Strong as an Oak: an authoritative retrospective of Arnold Schwarzenegger's training program—every bodypart, every exercise— from the last 35 years of muscle & fitness
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Jan, 2005 by Joe Wuebben Chest
It's misleading, really, to mention Arnold's chest and back routines separately; he supersetted the two exclusively for most of his bodybuilding career. (We can, however, focus on the exercises for each bodypart separately, keeping in mind that he paired them up in his routines.) He had a few simple reasons for employing supersets: One, it saved time and allowed him to train chest and back in just one hour combined; two, he felt he could handle more weight this way and develop greater muscle density (as is the logic behind training opposing muscle groups together); and, of course, he relished having both his chest and back--essentially, his entire upper body--pumped up at the same time. "When the chest and the upper back are pumped simultaneously, there is an indescribable feeling of growth stimulation and massiveness," he said. But Arnold warned beginners about this style of training, recommending that they work into it slowly because of the demands it places on endurance and stamina. Even non-beginners can struggle. Arnold once told a story about how he introduced his chest/back workout to several experienced bodybuilders while visiting South Africa. According to The Oak, two of his training partners "passed out cold and a third became so ill that he lost his breakfast!" Did we mention that he performed this workout three days a week? OAK TIPS * Despite relatively high rep ranges, Arnold went as heavy as he could when training chest to elicit maximal growth. He typically used the pyramid principle, increasing weight and decreasing reps on each set of a given exercise. * He also regularly employed straight-arm pullovers in his training using either a dumbbell or barbell, despite their exclusion from this routine. Arnold felt that pullovers expanded the thorax and enlarged his ribcage, though this was never proven to be fact. * In addition to supersets, he also frequently performed forced reps, iso-tension (holding poses between sets and after workouts) and peak contractions (squeezing the muscles at the top of each rep) in his training. He did whatever it took to increase intensity. EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Bench Press (Warm-up) (Warm-up) Bench Press
5
1
20-6*
Incline Barbell Press 5
10-15
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Dumbbell Flye Weighted Dip
30-45
5
5
10-15
15
*Pyramid up the weight and lower your reps set to set. * FLAT-BENCH DUMBBELL FLYE Arnold did flyes much like anyone would, with one small yet noticeable difference: Instead of bringing the dumbbells together to touch at the top of each rep, he stopped when they were about 10 inches apart, then lowered them back down. He felt this offered constant tension on the pectorals, especially the outer pecs. Back
It wasn't just recently that bodybuilders of all levels coveted an immensely wide, thick and chiseled back, a la Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates. Arnold, along with Franco Columbu and others from their generation, also knew the importance of the back double-biceps and latspread poses for winning major competitions. When Arnold trained back, he didn't just concentrate on lifting the weight to a desired position--that would've been way too concrete and typical. He would never be the best doing, and thinking, the way everyone else did. With lat pulldowns, he attempted to pull the sky down on top of him, not simply move the bar to his upper chest. When deadlifting, those weren't weight plates on the ends of the barbell, they were massive planets. The thinking was abstract, sure, but effective nonetheless.
Which brings us to Conan the Barbarian, naturally. "Had I been aware of Conan during my competition years, I probably would have imagined I was him during my workouts," Arnold said leading up to his role in the movie. He was intent on developing his back for the picture because he knew it would be easily visible from many camera angles. The last thing he wanted was less-than-stellar lats if he was to be a proper barbarian. "I'll want my back muscles to bristle with power," he said. "If my back is writhing and rippling during fight scenes, the public will know that I am a rugged fighter." OAK TIPS * Arnold believed that the best way to train back was to train all areas of it--outer, upper, lower and middle--and finish the workout with a power movement, like deadlifts or cleans, that works all the back muscles. * After each back exercise, Arnold stretched his lats by pulling hard on a stationary object with either one or both arms fully extended. This, he figured, helped him achieve great overall lat development, and remain flexible and limber in the upper body. * When he wanted to hit the lower lats, he always used a narrow grip for chin-ups, pulldowns and any type of row. The lower lats were important to Arnold when doing twisting back poses onstage, as they complemented his immense width nicely. EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Wide-Grip Pull-Up 5 T-Bar Row
5
15-8* 10-15 10-15
Bent-Over Barbell Row 5 Chin-Up
5
Barbell Deadlift 3
10-15
12 6-10
*Pyramid up the weight and lower your reps set to set. * WIDE-GRIP PULL-UP When Arnold said wide, he meant it; many vintage photos show his hands much wider than shoulder-width apart when doing pull-ups. (Hint: That makes it tougher.) He started from a complete hanging position and pulled himself as high as possible, usually touching the bar behind his head. His first eight or so reps were strict, then he'd cheat a bit to get the last few up. Biceps
Legendary Weider writer Dick Tyler once wrote of Arnold's first visit to a gym, inspired by photos of Reg Park in the German magazine Der Muskelbilder. The young Oak watched gym members lifting weights and did his best to commit to memory the exercises they did so that he and his friends could do them at home. Four in particular stood out, all arm exercises: the cheating barbell and Zottman curls for biceps, and pressdowns and the close-grip bench press for triceps. At the time, having big arms interested Arnold the most and would serve as his starting point in bodybuilding. When Arnold arrived in America, he'd never even seen a preacher bench, an apparatus he would soon use religiously to build biceps that would surpass those of predecessors Larry Scott, Rick Wayne and Sergio Oliva, who Arnold once regarded as having "the biggest arms I've ever seen." He found that bodybuilders in America trained more methodically, and had a firm understanding of anatomy and physiology. Despite having already won a Mr. Universe title and possessing two of the biggest arms in the world, he felt he could do better. "I wasn't reaching my fullest potential," he said. "The deep fibers of my muscles were untouched. It was as if I had built a large building on top of a foundation of sand." He recalled watching Larry train and was "particularly fascinated watching him bomb his biceps on a curling machine. His arms looked deep and thick from training." OAK TIPS * Arnold wasn't afraid to cheat on arm exercises, especially standing curls. He felt that going very heavy was the best way to gain size, and if a little body english was required to get the weight up, so be it. * To achieve full development, Arnold always included at least one exercise in his routine, like a dumbbell curl, in which he rotated his palm up (supination) as he lifted the weight.
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Cheat Curl
6-7
6-8
Incline or Seated Dumbbell Curl 6-7 Preacher Curl
6-7
Concentration Curl
6-8
6-8
5
6-8
FOREARMS Barbell Reverse Curl 5
8-10
Reverse Preacher Curl
5
Barbell Wrist Curl
10
7
8-10
* CONCENTRATION CURL The Oak didn't always sit down for this one, as most people do nowadays. He'd often just bend over at the waist, holding a 65-pound dumbbell in one hand and supporting himself with his elbow on his knee. He kept this one strict--no cheating. Triceps
Though the majority of credit for his 22-inch-plus arms was attributed to his eye-popping biceps, Arnold acknowledged early on that twothirds of that girth resided on the other side of his humerus. After initially focusing more on his bi's, Arnold wised up and sought to build hulking triceps by employing multijoint movements like the close-grip bench press and weighted dip to go along with his old-standby pressdowns (on a lat pulldown machine) and french presses. As with chest and back, Arnold often supersetted biceps and triceps, though usually just during precontest training. This further demonstrates his firm belief in the benefits of training opposing muscles together, an idea recognized before him by Joe Weider and still adopted by many bodybuilders today. His precontest routine typically consisted of five torturous supersets, repeated four times each, followed by five supersets for forearms. If he sought gains in size, he'd do this twice a week; for definition, three times weekly. Although cautioning novice lifters against doing his routine ("This system ... is a severe form of advanced training that is not recommended for beginners"), ever the promoter, he advocated the routine to others in a feature article titled "How I Built My 22 1/2" Arms." "If you're an advanced trainer and want to shock your arms into growth, why not give my twice-a-week arm growth program a try?" he wrote. "It brought my arms up to their present massive size ... see what it can do for YOU!" OAK TIPS * Arnold believed that to increase arm size, you had to gain weight. He estimated that it takes about a 10-pound weight gain to add 1 inch to the arms. To do this, he would increase his calorie intake by 1,500-2,000 per day over his typical diet. * His typical rep entailed lowering the weight slowly on the negative and exploding it up on the positive. This gave him a "double benefit on each rep" and promoted maximum growth. * During most of his career, Arnold trained arms 2-3 days per week with very high volume. He was even known to devote 1-2 hours to his triceps alone. Of course, conventional training wisdom doesn't condone this. EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Close-Grip Bench Press 5-6 6-8 Cable Pressdown
5-6 6-8
Lying EZ-Bar French Press 5-6 6-8 Dumbbell Kickback
5
6-8
* LYING FRENCH PRESS Arnold preferred the cambered bar for this one. He'd space his hands about 8-10 inches apart and lower the bar from an arms-extended position (perpendicular to the floor) to behind his head with his elbows flexed past 90 degrees.
Shoulders
Arnold used to discuss his shoulders as though they were the missing link to complete upper-body development. "A man who has developed wide, broader shoulders," he once said in a magazine article, "feels superior and has a greater sense of security and confidence about him." Not surprisingly, he scoffed at the large number of bodybuilders he knew whose training regimens were absent of any sort of shoulder routine. No wonder the one exercise named after him, the Arnold Press, is a delt movement. Early in his bodybuilding career, The Oak's deltoids were the weakest aspect of his upper body. So Arnold concentrated on them tirelessly, training all three deltoid heads--anterior, posterior and middle--and after winning the 1967 Mr. Universe contest in London, he attributed his victory in large part to his improved shoulder development. Three years later at the 1970 Universe, he beat his idol Reg Park, along with Dave Draper, and again wrote that he was thankful he'd trained his shoulders so hard and that his width up top was what made the difference. Joe Weider once asked Arnold what importance he thought bone structure served in overall shoulder development; in other words, are some people born with it and some not? The future governor of California acknowledged that certain individuals did possess a genetic advantage, at the time namely Steve Reeves and Frank Zane, but didn't concede failure to those who don't. He maintained that anyone could widen his shoulders by at least 2 inches via "direct and specialized training." OAK TIPS * Arnold kept barbell work to a minimum when training shoulders. He reasoned that all the bench and incline presses he did, which also hit the delts to some degree, would suffice. * For a good while, he trained delts first in a workout that included arms, citing that his delts were naturally weak and needed to be worked when fresh. * The trapezius muscles were never neglected in Arnold's training, despite not always being mentioned. He was apt to work his traps with his delts. EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Clean and Press (warm-up) 1 Arnold Press drop set*
5
6
5
8-10
20-30
--Compound set with-Bent-Over Lateral Raise Lying Lateral Raise**
5
Cable Lateral Raise
12
5
12
Alternating Dumbbell Front Raise 3 12 *Arnold started with 95-pound dumbbells, then descended in 10-pound Increments without resting, finishing with 55s, doing six reps at each weight. **Lying sideways on an incline board * CABLE LATERAL RAISE Using a low pulley, Arnold raised one arm out to the side, knuckles up, to shoulder height and squeezed. The arm stayed slightly bent throughout to ease tension on the elbow joint. To bring the rear deltoid head into play, sometimes he'd grip the handle behind his body. Legs
In his early days, Arnold's leg-training protocol suffered from two critical pitfalls: Disuse and, as Joe Weider called it, primitivism. The former was pretty straightforward--the young Austrian didn't train legs at all his first year of bodybuilding. After finally clueing in to his lower body, he went overboard, even going so far as to train legs every day for a year, doing 10 sets of squats and 10 sets of leg curls each day. Not surprisingly, he wasn't satisfied with the results.
His primitive ways were most reflective in lifting "retreats" that he and his buddies would go on in the Austrian countryside, as described in another Tyler-written story. They'd load up several cars with weights and drive to a remote area in the trees where they could train. They'd squat from morning till afternoon, then rest and drink beer, then go right back to squatting again. That's how they did it--pick an exercise and do it until you can't do it anymore. When Joe came into the picture, such antiquated training methods went by the wayside, as did the beer-drinking. He felt Arnold's legs had become bulky without enough definition. "[Your legs] suffer by comparison [to your upper body] and it is of the most urgent necessity that you completely alter your leg-training program," Joe told young Arnold. "I rather imagine, too, that others may have noticed this odd effect and are puzzled by it." Arnold agreed, which produced the type of workout you see here, not to mention wonderfully proportioned legs. OAK TIPS * Arnold often split his quad workouts into two sessions, doing his first three thigh exercises in the morning and doing the last one or two in the evening. This assured that every exercise was performed at utmost intensity. * Despite the intensity of his leg training, Arnold kept his rest periods between sets short, no more than one minute. This created a "flushing" effect, keeping maximum blood in the muscles for the entire session. * Sometimes he would do leg curls in the middle of his quad workout (after front squats and before leg presses) to give the front of his thighs a short break. Then he'd do more sets of hamstrings at the end of the workout. EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Squat 5
8
Front Squat
8-10
Leg Press
5 5
10
Leg Extension 5
10
Lying Leg Curl 8
10
* FRONT SQUAT Arnold liked this movement for building up his lower quads just above the knee to accentuate the "teardrop," aka vastus medialis. He went heavy (no surprise) and took it down very low, thighs well past parallel to the floor. To avoid injury, he always made sure to keep his back straight throughout and warmed up thoroughly beforehand. Abs
Abs were never Arnold's best bodypart. He didn't naturally have a small waist, nor did he possess the deeply etched six-pack of Frank Zane or even Serge Nubret. But his midsection was never really a weakness, either. Perhaps that was because he was a master of deception. Look at shots of him posing and you'll notice that most of the time he would twist his upper body in some way to face the camera or the judges, regardless of the pose. This gave him the appearance of having a smaller waist, and it was an important strategy for him in competition. He also defied any genetic shortcomings by adopting an extremely high-volume routine, which consisted of many exercises and lots of reps (see workout box). Smartly, he also acknowledged that eating clean played a major role in ridding fat in the area and helping his abs show through. That his vacuum wasn't Zane-like wasn't for a lack of effort or passion. Arnold considered the midsection one of the most critical parts of the male physique, citing the sculpted abdominals of Greek gods as his inspiration. "In physique competitions, if your abdominal region has a slight layer of fatty tissue on it," he once said, "you might as well forget about taking home a trophy." OAK TIPS * Arnold felt that abdominal work should be done every day. (We typically don't recommend such volume, however.) He was even known to train abs twice a day on occasion, when he wanted to make a noticeable difference in a short time. * He usually trained abs at the end of his workout, after calves, the other bodypart he felt needed more frequent training to spur development. * Arnold's oblique training consisted primarily of controlled twisting motions while holding a bar across his shoulders. He was careful not to build up muscle in that area, for fear that it would make his waistline larger.
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Hanging Knee Raise 3
25-50
Roman Chair Sit-Up 4
25-30
Lying Leg Raise
3
25-30
Side-to-Side Twists 3
50
Back Extension
3
15
Seated Leg-Up
4
25-50
* LYING LEG RAISE Lying on a flat bench with his arms overhead, hands grasping the bench for stability, Arnold started with his legs straight, parallel to the floor. He then contracted his abs to raise his legs until they were perpendicular. He lowered them slowly back down, keeping constant tension on his midsection. Calves
You're likely familiar with Arnold's self-consciousness about his calves; they used to be small, so he'd cut the bottoms off his sweatpants to expose them, which motivated him to bring them up, a goal at which he was ultimately successful. So you've heard. But did you know about his "relationship" with his calves? He used to literally communicate with them. Seriously. Here's what he had to say in a past issue of MUSCLE BUILDER: "The calves are like no other muscle, and every day they seem to have a different mood," he said. "Sometimes I can do calf raises with shoes on and it feels better, then other times the shoes get in the way and I have to do this exercise with bare feet.... It's strange; kind of supernatural. "A secret I learned is to test the calves' personality or attitude with two or three sets, then I know which way they want to go that particular day. The calves will let you know--just give them a chance to 'talk' to you." He went on to say it's "almost like they have a mind of their own--a brain that the other muscles don't have." OAK TIPS * Arnold couldn't use enough variety in his calf training. Anything that would shock the stubborn calves was fair game--high reps, low reps, super-short rest periods (15-30 seconds), supersets, you name it. * For the most part, he took his calf exercises through a full range of motion--down for a full stretch and up until they nearly cramped. However, he also occasionally did full sets of partial reps, which allowed him to go much heavier, or finished off regular sets with a few partials. EXERCISE Donkey Calf Raise
SETS REPS 5
15-30
Standing Calf Raise 5
15-30
Leg-Press Calf Raise 5
20-30
Standing One-Legged Calf Raise (with a dumbbell) 3 15-30 * STANDING ONE-LEGGED CALF RAISE Holding a dumbbell in one hand, Arnold would stand on one leg on a wooden block, concentrating on each calf muscle separately. He made sure the block was high enough so his heel wouldn't touch the floor at the bottom of the movement, even though he stretched the calf fully on each rep.
Calf input: training the lower legs has puzzled many over the years. Here's Arnold's two cents
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Sept, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger CALVES MUST BE the most widely controversial muscle group to train, aside maybe from abs. Discussions range from training heavy vs. light, to high reps vs. low reps, to what volume and frequency is appropriate for working them. As you probably know, I have strong opinions on training calves. And while others may disagree with my stances (no pun intended) on developing the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, here they are nevertheless: * On Resistance: Back when I was still having trouble putting size on my calves, I did calf raises using 500-600 pounds of resistance, thinking that was more than enough weight. Then Reg Park pointed out that each of my calves was accustomed to supporting 250 pounds of bodyweight, so 500 pounds was pretty "normal" for me. That's when I started overloading my calves, using up to 1,000 pounds on standing calf raises. And that's when they grew. Now, I'd never suggest that a beginner-level (or even an intermediate) lifter go this heavy, but the point is to use a sufficiently heavy weight relative to your bodyweight when training calves. * On Time Investment: In my opinion, the one thing that thwarts the progress of an individual's calf development more than anything else is attrition. Most people just don't have the patience and persistence to maintain the necessary intensity level to maximize this stubborn bodypart. I've always believed that the price of having great calves is 500 hours. I'll explain: Five hundred hours equals more than 660 45minute calf workouts; 660 divided by four workouts per week equals about 165 weeks. That's more than three years of work! Anything less is a futile effort, unless you're genetically blessed with amazing calves. So stick with it. * On Range of Motion: Simply put, the greater your range of motion when doing seated, standing or donkey calf raises, the more your calves will develop. This means getting a full stretch at the bottom, then going all the way up at the top and squeezing hard. One exception to this rule exists: partial reps. Back in my heyday, every fourth calf workout (give or take) I did consisted of only half and quarter movements using extremely heavy weight. This added resistance on my calves was very beneficial for adding mass, despite my limited range of motion. * On Rep Ranges: It would be impossible for me to sum up how many reps I'd typically do per set of calf exercises--I alternately employed high, low and moderate reps throughout the '60s and '70s. For example, I might do five sets of 10 reps per exercise one day, then do 20 reps per set the following workout, then maybe 12-15 reps the next. And then some days I'd load up the stack really heavy and perform just 3-4 reps per set. On occasion, I'd train with a guy like Tom Platz and we'd do sets of 30, 40 or 50 reps. So you see, the goal when training calves is to be as unpredictable as possible. You must continually try new training protocols. I confidently predict that it will work for you! BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Chest master: how Arnold Schwarzenegger built the best chest of all time and how his training philosophy can work for you Training
Flex,, Feb, 2003 by Shawn Perine Flex Stretching the tape at an incredible 58", Arnold Schwarzenegger's chest had it all: size, shape, balance and definition. When he hit a side chest pose, his pecs arched so high that a glass of water could rest atop them. When he crunched into a most-muscular shot, they split into four discernible masses--right and left upper and lower pecs--each raked with myriad striations and crisscrossed by snaking veins. Supporting this sinewy armor plate was a rib cage that seemed to have been designed more for a silverback gorilla than a man. Over the past 30 years, bodybuilding fans have witnessed tremendous. growth in their sport--not only in the number of participants and ever-increasing popularity with the public, but in the size of its competitors, as Well. Backs have become broader, thighs more massive and sweeping, triceps thicker and more striated. As with disciplines ranging from technology to medicine to architecture, the passage of time has brought to bodybuilding new levels of excellence in both practice and form. With highly refined training techniques and dietary principles, IFBB pros can now, develop physique s that, 30 years ago, would have been unfathomable to most bodybuilders. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't "most" bodybuilders. In the 1970s, he developed a chest that, today, could still eclipse that of any monster. In fact, in every Best Bodyparts poll FLEX has conducted over the past few years, Arnold's thoracic region is still voted by the foremost authorities on the subject--you, our readers--as being the, best of all time by a country mile. In large part, the majesty of, Arnold's chest along with, that of his vaunted arms, propelled him to seven Mr. Olympia titles (1970-75 and 1980). Yet, as familiar as we may be with the voluminous photographic documentation of his mighty torso, one question remains as pertinent now as it, was during his competitive heyday: How did he build it; what was the exact workout Arnold Schwarzenegger used to develop what is arguably the best chest of all time? THE EVOLUTION To better appreciate Arnold's ultimate chest-blasting routine, the one he devised in response to the greatest challenge of his bodybuilding life, it-is helpful to take a brief look at his bodybuilding roots and the routine he first employed to build the raw mass from which he would later sculpt his masterpiece.
