses (for the all three heads) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Pushdowns (exterior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Barbell French presses (interior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions (exterior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Shoulders:
Seated barbell presses – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Lateral raises (standing) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Rear-delt lateral raises – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable lateral raises – 5 sets, 10-12 reps
Calves and Forearms:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Abs:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Category: workout 5 comments »
April 28th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
He’s the strongest guy ever lived for me
March 20th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
@robert yeah it might be old school but sure did it work for him.. recuperation capacity from person to person is different.. Arnold is one of the greatest bodybuilder.. your just bitter to what had happen to you.. in doing squats you should really be carefull.. perhaps you know nothing about body building.. that is why you where injured to your foolishness..
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:47 am
He was training long and hard every day of the week except Sundays! Granted, he must have had phenomenal recovery ability, but you can’t train this hard and this often unless you’re also on steroids, which Arnold was, like every other pro bodybuilder. For the normal, non-steroid-taking guy, working out every day like this is a prescription for total mental and physical burnout, injury, and illness. Your muscles will actually start wasting away. They will get smaller and weaker daily from overuse and lack of sufficient time to rebuild themselves. Plus, you’ll be sore all over, all the time, and it won’t ever go away, because you’re never giving your body enough time to recover and rebuild those broken-down muscle fibers. You will actually get weaker and more sore day by day, and your poundages lifted will fall dramatically. Also, your immune system will be under constant stress, so you will be highly susceptible to injury and illness. You will also become extremely tired and apathetic, and have no spring in your muscles. I know, because I’ve tried Arnold’s routine in the past. It didn’t work at all. If you have any residual soreness, anywhere, from your previous workout, it means you aren’t fully recovered, and should wait until you are. And there’s no way to fully recover with the Arnold workout routine. This is old-school training, when they didn’t know any better, and thought “more is better.” One really dumb old-school exercise I used to do was barbell squats using a chair behind me, and a 2×4 to raise up my heels. I wrecked my back doing this, and eventually required surgery for a herniated disc in my lower back – an injury which still bothers me today. Stay away from these stupid, old-school training methods and exercises!
June 15th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Yeah, 6 to 8 hours and phenomenal recovery ability…
May 18th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
If only I had 6-8 hours a day to train like he did. Damn, I love Arnold.