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ARNI'S PROGRAM
🕑 Added 2023-07-07 15:28:08 +0000 UTCWe often strive to be like our heroes. Arnold Schwarzenegger can be treated differently, but even the most bitter sceptic admits that old Arnie got more from BODYBUILDING than bodybuilding got from him.
Almost half a century has passed since Schwarzenegger’s rise in bodybuilding, and many still admire his physique and want to be more like Arnold rather than Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman. Why? Because his physique was aesthetic. Sufficiently big and well-worked. He was seen as an athlete, not a monster, as in modern bodybuilding. This is what has attracted and continues to attract attention to the methods of training used by ARNOLD, despite the fact that they have aged by half a century. And today I will try to tell you how Schwarzenegger’s training and his views on training changed over time.
What training programs did he start on? What did he change in them over time. And what he thought were the best at the peak of his athletic career.
EARLY TRAINING
It is very difficult now to analyze how Arnold really trained from the start. Why? For two reasons.
First, Arnold had a contract with the magazine of now-deceased Joe Weider (Muscle and Fitness), according to which it was necessary to promote the training concepts of Joe, not the real training methods that Arnold adhered to.
And secondly, our views on training are evolving and changing. As time goes by, we begin to talk not about what was really happening, but about how we now think it should have been.
For example, in many interviews and magazines, Arnold liked to talk about SPLIT system (it’s when the body trains for several split trainings, not at once), which was actively promoted by old man Joe. It is really a very effective method of training in modern bodybuilding. But Arnold laid down most of his base without this system... It’s just that in the days when he started training, splitting wasn’t common.
There’s a lot of evidence of that.
For example, Helmut Cerncic (the trainer of the club where Arnold started) says that in their gym THE ATHLETES TRAINED FULL BODY FOR MANY HOURS EACH DAY!!!! Many other athletes who have been training nearby confirm that.
CONCLUSION: Arnie started with FULL BODY WORKOUT (without splitting) and repeated such workouts each day...
In fact, it’s an ENORMOUS load that modern athletes can hardly imagine. I’d like to remind you that nowadays athletes usually work on ONE-TWO muscle groups PER WORKOUT / ONCE A WEEK. Now imagine that you need to train full body in this training. Imagined? How about we do the same thing again tomorrow? And after tomorrow... And all week without rest...
COLOSSAL LOAD! But that’s not all. If you train ALL muscles, it takes more time than for 1-2 muscles. Right? That means Arnold trained for a lot of hours every day. So he’s been training not only often, but also for a long time.
Such loads place too great demands on human recovery capabilities. The vast majority of people can’t handle them even with steroids. I’m sure it's not possible without steroids at all. For reference: vomiting after squats was considered the norm for athletes of the 60s. People haven’t thought about the body signaling danger. It was thought to be a sign of good workout.
So how did Arnold manage to grow from such training? There are FOUR aspects that are barely spoken of, but which explain young Arnie’s success. There they are:
ANABOLIC STEROIDS were used at that time without a twinge of conscience by all athletes who heard about them. At that time there was no anti-doping movement and drugs were perceived as how sports nutrition is perceived now. No more, no less. It was only thanks to the handfuls of NEROBOL (methane) that Arnie drank before each workout that his muscles could grow under such excessive stress every day.
WORK UNTIL FAILURE has contributed to the implementation of OVERLOAD principle, which is a cornerstone in any sport of athletics. Kurt Marnul (Austrian BB champion), who trained in the same gym as Arnie, advised him, “When you work out, think about the muscle you’re developing and work it until it hurts, until you can stand it, until you scream” Working every time on the brink of pain, Arnold reached failure. And this is an important marker for the limit of muscle exhaustion (overload). This suggests that there is a chance of achieving more stress than the previous workout. How was this implemented in practice? Often by CHEATING (whole body helps the target muscle). Schwarzenegger especially liked this for biceps training.
BASIC MOVEMENTS are what allowed Arnold’s large muscles to grow. Later he repeatedly stated that the main mistake of modern bodybuilding is that people do little compound exercises. At the time of young Schwarzenegger, there was not as wide a choice of equipment and methods as there is now. Many bodybuilders did the same as weightlifters and other power athletes. PRESSES, ROWS, SQUATS, SNATCHES, JERKS. That’s what made it possible to lay the power foundation of Arnold’s big muscles. For reference, his achievements: CLEAN AND JERK= 119 kg, SNATCH = 109 kg, SQUAT = 245 kg, PERSS = 225 kg, DEADLIFT = 320 kg. What does that say? About the fact that there were so many basic movements in his program.