From beginning bodybuilding a 15-year-old in 1962, Arnold valued the importance of a massive sculpted chest. It is not insignificant to note that his primary source of inspiration at the tune was pictures of Reg Park he had clipped from the pages of MUSCLE BUILDER magazine (the forebear to MUSCLE & FITNESS). Winner of three Mr. Universe titles over a span of 14 years (1951; '58 and '65), Park was the prototype for the giants we sec onstage today. "He had both a huge rib cage and enormous pectorals, and every time I saw his famous side chest shot, I knew that I wanted to soon be as good in the same pose," recalls Arnold. Park stood 6'2" and weighed 230 pounds. His unprecedented size; particularly that of his tree-trunk thick upper torso, gave young Arnold a lofty goal to shoot for. Ever the diligent student, Arnold analyzed his idol's chest development the way a, geneticist might examine a string of nucleotides and determined that there were three distinct features that, when viewed as a whole, accounted for Park's pectoral prosperity. First, the muscles themselves were just plain large: thick, wide and high. Second, his pectoralis major (the lower portion) and pectoralis minor (the upper portion) groups were balanced with one another in a way that gave his chest a proportionate squared-off look rather than the rounded sagging appearance typical of those who focused too heavily on flat benches and not enough on inclines. Finally, supporting Park's pecs was a voluminous rib cage, the biggest in the sport at the time. With the Park template clearly etched in his mind's eye, Arnold developed a basic routine (see "Early Chest" sidebar) that enabled him to pack on as much quality mass as possible without too much concern for detail. Arnold worked hard and he worked heavy, hitting his chest three days a week and would often work his back on the same day, relishing the feel of a fully pumped upper body at the end of the workout. (Schwarzenegger employed a six-days-on/one-day-off double-split routine throughout much of his professional career. See "Doing the Double Split" sidebar for details.) The results of this no-nonsense routine were quick and dramatic. After five years on this regimen, Arnold's chest swelled from a sunken 39' 'to a whopping 58'--a 19" gain! In addition, it was through this routine that he worked his way up to an unassisted 500-pound bench press. By the early 1970s, Arnold had developed the largest muscular chest the world had ever seen, but he knew from firsthand experience that bigger wasn't always better. It was in 1968 that huge but relatively smooth Arnold had lost the Mr. Universe title to polished and defined Frank Zane, some 60 pounds lighter. That defeat was an early lesson that the quality of one's muscle development is as important as the quantity when it comes to competitive bodybuilding. If the challenge Zane presented, in 1968 was an eye-opener for Arnold, the battle he would face in 1972 would cause him to rethink his training game plan and, in the process, design the ultimate chest workout. THE REVOLUTION When Joe Weider recited to two-time defending Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger the names of the athletes scheduled to challenge him in the 1972 competition, it sounded like a roll call for a bodybuilding hall of fame: Sergio Oliva, Franco Columbu, Frank Zane and Serge Nubret. Arnold knew it would be by far his toughest challenge to date and realized that he would have to take his physique to a new level to remain the king of the hill. "After talking things over with Joe," Arnold recounts, "I decided that what I needed was a workout program that would allow me to work each muscle group to the limit to force growth and definition to improve simultaneously." Remembering the tremendous results he experienced from training his chest and back together, and armed with a higher education of Weider principles such as supersets and super flushing, the 25-year-old had an epiphany: He would train his chest and back together as one giant superset! As Arnold explains it, "There are several advantages to alternating chest and back exercises. * It saves time and the, workout goes much faster. * You can handle heavier poundages for more mass power. * You get a greater pump and a continuous flushing effect of both areas for the entire workout. You keep the pump longer. * Greater muscle density results because you are able to work to the absolute limit of your physical capacity." Arnold continues, "One of the most important reasons why a chest-back superset program works so well is the fact that most chest exercises are pushing movements, while all back exercises are pulling exercises. Thc chest muscles are resting during the last exercise and the lats are resting during the chest movement. While each muscle is alternately resting and working, it stay's fully flushed and pumped up.... When the chest and upper back are pumped simultaneously, there is an indescribable feeling of growth stimulation and massiveness." For the routine he eventually devised, see the accompanying chart, "Arnold's All-Out Chest-Back Workout." Here's a synopsis, complete with some of Arnold's thoughts about each of the pec exercises he used in this training regimen and how he employed them.
EXERCISE 1: Barbell Bench Presses Arnold would first warm up for this favored exercise with 135 pounds for a quick 30-40 reps to get the blood flowing and the joints loose. Then he would immediately head for a chinning bar, knocking out 15 wide-grip behind-the-neck chins before heading back to the bench, adding a pair of 45s to the bar and pumping out 20 more reps. After a second set of chins, he'd load the bar with 275, perform 15 more reps and then jump back to the chinning bar. And so it went, with weight/rep combinations of 315 for 12, 365 for eight and 405 for six, all superset with chins, all done without rest. Arnold always consciously took very deep breaths while doing this and all of his chest exercises. "In addition to massing up the pectorals, the heavy breathing also encourages rib cage expansion." EXERCISE 2: Incline Barbell Presses "This movement is unsurpassed as a builder of the upper pecs." With his pecs now fully warmed up, he would jump right to 225 pounds for an initial 15 reps; again concentrating on deep breathing as well as flexing his pecs throughout the movement. Alternating each set with T bar rows, he would progress in 20-pound increments as follows: 245 x 12, 265 x 12, 285 x 10 and 305 x 10. By this point, Arnold's pecs and lats would be flushed with blood. EXERCISE 3: Flat Dumbbell Flyes "Here is a great exercise to shape up the outer sections of the pectorals and that, when performed correctly, also opens up the rib box and helps to deepen the chest." A master of technique, Arnold perfected this difficult movement as no one else ever had. He often described the motion of the flye as "hugging a tree." Lying back on a flat bench, with arms slightly bent, he would take a huge breath and slowly lower the dumbbells out and away from his torso, so low that they would practically touch-the floor. Then, with a mighty exhalation, he would raise them back through the same arc, all the time squeezing his pecs. What set Arnold's technique apart from that of nearly everyone else was his form at the top of the movement. As the tension on his pecs would begin to decrease near the movement's end, he would stop his motion, with the dumbbells remaining 10-12" apart. He realized that anything beyond that was wasted movement having no impact on his pecs. Nevertheless, by employing the Weider Peak Contraction Tr aining Principle, he would forcibly contract this pecs at this point before lowering the weights again. He would start with 65-pound dumbbells for, 15 reps, then jump to 75s for 12, followed by three sets of 10 with 85s. Each set of flyes would be superset with barbell rows. EXERCISE 4: Parallel Bar Dips Dips, Arnold felt, carved a clean line at the bottom edge of his pectoralis major like no other exercise. With an 80-pound dumbbell strapped to his waist, he would prop himself up on dipping bars and then slowly lower himself to a point where his hands nearly touched his armpits. Lie then exploded back up, all the time making sure to synchronize his breathing to the pace of the movement--inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up. He'd blast out 15 reps and then perform a set of close-grip chins for each superset. "By the time I get to the fifth set, the pecs and lats are totally engorged with blood and I have such a colossal pump that the muscles feel like they are going to burst through the skin!" EXERCISE 5: Stiff-Arm Pullovers With the, chest-back supersets out of the way, Arnold would complete the lifting portion of his workout with pullovers to stretch his pecs, lats and rib cage simultaneously. This exercise was always a staple of Arnold's training and the one he considers most responsible for the overwhelming size of his rib box. Lying across a flat bench, he would grab a dumbbell of what he considered medium weight with both hands and extend it to arms' length, keeping a slight bend in his elbows. From here, he would lower the weight in an arc down past his head while inhaling very deeply through his mouth, all the while making sure to keep his hips down, thus ensuring the greatest possible stretch. Despite a nearly incapacitating level of fatigue by this point, he would still manage to force out five, sets of 15 to 20 reps with a 90-pound dumbbell. Between sets, he would pause for about 30 seconds, during which time he would walk around the gym taking deep breaths while forcing his chest to its maximum point of expansion. "Yo u will not believe the ache in the sternum that this movement will produce! It literally pulls your chest apart and forces it into new growth." EXERCISE 6: Iso-Tension Contractions No matter what the bodypart, Arnold would always finish up his workout with an intense session of posing and flexing. "I' pose my chest by doing the side chest pose where the rib cage is fully expanded with the sucked in. I do this from waist both sides. Then I squeeze and crimp the pecs as hard as I can from all angles to bring out the height, thickness and shape. This not only gives me better control of these muscles, but it also brings out all the veins and muscular striations, which improves the definition." CELEBRATION Finally, after a solid hour of this nonstop self-inflicted torture, Arnold would be drenched in sweat as if he had come in from a rainstorm. His chest and back muscles would throb and ache. His breathing would be labored. To anyone else, this condition would prompt an immediate visit to the nearest emergency room. To the Austrian Oak, it was reason to celebrate.
"As I head for the shower, I feel exhausted but exhilarated, like a boxer who has just gone 15 rounds with the heavyweight champion and beaten him with a knockout in the final round!" Of course, for this "boxer," the opening bell would sound again in exactly 47 hours, at which time it was back for another 15 rounds. Yet, as unfathomably grueling as this routine might appear to the rest of us, the reward in performing it was, for Arnold, great indeed. After all, not everyone can lay claim to the title "The World's Greatest Chest." It is fair to caution that although the routine outlined in this feature was used with great success by Arnold throughout the early to mid-'70s (as evinced by his 1972-75 Olympia form), it may prove too rigorous for most bodybuilders. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't "most" bodybuilders, was he? ARNOLD'S ALL-OUT CHEST-BACK WORKOUT Bench presses *
1 30-45
Bench presses
5 20-6 +
Wide-grip behind-the-neck chins Incline barbell presses
5 15-8 +
5 10-15
T-bar rows
5 10-15
Flat-bench dumbbell flyes
5 10-15
Wide-grip barbell rows
5 10-15 (performed standing on a block for better range of motion)
Dips
5 15
Close-grip chins
5 12
Stiff-arm pullovers
5 15-20
Iso-tension contractions (finishing exercise) * Performed as a warm-up. + Pyramid sets. NOTE: Arnold took absolutely no rest between sets and exercises of the four supersets. RELATED ARTICLE: EARLY CHEST This is the chest routine Arnold Schwarzenegger used three times a week at the start of his bodybuilding career. Although science has provided little evidence that one can actually alter the size of a thorax after puberty, Arnold believes otherwise. "I am convinced," he says, "that I could effectively expand the rib cage by performing dumbbell pullovers." Hard to argue with the evidence! EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Bench presses
5
6-10
Incline bench presses 5 Flat-bench flyes Dips
5 5
Dumbbell pullovers
6-10 6-10
6-10 5
6-10
DOING THE DOUBLE SPLIT No, it has nothing to do with the gasp-inducing tendon-stretching pose performed by people such as Phil Hill, Flex Wheeler and Ronnie Coleman on a bodybuilding stage. "Double split" refers to a type of training routine that has pretty much gone the way of baggy posing
trunks and kettle bells. Specifically, a double-split routine is one in which the body is split into several groups, each to be trained in separate workouts, with two workouts performed each day (usually one in the morning and one in the evening)--amounting to double the training performed in a normal split routine. In the 1970s, it was all the rage, with some athletes, such as Roy Callender, not leaving the gym at all during the day, instead performing all-out workouts lasting up to eight hours! Today, it is de rigueur for bodybuilders at all levels to employ some kind of split routine in a training regimen, but it is very rare indeed to find anyone who performs true double splits (as opposed to returning to the gym during the evening to touch up on calves or abs or perform some cardio). The amount of work a double-split routine requires is generally considered excessive and a sure-fire path to overtraining. Yet, for Arnold Schwarzenegger and most of his Gold's Gym peers of the '70s, it was the only way to train. Arnold preferred a two-day split, going six days on and one day off, which means he trained his whole body within two consecutive days, three times per week. That schedule is presented here. Considering the time and energy investment required for such a program, it's little wonder that the double split is such a rarity these days. But if you should have the urge to try this act of masochism, you might just find yourself starting to develop a physique reminiscent of Denny Gable, Franco Columbu or Robby Robinson, or maybe even that of Arnold himself. ARNOLD'S DOUBLE SPLIT Morning Day 1 Chest, back
Evening Thighs, calves, abs
Day 2 Shoulders, arms Calves, abs Day 3 Chest, back
Thighs, calves, abs
Day 4 Shoulders, arms Calves, abs Day 5 Chest, back
Thighs, calves, abs
Day 6 Shoulders, arms Calves, abs Day 7 Rest CHEST BE CAREFUL The all-out chest-back workout should be performed only by experienced bodybuilders. Occasionally, even top-level bodybuilders attempting to keep up with Arnold have lost consciousness or, in at least one instance, their lunch. Amateur and intermediate-level bodybuilders interested in utilizing the principles set forth in this regimen are strongly advised to modify the routine to suit their particular level of expertise. For example, where Arnold might specify five supersets of a pair of exercises, consider performing two or three, with increased rest between supersets, to avoid overtraining and possible injury. As strength and stamina grow, the volume and speed of the workout can be slowly increased. Shawn Perine has been active in bodybuilding for more than 20 years and is publisher of the online bodybuilding monthly ironage.us. Focus on the negative: get eccentric with heavy weights to bust through your training plateau
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , April, 2006 by Arnold Schwarzenegger THE BASIC PHILOSOPHY ON how to build muscle strength and size is to contract muscles against the appropriate amount of resistance, which you do by lifting the weight through the positive, or concentric, part of a repetition. But you can also gain some benefit from the descending--aka negative or eccentric--part of the rep. Indeed, bodybuilders often do negatives, in which they move a heavy weight through only the eccentric portion of the rep under great control. Negatives create additional intensity--therefore eliciting greater muscular response--because the amount of weight you can lower is greater than that which you can lift. Negatives are something I always included in my workouts, as did most of the other top bodybuilders with whom I trained. Science tells us negatives are ideal for strengthening connective tissue (tendons and ligaments), which can help you avoid injury. But negatives also produce a greater amount of muscle soreness because you use heavier resistance. However, this soreness signifies that more stress is focused on your muscles, which increases the potential for micro-damage and thus muscle growth. Of course, you perform a negative anytime you lower a weight back to the starting position after lifting it. And experienced bodybuilders know they should lower weights slowly and under control rather than simply letting them drop. Here are two specific methods to increase the intensity of negatives, although you should use both very carefully and only on occasion.
* Assisted Negatives To perform assisted negatives, a training partner helps you lift a heavier-than-usual weight through the concentric portion of the rep, then you lower the weight by yourself. This works especially well with barbell exercises. For example, when I did assisted negatives on the barbell bench press, I'd have my partner help me lift the weight to full arm extension, then I'd slowly lower the bar to my chest on my own. We'd repeat this process for reps. Obviously, your partner must pay close attention and step in immediately if you become too fatigued to control the weight. * Forced Negatives This is a super-intense training method that should be used sparingly to avoid overtraining and injury, and it requires an experienced training partner. Using the example of the bench press again, you lift the bar--with or without assistance--and as you lower it, your partner pushes down on the bar hard enough to increase resistance but not so forcefully that he overwhelms you. Your job is to resist the combined downward force of gravity and your partner as best you can. It's important to perform forced negatives with someone with enough experience to sense how much additional pressure you can withstand and take control of the bar if necessary. In my own training, I've always found that assisted and forced negatives are good ways to prepare for handling heavier weight than you've trained with previously. For instance, if you currently bench-press 280 pounds and are having trouble increasing resistance, putting 300 pounds or more on the bar and performing negatives seems, from my experiences, to help you lift the heavier weight on your own sooner, for both physiological and psychological reasons. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for your muscles! Negatives helped build up Arnold's biceps peaks Due to the volume of mail he receives, Arnold cannot respond to individual readers' questions. The information presented here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of healthcare professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Adapted from material previously published in MUSCLE & FITNESS. Pump up the volume: overload training has gone out of style. Here's how to bring it back to bust through plateaus
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , July, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger IF THERE'S ONE ASPECT OF THE way I once trained that comes under more scrutiny than any other, it's the immensely high volume I used. Most of today's body-builders train each bodypart once a week with roughly 10-16 sets; they wouldn't dream of doing any more than that, since muscles need ample rest to grow. I see nothing wrong with this. My workout comrades and I didn't fully understand how important rest was at the time. However, I must say that the training volume I used, while extreme, simply worked for my body. Do I think I would've been more successful working out fewer times a week with fewer sets? Absolutely not. So let's meet in the middle. Go ahead and stick to your current volume of training each bodypart once or twice a week with 3-4 exercises and 3-4 sets apiece, but when you hit a plateau in the gym and need something to overcome it, try one of these strategies from back in my high-volume days: * The Double Split: I used to break up my training into two lifting workouts per day. For example, on Monday morning I trained chest and back, then I hit quads, calves and abs that night. Tuesday, it was shoulders and arms early in the day and calves and abs again in the evening. My advice to you is to pick a day that you have time to go to the gym twice, making sure you give yourself at least 8-10 hours between workouts, and knock out four major bodyparts (two in each session) that day. Do this once every month or so. You'll be exhausted that day, but the change of pace will be worth it. * Bodypart Times Three: Another hallmark of mine was to train each muscle group three times a week. (Yes, that's right, three times.) Using chest as an example, I worked it Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then repeated the cycle the following Monday. (I usually took Sundays off from lifting.) So again, every 3-6 months or so, pick a bodypart that needs extra work and train it three days in one week with one day of rest between each session. Keep your total exercises and sets per workout the same as you usually do--that week you'll perform three times your normal volume for that bodypart. * Sets Upon Sets: Every workout, I regularly did between 25 and 30 sets total divided among five different exercises for each bodypart. Let's use back as an example. I selected five major lifts (such as pull-ups, lat pulldowns, barbell rows, cable rows and deadlifts) and did five sets of around 6-12 reps apiece. It was pretty much the same with all my other bodyparts, too (chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, legs). You can make this strategy work for you by doing up to 30 sets for a single bodypart that's been holding up the show once every few months. If you think this sounds demanding, you're right--it is. Finally, make extra certain you take in plenty of foods high in protein and get rest. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Due to the volume of mail he receives, Arnold cannot respond to individual readers' questions. The information presented here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health-care professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Adapted from material previously published in MUSCLE & FITNESS.
The Oak's unique lifts: in and out of the gym, Arnold Schwarzenegger did it his way
Flex,, May, 2005 by Greg Merritt Flex Of all the qualities that distinguish Arnold Schwarzenegger from the rest of us, some are as simple to pinpoint as a shoulder press or a calf raise. Nearly from the beginning of his bodybuilding career, people have followed his path, hoping to duplicate some of his success. The unique exercises in the Oak's regimen in the mid-'70s became popular primarily because he was doing them. Now, three decades later, many of them have fallen into disuse--typically because they're more difficult to master than less-effective alternatives. Here are some exercises that helped Schwarzenegger win seven Mr. Olympia titles, but even so, most modern trainers don't do them. Incorporate them into your own workouts and experience what made the Oak grow. * Arnold presses You know a lift is unique to you when it bears your name. Arnold presses are dumbbell shoulder presses with a crucial twist. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level with your palms facing you and your elbows near your sides (as if at the top position of dumbbell curls). Your thumbs are facing out. Then, as you press the dumbbells up, rotate your hands so that your thumbs point toward each other. In the top position (just short of lockout), your palms are facing forward. Reverse the twist during the descent. Schwarzenegger did these for the greater range of motion they afforded, stimulating the front delts, in particular, from a different angle. * Donkey calf raises Before the rise of the donkey calf machine, the current California governor performed these with Franco Columbu and one or two other pals riding on his back. Place your toes on a block, rest your elbows on a high bench, and have someone (preferably a beautiful woman) sit on your lower back. Raise your heels up and down, getting a maximum stretch and contraction for each rep. Sure, it looks ridiculous--all the more so because bodyweight donkey calf raises are rarely performed today. You may not always have access to a machine and, even if you do, the "old-school way" provides a freer movement. This exercise was a major contributor to Schwarzenegger's phenomenal calf growth. * Front squats Several current champions--including Ronnie Coleman and Chris Cook--perform front squats, but otherwise this one-time weight-room standard is slipping into history. Today, few trainers do front squats, simply because they're hard work. They require that you perform a free-weight squat while balancing a barbell on your front deltoids and clavicles (a somewhat painful position) and steadying yourself while the weight threatens to tug you forward. Use a barbell pad or wrap a towel around the center of the barbell for extra support. With your arms crossed in front of your chest, balance the bar on your front delts and clavicles. Stand with your heels on a board for better balance. Squat to just below parallel, keeping your elbows high and your torso upright throughout. Use a light weight until you get the hang of these. Front squats can be performed on a Smith machine, but that eliminates the struggle to balance the bar. The difficulty of front squats is precisely what makes them so beneficial. They also place a greater emphasis on the lower quads than back squats do. Schwarzenegger believed that front squats were the exercise that most altered his thigh musculature. * Lying incline side laterals Standing side laterals stress the medial deltoids primarily during the top half of the ascent (when the weight is traveling mostly upward) and only minimally during the bottom half of the ascent (when the weight is traveling mostly outward). By doing side laterals while lying on an incline bench, Schwarzenegger was able to apply greater stress at the beginning of each rep (and less during the top half of each rep). Lie on your right side on an incline situp bench and grasp a dumbbell with your left hand. Keeping your elbow locked and your arm straight or nearly straight, raise the dumbbell until it is directly over your shoulder joint. After getting eight to 12 reps, lie on your left side to work your right medial deltoid. * Reverse preacher curls Original Mr. Olympia (1965-66) Larry Scott popularized reverse curls on a preacher bench, and Schwarzenegger incorporated them into his training. Unlike most of today's champs, Schwarzenegger never neglected his forearms. In fact, he would sometimes train them every day before contests. He believed lower-arm mass gave his physique a full and complete look. These curls work the forearms, brachialis and biceps together. Perform them with a straight bar. Schwarzenegger liked to do reverse preacher curls as a transitional exercise (after his biceps workout and as the first exercise of his forearm training). Barbell wrist curls followed reverse preacher curls. * Wide-grip behind-the-neck chins Few pros do chins these days, let alone the behind-the-neck variety. The Oak frequently did them with a grip far beyond shoulder width, believing that this method stretched out and broadened his upper lats. Start each rep from a dead stop with your arms straight, and then pull yourself up with a smooth motion. Duck your head forward and touch the bar to your traps. Contract in the top position. If you can't do eight reps on your own, have a spotter lighten the load by giving your feet a slight boost. Conversely, if you can do more than 12 reps on your own, add resistance via a weighted belt or by holding a dumbbell between your thighs. BOTTOM LINE| The career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, both in and out of the gym, is a classic example of an individual relying on his instincts. He figured out a strategy that worked for him and then followed it to the letter. Give these "forgotten" exercises a try and who knows, maybe in 30 years, you'll be consumed by the California budget debt ... or maybe not.