The PRIORITIES that Arnold was forced to set allowed him to pump up such a figure we know from the film. What am I talking about? Arnold gave priority to the development of CHEST and ARMS (especially BICEPS). This doesn’t mean he didn’t train SHOULDERS, BACK or LEGS. He trained them. But priority was given to several of the coolest muscles (CHEST + BICEPS). Why? Because when you need to pump FULL body at one workout it’s physically impossible to do it evenly. Fatigue is piling up. Recovery capabilities are not endless either. Even time limits you to be able to work on every muscle group the same way. You have to focus on something. For example, chest is Arnold’s most developed muscle group. Why? Because he started his workout (when still fresh) with this muscle group.
WHAT A PARTICULAR PROGRAM LOOKED LIKE AT THE STARTIt’s very difficult to say it now, because this information hasn’t been preserved anywhere. You can only focus on the standard programs of those years. They might have looked like this:
“FULL BODY”
- Bench press 5*8-12
- Incline barbell bench press 5*8-12
- Behind-the-neck pull-ups 5*8-12
- Bent-over barbell row 5*8-12
- Deadlift 5*8-12
- Overhead barbell press 5*8-12
- Barbell upright row 5*8-12
- Barbell biceps curl 5*8-12
- Dumbbell biceps curl 5*8-12
- Barbell French press 5*8-12
- Barbell back squats 5*8-12
TOTAL: 55 SETS. Even if you do everything quickly (of which I am not sure), such program will take at least 2 hours. In fact, I think programs like this were performed for 3-4 hours. It was considered the norm at the time. If you want to get pumped, be prepared to spend time and effort.
With these PROGRAMS, the athlete had to set priorities all the time because he had no energy for everything. For example, you can do THREE chest exercises and then you will only have time and strength for 1-2 exercises for the BACK, or you can do TWO exercises for the BACK and TWO more exercises for the CHEST, but both muscle groups will not get enough load for growth. Most often fans tried to get everything at each workout, i.e. they did 3-4 exercises for each large muscle group (chest, back, legs) and 2-3 exercises for small ones (biceps, triceps, shoulders). Workouts could be very long. It was more like development of endurance than muscle development.
With the fact that it was accepted then to do a lot (from 4-5) of WORKING SETS in each exercise, and quite a lot (8-15) REPS in a SET you will draw the final picture of then existing training method. Enormous loads.
TRANSITION TO DOUBLE SPLIT
It is quite justifiable that with time Arnold was forced to split the body in TWO and train the first half of the muscles on one day and the second half of the muscles on the next day. Such split instantly doubled the RESOURCES needed for growth. First, the muscles could be trained in a more fresh state. And second, the body got an extra day of rest for muscle growth.
When did Arnold switch to Double Split? We don’t know that for sure. But we do know that after the army, when he worked in Munich, a practice of the double split existed.
Personally, I believe Arnold intuitively moved to the DOUBLE SPLIT back in GRAZ (in his first gym). Most likely, it happened somewhere in 1964-1965, because after that his musculature shows a serious “leap” in growth. I think for the first year or two Schwarzenegger trained using full body system, laying the foundation and increasing the adaptive capacity of muscles and the body as a whole. And somewhere since 1965 he switched to DOUBLE SPLIT (divided muscles into two trainings).
The specialization on CHEST and BICEPS has remained, but there were more resources for training of other muscles too. By the way, indirect evidence is that until 1964, Arnold had no other muscles besides his chest and biceps. What did ARNOLD’S DOUBLE SPLIT look like in those days?
- DAY 1: CHEST, BACK, LEGS
- DAY 2: DELTOIDS, BICEPS, TRICEPS
The days were constantly alternating, i.e. Schwarzenegger trained one muscle group on average once every TWO days (which is better than every day).
Much more is already known about this program, because Arnold has been practicing it for much longer and, moreover, continued to follow its modifications already in the US. That’s how he most often described it:
DAY 1 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
- 1.Wide-grip barbell bench5*8-12
- 2.Incline medium-grip barbell bench5*8-12
- 3.Bent-arm barbell5*8-12
- 4.Wide grip behind-the-neck pull-ups 5*8-12
- 5.Bent-over barbell5*8-12
- 6.Deadlift 1*10,6,4
- 7.Barbell back squat 5*8-12
- 8.Barbell5*8-12
- 9.Machine leg5*8-12
- 10.Machine standing calf raise 5*15
- 11.Lying leg raise 5*25
- 12.
DAY 2 (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.)
- 1.Overhead barbell press 5*8-12
- 2.Dumbbell Lateral5*8-12
- 3.Smith machine bench5*8-12
- 4.Stiff-legged5*8-12
- 5.Good morning 5*8-12
- 6.Standing barbell5*8-12
- 7.Seated alternating dumbbell bicep5*8-12
- 8.Close-grip bench press 5*8-12
- 9.Standing overhead barbell triceps extension 5*8-12
- 10.Barbell wrist curl 5*8-12
- 11.Reverse barbell wrist5*8-12
- 12.
You can see that the program is far from as “sweet” as modern. It’s 11 exercises for each day. And the number of sets and reps is also above average. 5 work sets with 8-12 reps. It’s not easy at all.
Again, the imbalance in the load distribution is striking. On Day 1, large muscle groups (chest, back, legs), which need more resources, are trained. And on Day 2, the small muscle groups (deltoids, biceps, triceps) are trained. They need significantly fewer resources, but this is not taken into account. In fact, with this split, large muscles have insufficient load and rest, while small ones get excessive load.
TWO WORKOUTS PER DAY
Arnold’s training program continued to evolve after moving to Munich. Here, for the first time Schwarzenegger had to train TWICE PER DAY.
It has its own logic, because it is also split in fact. If you do not have the strength to work on Chest and Legs at the same training, you can train Chest in the morning and Legs in the evening. In fact, that’s two workouts. But you don’t lose a day (you’ve done everything planned).
Arnold was most likely led to this idea by his idol Reg Park, who invited him to his home in Southern Rhodesia and for some time they were training together. Park has taught Arnold a lot. He liked long and frequent workouts, so he made Schwarzenegger get up at 5 a.m. and they went to squat with a 200 kg barbell. Reg Park believed that there was no need to adjust to the regenerative capacity of the body (the body itself must adjust to the training). After returning to Munich from Reg Park, Arnold began to do TWO or even THREE workouts per day. The athlete’s fanaticism was exceptional.
What did it look like typically? HERE’S THE PROGRAM:
- DAY 1. MORNING = CHEST, BACK; EVENING = LEGS, CALVES, ABS
- DAY 2. MORNING = DELTOIDS, ARMS; EVENING = CALVES, ABS
- DAY 7. REST
There were many options. For example, on day 2, you could train arms in the morning, deltoids in the afternoon, calves and abs in the evening. And Arnold really did several workouts per day.
Now we realize that the load was excessive. It was slowing down possible maximum. But in those days, the sports methods were very much behind the modern ones. It was usual to train a lot and often. In order to train HARD under such conditions it was necessary to do several workouts per day. It is quite obvious that an ordinary person did not have the opportunity to train like that. But Arnie consciously created such opportunities for himself. In fact, he was already living like a professional athlete. His whole life was about training.
AMERICAN TRAINING
After living in Munich, Arnold moves to the US at the invitation of Joe Weider. Old Joe needed new heroes to sell magazines and techniques. Arnold is a European star and a good fit for a modern bodybuilding celebrity. Schwarzenegger receives a minimum contract and an invitation. He gets on a plane without hesitation and takes the next step in his career. How did Arnold’s training in sunny California change?
The most important change is the TRIPLE SPLIT. In the US, Schwarzenegger split the body into three parts and began to pump a muscle two times a week. Which is significantly less frequent than at the start of his career. Compare: at the start he trained every muscle EVERY day, and in the USA he came to train every muscle once in three or four days. Significantly less often.
Joe Weider contributed very much to this by promoting deeper splitting (splitting muscles by days). And Arnold himself was no longer a boy. Over the years of training he has noticed that two days work better than one, so it is reasonable that he will try to move to three days instead of two.
WHAT DID THE SPLIT LOOK LIKE?
- DAY 1: CHEST, BACK, abs
- DAY 2: DELTOIDS, ARMS, abs
- DAY 3: THIGHS, CALFS, abs
- DAY 4, 5, 6 = REPEAT + DAY 7 = REST
As you can see, this split is close enough to what many trainers teach now. You can already try to grow under such program. But only if you don’t repeat the amount of work that Arnold did every day.