Ab advisory: the heated debate on how to train abs continues. Here, Arnold weighs in
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Dec, 2006 by Arnold Schwarzenegger STRONG ABDOMINALS ARE essential for maximizing performance in almost all sports. In bodybuilding, the abs are the visual center of your body, the area people's eyes are immediately drawn to. With that in mind, here are some of my views on how to train the abdominal muscles: * On spot-reducing: Spot-reduction refers to training a specific muscle to burn fat in that particular area. According to this theory, merely doing exercise after exercise with high reps for the abs will create a shredded six-pack. Unfortunately, this doesn't work. You need to train your entire body and maintain a clean diet to achieve a washboard midsection; it's not enough to just knock out hundreds of sit-ups. But that's not to say that training your abs won't increase their definition--it most certainly will. The key to maximizing your midsection training is to do your ab-specific exercises with slow, controlled reps, using a full range of motion and holding at the point of peak contraction every time up. * On the "crunch" motion: Most ab-specific exercises are some form of crunch. You can crunch your ribcage down toward your pelvis (the classic crunch exercise), move your pelvis up toward your ribcage (reverse crunch) and/or crunch both ends toward each other (double crunch). I consider knee-and leg-raise exercises a form of reverse crunch. On these, try not to use your hip flexors too much, like I see a lot of people doing. Ultimately, you still need to be concerned with the crunching motion to isolate the abs. * On volume for training abs: I recommend training abs in every workout. For beginners, I suggest alternating every other day between five sets of regular crunches (for the upper abs) and five sets of reverse crunches (for the lower abs). As you become more advanced and your abdominals begin to develop, you can incorporate a wider variety of exercises, such as twisting crunches (which train the oblique muscles in addition to the abs), knee and leg raises and double crunches. You can also begin to increase your sets, working up to 10 total sets or so per workout. * On using extra resistance with abs: I believe in doing weighted abdominal exercises, such as cable crunches, only sparingly. Reason being, the purpose of training the six-pack should be to keep that area flat, not build it up. Due to the volume of mail he receives, Arnold cannot respond to individual readers' questions. The information presented here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of healthcare professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Adapted from material previously published in MUSCLE & FITNESS. ABS OF OAK MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY Upper abs and lower back EXERCISE Crunch
SETS REPS 4
25
Roman Chair
4
25
Back Extension
3
20
TUESDAY/THURSDAY/SATURDAY Lower abs and obliques EXERCISE Reverse Crunch
SETS REPS 4
Hanging Leg Raise 3 Twisting Crunch
3
25 30 25
Arm yourself: you'll never have a complete pair of arms without heavy, targeted forearm training
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Dec, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger EVERY GUY WANTS a great set of arms. So much so that I often see people training biceps and triceps 2-3 times a week. But in this manic pursuit of huge guns, way too many trainees neglect their forearms. That's a mistake. Read my lips: Forearms should be taken just as seriously as any other bodypart, unless of course you want them to be puny. Forearms are involved in nearly every upper-body exercise you do. Anytime you flex your elbows or wrists, especially when doing heavy biceps curls, they're working. They help you grip barbells and dumbbells and also assist in pulling and pushing movements. You might think that because of this, you don't need to train forearms separately. In my opinion, however, their extensive use is exactly why you need to focus on them; you don't want your forearms to be a weak link. FOREARMS Rx So what's the best way to work them? Well, you need to consider four factors in your forearm training: how often to train them, where to put them in your training split, what exercises to do for them, and how many sets and reps to perform. * HOW OFTEN: First, your forearms incidentally work in most of your workouts, so you don't want to overtrain them. Second, they're no different than any other bodypart, so you should train them just as often as you do chest, back or arms. That said, hit your forearms once every 5-7 days. * WHERE TO PUT THEM: This can vary. If forearms are a weakness, you can give them their own workout or train them with legs, when they won't be tired from previous exercises. Otherwise, it's prudent to hit forearms after biceps, since they'll already be warmed up by the time you get to them. * THE BEST FOREARM EXERCISES: I believe in the basics. Barbell and dumbbell wrist curls work well, as do behind-the-back wrist curls. As you get more advanced, you can flip your grip and do reverse wrist curls. (The technique is the same, just with a pronated grip.) Then there are reverse curls (in which you flex your elbows, not your wrists), which train your brachioradialis (outer forearm) as well as your biceps to an extent. You can do them with a straight bar, EZ-bar, cable or machine, either standing or on a preacher bench. * SETS AND REPS: I don't recommend doing as many sets for forearms as you would do for bigger bodyparts. Six to eight total sets should do, using any of the above exercises. As for reps, I find that high-rep sets produce the best results; I suggest around 15-20. Just don't go too light--you want to stress your forearm muscles with a fairly heavy weight or they'll never grow. Remember, they're a lot like your calves in that they're accustomed to continual use. You need to really push them. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Chin-Ator: how Arnold Schwarzenegger used chins to build his "road map"
Flex,, Dec, 2004 by Shawn Perine Flex There's a scene in Pumping Iron where Arnold Schwarzenegger is checking out his back in a mirror at Gold's Gym. After visually certifying its jumbo-jet width with an over-the-shoulder glance, he turns around to let his buddy Ken Waller evaluate his rear double-biceps shot. "Looks like a road map back there--fingers running all over it," Waller remarks. Clearly, Schwarzenegger's fellow Mr. Universe champ was impressed. Although Schwarzenegger didn't consider his back to be one of his stronger features, it was actually quite a remarkable expanse of muscle. From his Christmas tree spinal erectors to the lats that seemed to originate from his hips to the "road map" of his trapezius and rhomboid muscles, his was truly a back for the ages. Interestingly, to build that great expanse of sinew, Schwarzenegger anchored his back training with an exercise that is frequently ignored by today's muscle set: chins. From the very start of his bodybuilding career, the Oak made chinning a priority in his workouts. Chins to the front and behind the neck, with a narrow grip and a wide grip, with a V-bar and a straight bar--Schwarzenegger was a chinning connoisseur, dabbling in the exercise the way a master painter plies his oils, with a little of this, a little of that, all to create a masterpiece. Here are three favorite chins that Schwarzenegger relied on during his bodybuilding career. WIDE-GRIP CHINS BEHIND THE NECK | And we do mean wide! Schwarzenegger loved to use a chinning-bar attachment that was designed by the late Joe Gold. It was nearly five feet long and bent approximately 45 degrees on each end to accommodate the sharp angle of the wrists at that distance. Schwarzenegger would grab the ends of the bar and pull himself up until the bar touched the back of his neck. A word of caution: many bodybuilders refrain from doing any exercise behind the neck because they believe the angle will compromise the shoulder girdle. We urge you to be extremely careful if you attempt these.
WIDE-GRIP CHINS TO THE FRONT | When doing wide-grip chins to the front, Schwarzenegger thought it was vital to arch his back and pull his body up as high as he could, even touching the bar to his stomach, if possible. Whereas he would perform behind-the-neck chins primarily for his upper lats, he believed that front chins affected the muscles farther down the back, due to the arching. V-BAR CHINS | A V-bar is a lat-pulldown attachment with an inverted V profile. Schwarzenegger would drape one of these bars over a chinning bar and perform close-grip chins, arching his back to the point where his torso was almost parallel to the floor at the top of the movement. He'd use this in alternate back workouts, replacing one of the wide-grip chin exercises. He performed V-bar chins as a way to target his lower and inner lats, as well as his serratus. One interesting point regarding Schwarzenegger's chins: whereas for other exercises he employed a set/rep scheme, he often just repped away for chins. For example, he might do 50 reps of chins in a workout, no matter how many sets it took him to get there. Unconventional, yes, but the plan worked well enough to impress Ken Waller. Why not give it a try and see if you can impress your own gym buddies? ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S ROAD-MAP BACK WORKOUT EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Wide-grip chins to the front T-bar rows
x*
3
40
10
Wide-grip chins behind the neck x* Hyperextensions
3
30
15
NOTE: Stretching should be performed after every second lat exercise. * Perform as many sets as needed to reach total reps. Arnold confidential: uncovering the real Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger
Flex,, Sept, 2004 by Shawn Perine Flex In poll after poll, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been identified by bodybuilding fans as their sport's greatest champion. The margin of his victory is never small. In fact, in a FLEX readers' poll published in our September 2000 edition, Arnold gathered 44% of the total vote, with his closest rival, Dorian Yates, accumulating 12%. With poll after poll resulting in landslide victories for the Austrian Oak, the question arises: How did Arnold Schwarzenegger transform himself from a skinny frail boy into the world's most popular bodybuilder? What made him so special? In these 20 pages, we will attempt to identify the specific reasons for the unparalleled success of Arnold Schwarzenegger. We will present facts regarding his heritage and upbringing, analyze his training and dietary strategies, profile his psychological makeup, and examine the support system that enabled him to pursue his dream of becoming the world's best-built man. In the end, we hope to determine whether Arnold's physical achievements came as the result of nature or nurture, strategy or luck, or equal parts of each. Moreover, we will attempt to map out his winning formula clearly and concisely so that you, the FLEX reader, can use it as a template for your own bodybuilding goals. In other words, we'll do our best to capture lightning in a bottle. How to utilize that power is up to you. SECTION 1 : Early Influences
DATA * Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born July 30, 1947, in the hamlet of Thal bei Graz, Austria, to Gustav and Aurelia Schwarzenegger, one year after his only sibling, Meinhard (who died in a car accident in 1971), was born. * World War II had ended two years prior to Arnold's birth, and Austria was getting its first taste of democracy since the Anschluss (in which Hitler annexed Austria as a German province) in 1938. Austrian national pride was at an all-time high, and the ideals of self-reliance and intestinal fortitude had become national imperatives. * At the time of Arnold's birth, Gustav Schwarzenegger, a tall athletically built man, was working as the police chief of Thal. As such, he believed in discipline and order for the town's citizenry and his two sons. From an early age, Arnold learned to obey his father's demands with a soldier's precision. He was also instilled with a feel for competition by virtue of Gustav pitting his sons against each other in various athletic competitions. More often than not, the younger smaller Arnold would finish second, earning the disapproval of his father. * Gustav was also a strong advocate of the Greek ideal "sound mind, sound body." He put both boys on an aggressive regimen of daily exercise--both physical and mental. Each morning, the brothers Schwarzenegger would be made to perform calisthenics before sitting down
at the breakfast table. They were also impressed with the importance of being adept in athletics by their father, who had been a curling champion. At an early age, Arnold became involved in a variety of sports, including soccer, track, boxing and swimming. * Gustav regularly put his sons through a battery of mental calisthenics, assigning them essays on topics of his own choosing, in addition to their regular schoolwork. If Arnold failed to meet his father's requirements in either his home or school assignments, he would often be subjected to physical discipline. * Whereas Gustav proved to be a taskmaster, Aurelia Schwarzenegger provided young Arnold with unconditional love and support. Although she supported Gustav in his efforts to empower Arnold, her own approach to his upbringing was softer and, appropriately, more maternal. In later years, Arnold would reflect fondly on his mother's selfless devotion to him, as in the time she trudged through the Styrian woods in the middle of the night, carrying her ill toddler to the nearest doctor--an hour and a half away. * It was as a 15-year-old soccer player that Arnold Schwarzenegger was first introduced to weightlifting in 1962, as a means for building leg strength. With one look at the bodybuilders training at Athletic Union gym in Graz, Arnold knew he was destined to follow their path. It was under the tutelage of older members such as Karl Gerstl and Kurt Manul, who were both around 30, and Helmut Knaur, who was 50, that the teenager learned how to train for bodybuilding. These men would become Arnold's mentors and friends. * At about this time, Arnold discovered bodybuilding magazines, such as MUSCLE BUILDER and MR. AMERICA, and movies featuring physique stars, such as Steve Reeves, Brad Harris and Reg Park. He would go on to use Park as his chief source of inspiration and a role model. So successful was he in emulating the bodybuilding star that in time he would use Park's training techniques to match and exceed his level of development, while forming a longtime friendship with him in the process. * It was through watching Reg Park and others in the day's action films (primarily sword-and-sandal epics) that Arnold came upon the idea of moving to America to become a bodybuilding and movie star. To him, America was a place of limitless possibilities, a place where he could spread the wings he felt were bound by the confines of Austria. * Arnold became compelled by the idea of being powerful, not just physically, but in a holistic way, like a world leader. He thought about becoming just such a person--an icon--and the steps required to get there. Bodybuilding, he knew, was to be more than just his passion. It would be the first step into a life of his making. ANALYSIS * Arnold bears a striking facial resemblance to his mother, but he seems to have inherited his father's proportions, as well as his sense of discipline. * It would seem that Gustav took cues from his military background in the manner he raised and disciplined his sons. Arnold's own legendary ability to focus, manage time and set and meet goals was certainly fostered, if not instilled, by his father. * Arnold was conditioned for competition at an early age. For a child, competing against an older brother can seem like an impossible task. It stands to reason that it was just these matches with Meinhard that gave Arnold the confidence to take on any and all adversaries--from bodybuilder Sergio Oliva to politician Gray Davis. * Aurelia Schwarzenegger's loving touch can be seen in the intense loyalty Arnold has for his friends. Many of his comrades from his earliest bodybuilding days are his confidants today. This ability to form strong bonds with trustworthy people would be extremely beneficial to Arnold as he rose through the bodybuilding ranks (see Section 5: "Support System"). * Arnold surrounded himself with older and more experienced bodybuilders from the start of his own bodybuilding career. Not only did this accelerate his learning curve, it helped him mature quickly, both mentally and physically, in the gym. * Arnold was goal-oriented from the beginning. He looked to Reg Park, not as an untouchable icon, as so many young fans do of idols, but as someone who proved a certain goal could be achieved. And if Reg Park had done it, why couldn't he? * Arnold would create even more impetus for reaching his bodybuilding goals by aspiring to greater heights outside of the sport, with bodybuilding success being the tool to get him there. Coming to America, becoming a movie star and an influential leader--for these destinations, bodybuilding was a means to an end, as well as an end in itself. SYNOPSIS By a unique confluence of world events, geographic location, genetic gifting and behavioral modification, Arnold Schwarzenegger was endowed with a nearly ideal tool kit for entering the world of bodybuilding. It is impossible to overstate the significance these elements had on the formation of the bodybuilder or the man. However, it should be noted that growing up in a hamlet in Austria, Arnold was not exposed to niceties his American counterparts took for granted, such as modern
gyms. Yet he turned his disadvantages around by using his circumstances as motivation to get to America. The lesson to be learned is that you, as an individual with your own specific set of influences, need to take the cards you were originally dealt and turn them into a winning hand, as Arnold did. SECTION 2 : Training
DATA * Much has been written about Arnold's training methods since he first came to bodybuilding prominence nearly four decades ago. Whether it was his laserlike intensity, dogged determination or steadfast adherence to specific training techniques, the hows and whys of the Austrian Oak's workouts have been the subject of intense scrutiny by all manner of bodybuilder and bodybuilding writer. * From day one, Arnold stood apart from other gym trainers in both his method and his intensity. He relates in Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder how, from his very first bodybuilding workout, he attacked the weights with a combination of enthusiasm and ferocity foreign to even the most tenured members of Athletic Union gym. "I loved the feel of the cold iron and steel warming to my touch and the sounds and smells of the gym," he writes. "I started to live for being in the gym." * Arnold's earliest workouts were simple: train the entire body (with limited emphasis on calves) three nonconsecutive days a week. In the early 1960s, even the most advanced machines were rudimentary and awkward to use. As such, bodybuilders relied almost solely on basic free-weight exercises: bench presses, flyes and pullovers for chest; military presses and laterals for shoulders; chinups, barbell rows and deadlifts for back; barbell and dumbbell curls for biceps; close-grip bench presses and French presses for triceps; and squats, extensions and curls for thighs. Situps were the primary abdominal exercise, and calf raises were done on stair steps or blocks of wood. Arnold utilized these basics to kick-start his bodybuilding. They would also serve as the foundation for his training throughout it. * Although Arnold began with a program delineated for him by his gym mentors, he tailored it to his personal preferences as he became more confident in his abilities. In particular, he followed the routines of his idol, Reg Park, as they were published in the day's Weider magazines. Park was a firm believer in basic movements done with the heaviest weight manageable for relatively low (five to 10) reps. Accordingly, Arnold was even further impressed that he needed to stick to core exercises to reach his goal of bulking up to 250 pounds. * Almost from the start, Arnold had enough confidence in his understanding of his body to experiment with training in a less regimented, more instinctive manner. He explains the process in his course book Building the Legs of an Oak. In my early days back in Austria, I would have the weirdest weirdest kinds of training sessions. They never followed any accepted accepted form. Everything was done in the truest instinctive way. My training partners and I would decide what bodypart we wanted to work that day and then proceed to bomb it out of existence. * Although Arnold had been baptized on the conventional three-day-a-week system, he felt relatively early on that his body could take more. He increased his workload to six days a week, training bodyparts on alternate days. Commonly known today as a "split routine," this style of training was a new concept in the mid- to late-60s, and one that was perfected, if not pioneered, by the Oak himself. The accompanying sidebar ("Arnold Schwarzenegger's Training Split") shows the six-day split routine he used for the better part of his competitive career. * A typical Schwarzenegger workout would last anywhere from one to more than three hours, with only brief (30-60 seconds) periods of rest between sets. He trained heavy, fast and precisely. His form was loose where he felt it would benefit him, such as when performing barbell curls, but strict at other times, as when doing dumbbell flyes. * Arnold was known to bury more than one training partner with his all-out intensity. In a training article he penned for MUSCLE BUILDER/POWER a number of years ago, he wrote: Whenever I go into the gym for a workout, it is like a boxer at the height of his fury ready to deliver a knockout blow. My mind is focused on bombing that workout with ferocious power and with all the mental and physical energy I am capable of generating. * As for cardiovascular training, Arnold kept it to a minimum. Except for taking leisurely jogs on the beach (which was only steps from the front door to Gold's Gym in Venice), he left the majority of his exercise in the weight room. ANALYSIS * It's clear that Arnold has a head for training. Some people can work out for years and never develop the instinctive understanding of what works for them and what doesn't. Arnold seemed to know right away. * Individuals respond in a wide variety of ways to progressive resistance training. Thus, not every system of training works for everyone. The combination of intensity, speed, duration and frequency with which Arnold trained, coupled with his diet (see Section 3: "Nutrition"), kept him in a metabolic state ideal for building muscle and poor for storing fat.
SYNOPSIS Arnold found a training program that fit his mental and physical tolerances like a glove. What's important to note is that he decided to make adjustments to the program prescribed by his mentors almost from the outset. You, too, need to gauge the way your own body responds to any given program and make adjustments accordingly. Some people, like Arnold, thrive on high volume. Others do better with high intensity (low number of sets to failure). Each person's unique physiological makeup will determine the type of program best suited for his specific needs. Do not be afraid to experiment with a variety of set/rep schemes, splits and bodypart groupings. Arnold did just this to eventually come upon a program that would serve him well throughout his professional bodybuilding career. SECTION 3 : Nutrition Nutriti on
BY STEVE STIEFEL, NUTRITION EDITOR DATA * From the earliest files on his nutritional advice, Arnold has said that the average person needs one-half gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, but that a bodybuilder should consume at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day. In the 1970s, and even earlier, he recommended animal protein sources, such as eggs, fish, meat and dairy products, as the best protein foods for bodybuilders. * Arnold emphasized the importance of whole foods as the main source of vitamins and minerals in his diet. In addition, he took vitamin and mineral supplements as a way to bolster the nutritional content of these foods, particularly during phases of intense training or growth, when the body's needs for nutrients are increased. * Arnold ate six meals a day during his bodybuilding career. His daily meal plan of choice in the '70s consisted of three large whole-food meals alternated with three whole-food snacks. The total calorie count for his weight-gaining diet was 5,000 a day, which included 300 grams of protein. * Protein shakes, composed of ingredients available at the time, were always part of Arnold's nutritional plan. His mix of choice was two glasses of milk, 1/2 cup of nonfat milk solids, one egg and 1/2 cup ice cream, all mixed in a blender. These protein drinks often replaced smaller whole-food snacks. * Nutritional consistency was the cornerstone of Arnold's dietary plan. He preached following a dedicated bodybuilding nutrition program, and he made certain to get in all the protein, calories and nutrients needed every day. ANALYSIS * Arnold's nutritional advice from as early as the '70s is still in sync with the gold-standard recommendations that FLEX makes today. Although Arnold had a solid grasp of the bodybuilding nutritional science of the time, even more important were his instincts and powers of observation. Much of what we know about nutrition today was not known--or widely acknowledged--in Arnold's heyday. Much of Arnold's nutrition program that was questioned at the time was later proved to be accurate, both in terms of the broad strokes of his diet and in its specifics, such as protein consumption and macronutrient ratios. * In almost all the data available about Arnold, he acknowledges the importance of bodybuilding nutrition, but he does so with less enthusiasm and specificity than he does with training. Nutrition can be the weakest link for many bodybuilders, but that simply wasn't the case with Arnold. He understood the basics of nutrition, and he took care of those so capably on a daily basis that he did not emphasize them as much as many bodybuilders have or as much as Arnold himself emphasized training. Perhaps this is because Arnold's nutritional instincts were dead-on and, because he was so much ahead of the curve compared to his peers, he did not need to focus as much on nutrition strategies in his books and interviews. * Supplements are just that. Arnold always supplemented with protein, vitamins and minerals, while relying on basic foods for the bulk of his nutrients. Although his idea of a protein shake was somewhat different than ours is today, the concept was the same. Back in Arnold's day, protein shakes tended to be unpalatable low-grade powders that a trainer mixed with foods such as milk, eggs and bananas. Today's shakes contain more effective protein powders for muscle building. Nevertheless, Arnold believed in taking in liquid protein calories as a way to boost muscle building. * Arnold was wrong about very few things. He understood the importance of fats, and although he recommended many good sources, such as nuts and healthy oils, he also recommended mayonnaise, which is high in saturated fats. Still, he may be proved right in the future. Saturated fats are important for increasing such hormones as testosterone, and their reputation as an unhealthy forbidden food is beginning to shift in bodybuilding circles. SYNOPSIS Arnold's nutrition plan of the 1970s was basic and on target, even when taking into account all that we have learned about bodybuilding nutrition since Arnold's era. His nutrition program lacked only sophisticated supplements, simply because they were unavailable.
Contemporary science--such as the recently realized benefits of creatine and glutamine--might have given Arnold more of an edge and might have improved even his physique. Still, it's safe to say that no matter the era, no competitor could have gained an edge on him from a nutritional standpoint. Arnold's nutritional instincts, knowledge and application demonstrate he would have made the most of his nutrition program, regardless of the times in which he competed. As he put it, "Exercising without eating the proper food is like plowing a field and not putting any seed into the ground--nothing would grow out of it." SECTION 4: Psychology
DATA * Bodybuilders have known it for decades. The entertainment industry learned it, too. Political pundits first scoffed at the notion, but they are quickly becoming true believers. What eventually becomes blazingly evident to all who come into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger is that he is an almost preternaturally focused, driven, confident, organized and goal-oriented person. He is lit from within by a fire to succeed as rare as it is invaluable. Indeed, Arnold, in The Education of a Bodybuilder, credits this unique gift for a good deal of his own bodybuilding success. I questioned myself: Why you, Arnold? How did you win Mr. Universe after only five years of training? Other people asked me the same question. I began looking at the difference between between me and other bodybuilders. The biggest difference was that that most bodybuilders did not think I'm going to be a winner.... They had a hazy picture of what what they wanted to look like someday, but they doubted doubted they could realize it. That destroyed them. It's always been my belief belief that if you're training for nothing, you're wasting your effort. * Unlike daydreamers with whom he shares visions of future glories, Arnold has the ability to focus his gaze on the here and now, to wrap his head around the moment, because he realized that each moment is a building block of the future. For young Arnold, this meant concentrating on his muscles themselves, even when not training. ... My mind was always in touch with my body; I felt my muscles continuously; I always took an inventory before working out. That not only helped me train; it was like meditating. I locked my mind into my muscle during training, as if I'd transplanted my mind into the tissue itself. By just thinking about it, I could actually send blood into a muscle. * Once Arnold entered the gym, it was all business, which, Arnold noted, was not the case for many of his peers. Bodybuilders ... thought if they did the same exercises I did they would get the same kind of muscles. But I watched them fall away with absolutely no results except exhaustion.... I knew the secret:Concentrate while you're training. Do not allow other thoughts to enter your mind. * Arnold's intensity on the day of a competition is the stuff of legend. He's consistently spoken of his ability to psych out his fellow competitors, most notably in the film Pumping Iron. In some cases, it was this ability to not just believe--but to know--he was going to win a competition that carried him to victory. Such was the case in 1970, when he won the first of his seven Mr. Olympia titles, defeating his nemesis, Sergio Oliva, in the process. The prior year, Sergio had done to Arnold what had never been done before or since. He out-psyched Arnold, simply through his monstrous presence. But after a solid year of diligent training, Arnold had not only radically altered his physique but restored his confidence levels enough to challenge "The Myth" in earnest. In the dressing room, Sergio was already pumping up. I didn't take my eyes off him. But I didn't even make a move to change. I just watched him. I followed each move he made with my eyes. He'd pause and look around at me, to see if I'd started to strip down. I knew it was getting to him. * There exist endless examples of ways Arnold Schwarzenegger has employed the power of positive thinking to achieve goals, both within bodybuilding and outside of the sport. It's likely he'll use this philosophy for many years to come and see many more dreams realized as a result. ANALYSIS * Arnold is a winner--pure and simple. Losing has never been an option and never will be. He is the epitome of all that self-help experts, ranging from Norman Vincent Peale to Anthony Robbins, espouse. In fact, the Robbins saying, "There is always room in your life for thinking bigger, pushing limits, imagining the unimaginable," could easily be heard coming from the lips of Schwarzenegger. Arnold's description of his mindset when training his biceps is a perfect example of that philosophy. "I remember when I would train my arms, I wouldn't just think of building them to 22"," Arnold once said in an article he penned. Rather, he imagined them filling the room. * Great men from all walks of life seem to agree on one thing. To become a success in life, you must think like a winner; let motivation guide your actions, not fear. Arnold has followed this line of reasoning and boundless rewards have fallen upon him as a result. SYNOPSIS
Let Arnold sum up his overarching philosophy of life himself: For me, life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer. Follow Arnold's lead. It is possible for every person reading this to follow his formidable footsteps. To help you get started, you might even envision yourself as Arnold. Emulate the aspects of him you admire most, just as he did Reg Park. Envision how he would act, or react, in a particular situation. The best way to become a positive thinker is to follow the lead of positive thinkers who have gone before you, and in all of history there have been few who have done a better job of turning their dreams into reality than Arnold Schwarzenegger did. SECTION 5: Support System
DATA * Arnold has more friendships spanning three and four decades than some people have friends. He tends to form long-lasting alliances and shows a level of loyalty to those friends that is exceedingly rare, especially in the entertainment industry, where he has been an icon for many years. * One of his longest-lasting friendships is that with fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu. Franco and Arnold met in Munich at a competition in 1965, and they hit it off almost immediately. In Franco, Arnold saw someone who shared his focus and determination, but who was as bighearted as he was good-natured. At various times, the two men lived together, traveled together, trained together, ate together and competed against each other. Franco was Arnold's best man at his wedding and, to this day, they get together on a regular basis to challenge each other in another field of competition: chess. * When Joe Weider brought Arnold to the United States, it signaled the start of a relationship that could be described alternately as father and son, master and pupil, business partnership and pure friendship. It was the Weider magazines that first pushed the young bodybuilding star into international prominence. Conversely, it was Arnold's presence in those magazines that helped turn a modest publishing company into an industry leader. Arnold's feelings for his old friend are still as evident today as ever. At a recent gala held in his honor, the governor of California, after delivering a speech before some 2,000 Republican luminaries, made a beeline to Joe's table to thank him for attending. * The list of longtime friends is extensive, including, but by no means limited to, Albert Busek, Franco Columbu, Jim Lorimer, Sven OleThorsen, Art Zeller and Joe Weider. He met all of these men through bodybuilding, and all of them continue to influence his life as Hollywood star, California governor and cultural icon. * Arnold's greatest support continues to come from his wife, Maria, and their four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher. In a testament to the importance he places on his relationships, Arnold's marriage to Maria has spanned nearly two decades--a rarity in Hollywood, which had been his domain through the bulk of it. He said before entering the governor's race that he would do so only with his family's full support. Not surprisingly, he received it. ANALYSIS * Despite his numerous long-term relationships, Arnold does not enter into friendships flippantly. A gregarious person by nature, he is also extremely aware of his standing in relation to others and steers clear of those who could do him harm. He does not suffer fools gladly, as he makes evident in Pumping Iron, when he relates the story of the cocky bodybuilder who came to him for a winning edge. * Arnold has great respect for character. * As does any success-oriented person, he surrounds himself with like-minded people. In addition to this making for easy communication of thoughts, it engenders a symbiotic relationship of sorts. Arnold's friendships have benefited him on a number of levels, just as they have his friends. Here are a few examples. 1 Franco Columbu was an excellent training partner for Arnold, pushing him to new heights in the gym, thanks to his great strength. 2 Albert Busek, German publisher, photographer and gym owner, took 18-year-old Schwarzenegger under his wing when the protege moved to Munich in 1965. He is a lifelong friend and confidant. 3 Joe Weider served as a perfect role model from which Arnold could learn the basics of business. He credits Joe with giving him the foundation of knowledge with which he became an entrepreneur. 4 Photographer Art Zeller (who died in 1999) guided Schwarzenegger when he arrived in California, helped him learn English and made his transition to American culture smoother.
5 Jim Lorimer, a seasoned businessman, helped turn Schwarzenegger's first attempts at contest promoting into lessons in success. SYNOPSIS Arnold values his personal relationships highly. From bodybuilding friend Franco Columbu to Hollywood pal Danny DeVito to wife Maria Shriver, each person in his private life has been integral to his success and appreciated wholly for their support. Like Arnold, learn to form bonds with people who will only enrich your life, not detract from it. In bodybuilding, it sometimes seems there are a disproportionate number of negative people who would sooner see you fail than surpass them. Steer clear of such negative energy and surround yourself with people who have the self-confidence to encourage your efforts while supporting their own. When it comes to choosing a training partner, treat the task with the same standards you do your friendships. As Arnold puts it, the rule is a very simple one, and one that can be applied to every relationship in your life. "A training partner who helps you make faster and better progress is a good one; a partner who holds you back in any way is a poor one," he says. By following Arnold's lead, you too can build a support team that will help you grow, literally and figuratively. SECTION 6: Conclusion
In this article, we've attempted to summarize the elements of bodybuilding's greatest champion. Of course, for a man of Arnold Schwarzenegger's depth, this is like trying to dig to Earth's core with a plastic spoon. Nevertheless, we feel we've been able to isolate the key elements that, working in tandem, were instrumental to Arnold's success as a bodybuilder. Here they are in a bullet-point list. It is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate what percentage each element in that list contributed to his overall bodybuilding success. There's no question genetics are the first big hurdle any prospective bodybuilder must clear, and they are the one piece of the puzzle over which you have zero control. However, bodybuilding is rife with tales of genetically gifted individuals who never came close to reaching their full potential because they lacked the necessary drive. Likewise, there are those champions, such as Larry Scott, Franco Columbu and Rich Gaspari, who may not have been bequeathed the gift of perfect structure, but who have maximized their potential to become bodybuilding superstars. The point here is that to work toward an Arnold-like physique, you need to focus on that which you can change. Practice developing his laserlike focus when training--don't just lift weights, build muscle! Clean up your diet and apply Arnold-type discipline to your eating habits. See your goals clearly laid out before you and then go ahead and achieve them. Surround yourself with other smart, focused and positive people. Do these things in earnest and await the results. They will come. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a one-in-a-million phenomenon. Even in the bodybuilding "dark ages" of the early 1970s, he managed to build a physique that compares favorably with those of today. And although there can never be another Arnold, there's always room for the next bodybuilding icon to emerge, from any point on the globe. Now, with the same tools he employed throughout his bodybuilding career at your disposal, who's to say that person couldn't be you? ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S TRAINING SPLIT MORNING
EVENING
Monday
Chest/back*
Forearms
Tuesday
Shoulders/traps Biceps/triceps*
Wednesday Quads
Hamstrings
Thursday Chest/back*
Forearms
Friday
Shoulders/traps Biceps/triceps*
Saturday Quads Sunday
Hamstrings
Rest
NOTE: Calves and abs are worked every evening. * Chest/back and biceps/triceps are superset. RELATED ARTICLE: * A unique combination of personal genetic makeup and early social influences
* Incredible intensity in the gym * A sound nutritional program, comprising mostly whole foods * The will to win and the ability to visualize and achieve both short- and long-term goals * The support of a carefully chosen group of friends Voluminous delts: when it i t comes to shoulder training, don't shy away from f rom hard work
Flex,, June, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex Young bodybuilders often make a common error: they fail to realize that shoulders are a complex bodypart. These trainers tend to think it's necessary to have wide shoulders to promote a V-shaped torso, but an examination of the shoulders reveals there's a lot more to them than width. First of all, there are the deltoids. These muscles serve to raise your arms above your head, but the joints where the arms meet the torso are complex. Unlike a joint such as the knee, which has a limited range of motion and moves basically on a plane, the shoulder joints enable you to move your arms around in a circle with a wide range of motion. To cope with the complex movement of the shoulder joints, deltoids consist of three heads: anterior, medial and posterior--or, more commonly, front, side and rear. It makes sense then that you need to incorporate a variety of movements into your shoulder training routine to effectively hit all three heads of the muscle group. For this reason, I preferred to train the deltoid-trapezius complex by doing more sets-as many as 50 in some cases, but at least 30 in my normal workout--than many other bodybuilders. You read that right, at least 30 hard sets three times per week for my shoulders and traps. Nowadays, when talk of less being better is in vogue, I still stick to my belief that if not for the volume of work I performed during my competitive days, I would not have reached the height of bodybuilding success I eventually did. I'd usually start my shoulder routine with some kind of presses. I've performed countless seated military presses over the years, to the front and to the back of my neck. Both are great for developing the side heads, although each exercise stresses them in a slightly different manner. I would often alternate between the two during each workout. Dumbbell presses can be substituted for barbell presses and, if you really want something different, try my special Arnold presses, which were covered in last month's issue of FLEX. For Arnold presses, begin with the dumbbells in front of your shoulders, with your palms facing you. Then, as you push up, rotate the dumbbells outward so that your palms face away from you at the top of the movement. I particularly like the range of movement of Arnold presses as opposed to standard dumbbell presses. When performing any kind of pressing movement, don't lock out at the top, which is a mistake I've seen many novice trainers make. Once you lock your elbows, you take most of the stress off the muscles you're trying to work. After presses, I would typically move on to raising movements. I'd do lateral raises to further work the side heads of my deltoids. Front raises are great for developing the front heads, while bent laterals focus the stress on rear delts. A variation of the lateral raise I liked to perform--lying dumbbell laterals--was described in last month's issue. Cables can also be employed to add variety to raising movements. For traps, you have a few options: upright rows, power cleans and shrugs. I would usually finish my shoulder/trap training with one of the three. Keep in mind that when performing upright rows and power cleans, you are also working your deltoids, so expect them to be fatigued and a possible weak link when hitting your traps. Nothing is more impressive than a man with wide shoulders topped with a powerful set of traps, but getting them takes a lot of work. Give the accompanying routine three months and see if your shoulder region doesn't grow to Oaklike proportions! ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S SHOULDERS/TRAPS ROUTINE EXERCISE Seated presses
SETS REPS 5
6-10
superset with Lateral raises Machine presses superset with
5
8 5
8
Bent laterals Upright rows
5
8 5
10
superset with One-arm cable laterals 5
10
BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SEVEN-TIME MR. OLYMPIA Shoulder shocker: tired of being narrow? Broaden your shoulders for a better V-taper V-taper with these advanced training secrets
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Oct, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger BACK IN THE 1940s, MEN WORE coats with padded shoulders and pinched waists to create the illusion of having a V-tapered torso. Fashion may have changed over the years, but the pursuit of that ideal body proportion has not. These days, instead of trying to get the look from your tailor, you can achieve it by building fully developed shoulders via hard work in the gym. First, the bad news: Your shoulder width is largely dictated by your skeletal structure; either you're born with it or you're not. Now, the good news: Even if your genes aren't on your side, a V-taper is attainable. Larry Scott, the very first Mr. Olympia, had rather narrow shoulders but developed massive deltoids to offset his dubious genetics. Shawn Ray isn't that wide either, but you'd never know it to look at him due to his thickness up top, a product of hard work in the gym, particularly on shoulder day. So for those of you whose shoulder width is a weakness or for those who simply want to change things up and give your delts some shock therapy, here's my advice: * DO MORE SETS AND EXERCISES for shoulders, even up to 20 sets per workout. I used to go so far as to put a light dumbbell underneath my bed and, first thing in the morning, I'd wake up and do five sets of lateral raises, alternating between arms without resting. I never counted this as part of my actual shoulder workout; I did it on top of that. * FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE DELTOIDS. Also called the side delts, they're the key to a wider torso because when they grow, they grow out, while your waist stays the same size. Overhead presses and lateral raises are great for the middle delts. * WHEN DOING LATERAL RAISES, rotate your palms so your pinky fingers are higher than your thumbs. (As a visual, if you were holding a pitcher of water in each hand, you'd be angling the pitchers to pour water out.) This helps isolate the side deltoids for full contraction. * TRY THE "STRIPPING" METHOD, also called "down the rack." On dumbbell lateral raises, for example, start out heavy, doing as many reps as you can, then do consecutive sets without resting, decreasing the weight each time (for example, start with 40s and work your way down in 5-pound increments until you're using 15s or 10s). If you're using a machine or cables, just keep moving the pin up the stack. Do 3-4 sets down the rack and move on to another exercise. * SUPERSET PRESSES AND RAISES. For instance, do heavy barbell presses immediately followed by front raises (with dumbbells, barbell or cables) or upright rows. Or try a three-pump set, in which you superset presses, front or lateral raises and upright rows. Warning: These will burn! * DO ISOMETRIC LATERALS to spark new growth. After a standard set of raises, take a heavier set of dumbbells, lift them to parallel to the floor and hold them there as long as you can. This will help exhaust your delts and bring out more striations. There they are ... your tailor-made plans for the ultimate V-taper. Now put them to work for you. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Take a peak: isolate your arm training to build that elusive biceps peak
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , June, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger THERE ARE LOTS OF GREAT arms in bodybuilding, and plenty of impressive biceps. But creating that biceps peak everyone is after requires a specific kind of training technique--unless you're genetically blessed with perfect arms. For everyone else, here's my advice on making mountains out of your molehills. ISOLATION TACTICS To maximize your biceps peak, you must perform some type of isolation movement to the point of full contraction, then create as much intensity as possible by squeezing the biceps at the top of the movement, aka a peak contraction. You get the best results using this
technique with an exercise other than barbell curls and heavy dumbbell curls, which are more for power and mass. The heavier the weight involved, the more difficult it is to achieve the fullest range of motion in an exercise and be able to reach and hold a full contraction. I recommend these isolation exercises: * Preacher curls. Performed using either a barbell, dumbbell or cable, this movement involves leaning one or both upper arms on a slanted pad for support. This locks the elbows in place, creating maximum isolation. Make sure you stop just short of full extension at the bottom of the movement and fully contract and squeeze at the top without going much farther than vertical with your forearms. * Machine curls. Curls on a machine are like preachers, only without free weights and with continuous tension. The fact that the machine is locked into a particular plane of movement by its pivot point ensures the highest degree of isolation. * Concentration curls. This is another type of curl that effectively isolates the biceps. Resting your elbow against your inner thigh while seated helps keep the arm locked in place. Again, squeeze your biceps at the top for a count. LIGHT IT UP When doing any type of isolation movement, don't go heavy--using too much resistance can force you to "cheat" the weight up. Remember, these exercises aren't designed to build mass and power; they're for isolating the muscles and developing the biceps peak. Perform at least 10 reps per set, even going as high as 15 or 20 reps. Also consider that when you curl your forearms past perpendicular to the floor, your biceps are no longer working against gravity, meaning there's minimal tension on them at that point. Therefore, position your body so your forearms remain at an angle to the floor, even at full contraction. Due to the volume of mail he receives, Arnold cannot respond to individual readers' questions. The information presented here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health-care professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Adapted from material previously published in MUSCLE & FITNESS. BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Back to earth: while new age training disciplines can be precarious, for building muscle there's absolutely no replacement for basic exercises
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , March, 2006 by Lara McGlashan Back in the day, the gym was a steely place, where the hardcore wielded heavy iron bars and cumbersome dumbbells, straining and stretching to build their biceps, back or whatever muscle group they were attacking that day. But with the turn of the millennium, the gym grew soft, equipment was plasticized and training became "functional" instead of fierce. Colorful BOSU, balance boards and bungees now occupy every corner, and trainees sit, stand and perch on these wacky gadgets and multitask the crap out of their workout in a vain attempt at muscular fitness. But standing on one leg atop a BOSU while performing sets of dumbbell lateral raises alternated with single-leg romanian deadlifts does nearly nothing to encourage hypertrophy, which is the bodybuilder's brass ring. "To build quality muscle, you simply need to put it under tension through bodypart-specific overload training," says David Sandler, CSCS, assistant professor of exercise physiology at Florida Atlantic University (Davie). "There's a time and a place for training everything, but trying to train everything at one time and place can actually inhibit your progress." Add an unstable training surface, and you're fighting a losing battle. "It's impossible to put the same kind of force on your muscles when you're on a BOSU or exercise ball as when you're completely solid on the floor or a bench," explains Sandler. So step around the BOSU and kick that exercise ball into the aerobics room, leaving those gizmos and others like them to the personal trainers more concerned with their checkbooks than your physique. Seasoned bodybuilders need to remain focused, beginners need guidance through the fad fog, and we all need to get back to basics. TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS Think back to your original intentions in the gym. Why did you start training? To build your muscles. And how did you build your muscles? By lifting weights. Your muscles will only grow according to the level at which they're stressed, and doing this requires progressively overloading your body and asking more of yourself day in and day out. And although gadget-makers would have you believe it requires the very latest and greatest techno-super-duper-ab-core-balance-cruncher, muscle-building really is a simple process. "From now until the end of time, bodybuilding comes down to two things: the breakdown and buildup of muscle tissue," says Bob Cicherillo, IFBB pro bodybuilder, personal trainer and seasoned gadget cynic. "You simply cannot break down muscle tissue effectively by using bungee cords or by balancing on one leg like a flamingo in the zoo. If you want to build muscle--real hardcore, quality muscle--you have to return to good, old bodypart-specific overload training." Split systems have worked for every pro bodybuilder in history. Parcel your muscle groups into a weekly plan in which you work each part hard and give it plenty of time to recover. In the most basic form, each session focuses on one or more separate bodyparts, like chest and
triceps. Then you dedicate each set of that workout to breaking down those muscles with as much weight and as many repetitions as possible until you reach failure. Sound simple? It is. Even so, some guys are probably still out there wondering, But when do I train my core? The answer: You train it all the time, every time you do an exercise. Just because you're not standing on a balance board or BOSU, your core isn't sleeping. CORE TRUTHS Used to be, "core training" delineated the main exercises in a bodybuilder's training regimen, such as squats, bench presses and deadlifts. But recently, it has come to denote the training of the innermost part of your body, typically the deep muscles surrounding your spine, abs, obliques, serratus, lower back and hip flexors. Some argue that core training should also include the glutes, lower chest, hips and upper thighs, while others insist that the conceptual core varies as your body changes position in space in relation to the ground. Take these varied and tenuous opinions, pepper them with plastic gadgetry, season it with a dollop of uncertainty and you've got a nice stew of hocus-pocus for gym chains to market to trainees like a Tony Little infomercial. Now, before you buy any of that crap, listen up: In daily life it's nearly impossible to keep your core from working, whether you're sitting on the couch, walking down the street or doing a triceps pressdown. Some way or another, the intricate muscles encircling your spinal column and all your core stabilizers are activated, whether you like it or not. "Probably the people with the strongest cores on the planet are powerlifters, bodybuilders and strongmen, and they don't spend any time at all standing on a disk or a ball trying to lift weights," notes Sandler. "Shockingly, Arnold [Schwarzenegger], Dorian [Yates] and Lee Haney somehow got through their careers without setting foot on a Bungee Board to train their core," Bob adds. This isn't to say you shouldn't focus on training your core muscles. You should--just not while training other parts or vice versa. To paraphrase Confucius, if you chase two rabbits, you'll lose them both. "You can't do push-ups on an exercise ball, for example, and expect to grow your best chest," says Sandler. "There's just too much going on with the shoulders, abs and lower back to be able to put enough tension on the chest to elicit the results you want." Pick a muscle, train it with specific intention and you'll get results.