What’s wrong? Arnold was a top professional by then. And it’s not about titles. Over the course of 10 years, Schwarzenegger has developed the unique workability and regenerative capacity of his muscles, which have allowed him to do an enormous number of exercises and sets in every workout. Because big muscles aren’t just props. These are the consequences of adapting to the loads. Arnold got used to training long and hard, so his muscles and body were able to digest very heavy loads. That’s what the program looked like:
10. Barbell wrist curl 5*8-12
11. Reverse barbell wrist curl 5*8-12
DAY 1 (CHEST, BACK, abs)
- 1.Wide-grip bench5*8-12
- 2.Incline medium-grip bench5*8-12
- 3.Bent-arm barbell5*8-12
- 4.Behind-the-neck pull-5*8-12
- 5.Bent-over barbell row 5*8-12
- 6.Deadlift 1*10,6,4
- 7.Lying leg raises 5*25
- 8.
DAY 2 (DELTOIDS ARMS abs)
- 1.Overhead barbell press 5*8-12
- 2.Dumbbell lateral5*8-12
- 3.Close-grip barbell upright5*8-12
- 4.Seated Smith machine bench5*8-12
- 5.Standing barbell curl 5*8-12
- 6.Seated dumbbell bicep curls 5*8-12
- 7.Very close-grip bench5*8-12
- 8.Standing overhead barbell triceps extension 5*8-12
- 9.Barbell wrist curl 5*8-12
- 10.Reverse barbell wrist curl 5*8-12
- 11.Incline sit-up (with weights) 5*25
- 12.
DAY 3 (LEGS, CALF, abs)
- 1.Barbell back squat
- 2.Barbell5*8-12
- 3.Machine leg curls
- 4.Stiff-legged deadlift 5*8-12
- 5.Good morning 5*8-12
- 6.Hanging leg raise 5*25
- 7.
In the US, Schwarzenegger mainly sharpened the base he had already gained in Europe. His arms were over 50, and he was a very big young man by then. But he had many failures, both in general form and in individual muscles. At the very first competition in the US, he lost to slim Frank Zane. Why? Because he was fat and Frank was dry. Arnie was big, but fatty and without a clear idea how to cut. He had to work hard on it.
In addition, as a result of the specialized load Arnold has many weaknesses. First, calves. But he had a lot of problems with abs, deltoids and even the back. Everything was behind the chest and biceps. By modern standards, it would be difficult for him to compete with such an imbalance. But in those days it wasn’t as fatal as it is now.
Arnold started to work hard on his lagging areas. He started working on abs in each training, which he didn’t do in Munich. He also began to pay more attention to training deltoids. It was expressed in more raises, instead of the traditional presses that Arnie used to do from his young years. Schwarzenegger begins to make lateral raises on an incline bench (taught by Vince Gironda), which he had never used before.
SUPER TECHNIQUES IN ARNOLD TRAINING
After moving to the US, Schwarzenegger begins to use more super techniques to increase intensity. I think that’s also the influence of Joe Weider, who systematized most of these super techniques and made them popular. Arnold begins to use the previously unused principles of PEAK CONTRACTION, DROP-SETS and his favorite SUPER-SETS
Moreover, Schwarzenegger does SUPER SETS (two sets without rest for antagonist muscles) not only for small muscles (as Joe advises), but also for large muscles. Arnold likes to bomb CHEST + BACK at the same time. It was then considered an overload.
Examples of such combination:
- BENCH PRESS
- PULL UPS
- INCLINE BENCH PRESS
- T-BAR ROW
- CHEST FLIES
- BENT-OVER BARBELL
Arnie does five sets in each exercise. Chest exercise is followed by back exercise without rest. This is followed by a break of 60 seconds and a repeat of the “pair”
BICEP DROP-SETS are of particular interest. Arnold takes a very heavy weight (124 kg) and does without rest the next series with weight drop:
- 1 rep = 124 kg
- 2 reps =110 kg
- 3 reps = 90 kg
- 4 reps = 70 kg
- 5 reps = 50 kg
“I wanted it to be a surprise for my biceps so they couldn’t get used to my training system and the methods used,” that’s what Arnold says about these DROP-SETS