SAMPLE GADGET-FREE MOVES CHEST pullover bench press standing cable flye BACK back extension bent-over row Good morning LEGS stiff-legged deadlift barbell squat walking lunge BICEPS barbell curl hammer curl cable curl TRICEPS standing overhead extension press down bodyweight dip SHOULDERS standing overhead dumbbell press snatch alternating dumbbell lateralraise ABS hanging oblique knee raise reverse crunch Rope crunch A recent study found that one-arm dumbbell bench presses and overhead presses recruit certain core muscles quite effectively, and this likely carries over to other one-arm exercises like overhead extensions and curls. SAMPLE 3-DAY SPLIT
Mon CHEST: Bench Press / Incline Press / Cable Crossover BACK: Front Pulldown / Bent-Over Row / Shrug Tue Off Wed LEGS: Squat / Leg Press / Leg Curl CALVES: Standing Calf Raise ABS: Cable Crunch / Reverse Crunch Thu Off Fri BICEPS: Barbell Cur l/ Incline Dumbbell Curl / Preacher Curl TRICEPS: Pressdown Bodyweight Dip / Lying Triceps Extension SHOULDERS: Standing Overhead Press / Lateral Raise / Reverse Pec-Deck Flye
Sat/Sun Off SAMPLE 5-DAY SPLIT
Mon CHEST : Dumbbell Bench Press / Incline Dumbbell Flye / Pullover Tue BACK : One-Arm Dumbbell Row / Straight-Arm Pulldown / Back Extension ABS : Double Crunch Wed Off Thu LEGS : Squat / Leg Extension Extension / Romanian Deadlift Deadlift / Seated Leg Curl CALVES : Seated Calf Raise/ One-Leg Standing / Calf Raise Fri BICEPS : Alternating Dumbbell Curl / EZ-Bar Curl / Concentration Curl TRICEPS : Lying Triceps Extension / Dumbbell Kickback / Bench Dip Sat SHOULDERS : Military Press / Upright Row / Bent-Over Lateral Raise ABS : Crunch / Decline Weighted Sit-Up Sun Off Beginners: After 1-2 warm-up sets, do 9-12 total sets for each bodypart (3-4 sets per exercise) with 10-12 reps per set. As you advance, add exercises and perform 12-16 total sets with 8-10 reps each. RELATED ARTICLE: BACK-TO-BASICS NUTRITION TO CONSTRUCT A MUSCLE, you first have to tear the tissue down, but then you have to build it back up. "No one ever built anything in the gym--ever. No one," says pro bodybuilder Bob Cicherillo. "If that were the case, every construction worker would look like Lee Haney." The building up of muscle mass occurs on your off days when you rest, eat and refuel. All bodybuilders should eat at least 5-6 meals a day, consisting mostly of low-fat, whole foods. Keep your protein (1 gram per pound of bodyweight per day) and complex carbs (2-3 grams per pound per day) high, and eat as many steamed veggies as your colon can handle. And unless you're built like Olive Oyl and need to drink melted butter to keep from disintegrating, keep your fat intake under control. "You can eat nachos and Gummy Bears once in a while, but they're very poor recovery choices," Bob notes. "If you don't have enough of the right nutrients from lean protein and clean carbs to repair the tissue you worked so hard to rip apart in the gym, you won't make the big gains you want." He also warns against using supplements to replace food. "Protein powders are great, but you can't make huge gains with just powder," he advises. "It's a supplement and shouldn't be the mainstay of your diet." Perfect times for protein powders are before and after workouts as well as between whole-food meals. RELATED ARTICLE: KISS STILL ROCKS * THE KISS SYSTEM of training has been around even longer than the rock band of the same name, and while Keep It Simple, Stupid might sound insulting, it's never been more appropriate. "If you want to look like a bodybuilder, you have to train like one, by performing basic exercises using heavy weight, good form and controlled speed," says pro bodybuilder Bob Cicherillo. Bodybuilders of all levels should keep their training focused and purposeful, emphasizing basic moves such as dumbbell presses for chest, barbell curls for biceps and squats for legs. David Sandler, CSCS, suggests beginners and time-crunched athletes follow a Monday/Wednesday/Friday split based on a push-pull system, with legs between upper-body days to avoid overtraining delts. As you
improve, or if you have more time to work out, split your training further into one bodypart per day, with at least 1-2 days of complete rest per week. Also consider single-arm exercises. If you're a beginner, perform no more than 9-12 total sets for each bodypart; this gives your neurological pathways the chance to develop properly. Work your way up to 12-16 sets as you improve. Regarding rep ranges, start with 10-12 and decrease to 8-10 as you become stronger and lift heavier. "You should rest long enough that you catch your breath and feel ready for your next set, but not so long that you can read War and Peace-about 1-3 minutes generally," Bob advises. As for poundage, check your ego at the door and start at the lighter end of the dumbbell rack. "Training overly heavy, especially for beginners, is counterproductive, because you're going to use momentum to move the weight and risk possible injury," says Bob. Cheaters prosper: go against conventional wisdom now and then to jump-start your physique
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Dec, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger USING STRICT FORM AND lifting moderate weight is a very effective way to train--for the most part. But let's get up to speed on one training technique that I was such a firm believer in that I used it in practically every workout: the cheating principle. You know what it means to cheat on reps, using a little body english to help you get a weight up that you otherwise would be unable to lift with strict form. But there's more to it than that. Cheating works because almost every exercise you do has a weak section. This can be either at the start of the range of motion, the end of it or somewhere in the middle. Without cheating, the only way to get past these sticking points is to use a moderate to light weight. But then you don't reap the benefits of training heavy, which, of course, include maximum muscular size and strength. By cheating, I was able to overload my muscles with heavy weights without sacrificing the strong part of the movement. To be more specific, here's how to use the cheating principle most effectively: * BALANCE IT OUT. Let's say you're going to do eight reps with a heavy weight. Start with the heaviest weight with which you can do 46 strict reps. When you can no longer maintain proper body position, grind out the last few reps until you're literally heaving the final one. This way of performing cheat reps, as opposed to doing a set of eight reps in which all are cheated, provides the best of both worlds. In the first half of the set, use strict reps that specifically target the muscles; in the second half, you cheat in order to take the muscles beyond the point of normal failure. But don't overdo it. Use cheating sets only on the last set or two of an exercise, and try to limit your use of the technique to just one or two exercises per training session. * CHOOSE YOUR EXERCISES WISELY. It's unwise to cheat on certain movements, such as the barbell squat, the lunge and the bench press, due to risk of injury. Yet two exercises in particular are ideal for cheating: Dumbbell Lateral Raises: The beginning portion of this movement is the weak point, and trying to keep your elbows almost locked out and the rest of your body motionless will require you to use a very light weight to get past it. But by bending your elbows a little more (to around 45 degrees) and heaving the weight up a bit with your upper body, you'll be able to lift a far heavier pair of dumbbells. Barbell or Dumbbell Curls: As with laterals, the bottom of the range of motion is the toughest when curling, so that's where your body english will take place. Create just enough momentum at the outset of your last few reps to get the bar about halfway up, then go for peak contraction the rest of the way. * STAY FOCUSED. Remember, even when using the cheating principle, it's still important to concentrate on the muscle being worked. Cheating will help build size, strength and power, but specific muscles will respond only when you direct your thoughts to making them feel the work. Under tension: cables are a must-have in any program, especially if you know when to use them
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , April, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger FOR THE MOST PART, I built up my body in the '60s and '70s by lifting good old-fashioned free weights--barbells and dumbbells--as heavy as I possibly could. But as I quickly learned, to be a champion bodybuilder, you must possess not only bulk and symmetry but detail as well. And that's where another mode of weight training came into play: cables, one of the most diverse and effective ways to round out your physique. Thus, I've compiled this list of do's and don'ts for using them. DO USE CABLES TO: * Isolate large muscle groups, like chest, back and shoulders. As you probably know, most of the free-weight, mass-building exercises you do for those bodyparts (like presses for chest and shoulders, barbell and dumbbell rows for back) also depend on other muscles to assist (triceps for chest and shoulder movements, biceps for back exercises), which takes some of the emphasis off the targeted area. Cables offer
many single-joint movements for such bodyparts. For example, cable crossovers are one of the best exercises for isolating the pecs, cable lateral raises are great for the delts and cable pullovers target the lats quite nicely. * Finish off any bodypart workout and add detail. While you aren't limited to using cables on only your last exercise, they do work well for "burnout" sets. Let's say you perform three exercises to train biceps. Start off with some heavy standing barbell curls (6-8 reps), move on to standing or seated dumbbell curls (8-12 reps), then finish off with cable curls, upping the reps to 15-20 to really etch out that extra detail. Employ a similar protocol for any other bodypart to maximize the continuous tension for which cables are known. * Add variety to a stale routine. There are countless exercises that can be done with cables as long as you're willing to be creative, which is sometimes all it takes to get out of a training rut. Try inventing a new move for each bodypart at the cable station, or do a cables-only workout every so often to add a dash of novelty to your program. DON'T USE CABLES TO: * Build your foundation (beginners especially). In the initial stages of virtually any training program, a groundwork of mass and strength needs to be laid. This is not the time to rely heavily on cable exercises. Stick to your barbell and dumbbell presses, deadlifts, squats and rows, mixing in cables only occasionally; save the detailing until you're further along in your development. * Go heavy. Advanced or not, you train heavy with the intent to gain strength and size. In that case, cables aren't your best option. Again, stay with free weights. There are exceptions, of course: For instance, lat pulldowns, a multijoint exercise, can be performed heavy with great results. Same goes for cable rows, which are good for building thickness in your back. As a final note, I'd like to talk about oblique training. While some will argue against this, I believe that obliques should never be trained with additional weight. My reasoning? Adding weight increases the size of the oblique muscles, which leads to a thicker midsection. That's the last thing for which a bodybuilder should strive. Train your obliques using only your bodyweight. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Spectacular! Build an oak chest by following my six simple rules guaranteed to make you grow
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Oct, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Judging by the lines of people I see at the bench-press station on chest day, it's safe to say that building pecs you could land a plane on is high on the list of any aspiring bodybuilder. Judging by the dearth of any significant development I commonly see among this group of dedicated trainees, I'd also say it's not from a lack of effort that they're not filling out their tank tops. Rather, it's a shortage of training smarts, the kind that take years of concentrated effort in the gym to learn. Here, then, is a practical and incredibly effective way to ensure maximal progress on chest day: my six rules of chest training. RULE 1 Choose presses over flyes. * You've probably been told time and again to start your workout with compound movements (also called multi-joint exercises, in which movement takes place at more than one joint on each side of the body), and you can be sure this maxim holds up for chest training as well. Both pressing motions (in which the weight is pressed upward off the chest) and flyes (in which the extended arms are drawn together across the chest in a hugging kind of motion) work your chest, but you can go far, far heavier when doing presses to really overload your pectorals. With a single-joint exercise like flyes, you should limit the amount of weight you lift so you don't injure your shoulder joints in the down position; also, you just can't handle very heavy loads when performing this type of motion. Presses allow you to train very heavy, making them the best type of movement with which to start your workout. RULE 2 Begin with heavy presses. * Most people like to begin with the bench press, and for the most part, I have no problem with that. The bench press hits the meatiest portion of your chest, and using a barbell allows you to lift heavy with minimal risk of injury. If you choose to start your chest routine on the bench, you should be aware of how you can get more out of the movement. After up to 3-4 warm-up sets (which you never take to muscle failure), choose a weight heavy enough that you can do no more than six reps per set. Read that again. You should lift heavy at this time because you're strongest early in your workout and can best recruit maximal strength after your warm-up, not after you do 2-3 exercises. If you try to go heavy in the middle or toward the end of your chest routine, you won't be able to muster 100% of your true strength. If you think warm-up sets are only for guys with comb-overs driving Buicks, think again. Besides reducing the risk of injury, they actually allow you to lift significantly heavier weights because your joints and tissues already have blood pumping through them. Ten minutes on the stationary bike and several light sets in which you add progressively more resistance on each set will do the trick.
Perform four good working sets, using heavy weights with which you can do 4-6 reps, resting at least three minutes between sets to ensure full muscle recovery so you can attack your next set with full intensity. Cutting back on your rest period will limit your strength, so don't hurry. Also, you might want to lighten up on your last set to bang out up to 10 reps. Finally, when going heavy, have an attentive spotter on hand to make sure you don't get stuck under the bar. A spotter can also help you perform a couple of forced reps or utilize other advanced techniques that up the intensity level of your workout (see my "Ask Arnold" column on page 252). RULE 3 Play the angles. * While flat-bench presses hit the middle of the chest exceptionally well, for balanced pectoral development you want to focus on the upper and lower regions of your chest as well. For your next exercise (or next two for more advanced bodybuilders), move over to the adjustable bench to do incline or decline presses. Incline presses emphasize your upper pectoral muscles. When doing these, keep the bench angle fairly low because the higher you raise it, the more your relatively weaker front delts come into play. If you feel a burning sensation in your front delts after a good set of incline presses, it probably means they're fatiguing before your upper chest; in that case, lower the angle of the bench to focus the movement more squarely on your upper chest. Conversely, decline presses rely less on your delts, and the shorter range of motion means you can lift more weight than with inclines. It's a little tricky to get your body into the correct position for both exercises, so a good spotter is helpful not only for unracking the bar but also in assisting you with the last couple of reps. While I used barbells almost exclusively in my early training, I now think it's a good idea to use dumbbells on your second exercise if you started your workout with a barbell move. Dumbbells offer a different feel, and they allow for a greater range of motion than a barbell: You can lower the weights farther and press them up in an arc toward each other at the top. Since it's more difficult to balance dumbbells than a barbell, you place more emphasis on your stabilizer muscles. You also provide each side with the same muscular stimulus for proportional development. Perform three sets with a weight that allows you to complete 8-10 reps. If you can do more than 10, the weight isn't heavy enough; on the other hand, if you can't do eight reps on your own, the weight is too heavy. Adjust it accordingly for your next set. RULE 4 Machines come last for presses. * I used to see weekend warriors start and finish their chest workouts on machines. Don't get me wrong--machines can be very effective- but you should use free weights at the beginning of your routine because these exercises place the most demand on your muscles. As you begin to fatigue (probably on the third or fourth movement for an intermediate- to advanced-level bodybuilder), it's time to hit the machines. To put it simply, machines allow you to just push the weight without having to balance a bar or dumbbells. Since your muscles are already (or should be) quite spent, you can push to your absolute limit without worrying about a weight getting stuck above you or crashing down on you. A seemingly unlimited number of machines and manufacturers exist; try those available in your gym, including the versatile Smith machine. Adjust the machine for your height and body dimensions to ensure that you're pushing through a comfortable yet strong angle. You'll find machines that work your upper, lower or middle chest. Choose the type you didn't perform in your first two exercises; that is, if you started with flat-bench barbell presses and then did incline dumbbell presses, select a machine that works your lower chest. That way, you train your pecs in each of the three major planes, effectively helping you build a full, round chest. Do three working sets of 8-12 reps to maximize muscle growth. RULE 5 Save isolation exercises for last. * By now, you should feel a good pump in your chest, and this is your chance to finish it off, leaving everything you've got on the gym floor. At this point, you should incorporate single-joint movements into your routine. Though you typically can't go very heavy with isolation exercises, the focus is almost exclusively on your working muscle, meaning the contribution from your front delts and triceps is minimized. The key to doing single-joint chest movements correctly--and so many people just don't seem to get them right--is to keep a slight bend locked in your elbows throughout the set. With presses, you bend and extend at your elbows, but with flye exercises your elbows should remain locked. Be aware of maintaining your elbow position as you complete your reps. Isolation moves for the chest can be done on the incline, decline or flat bench with dumbbells, on the many varieties of pec-deck machines, standing between two cable pulleys or lying on any of the benches between the pulleys (with handles attached at the bottom). Interchange your many options from one session to the next to continually provide a slightly different muscular emphasis. If someone is camped out on the piece of equipment you want, just do a different single-joint chest movement to work around the gym crowd.
Choose 1-2 isolation exercises to complete your chest routine, aiming for three sets of 10-15 reps. With these it makes sense to use relatively lighter weights because not only can your shoulder joints reach a compromised position if you allow the weight to pull your arms too far back but you can also pump your muscle with higher reps. In fact, this is a great opportunity to use advanced techniques such as drop sets or partial reps to utterly blast your chest. In addition, you can reduce your rest periods between sets to increase the intensity of your workout, starting the next set before you're completely recovered from the last. RULE 6 Incorporate change every workout. * If you've been training for more than a couple of months, you know progress can come to a grinding halt no matter how much harder you try. The answer to stagnation is not trying harder but rather trying something different, so change things up. Instead of always beginning your workout with flat-bench presses, occasionally use dumbbells or do incline or decline presses with a barbell or dumbbells. As you change the first exercise in your routine (but maintain the sets-and-reps protocol that accompanies this movement), you should switch the next two exercises as well to ensure that you don't repeat the same motion patterns and pieces of equipment. Changing up your training in such a manner provides a slightly different emphasis and feel, meaning your chest will never quite adjust to the stimulus being applied to it and you'll never allow one particular area to lag behind. And if you've plateaued in your strength and muscle gains, it's the best way to literally shake things up. This six-step, take-no-prisoners approach to chest training is incredibly effective, and if you use a variety of movements and rep ranges, it'll help you build both strength and size. RELATED ARTICLE: Arnold's Top Chest Moves COMPOUND MOVEMENTS Flat-bench barbell press Incline barbell press Decline barbell press Flat-bench dumbbell press Incline dumbbell press Decline dumbbell press Smith-machine flat-bench press Smith-machine incline press Smith-machine decline press Machine flat-bench press Machine incline press Machine decline press ISOLATION MOVEMENTS Pec-deck machine (any variety) Flat-bench dumbbell flye Incline dumbbell flye Decline dumbbell flye Cable crossover (upper pulleys) Low-pulley cable crossover Flat-bench cable flye
Incline-bench cable flye Decline-bench cable flye RELATED ARTICLE: Breaking the Rules NO TRAINING PROTOCOL IN BODYBUILDING IS SET IN STONE. HERE IS ONE EXCEPTION TO MY SIX RULES OF CHEST TRAINING. Hitting your chest with compound movements allows you to train heavy and thoroughly overload your pec muscles, so I recommend this type of training for beginner- and intermediate-level weightlifters. Advanced bodybuilders, however, really need to manipulate their workouts to literally force muscle growth, and one effective way to do that is with pre-exhaust training. A pre-exhaust routine flip-flops the compound presses and the single-joint flye movements so that you do your flyes first. By isolating your chest with the first exercise or two (meaning the contribution from your front delts and triceps is minimized), you can really focus the muscular stress on your pecs even though the weights aren't very heavy. Then you perform your pressing movements, but be aware that preexhaust training makes your chest muscles substantially weaker on presses than they normally would be. It's wise to use a good spotter on your heavy compound exercises to ensure that you can safely handle the weights. Although you can go heavier on your isolation exercises early in your workout, you should still train in a higher rep range. Do a medium number of reps with the presses--you probably won't get much out of low-rep work with heavy weights at this time. Try this workout every 5-6 times you train chest--I absolutely guarantee you'll experience a muscle soreness unlike anything you've ever felt before in your chest. That's the kind of soreness that made me know I did something incredibly effective. Stuck in the middle: how long should you rest between sets for optimal gains? The oak weighs in
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , March, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger IN ALL MY YEARS AS A BODY-builder, and even today, there's one question that people just keep asking: "What should I do between sets?" They want to know how long they should rest and what to do, if anything, while resting. Many trainers, bodybuilders and other experts have weighed in on this topic, and now it's my turn. Here's what I suggest. BRIEF ENCOUNTER As with many other things in life, you need to find a happy medium when it comes to the length of your rest periods between sets. If you don't rest long enough, your muscles won't have recovered properly and your strength will suffer. If you rest too long, though, like five minutes, your heart slows down, you lose your pump, your muscles get cold and your intensity diminishes as a result. I've always felt that for bodybuilders, rest periods between sets of the same exercise should be limited to around one minute, maybe even slightly less, depending on the muscle group you're training--large muscle groups take longer to recover than small ones. After one minute, your body has mostly recovered. After around three minutes, it has recovered as much as it can without extended rest. Unless you're a competitive powerlifter, you don't want this. Within a workout, you need to overload your muscles by continually working them when they're not quite rested completely. This helps to boost growth-hormone levels, which leads to more growth. SPEND YOUR TIME WISELY Okay, so you're resting roughly one minute. What do you do in that minute? Stand there looking at yourself in mirror? Socialize? Of course not. Your rest periods are as much a part of the workout as the actual sets and reps themselves, and they deserve equal attention. I used to employ isotension between sets of the same exercise. All this entails is contracting (flexing) the muscles you're training as a bodybuilder might do when posing onstage. If you're working chest, flex your pecs for about 10-20 seconds. Alternately, you can stretch the muscle between sets. Besides helping you to develop larger muscles, isotension also enables you to practice better control of individual muscles, which can help you isolate certain bodyparts in future training sessions. You can also try a technique I call staggered sets to help bring up a weak bodypart. Staggered sets involve performing a number of sets for a bodypart you want to increase intensity on while a different muscle group is recovering between sets. For example, when I decided my calves needed extra work, I would do a few sets of calf raises, then move to bench presses, then do more sets for calves, then go back to my chest with incline presses and so on. It may have been chest day, but by the end of the workout I'd done 20-plus sets for a relatively weak bodypart. Eventually, my calves were no longer a weakness. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Hang Ten: Ten: biceps need a spark? Here's one of my favorite ways to shock stubborn arms into growing
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Feb, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger
BACK IN OUR COMPETITIVE days, Dave Draper and I took our biceps training seriously. Whatever we could think of to stretch the tape on our arm measurements, we'd try it. That's how I discovered perhaps the most intense technique I ever used to bomb my biceps: the "Hang Ten" Curl. What are Hang Tens, you ask? I posed the same question to Dave at first. "'Hang Ten' was originally a surfing term to describe the greatest maneuver in the sport--that of curling all 10 toes over the end of a surfboard," he told me. "But it's now applied to any sport whenever an outstanding feat is performed." SUPERSIZE YOUR BI'S Hang Tens are simply buddy curls, in which two training partners pass a barbell or dumbbells to each other and rep out, resting only as long as it takes the other person to complete a set. And yes, it takes your full attention, because of the constant feedback that passes between you and your partner. Here's an example of how we used to do them: Our first exercise was seated dumbbell curls. Let's say I went first. I would sit on a flat bench while Dave pushed down on my knees with his hands to keep me from moving my lower body. It's very important that your partner do this, so complete concentration is focused toward the biceps. Maintaining erect posture (not leaning back) is critical, too. The non-working buddy should constantly monitor form and provide vocal feedback. Using both arms at a time and a weight I could get up for about eight reps, I'd do a set of curls and Dave would count for me. You don't count for yourself with Hang Tens--your focus should be only on the muscles being trained. Dave would also encourage me throughout the set by raising his voice as the reps got tougher, motivating me to "keep going!" The first eight I'd get on my own, and then he'd help me get two forced reps. That's one set of 10, so now it's his turn. We'd switch places as quickly as we could and he'd do eight reps on his own, two forced, while I counted for him, checked out his form and even yelled at him if I had to. Anything to make him work a little harder. We'd do a total of six sets in this fashion, then move on to the next exercise. Incline dumbbell curls were often exercise No. 2. Again, Dave held my legs down and helped me in any way possible to get eight reps per set, with two forced reps. Six sets of those and our biceps were on fire. So, naturally, this meant we'd better do one more exercise--concentration curls. Another six continuous sets and we were finished. Our arms were fried! Pumped! Spent! So much so, in fact, that we'd often take twice as many days off after doing Hang Tens to allow our arms to recover as we normally would. Anytime you need to give your biceps training a kickstart, why not try Hang Tens? Eighteen sets total might be too much for you, so drop that down to 10 or so. Don't worry, you'll still feel it! BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Before you move on … Don't forget what may be the most important part of your workout: the warm-up
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Sept, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MANY times I've seen people walk into the gym and go straight into intense lifting without warming up--it makes me cringe just to think about it. I understand being pressed for time, but undermining your training by skipping this important aspect of your workout isn't the answer. Here's why warming up is so crucial, along with some tips on how to do it most effectively. KEEP IT LOOSE Warming up circulates fresh, oxygenated blood throughout the body, increasing your blood pressure and heart rate, which helps eliminate exercise-induced waste products from the working muscles. Warming up properly literally increases your body temperature, helps protect the body from becoming overstressed and prepares it for heavy training. This, as you can imagine, reduces your risk of injury. Or maybe you like the thought of a torn biceps? Didn't think so. There are myriad ways you can warm up. A short bout of cardio on a treadmill or stationary bike or a run outdoors can be useful, so long as you don't overdo it and tax your body unduly before hitting the iron. But when it comes to getting the most effective warm-up possible, specificity is the all-important key. This means if you're warming up for a session of lifting, then, logically, the most ideal preworkout primer will involve weights. Here's what I suggest: First, do some form of cardio for 5-10 minutes. Next, move on to the weights. Using light to moderate resistance, perform 1-2 sets of a free-weight movement, targeting the muscle groups you aim to train. Then, on the first exercise of each new body-part in your workout, do one light warm-up set before going heavy. For example, if you do flat-bench presses first, start with a light warm-up set for 10-20 reps, then go into your working sets. If you do incline presses next, you shouldn't need a light set to begin.
Some special considerations apply with regard to warming up. If you're training especially heavy on a given day, try doing an extra warmup set or two to gradually work your way up to a heavy weight. The time of day can also be a factor. A 6 a.m. workout will likely require a longer warm-up than an evening session will, since your muscles are slightly tighter in the morning after you've lain in bed all night. Always remember to thoroughly warm up surrounding musculature before training. For example, if you're going to do heavy shoulder presses, you'll be using more than just your deltoids and triceps; the neck and trapezius muscles will be stressed as well. Give those secondary groups ample preworkout attention, too. Injuries in the gym usually result from either sloppy form or the lack of a sufficient warm-up. After reading this, you should at least have the latter covered. Next month, I'll talk about the former. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Staggering results: bring up a weak bodypart in no time by using the staggered sets principle
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Nov, 2006 by Arnold Schwarzenegger IF YOU ALREADY TRAIN as heavy and hard as you can but still want to boost the results of your workouts, try one or more of the training principles designed to add intensity to your efforts. One of my personal favorites for stimulating the growth of weak or lagging bodyparts is staggered-sets training. Staggered sets involve doing a number of sets for a bodypart you want to bring up in between sets for other bodyparts. I primarily used staggered sets to help develop my calves since I felt they weren't growing to the same degree as my pecs, shoulders, back, arms and quads. I'd come to the gym and do a few sets of calf raises, then start training another bodypart, such as chest. I'd do some sets of bench presses and before moving on to, say, incline presses, I'd do a few more sets of calf raises. I continued to alternate sets of calf raises with those for chest throughout the workout. By the end of the training session, I had performed 10-20 sets or more for calves in addition to a full pec routine. Here's how a chest workout with staggered sets for calves might have looked: * 3 sets seated calf raises * 4 sets flat-bench barbell presses * 3 sets standing calf raises * 4 sets incline barbell presses * 3 sets calf raises on incline leg press * 4 sets flat-bench dumbbell presses * 3 sets standing calf raises * 3 sets incline dumbbell flyes * 3 sets donkey calf raises * 3 sets pec-deck flyes Obviously, this represents a huge workload, but the principle remains the same even if you cut back considerably on the overall number of sets or substitute different exercises. For instance, you can do staggered sets by alternating one set for the target area with one set for the main bodypart you're working. So you'd do one set of calf raises, one set of flat-bench barbell presses, another set of calf raises, then barbell presses again and so on throughout the workout. The idea is to increase the volume of training for the target area. Exactly how you work these exercises into your routine is a matter of personal preference. Staggered sets are most commonly used on smaller muscles like the calves, forearms and abs, which can typically handle a higher volume without being overtrained. So if you want to use them for a larger bodypart like pecs, it might make more sense to limit yourself to one exercise, such as the bench press. For example, every so often during a leg workout, you could go over to the bench and do a set of presses, then go back to your next set for legs. Of course, I would use staggered sets only occasionally--no more than once a week for a lagging bodypart. Using an intense technique like this too often is counterproductive and causes you to lose size and hardness rather than make gains. The secret to modern training is more intensity for shorter workouts, then sufficient time to rest and recuperate. The purpose of staggered sets is to shock a muscle group and give it more stimulation than it's accustomed to. Overuse is not "shock and awe," but just plain overtraining.
Trappings Trappings of success
Flex,, Nov, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex Q | I'm not making much progress with my traps. What's your advice? A | When you last worked your traps, was it part of a solid well-thought-out strategy, with the same attention you would give to your arms, chest, legs or lats? Or did you nonchalantly toss some dumbbell or barbell shrugs into the mix at the end of a workout, just to make sure all your bases were covered? If the latter is the case, don't get down on yourself. When most bodybuilders hear the word "trap," they think only of the two triangular slabs of muscle that run from each shoulder up to the rear of the neck. These extensions are only the tip of the iceberg. The trapezius actually comprises three sections--upper, middle and lower--with the lower portion extending all the way down to the middle of the back and attaching to the spine. All told, the trapezius covers nearly half of the back. Think about the great bodybuilders throughout history, such as Reg Park, Bill Pearl, Harold Poole, Sergio Oliva, Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman, who have shown exemplary trap development. Think about what each of these men look like, either standing relaxed or hitting a pose. Now, imagine how they'd look without a powerful set of traps capping off their torsos. Minus a pair of thick sloping traps, none of their physiques would have left the kind of impact that qualifies them as all-time great bodybuilders. Traps also hold the distinction of being one of the few muscle groups that can be seen when you're fully clothed. A powerful-looking sloping neckline is a strong indication of a well-built physique. If that's the image you want to convey, then it's time to stop relegating the trapezius to second-rate status. The traps come into play during a number of different upper-body exercises, but only a couple hit them directly. The first and best-known trap builder is the shrug. Shrugs can be performed with a barbell, dumbbells or a machine, be it a Smith machine or one of the newer ones designed specifically for shrugging. With each piece of equipment, you are provided a variation in lifting technique. For example, with dumbbells, you position the resistance at your sides, which gives a slightly different feel than a barbell. Of course, barbell shrugs have their own advantages, such as giving you the ability to perform shrugs behind the back, a variation that champions such as Lee Haney and Jay Cutler swear by. Smith machine shrugs allow a straight up-and-down motion, taking balance out of the equation and letting you pump out methodical reps like a piston. The other exercise that most effectively hits the traps is the upright row. Some people consider this exercise to be primarily a delt developer, but the truth is that it stresses the traps at least as well as it does the delts. As with shrugs, there are a variety of ways upright rows can be executed. Barbell upright rows are my favorite, but you must be careful not to take too narrow a grip or you could put unnecessary stress on your shoulder and wrist joints (a cambered bar can help by putting less stress on your wrists in the top position). A shoulder-width grip is ideal for this exercise. You can also use dumbbells, which are preferable for those with a limited range of movement in a shoulder complex or with a pre-existing injury in the area. Finally, rowing while using a Smith machine has rewards, too, because it keeps the bar just off your torso and allows for free unobstructed repetitions. Whether it's via shrugs or upright rows, with a barbell, dumbbells or a machine, make trap training, which is best done on delts day, a priority in your bodybuilding regimen. Use the accompanying routine--putting it first up in your workout instead of adding it on at the last minute--and watch your physique take on a new and much more impressive look. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S TRAP SPECIALIZATION ROUTINE EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell upright rows
5
8-12
Dumbbell shrugs
5
10-15
Behind-the-back Smith machine shrugs 4
8-12
Homebody: how to keep your gym body without the gym
Flex,, August, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex
I know as well as anyone that, even when training is the foremost thing on your mind (as was the case during my competitive bodybuilding days), you sometimes cannot get to a gym, no matter how hard you try. You may be traveling or caught up in a big project at work that doesn't allow you to get out of the office until a time when your gym is closed. Whatever the reason, it can be a frustrating experience. Being unable to get to a weight room, though, doesn't mean that you can't exercise. In fact, you can train pretty much every bodypart to some degree right in the comfort of your own home, office or hotel room, and although you may not effect tremendous gain-producing results, you can at least stave off atrophy (and any guilty feelings) until you can get to a proper gym. I've designed the following routine for just such emergencies. It should take you only about a half-four to perform, but it will work every major muscle group effectively. * PUSHUPS This is the granddaddy of all exercises. It is excellent for working your chest, shoulders and triceps. However, although almost everyone knows what a pushup is, most people do them wrong. It is not meant to be used as an ego booster. It doesn't matter whether you can do 20, 50 or 100 repetitions or how fast you can do them. What is important is that you feel the muscles working as you control your up and down movement. Slow and steady is the way to perform pushups. * DIPS BETWEEN CHAIRS Dips are great for chest, shoulders and triceps, and they even hit the lats. You will need two sturdy chairs to perform these. Place them back to back, about shoulder-width apart. Put your hands on the backs of the chairs and press up, being careful not to lean too far forward and lose your balance. If you need to, you can assist yourself by letting your feet touch the floor and pushing up with your legs slightly. Otherwise, keep your knees bent and feet hooked together. Again, use caution when performing these. * ROWS BETWEEN CHAIRS This exercise is very good for tuning up the back muscles, particularly the lats, but also the traps. It hits the biceps, too. Place a broomstick across the backs of two chairs positioned approximately 24" apart. Lie on your back between the chairs and reach up for the broomstick, grabbing it where it meets the chair backs. Keeping your body straight and heels on the floor, pull yourself up until your chin comes over the broomstick. Think of this as a pullup on an angle. * DEEP KNEE BENDS These are basically deep squats without weight and will work your thighs and improve your lung capacity. Put your hands on your hips and simply squat up and down following a smooth rhythm. Go as deep as you can, breathing in on the way down and exhaling on the way up. At the top of the movement, tense your quads. You'd be surprised how grueling these can be after the 50th rep! * CALF RAISES Place a thick book (like a telephone book) on the floor near a chair. Stand barefoot on the edge of the book while using the chair for support and perform unilateral calf raises. Aim for 50 reps with each leg. * CRUNCHES To work your abdominal region, simply lie on the floor, raise your knees up until your thighs are perpendicular to the floor, and contract your body inward. Try to roll your body in, as if getting into a fetal position, as opposed to keeping your back rigid. You have the option of lacing your fingers together behind your head or putting your arms on the floor beside your body. The entire workout, as I've outlined in the accompanying table, should take you no more than 30 minutes. When you're done, you'll have the confidence of knowing that even though you couldn't get yourself into a gym, your body will think you did! ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S GYM-FREE ROUTINE EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Pushups
3
Failure*
Dips between chairs 2 Rows between chairs 5 Deep knee bends
1
Calf raises
25
Crunches
2 3
10-15 10-15 Failure*
25
* Failure means going until you can't do another rep. It will vary from person to person. BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER Do you know squat? As much as there is to know about squatting, here are six simple yet effective rules to the king of all moves
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Nov, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger
IT'S NO MYSTERY that the squat is one of the best, if not the best, exercise for building mass. When I used to train with Franco Columbu and Frank Zane (among many others), our leg workouts--particularly the squatting portion of the routine--went on for what seemed like forever. But sheer annihilation wasn't the only objective of our lower-body training; there was always a method to our madness. Here are several lessons I learned from those endless leg workouts. * Body alignment is key. Ideally, your back should be as straight as possible, to the point where your rear end and the bar are about in line with each other. Concentrate on keeping your chest out; this will help keep your back flat. I also recommend mixing front squats into your routine, which emphasize the quads more than the glutes. * Tailor your stance to your goals. Whether you should space your feet wide apart or close together--a common squatting debate--depends on which area of the quads you want to focus on. A wider stance hits the inside of the thighs more, whereas a narrower stance tends to target the outer quads. * Go down to just below parallel. At the bottom of each rep, it's important for your thighs to go just beyond parallel to the floor to develop strength through the entire range of motion, especially for beginners who are establishing a training base. After you're experienced, however, it's okay to work half squats into your training on occasion, which will allow you to use heavier weight to add mass. * Drop the sets and reps for more mass. When size is your goal, as it usually is with squats, you must train according to basic power principles: Do fewer sets and fewer reps with as heavy a weight as you can handle, and take longer rest periods. That means 3-4 sets, 4-8 reps and around three minutes of rest between sets. But don't forget variety; include higher-rep sets (10-15) once in a while. Legs tend to grow with higher reps, as well. * Switch to Smith. If your lower back and/or knees bother you because of barbell squatting, don't be afraid to squat with a Smith machine instead. That's what I did later in my career, and it took a lot of stress off these vulnerable areas. Hack squats are another alternative, which I've found emphasize the outer thigh muscles very effectively. * Do supersets and compound sets. In 1971, when I was looking to add more definition and separation, not to mention sheer size, to my thighs, I got great results by doing compound sets of leg extensions followed by squats, and supersets of front squats and lying leg curls (for hamstrings). The burn was nearly unbearable, but it worked! Home body: you don't need to go to the gym to get bigger and stronger
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , June, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger I'M TIRED OF EXCUSES. People often complain to me about how they don't have time to go to the gym or they trained only once or twice last week because their gym closes early. MUSCLE & FITNESS publishes routines that you can do at home with nothing more than a bench and dumbbells, but I'm going to take the home-training concept one step further: Here's a workout that doesn't require a health club (do it in your living room if you like) or equipment. But when you finish it, you'll absolutely feel like you just got home from the gym. Perform the following exercises circuit-style, meaning you do a set of one exercise, then move to the next without resting. Go through the circuit 4-10 times, depending on your fitness level. While this continuous training will tax your cardiovascular system to an extent, you should step outside and go for a walk or run after the workout for further cardio benefits. * Push-Up (Chest) Sets of 30-40 reps or to failure (whichever comes first). Not much to explain here--we all know how to do push-ups. To make them tougher, you can put your feet up on a chair (this position also hits your upper pecs more), or you can do close-grip push-ups to target your triceps. * Pike Push-Up (Shoulders) Sets of 8-12 reps or to failure. Find a table or chair that's a few feet high and sturdy enough to support at least half of your bodyweight. Position your upper body in a handstand position (hands on the floor, arms extended vertically in line with your torso), then flex your hips and place your feet (or toes) on the table or chair so that you're in a pike position. Lower yourself by flexing your elbows until the top of your head lightly touches the floor, then push your body back up. Note: These are tough. * One-Legged Squat (Thighs) Sets of 15-20 reps per leg. Since you aren't using added resistance, do these one leg at a time to make them more difficult. Extend your nonworking leg out in front of you, hold your arms out to the sides for balance and squat down as far as you can on your working leg. * Standing One--Legged Calf Raise (Calves) Sets of 30-40 reps or to failure. Stand on the ball of one foot on something like a wooden block or stair, then place your other foot behind your working ankle and grasp something stable for balance. Rep out as you would doing regular calf raises in the gym. Hold onto to something (like a bag full of books) to add resistance. * Chair Dip (Triceps) Sets of 20-30 reps or to failure. Find two solid structures (like a chair, bench, table or couch) and put your feet on one and your hands just behind your lower back on the other. Dip down until your elbows are past 90 degrees, then explode back up. To add intensity, place a heavy object on your lap and do weighted dips. * Crunch Time (Abs) Sets of 20-30 reps. Here's a great finisher: Pick your favorite abdominal exercise and rep out.
To complete this workout, perform pull-ups--if you have an appropriate place to do them--to hit your back (and your biceps, especially with an underhand grip). Do sets of 8-12 reps or to failure, whichever comes first. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80
To failure and beyond: maximum growth requires pushing past your last unassisted repetition
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Oct, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUALS in all areas of life--sports, business, creative endeavors--invariably possess one common trait, among others: exceptional focus. In my day, I was able to take each workout set by set. This was difficult, especially considering that I would frequently be in the gym for 2-3 hours and do dozens of sets. I actually broke my workouts down even further, with reps performed before muscular failure being distinct from those done after reaching fatigue. Training past failure was something I embraced. It's well established in the bodybuilding community that muscle growth can only be maximized by pushing your body further than it naturally wants to go. Here were a few of my favorite ways to extend sets past failure and shock my body into growing: * Forced Reps: This requires a partner to monitor you closely during a set, then as soon as you fail, he or she helps you just enough to pump out 2-3 extra reps. This can get tricky, though: It's very difficult for someone else to know just how much help you need, and it's common for spotters to either help too much and make the set too easy or not help enough and put you at risk of injury. The key is to work with a partner long enough that you know each other's limits. Also, when using this and the following two techniques, make sure you don't overdo it. Don't employ forced reps (or rest-pauses or partial reps) on every set; save them for your last set of an exercise, and cycle them in and out of your training. * Rest-Pauses: This technique is similar to doing forced reps, only you don't need a partner to do it (though it's wise to have a spotter when training to failure and beyond). Here's how it's done: Do a set to failure, then rack the weight and rest for no more than 15 seconds or so and do a few more reps with the same weight. You can even do multiple rest-pauses, performing your first set of them and resting another 15 seconds before doing a few more reps. To avoid overtraining, limit yourself to three rest-pauses on any given set. This technique seems to work best, and is safer, on machine movements like Smith-machine shoulder presses, triceps pressdowns and chest press machines, and with free-weight exercises in which the bar or dumbbells can be dropped and picked back up quickly, so as not to waste time. This includes barbell curls and dumbbell rows. * Partial Reps: With these, unlike rest-pauses, you continue your set after failure without resting. The idea is that even though you're too tired to do full reps, half- or even quarter-reps are still within your limits. Partial reps work great with biceps curls, in which you do as many half-reps as you can after failing. On chest presses, you would go down only part of the way, then back up to full elbow extension. Again, using machines makes it m uch safer. The workout blowout: magnify your musculature! Banish your belly! It's all here! 57 workouts! 8 bodyparts! 165 exercises! And more! So what are you waiting for? Don't hesitate—everything must grow!
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , Nov, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger SIX-PACK Abs
BUILDING A WELL-DEFINED MIDSECTION with peaks and valleys requires not only dedicated training but also paying close attention to diet and cardio (due to their effect on bodyfat levels). Choose exercises that work the upper and lower portions of the rectus abdominis as well as the obliques. Use low reps with deliberate motions and intense contractions to build ab thickness, starting with the most difficult movements and progressing to the easier ones as your midsection fatigues. Keep rest periods fairly short--no more than 60 seconds--and utilize supersets. Two other keys for abs that pop: Running of any kind at least four days a week is great for the core, and limiting your carb intake, especially after lunch. HANGING LEG RAISE Make sure your body doesn't swing, and raise your legs as high as you can, curling your glutes up at the top. The more you bend your knees, the easier the movement becomes. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Hanging Leg Raise* Cable Crunch
3 3
12, 12, 12 10, 10, 10
Exercise-Ball Oblique Crunch* 3 Oblique Crunch on
3
15, 15, 15
10, 10, 10
Back-Extension Bench *Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest 60 seconds only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. CABLE CRUNCH Hold a rope attached to a high-cable pulley by the sides of your head and bend forward at your waist to curl down. Don't sit back as you flex forward. EXERCISE-BALL OBLIQUE CRUNCH Lie on your side on an exercise ball. Crunch sideways as high as you can by contracting your obliques. Train both sides, doing all reps for one side before switching. OBLIQUE CRUNCH ON BACK-EXTENSION BENCH Crunch to your side as high as you can on a back-extension bench. Briefly hold the peak-contracted position before releasing. Do both sides. QUICK HIT DON'T ROCK Keep the movement slow and controlled--let your obliques do the work, not momentum Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. MASTER TECHNIQUE on what should be fairly easy movements and train three times a week, resting at least 48 hours between workouts. As you get stronger, perform more reps; after you can do five more than the number listed, substitute harder movements to continue making progress. Rest about 45 seconds between sets--more if you can't complete the recommended number of reps. "Mastering technique" means learning and perfecting the crunching movement, in which your pelvis and ribcage move closer together as you contract your abs. (Think of pressing your belly button into the floor.) This is the bread-and-butter motion you need to rely on if you want to train your abdominals optimally. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Seated Knee-Up
3
Cross-Body Crunch 3 Oblique Crunch
3
12, 12, 12 12, 12, 12 12, 12, 12
High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions. THIS WORKOUT FOCUSES ON building muscle endurance and avoiding blockiness in your abs--the muscles shouldn't grow significantly in size. Except for the lightweight ball, the movements are nonweighted and done for a high number of reps. Reduce rest periods if you don't feel the burn in your midsection by the rep listed. All in all, you should move between sets and exercises at a quick pace to keep the intensity up. Perform this workout 3-4 times a week, substituting in slightly harder exercises as you get stronger; always keep the reps high. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Leg Lift With Exercise Ball* 3 Side Leg Raise
3
Air Bike
3
20, 20, 20
20, 20, 20 20, 20, 20
Crunch (feet on floor)
3
20, 20, 20
*Place an exercise ball between your feet. Do a reverse crunch-type movement, except keep your legs straight. Core Workout TO ENSURE A STRONG MIDSECTION and healthy lower back, work both areas in a medium rep range. Substitute harder exercises if these are too easy, or add resistance to your back extensions by holding a weight plate against your chest. To perform the Superman, lie facedown on the floor and extend all limbs, then raise them off the floor as high as possible and hold for 10 seconds. From there, go into a plank position, supporting your body with just your forearms and toes; hold for 20 seconds. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Back Extension 3 Floor Crunch Superman Plank
15, 15, 15
3 3
3
15, 15, 15 10 sec.
20 sec.
Follow this routine with three minutes of stretching for the lower back and abs. Upper-Ab Workout THE RECTUS ABDOMINIS is the long muscle running from sternum to pelvis that makes up the six-pack. Though you can't truly isolate the upper portion of the muscle, these movements emphasize it. Start with the hardest (weighted) exercises, then follow with successively easier moves to thoroughly burn the muscle. Alternate this workout with other region-specific routines for maximal gains and muscle balance. The upper abs are probably the strongest portion of your midsection, so don't be afraid to add resistance. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Cable Crunch
4*
Decline Crunch
3
15, 12, 12, 12 12, 12, 12
Straight-Leg Crunch 3
15, 15, 15
Exercise-Ball Crunch 3
20, 20, 20
*Perform the first set with lighter weight as a warm-up. Lower-Ab Workout LOWER-AB MOVEMENTS are those in which the upper torso is stabilized and you bring your knees toward your chest. They also tend to be the most common midsection trouble spot for men. Begin with the toughest lower-ab exercises and, as your abs start to burn, finish with the less demanding movements. For the first exercise, adjust the weight on the machine to ensure you hit failure by the rep listed. Remember, the key is to maintain intense focus on the lower portion of your abs. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Reverse Crunch
3*
12, 12, 12
on Incline Board Hip Thrust
3
12, 12, 12
Lower-Ab Machine Seated Knee-Up
3 3
12, 12, 12 15, 15, 15
*Perform the first set with lighter weight as a warm-up. Obliques Workout ALL TWISTING AND ROTATING MOVEMENTS at your waist call upon the internal and external obliques. Most upper- and lower-ab exercises can be modified to incorporate these muscles by directing one knee toward your opposite shoulder, or vice versa. This routine also begins with the toughest movement, so select a weight that causes you to reach muscle failure by the rep listed. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Oblique Cable Crunch Decline-Bench
4*^ 15, 12, 12, 12 3
12, 12, 12
Twisting Crunch Crossover Split-Leg Crunch 3 Side Bend
3
15, 15, 15
20, 20, 20
*Per side ^Perform the first set with lighter weight as a warm-up. BY JON MARSHALL TIPS FOR WOMEN For a lean midsection without blocky abs, keep the resistance lighter and go for higher reps to increase muscle endurance and calorie burn. Note: Jon Marshall is a Muscle Tech athlete. GET MASS Delts
BUILDING THICK, BROAD SHOULDERS requires a combination of heavy pressing movements followed by isolation exercises that target each of the three deltoid heads. Starting your routine with heavy presses is best for building mass. Be a little more explosive on these movements, but go strict on the single-joint moves that follow. Also, target a different delt head (front, middle, rear) each workout with the first isolation move after your presses. In fact, rotate all the routines here for variety, which should help shake up your training and keep your body growing. The complexity of the shoulder musculature is such that you can constantly reinvent your workouts to continually produce the results you seek. SEATED FRONT BARBELL PRESS The seated position better prevents body english from contributing to the motion, while bringing the bar to the front reduces the potential for injury to the shoulders. Use a fairly wide grip and keep your elbows pointing downward throughout. Press to full arm extension but don't lock out. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Seated Front Barbell Press Machine Press
5^ 3
15, 12, 8, 8, 10
10, 10, 12
Bent-Over Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3 Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise Front Cable Raise (rope)
3
3
10, 10, 12 10, 10, 12
10, 10, 12
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. FRONT CABLE RAISE (ROPE) Attach a rope handle to a low-cable pulley and bring it through your legs, glutes facing the weights. Keep your body erect, and grasp the rope using a neutral grip with your arms extended but elbows unlocked. Keeping your arms fairly straight, raise the rope handle in front of you, bringing your hands to eye level. Don't use body english to assist in raising the weight, and lower under control back to the start position. BENT-OVER DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE This rear-delt exercise requires you to maintain your relative body position throughout; your torso shouldn't rise to assist in the movement as you bring your arms upward and outward in a wide arc and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Keep your knees slightly bent, your lower back arched and your head up to ensure spinal safety. Also, be sure to keep your elbows in line with your shoulders from start to finish. SEATED DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE The seated version reduces body english. Sit erect on a flat bench with a slight bend in your elbows and raise the weights outward in a wide arc to about shoulder level; at the top, your palms should face down and your elbows should be in the same plane as your wrists. Hold the top position for a second or two, then slowly return to the start as you control the weights' descent. QUICKHIT SIDE TO SIDE Many lateral raises can also be performed unilaterally (one arm at a time). Either way, exercise form stays the same Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. DEVELOP THE FEEL of the overhead motion by starting out on a Smith machine, which affords greater control over the weight--all you have to do is push. Next, add single-joint exercises that isolate each of the three delt heads, rotating the order in which you perform them in your workout. Machines allow you to learn the movement patterns safely; get those down before starting to build a more complex shoulder routine around the free-weight versions. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Smith-Machine
4*
12, 9, 9, 11
Overhead Press Machine Lateral Raise 2 Front Barbell Raise
2
Reverse Pec-Deck Flye 2
12, 12 12, 12 12, 12
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym.
THIS ENTIRE DELT WORKOUT can be done with a pair of adjustable dumbbells. Start with a compound movement and follow up with an isolation exercise for each of the three delt heads. Add variety by using a bench, which allows you to isolate the working muscles more effectively. To avoid injury, be sure not to jerk the weight up on any of your raises. Control the weight's ascent and descent on each exercise to get the most out of this hard-hitting routine. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Dumbbell Overhead Press 5*
15, 12, 9, 9, 11
Front Dumbbell Raise
3
10, 10, 10
Bent-Over Dumbbell
3
10, 10, 10
Lateral Raise Standing Lateral Raise 3
10, 10, 10
*First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Front Delts Workout THE FRONT DELT HEADS typically aren't a weak link, as they're heavily recruited in upper-chest presses and delt overhead presses. However, you can bring them up to improve your benching, or rotate this workout with the other two focused delt routines. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Seated Front Barbell Press Front Barbell Raise
5^ 3
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
9, 9, 9/11
Bent-Over Cable Lateral Raise 3
10, 10, 10
Machine Lateral Raise
3
10, 10, 10
Cable Front Raise (rope)
3
10, 10, 10/12
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Middle Delts Workout THE ARNOLD PRESS puts a unique twist on the overhead pressing motion, working both the front and middle delts. A pair of dedicated middle-delt movements are also prominent in this workout. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE Arnold Press
SETS REPS* 5^
Cable Lateral Raise
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
3
9, 9, 9/11
Reverse Pec-Deck Flye 3
10, 10, 10
Front Dumbbell Raise
10, 10, 10
3
Machine Lateral Raise# 3
10, 10, 10/12
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warmingup, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #If your gym doesn't have this machine, substitute with the wide-grip upright row. Rear Delts Workout REAR DELTS ARE TYPICALLY A WEAK SPOT given that they're not strongly stressed in overhead shoulder presses. Start with an overhead pressing movement to work the entire delt complex, then go right into a rear-delt free-weight exercise before finishing off with another rear-delt machine move. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Machine Overhead Press
5^
Bent-Over Dumbbell
3
15, 12, 7, 7, 9 9, 9, 9/11
Lateral Raise One-Arm Front Cable Raise
3
10, 10, 10
Standing Reverse Cable Flye 3
10, 10, 10/12
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, Immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Traps Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. THE TRAPS ARE COMMONLY WORKED with shoulders as they're recruited in many of the same motions. Go heavy on your first exercise after warming up, then use other movements to work the traps in different ways. With a dumbbell in each hand, lie facedown on an incline bench set to about 30 degrees. Place your feet flat on the floor or your knees up on the seat, ankles crossed. Squeeze your traps not toward your ears but rather perpendicular to the pull of the weights. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Incline-Bench Dumbbell Shrug 5* Upright Row
3
Behind-Back Smith-Machine
12, 12, 7, 7, 9
8, 8, 10 3
10, 10, 12
Barbell Shrug *First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. BY DARREM CHARLES, IFBB PRO TIPS FOR WOMEN Unless you're training for strength and size, don't worry about going heavy on your presses. Pay attention to all three delt heads to ensure balance. GET MASS Back
MASS ROUTINES FOR BACK require heavy weight and moderate to low repetitions, but above all else, good technique to ensure spinal safety. Be prepared to push yourself to the limit (complete muscle failure), all while focusing on correct form. When training for mass, intermediate and advanced lifters should work the back from top to bottom; hence the variety of exercises in this routine. While you may shy away from a difficult movement like the deadlift, that's a mistake--it's a primary mass-builder that also works all major stabilizer muscles. And go with a wide grip on pull-ups for lat width and a row for building middle-back thickness. Finish up with a variation of the back extension. WEIGHTED PULL-UP Hang a weight plate between your legs using a chain and lifting belt. Take a wide grip on a pull-up bar (hands well outside shoulder width) and start in a hanging position, arms fully extended. Pull yourself up explosively by contracting your lats until your chin clears the bar. Slowly lower yourself to the start position. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE Deadlift
SETS REPS 5*
15, 12, 10, 8, 6
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 Weighted Pull-Up^
4
Cable Back Extension 3
8, 8, 10
12, 10, 8, 8 12, 12, 12
*First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^Use only your bodyweight if weighted pull-ups are too difficult for the prescribed rep range. You can also substitute heavy wide-grip pulldowns for the same rep ranges. DEADLIFT Stand in an open space with a loaded barbell on the floor in front of you, feet hip-width apart. Keeping your back flat and head up, bend your knees and hips to grasp the bar with a shoulder-width, staggered grip (one palm facing forward, the other backward). This is your start position. Stand up with the bar in one explosive motion by extending your knees and hips. Never round your back. Return to the start position, weight touching the floor, under control. ONE-ARM DUMBBELL ROW Place one knee and the same-side hand on a flat bench, bent over at the waist. Keep your other foot on the floor beside the bench and hold a dumbbell in the same-side hand hanging straight down with your arm fully extended. Pull the weight toward your hip, keeping your elbow in close. Pull your elbow as high as you can, squeezing your shoulder blades together for a full contraction, then lower. CABLE BACK EXTENSION Sit at a seated cable row machine and grasp a V-bar attachment with both hands, arms fully extended in front of you. Start from an upright, seated position. Without bending your elbows, lie back on the bench by contracting your erector spinae (low back) muscles until your torso is parallel to the floor. Allow the weight to slowly pull you back up. QUICKHIT THE LOWDOWN Hold the top position on each rep for two counts for maximum low-back stimulation Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. IT'S CRUCIAL FOR BEGINNERS to learn how to release their shoulder blades and pull them back when performing lat pulldowns and cable rows to fully tax the back. Concentrate on this key point as you master these foundation-building exercises. Using a wide grip on pulldowns helps build lat width, while a closer grip on rows better stimulates the middle-back muscles. Shrugs and extensions will teach you how to elevate your shoulders and the importance of stimulating the lower back muscles, respectively. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Front Pulldown
4*
12, 9, 9, 11
Seated Cable Row 3
10, 10, 10
Dumbbell Shrug
10, 10, 10
Back Extension
3 3
12, 12, 12
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym. THIS BACK WORKOUT ALLOWS YOU to hit a variety of angles for good back development, provided a set of moderate-weighted dumbbells are available. Do your one-arm rows using a bench or leaning over a chair. Perform the incline-bench row on a bench with a 45degree angle to get maximum benefit from the exercise. Use a padded chair or bench for pullovers to achieve a full stretch at the bottom. Make sure you perform your shrugs straight up and down, not in circles. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
One-Arm Dumbbell Row Incline-Bench Row
3^
Dumbbell Pullover
3
4*^ 15, 9, 9, 11 9, 9, 11 15, 15, 15
Standing Dumbbell Shrug 3
15, 15, 15
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^The final set is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. Upper Lats Workout THESE EXERCISES will help you develop a wider, thicker upper back--the sought-after V-taper. You'll train the area's biggest muscles using a descending pyramid scheme to help you save the grip strength needed to perform the other exercises successfully. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Weighted Pull-Up
4^#
12, 12, 10, 8, 6
Seated Wide-Grip Machine Row
3
9, 9, 11
or Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row+ Front Pulldown Standing Dumbbell Shrug
3
9, 9, 11 4^
12, 10, 8, 6
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Use only your bodyweight if weighted pull-ups are too difficult for the prescribed rep range. +Use a palms-down grip on the lat pulldown bar.
Lower Lats Workout Zoom in on a part of the body with these targeted training sessions. THIS ROUTINE CONCENTRATES on simultaneously adducting (squeezing together) and depressing (pulling down) the scapulae to more strongly recruit the lower lats. Be sure to reach peak contraction on each rep of every exercise and completely abduct (pull apart) the scapulae before beginning the next rep. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Reverse-Grip Bent-Over
4^
12, 7, 7, 9
Barbell Row Reverse-Grip Seated
3
7, 7, 9
Cable Row (straight bar) Reverse-Grip Pulldown
3
9, 9, 11
Straight-Arm Pulldown
3
9, 9, 11
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Middle Back Workout THE MAJOR MOVEMENT TO MASTER in this group of exercises is complete shoulder blade adduction, which in bodybuilding lingo simply means squeezing them together at the top of each rep. Perform this scapular motion even on full-range-of-motion exercises and your middle back--rhomboids and middle traps--will be sufficiently targeted. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE Rack Pull
SETS* REPS 5^
12, 9, 5, 7, 9
(top 3/4 of deadlift ROM) T-Bar Row
3
7, 7, 9
Seated Cable Row (close grip) 3 Straight-Arm Seated Cable Row 3
9, 9, 11 11, 11, 11
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions. INTENSITY-BOOSTING techniques like compound sets, drop sets and slightly shorter rest periods are your ticket to a sharp, detailed back. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE Lat Pulldown
SETS REPS* 4^
15, 7, 9/11, 9/11
Seated Cable Row
3
9, 9/11, 9/11
Low-Pulley Bent-Over Row#
3
Straight-Arm Cable Pulldown 3 Back Extension
3
10, 10, 10 10, 10, 10
15, 15, 15
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. BY ERNESTO OSORIO, CSCS TIPS FOR WOMEN For a more toned, less muscular back, use a higher repetition scheme (12-20) with light to medium weight and do only 2-3 sets per exercise. GET MASS Chest
ULTIMATELY, BUILDING CHEST SIZE comes from higher-than-normal exercise volume, moderate to heavy loads and rest periods limited to 60-90 seconds. This workout focuses on pressing movements performed at various angles, using progressively heavier weights on each set so that you approach failure by the rep listed. To incite hypertrophy through your upper chest and shoulders, abandon the typical "flat bench first" mantra, instead doing incline barbell presses immediately after your warm-up. Follow up with incline dumbbell flyes and use slightly heavier weight than you would normally to stimulate new growth and thickness. Lastly, torch your serratus with uneven push-ups. EXERCISE-BALL PUSH-UP This move warms up your chest and the smaller stabilizers around your shoulder joints, helping you lift progressively heavier weights, improve your muscular coordination and avoid injury. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Exercise-Ball Push-Up Incline Barbell Press
2
15, 15
4^
12, 7, 7, 9
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Press 3 Incline Dumbbell Flye Uneven Push-up
3 2
7, 7, 9 10, 10, 12
15, 15
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. INCLINE BARBELL PRESS Heavy Inclines are crucial for building mass in your upper pecs and creating fullness through your shoulders. Set the bench incline no higher than 30 degrees, and take a fairly wide grip on the bar. Squeeze your upper pecs hard at the top of the movement before lowering the bar to your chest. Use a spotter when you go heavy to get a few extra reps. FLAT-BENCH DUMBBELL PRESS This dumbbell variation of the classic barbell bench press forces you to recruit additional stabilizers to balance the weights and move through the extended range of motion. Keep the weights close to your shoulders at the bottom and press up in an arc to full arm extension. Inhale deeply as you lower the weights and exhale forcefully on the push for extra power.
INCLINE DUMBBELL FLYE Most flye movements are done in a higher rep range; here, go just a bit heavier to provide a new growth-inducing stimulus. Lock a small angle in your elbows and lift the weights outward in a wide arc. UNEVEN PUSH-UP Get into a typical push-up position, but put one hand on a 4-6-inch-high box and the other on the floor. Perform two sets (with a different hand on the box for each set) of 15 reps at the end of your workout. This exercise sharpens your serratus anterior muscles. QUICKHIT STRONG FINISH A mass workout can, and should, include isolation and functional moves Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. TO DEVELOP A ROCK-SOLID BASE of strength and mass, the beginner should focus on mastering his or her technique on these basic lifts. The barbell bench press is the staple of your chest routine, so perform it first. To achieve top-to-bottom balance and fullness throughout your pectorals, incorporate incline machine presses and pec-deck flyes. Finish your chest day with dips (leaning forward as you dip), doing as many sets as it takes to complete 30 repetitions. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Bench Press
4*
12, 9, 9, 11
Incline Machine Press 3
12, 12, 12
Pec-Deck Flye
3
15, 15, 15
Parallel-Bar Dip
^
30
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^Perform as many sets as it takes to complete a total of 30 reps. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym. A SET OF DUMBBELLS and an adjustable bench are an extremely effective means to building big, strong pecs. Since most people have only moderately heavy weights at home, you'll achieve better results by pre-exhausting your pecs with three sets of decline push-ups (with your feet elevated), which keep the emphasis on your upper pecs instead of your triceps. The flat-bench dumbbell press will be your main mass-builder, but this routine doesn't use Herculean-size weights, so concentrate on executing each rep slowly and deliberately to get the most out of the resources you have. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE Decline Push-Up
SETS REPS 3
to failure
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Press 4* Incline Dumbbell Flye^
3
12, 9, 9, 11
10, 10, 10
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^Substitute with the flat-bench dumbbell flye every other workout.
Upper Chest Workout THE UPPER CHEST, a signature of any well-forged physique, is commonly neglected. Simply stated, you need to become well acquainted with variations of the incline press to maximize your upper-chest development. This workout includes a high volume of working sets and is built around heavy incline presses, the key to a strong, thick upper chest. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Incline Barbell Press
5^
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
Smith-Machine Narrow-Grip 3
9, 9, 11
Incline Barbell Press Incline Dumbbell Flye Decline Push-Up
3 2
10, 10, 12 to failure
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Lower Chest Workout FOR MOST LIFTERS, THE LOWER chest typically isn't an area of concern, but if you have a tough time filling it out, then try mixing in this declines-first routine every other chest day to help bring it up. Be careful not to overuse this workout, though: You need to keep flat and incline presses in your routine to achieve, maximize and maintain thickness and balance through your shoulders and chest. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Decline Barbell Press 5^
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
Decline Dumbbell Flye 3 Cable Crossover Parallel-Bar Dip
3 3
9, 9, 11 10, 10, 12
to failure
*The final set for most exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Pre-Exhaust Workout Fatiguing one muscle group places the emphasis squarely on your target! HEAVY PRESSES PRODUCE a thick chest over time, but they also enlist the help of your front delts and triceps. Pre-exhausting your pecs before your pressing movements ensures that these supporting muscle groups don't fatigue too quickly. Since the order of exercises reverses, you'll be stronger than normal on your isolation moves but somewhat weaker on your isolation moves but somewhat weaker on your presses. Use this workout to spark new growth. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Pec-Deck Flye
4*
12, 10, 10, 10
Incline Cable Flye^
3
10, 10, 10
Barbell Bench Press
3
8, 8, 10
Incline Smith-Machine Press 3
9, 9, 11
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^Substitute with the flat-bench dumbbell flye every other workout. High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions. WHILE BEGINNERS should stick to heavy presses, this intermediate/advanced chest regimen focuses on higher-rep moves and shorter rest periods (after the first exercise) to maximize definition. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Press 5^ Incline Dumbbell Press# Incline Dumbbell Flye Cable Crossover
3 3
3
Parallel-Bar Dip
15, 12, 7, 7, 9/11
2
8, 8, 8 10, 10, 10 12, 12, 12/15
to failure
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. BY MARK CASSELMAN, CSCS TIPS FOR WOMEN Incline-heavy chest routines are ideal for women who are looking to increase shape and muscularity in their upper pecs and front delts. GET MASS Legs
ADDING MUSCLE TO YOUR LOWER EXTREMITIES requires compound movements, heavy weights and high pain tolerance. Compound exercises build mass so effectively because they incorporate the use of several muscle groups in a single exercise. In addition, they allow for a heavier training load than isolation moves. Every time you train legs, you should make subtle changes. Adjust foot placement, planes of motion and modalities every workout. Also, get a good warm-up before tackling the heavy weights to avoid injury. Due to the demanding nature of leg training, your strength diminishes over the course of your workout, so start with the toughest exercises like squats and heavy leg presses. SQUAT With an arch in your low back and your head neutrally aligned, descend as if sitting back in a chair until your thighs are about parallel to the floor. Push through your heels and press your hips forward to return to the start. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE Squat Leg Press
SETS* REPS 6^ 3
15, 12, 9, 7, 7, 9 7, 7, 9
Hack Squat
3
9, 9, 11
Romanian Deadlift 3 Lying Leg Curl
3
7, 7, 9 9, 9, 11
*The final set for each exercise is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. LEG PRESS The leg press is another great mass-builder on which you can use heavy resistance. Keep your low back pressed firmly against the backrest (don't allow it to roll up at the bottom by letting your knees come too close to your chest), and press forcefully back up, keeping your hands off your knees. Try changing your foot placement on the platform from high and wide to a narrower stance; variation is the key to complete muscular development. HACK SQUAT Historically considered a must-do exercise on many a bodybuilder's punch list, the hack squat zeroes in on your quadriceps muscles with the best of them, leaving you with a great pump and tree-trunk thighs to show for your efforts. Place your feet lower on the platform to target your quads, or higher on the platform to put more emphasis on your glutes and hamstrings. Descend until your knees bend at least 90 degrees. LYING LEG CURL Lie facedown on the machine with your knees hanging off the end of the bench. The pads should rest comfortably above your ankles. Move dellberately through each rep as you curl your legs to the point at which you feel the maximum contraction. Hold for a count, then lower the weight and allow your legs to return to nearly full extension. Don't let the weight touch the stack between reps. QUICKHIT STAY DOWN Don't let your pelvis or quads come off the bench when struggling to complete reps Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. START WITH EXERCISES that support your body during movement and allow your target muscles to work without activating too many stabilizing muscles. As your strength improves, add more complex and challenging exercises such as the squat, romanian deadlift and various lunges. In the meantime, stick with machines that allow you to mimic squat movements, a good first step before trying the freeweight version. The best legs in the biz walked this important road! WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Squat Machine* 4^ Leg Press Leg Extension
3
12, 9, 9, 11
10, 10, 10 3
10, 10, 10
Seated Leg Curl 3
10, 10, 10
*Many types of squat machines exist, Choose one that supports your body during the movement, or use a Smith machine. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym.
LEG DAY DOESN'T HAVE TO SUFFER just because you don't own a leg press or hack squat machine. All you need are some moderately heavy dumbbells to work your thighs to fatigue, and that's what you'll do with these 16 total sets. To maximize intensity, do pairs of exercises back-to-back, completing one set of each before resting. After 60 seconds, repeat the cycle. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE Dumbbell Squat*
SETS REPS 4^
15, 9, 9, 11
Stationary Lunge 4^ Side Lunge*
4^
15, 9, 9, 11 15, 9, 9, 11
Dumbbell Romanian 4^
15, 9, 9, 11
Deadlift *Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Glutes Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. ALTHOUGH MOST EXERCISES that work glutes hit your thighs as well, a few place heavy emphasis on your rear-facing muscles. If you really want to work your buttocks, choose glutes-focused exercises on leg day. The next time you train legs, go back to your regular workout--you'll really feel the difference. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Smith-Machine Squat^ Leg Press# Step-Up
5+
4
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
12, 9, 9, 11
3
9, 9, 11
Smith-Machine Reverse Lunge 4
12, 9, 9, 11
*The final set for each exercise is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^Position your feet about 18 inches in front of the bar. +First 1-2 sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Position your feet high on the sled. Hams + Quads Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. STRIKING A BALANCE between both sides of your thighs can be challenging. Evenly developed legs are aesthetically pleasing, and effectively strengthening both your quads and hamstrings stabilizes your knee joints, thereby reducing your risk of injury. Your quads will always be stronger than your hams, but train them with equal intensity to maintain muscular balance. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE Hack Squat^
SETS* REPS 5#
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
Leg Extension
3
9, 9, 11
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 5# Lying Leg Curl
3
15, 12, 7, 7, 9
9, 9, 11
*The final set for each exercise is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^Unless you have knee problems, position your feet low on the platform. #First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Calf Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. NO LEG WORKOUT IS COMPLETE without calf training, and even with it, some leg workouts still leave much to be desired. To fully develop your calves, you need to hit them from seated and standing positions. Doing so trains both major lower-leg muscles: the gastrocnemius and soleus. Try a mixed training approach that alternates between low and high reps or utilizes both in the same workout, and see if one yields better results. Because the gastroc and soleus are both involved in straight-leg movements, do them first. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Standing Calf Raise 4^
20, 12, 12, 20
Donkey Calf Raise
12, 12, 20
Seated Calf Raise
3 3
15, 15, 20
*The final set for each exercise is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions. FOR GREATER DEFINITION and separation in your thigh muscles, go with higher reps and decreased rest between sets. Perform supersets and drop sets to up the intensity and burn. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE Leg Press
SETS REPS* 5^
Squat Jump#
3
15, 12, 7, 7, 9/11 15, 10/10, 10/10
Walking Lunge 3
15, 10/10, 10/10
Leg Extension# 3
12, 10/12, 10/12
Sissy Squat
3
15, 15, 15
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, choose a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest only after you finish the entire superset and repeat.
BY BRENT MACK, DPT TIPS FOR WOMEN Don't be afraid to go heavy and drop the repetitions on leg day, particularly if you want to shape and tighten your thighs, glutes and hips. GET MASS Bi's
TO BUILD BIGGER BICEPS, you have to really challenge them and incorporate a variety of movements. Train in moderate rep ranges (812), but make your sets challenging enough that halfway through you're not sure if you can finish. Begin with the standing barbell curl, which serves as an overall mass-builder, before moving into variations of the basic curl. But just because your goal here is mass doesn't mean you should try to set any records with your weight. Too many people give their front delts and lower back a workout when curling by using momentum to get through the set and bringing their elbows forward to assist in the lift. You grow by keeping your form strict, even if it means sacrificing on the poundage. HIGH-PULLEY ONE-ARM CABLE CURL Use this as a sculpting exercise at the end of this routine. Keep your upper arm parallel to the floor and pull the handle toward your head. Hold the peak contraction for up to two seconds. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE Standing Barbell Curl
SETS 5*^
REPS 15, 12, 7, 7, 9
Supinating Alternate Dumbbell Curl Reverse Preacher-Bench Dumbbell Curl High-Pulley One-Arm Cable Curl 3#
3^
9, 9, 11 3
8, 8, 8
10, 12, 15
*First two sets are warm-ups not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^The final set is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. #After a moderately heavy first set, lower the weight on each subsequent set to approach failure within the prescribed rep range. STANDING BARBELL CURL This mass-builder requires you to keep your elbows pinned to your sides throughout the rep so your front delts don't assist in the movement. Make sure you avoid using any lower-back swing to get you through the set. As such, weight selection is key to getting the most out of this mass-inducing movement and keeping you injury-free. SUPINATING ALTERNATE DUMBBELL CURL Beginning with the dumbbells at your sides with a neutral (palms facing in) grip, curl one weight up while simultaneously turning your palm up for a more forceful contraction. Keep your elbow by your side to better isolate the biceps. Performing this as a seated movement helps eliminate any unwanted momentum. REVERSE PREACHER-BENCH DUMBBELL CURL Flip the preacher bench around so that you're working on the side that's perpendicular to the floor. Curl one dumbbell at a time, using your free hand to get past any sticking point, but keep such assistance to a minimum. QUICKHIT STAND STILL Though you're standing, keep the rest of your body stationary for full isolation of your biceps Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. THE BEGINNER'S GOALS are to improve muscular coordination, avoid injury and lift progressively heavier weights. So master several of the basic lifts with moderate weight, keeping your form as strict as possible (back erect and elbows pinned to your sides to prevent
cheating) to develop good habits and to ensure complete development. The amount of weight you lift is secondary to using good form. You'll find that standing cable curls mimic the standing barbell curl--the most effective biceps mass-builder--with the added benefit of constant tension throughout the motion. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Standing Cable Curl
3*
Machine Preacher Curl
12, 10, 10
2
10, 10
Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curl 2
12, 12
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym. IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT combined with other basic elements, working out at home can be just as effective as training in any gym. This 11-set workout requires only an adjustable bench, an EZ-bar with plates and collars, and a set of adjustable dumbbells. For a different stimulus on EZ-bar curls, alternate using the inside and outside grips every other workout. You may not be used to training your bi's on an incline bench, but it effectively puts the long head on stretch, intensifying the muscular contraction. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Standing EZ-Bar Curl
3*
12, 7, 7
Incline Dumbbell Curl
3
9, 9, 11
Dumbbell Concentration Curl
3
Seated Alternating Hammer Curl
12, 10, 10 2
10, 10
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Biceps Peak Workout ACHIEVING SOFTBALL SIZE in your biceps peak is a matter of hard work and a combination of the right exercises, not to mention your DNA. The EZ-bar curl hits your long head, as do the other exercises, albeit in slightly different ways. But it is the manipulation of angles, hand positioning and tension that will help you reach your maximum potential. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS
Standing EZ-Bar Curl
REPS
4*^
12, 7, 7, 9
Supinating Incline Dumbbell Curl 3^ Reverse Preacher-Bench Dumbbell Curl Standing Rope Hammer Curl
2
9, 9, 11 3
10, 10, 10
12, 12
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^The final set for the first two exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions.
ETCHING DETAIL into your biceps doesn't require any exotic movements. Staying true to these four basic exercises while keeping your rest periods short and adding an intensity technique like drop sets puts you on the road to more detailed bi's. Get those lighter weights ready before starting your drop sets. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Standing Cable Curl
3^
15, 10/12, 10/12
Alternating Dumbbell Curl 3 Machine Preacher Curl Concentration Curl
3 2#
12, 12, 12/15 10/12, 10/12, 15 10/8/6, 10/8/6
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Do a double drop set. Forearms Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. SOME PEOPLE THINK forearm training is solely a wrist-flexed affair, forgetting that their extensors (on top of the forearms) are often the most visible muscles of the lower arm. Your flexors also get plenty of work on back and biceps day. As such, this routine goes hard and heavy early with reverse barbell curls and hammer curls to pound your extensors and even out your forearm development. Barbell wrist curls cap off this Popeye-inspired routine. WORKOUT #6
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Reverse Barbell Curl 4*
12, 7, 7, 9
Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3# Barbell Wrist Curl
2
12, 10, 8
to failure^
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Use progressively heavier weights each set. ^Use a weight you can curl at least 15 times before reaching failure. Grip Workout The goal here is improving your lifts, which ultimately will build more muscle. TIRED OF YOUR GRIP GIVING OUT early on all your pulls on back day? Well, when was the last time you trained to increase your grip strength and endurance? That's what we thought. Increasing your strength in this department, and consequently on your other lifts, requires a two-pronged approach. The first two movements build strength, while the last exercise increases endurance. WORKOUT #7
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Behind-the-Back Barbell 3* Wrist Curl
10, 10
to failure
Dumbbell Wrist Curl
3
Plate Hold^
Up to 60 seconds
2
8, 8, 8
*On the last set, drop the weight and rep out past 15 to failure. ^Grasp a weight plate in each hand using just your fingertips and stand holding them by your sides for as long as you can. When you can hold them beyond 60 seconds, use heavier plates. BY RICHARD JONES, IFBB PRO TIPS FOR WOMEN Many women don't necessarily want big guns, but rather tight and defined arms, so keep the reps high and incorporate drop sets for more detail. GET MASS Tri's
YOUR TRICEPS DEVELOPMENT is a litmus test for your diligence in arm training. As a generous portion of your entire arm, the threeheaded muscle not only influences your arms' appearance but profoundly impacts pressing routines and other bodypart training. Having been developed over time and perfected by top bodybuilders, these exercises will add thickness to your entire triceps musculature. The first exercise is a three-in-one movement that will tax your strength and produce monster results. With its high volume, this routine ensures that your tri's will experience sufficient overload to elicit growth. You'll also change your arm positioning relative to your body to stress the triceps in different ways. OVERHEAD DUMBBELL EXTENSION Sit on a low-back seat holding a relatively heavy dumbbell directly overhead with both hands, arms extended. Keeping your upper arms in place, bend your elbows to lower the weight behind your head until you feel a stretch in your triceps, then press it back up. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE Skull-Crusher/Pullover/
SETS* REPS 4^
12, 7, 7, 9
Close-Grip Bench Press Combo Reverse-Grip Decline-Bench Press 3^ Overhead Dumbbell Extension Pressdown or Weighted Dip
3 3
12, 7, 7 9, 9, 11 11, 11, 11
*The final set for some exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. REVERSE-GRIP DECLINE-BENCH PRESS Grasp a barbell using a shoulder-width reverse grip. Lower the bar slowly to your lower chest, keeping your elbows as close to your sides as possible, then press it back up, concentrating on your triceps, not your pecs. If form proves tricky, use a Smith machine until you get the hang of the movement. PRESSDOWN Many seasoned bodybuliders depend on the effects this touchstone exercise brings to their triceps evolution. Grasp a bar attached to a highcable pulley with a close, overhand grip, and lean forward slightly at your waist. Keep your elbows pinned to your sides as you press the bar down to full arm extension, squeezing your tri's hard at the bottom. Don't let your hands come much higher than chest level on the return, since that just takes tension off the muscles. SKULL-CRUSHER/PULLOVER/CLOSE-GRIP BENCH PRESS COMBO Lie faceup on a flat bench and, using a close grip, hold a barbell at arm length above you. Bend your elbows to lower the bar to your forehead, then extend your arms back to the start. Next, do a pullover in which you lower the bar toward the floor, keeping it close to your head, and touch your lower chest on the return. From here, do a rep of the close-grip bench press. Repeat.
QUICKHIT STAY TIGHT Keep the angle in your elbows consistent during the pullover, forcing the bar to travel just above your face as you take it down to your chest Beginner's Workout Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. THE BEGINNER'S NO. 1 PRIORITY should be building a solid foundation built on core fundamentals. Hence, this routine includes three essential triceps moves to incorporate multiple angles right off the bat. Since the dip is a compound move, we're doing it first in the routine. Add an arms-by-sides and arms-overhead move to complete the workout. As important as ever, be mindful of utilizing a full range of motion as you lay the groundwork for tremendous triceps. Controlling your pace, squeezing the muscle and holding the contraction for 1-2 seconds should all be considered high priorities at this critical stage in your training. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Triceps Dip Machine Pressdown
3* 2
12, 10, 10
10, 10
Machine Overhead Extension 2
12, 12
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. At-Home Workout These are perfect for those not yet ready (or able) to hit the gym. HOMEGROWN TRICEPS are definitely achievable with these key exercises, some of which require only an adjustable dumbbell to perform. For variety, add in the chair dip, but make sure to elevate your feet to make the move more difficult. As you gain experience and begin to require a more challenging home routine, try performing supersets, tri-sets and giant sets, and varying your rep ranges and rest periods for continuous stimulation and improvement. Adding your own brand of creativity to these home-tested and -approved exercises can make all the difference in the world to your triceps development. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Overhead Dumbbell Extension 3*
12, 7, 7
Dumbbell Kickback
3
9, 9, 11
Close-Grip Push-Up
3
to failure
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, choose a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. Long Head Workout THE LONG HEAD, OR "BELLY," helps to form the meatiest portion of your arm, near the shoulder joint. Its size can make or break the impression your arms give. Targeting this area is as simple as doing overhead elbow-extension movements in which your elbows remain high in the air throughout each rep (as opposed to by your sides). Even on skull-crushers, angle your upper arms toward your head, not straight up. WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Seated Overhead EZ-Bar Extension
4*
High-Pulley Bent-Over Rope Extension 3
12, 7, 7, 9 9, 9, 11
Lying Dumbbell Skull-Crusher 3
10, 10, 10
One-Arm Overhead Extension
12, 12
2
*First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. High-Definition Workout Conditioning is the goal and shredded the watchword in these sessions. WITH A HARD-AS-NAILS APPEARANCE in mind, use this combination of exercises, along with impeccable eating habits, to exploit that hard-earned triceps musculature. Use slightly higher rep ranges and strategically placed drop sets (to fatigue). WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Smith-Machine Close-Grip Bench Press 3^ Seated Rope Overhead Extension Reverse-Grip Pressdown Cable Kickback
3
2#
3
15, 10/12, 10/12 10, 10/12, 10/12
10/12, 10/12, 15 10/8/6, 10/8/6
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Do a double drop set. BY JIMMY PENA, CSCS TIPS FOR WOMEN These triceps routines are equally effective for women. GET MASS total body
THIS FAST FULL-BODY WORKOUT, which can be done at home or in the gym, hits all the major muscle groups with fairly heavy weights, focusing on strength and size. What's more, all that's required are an adjustable bench and adjustable dumbbells, though if you have a barbell you can add more variety to your workout. Every other session, change the angles; for example, do the flat-bench dumbbell press instead of the incline bench. And if you have more time, add a second exercise to each muscle group. Adding volume to your workout relates directly to hypertrophy (muscle growth), so don't be afraid to train with relatively heavy resistance and do more exercises and sets than are listed here. DUMBBELL KICKBACK Bend over at the waist and raise your working elbow to your side and lock it there. Push the weight straight back as high as you can without using any forward swing at the bottom. Do both sides. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE
SETS* REPS
Incline Dumbbell Press 4^
12, 7, 7, 9
Overhead Shoulder Press 3
7, 7, 9
One-Arm Dumbbell Row Seated Dumbbell Curl
3
4^
12, 7, 7, 9 9, 9, 11
Dumbbell Kickback Dumbbell Squat#
4^
Stationary Lunge
3
Romanian Deadlift Crunch
3
9, 9, 11 12, 7, 7, 9 9, 9, 11
4^ 3
12, 7, 7, 9
15, 15, 15
*The final set for some exercises is a back-off set, meaning you use a slightly lighter weight and go for as many reps as you can. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #It you find the weights are still too light, slow down the movement and/or add another set or two. OVERHEAD SHOULDER PRESS Sit against the vertically positioned bench and position the weights just outside your shoulders using a palms-forward grip. Press them overhead in an arc to full arm extension as you exhale, then lower under control. Don't bounce the weights out of the bottom position. DUMBBELL SQUAT With your feet spaced fairly narrow and holding the weights outside your thighs, squat down until your thighs are about parallel to the floor, keeping your back naturally arched and head up. Forcefully press back up to standing, pushing your feet into the floor and pressing your hips forward at the top. INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS Keep the bench angle fairly low (less than 45 degrees). Press the weights up in a wide arc to full arm extension, lowering them to just outside your shoulders. QUICKHIT START BASIC A full-body workout should be built around compound movements to recruit the most muscle fibers Beginner's Split
Choose these if you're just starting out in the gym or returning from a layoff. TYPICALLY, BEGINNERS FOLLOW a low-volume approach to training, but here we link the pushing muscles in a workout (chest, shoulders, triceps) and alternate it with pulling muscles (back, biceps) and legs. After at least a month of learning the feel of the movements and getting your form down, it's time to start adding heavier weights as well as exercises to more thoroughly work each muscle from different angles. TRAINING SPLIT
DAY 1 Chest beginner's beginner's routine Shoulders beginner's routine Triceps beginner's routine Abs beginner's routine DAY 2 Back beginner's routine Biceps beginner's routine Legs beginner's routine DAY 3 Rest DAY 4 Cycle repeats
Advanced Split
These sessions hit your entire physique, from head to toe, all at once. TRAINING FOR MAXIMUM SIZE means hitting each bodypart hard from a variety of angles, then allowing it to rest and recover before repeating the process. This four-day split is but one way to train for size, pairing one major bodypart daily with at least one minor one, as well as alternating abs and calves. Modify your rest days as desired from week to week. TRAINING SPLIT
DAY 1 Quads/Glutes mass mass routine Calves routine DAY 2 Chest mass mass routine Hamstrings routine Abs routine DAY 3 Back mass routine Biceps mass routine Calves routine DAY 4 Shoulders mass routine Triceps mass routine Abs routine DAY 5 Rest DAY 6 Cycle repeats Power + Strength
The goal here is improving your lifts, which ultimately will build more muscle. TRAINING FOR STRENGTH requires you to take extended rest periods--up to four minutes on your first three exercises (two minutes on other exercises)--so you're fully recovered on each set. WORKOUT #2 DAY1
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Bench Press
3*
10, 6, 3
Bench Press
3
6, 6, 6
Close-Grip Bench Press 1
8
Wide-Grip Bench Press
8
1
Incline Dumbbell Press 3 Dip^
3
10, 10, 10
Pec-Deck/Cable Flye Skull-Crusher
8, 8, 8
2 2
10, 10
10, 10
Triceps Pressdown
2
12, 12
DAY2
EXERCISE Squat
SETS REPS 3*
Deep Squat
10, 6, 3 3
6, 6, 6
Narrow-Stance Squat
2
Wide-Stance Squat
2
Heavy Lying Leg Curl Leg Press
8, 8 8, 8
4
3
8, 8, 8, 8
12, 12, 12
Lighter Lying Leg Curl 2 Standing Calf Raise
10, 10
2
Seated Calf Raise
10, 10
2
12, 12
DAY 3
EXERCISE Deadlift
SETS REPS 3*
10, 6, 3
Narrow-Stance Deadlift# 3 Wide-Stance Deadlift# Box Deadlift+
2
2
Seated Cable Row
6, 6, 6 8, 8
8, 8 2
8, 8
Bent-Over Barbell Row
2
Lat Pulldown
10, 10
2
Standing Barbell Curl Seated Dumbbell Curl
2 2
10, 10
10, 10 12, 12
Follow this program for four weeks, then add 25% more weight to exercises 2-6 and 15% more to exercises 7-9 for four weeks. *First three sets are warm-ups not done to failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. ^If you can perform 12 reps, add weight with a belt or dumbbell. #Alternate order and set-rep scheme of narrow- and wide-stance deadlifts each workout. +Stiff-legged deadlifts off a 6-inch box for an extended stretch. 30-Minute Workout Hard to classify, these workouts nonetheless guarantee major gains. JUST BECAUSE A WORKOUT IS FAST doesn't mean it can't build some serious muscle. This three-day split is broken into push, pull and leg days. You need to move fast, and it utilizes a few high-intensity techniques like drop sets and supersets to get you pumping. Keep rest periods to no more than 60 seconds between sets, and although you're moving quickly, try not to sacrifice good form.
WORKOUT #3 DAY 1
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Press
4^
Machine Incline Press
2
Shoulder Press Machine
7, 7, 9
2
Cable Front Raise
10, 10
2
Triceps Dip Machine Ab Crunch
7/9, 9/11 3
Cable Lateral Raise#
12, 7, 7, 9
10, 10 3
3
10, 10, 10/10
15, 15, 15
DAY 2
EXERCISE T-Bar Row Front Pulldown
SETS REPS* 4^
12, 7, 7, 9
2
7/9, 9/11
Seated Cable Row
2
7/9, 9/11
Seated Alternating Dumbbell Curl 3 Machine Preacher Curl Reverse Crunch
2 3
12, 7, 7/9
7/9, 9/11 15, 15, 15
DAY 3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS*
Smith-Machine Squat
4^
Dumbbell Lunge
2
12, 7, 7, 9 10/8, 10/8
Leg Extension#
2
7/9, 9/11
Lying Leg Curl
2
7/9, 9/11
Standing Calf Raise
3
15, 15, 15/10
*When reps are listed with a "/," this is a drop set; after reaching muscle failure, Immediately reduce the weight by about 30% and continue doing as many more reps as you can. For lunges, drop the dumbbells and continue using just your bodyweight. ^First set is a warm-up not done to muscle failure. After warming up, use a weight that elicits muscle failure by the rep listed. #Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest 60 seconds only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. Circuit Workout Hard to classify, these workouts nonetheless guarantee major gains. TRAINING WITH FAIRLY HIGH-REP SETS and moving quickly from one muscle group to the next (allowing one muscle to recover while you're training something else) efficiently burns calories and builds muscle endurance and heart health.
WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Chest Press Machine Front Pulldown
1 1
15 15
Triceps Pressdown
1
15
Leg Sled Machine
1
15
Shoulder Press Machine 1
15
Preacher Curl Machine 1
15
Ab Crunch
1
15
Lying Leg Curl Machine 1
15
*Repeat cycle 2-3 more times, resting 60 seconds after you complete each circuit. Traveler's Workout Hard to classify, these workouts nonetheless guarantee major gains. MOST NICER HOTELS HAVE GYMS, but what if you're caught in a Motel 6 and there's no health club around? This in-room routine will at least get you sweating and make you feel less guilty about eating all that fatty roadside diner food. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Decline Push-Up
3
20, 20, 20
Chair Flye*
3
20, 20, 20
Step-Up*
3
20, 20, 20
Lunge
3
30, 30, 30
Romanian Deadlift*
3
30, 30, 30
Standing Lateral Raise* 3
20, 20, 20
Overhead Press*
3
One-Arm Row*
3
Standing Curl* Kickback
20, 20, 20
3 3
30, 30, 30 30, 30, 30
20, 20, 20
*with equally weighted objects, such as bottles or cans BY DAVID SANDLER, CSCS TIPS FOR WOMEN Most full-body workouts utilize one exercise per bodypart. To focus on a problem area, add 1-2 exercises to target it from different angles. GET MASS
IT'S FAIRLY UNCOMMON for a bodybuilder to train chest and back--two such massive bodyparts--in the same workout, but I did. I loved feeling my entire upper body pumped, and working opposing muscle groups saved me time in the gym, especially when I did this high-volume routine (or one similar to it) three times a week. T-BAR ROW Grasp the bar with an overhand grip. Keeping your back flat, begin with your arms extended below you, then pull your elbows back and behind you as high as you can, bringing the weight in toward your chest. WORKOUT #1
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Bench Press (warm-up) 1
30
Barbell Bench Press^
5
20-6*
Wide-Grip Pull-Up
5
15-8*
Incline Barbell Press^
5
10-15
T-Bar Row
5
10-15
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Flye^
5
Bent-Over Barbell Row
10-15
5
10-15
Weighted Dip^
5
15
Close-Grip Chin
5
12
Straight-Arm Pullover
5
15-20
*Start these pyramid sets with light weight for high reps and progressively add weight on each set. ^Superset this movement with the one immediately following without stopping to rest between them. Rest only after you finish the entire superset and repeat. WIDE-GRIP PULL-UP Use an overhand, wider-than-shoulder-width grip on a pull-up bar. (The key is to go as wide as you possibly can.) Start from a hanging position, arms and body extended toward the floor. Pull yourself up to the bar explosively until your chest nearly touches it and lower yourself back to the hanging position, arms extended but not locked out. FLAT-BENCH DUMBBELL FLYE Start with the dumbbells at arms' length above your chest and lower them in a wide arc out to your sides until you feel a stretch in your chest. Contract your pecs to return to the start, keeping your elbows slightly bent throughout. Biceps Peak Workout THE KEY TO MY MOUNTAINOUS BICEPS PEAK was my supinating technique, in which I'd turn my palms out and squeeze my biceps extra-hard at the top of each rep of my dumbbell exercises. (Such supination obviously can't be achieved with a barbell.) And I was adamant about feeling the burn in the muscle belly. Remember, there's no growth without pain. But don't take this to mean that I didn't do barbell curls; my staple biceps exercises were standing barbell curls (with a slight cheat) and EZ-bar preacher curls. High volume worked for me; I typically did 15 sets or more per workout. WORKOUT #2
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Incline Supinating Dumbbell Curl
5
Supinating Alternate Dumbbell Curl 5 Concentration Curl
5
10
10 10
Traps Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. I TRAINED TRAPS TWICE A WEEK following delts the last 60 days before a competition. What's notable about this workout is that it's not a conventional tri-set--I actually rested 30 seconds between exercises instead of taking virtually no break, like when I supersetted chest and back. Regardless, this routine helped me add considerably more mass to my already impressive most-muscular pose. WORKOUT #3
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell Shrug^ 4
8
Upright Row^
8
4
Dumbbell Shrug^ 4
8-10
^Do a tri-set by doing the first exercise for the prescribed reps, taking a short break and doing the next two in the same pattern, resting longer only after you complete all three movements. Repeat three more times. Calves Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. AT THE HEIGHT OF MY BODYBUILDING CAREER in the 1970s, calf training was my highest priority: I often trained calves six days a week, with anywhere from 9-20 total sets. The routine here is but one sample of how I trained them; I can't stress enough the importance of varying the exercises and intensity techniques, like partial reps, rest-pauses and 21s, when working your lower legs. And no matter which calf exercise you perform, always be sure to get a full stretch at the bottom of the movement and go as high on your toes as possible at the top (except when doing partial reps). WORKOUT #4
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Donkey Calf Raise*
6
Seated Calf Raise
6
10-15 10-15
Leg Press Calf Raise or Standing Calf Raise 6
10-15
*For resistance, I had 2-3 bodybuilders sit on my back as I leaned over a bench. Use a donkey machine instead. Forearms Workout To maximize growth response, blast one or more muscles at a time. AT A TIME WHEN I WANTED TO BRING UP MY FOREARMS, I began training them six days a week at the end of my biceps/triceps workouts. I set up my program by alternating every other day between training my forearm extensors with reverse curls (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) and my forearm flexors with wrist curls (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). My diligence paid off in the form of thicker and fuller lower arms. When I no longer needed to direct special attention to my forearm muscles, I typically trained them after working my biceps and triceps three days a week. WORKOUT #5
EXERCISE
SETS REPS
FLEXORS (DAYS 1, 3, 5) Barbell Wrist Curl Dumbbell Wrist Curl
5
10 5
10
EXTENSORS (DAYS 2, 4, 6)
Barbell Reverse Curl
5
Preacher Reverse Curl 5
10-12 10-12
BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER Accentuate the positive
Flex,, Feb, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex From the first time I picked up a barbell as a gawky 15-year-old kid in Austria, I fell in love with bodybuilding. I fell in love with the feel of muscles aching, of saying the day after a chest workout, "Wow! My chest and triceps are really sore today." (Before I took up training, I didn't even know what triceps were!) For me, as I know it is for you, the joy of training--of adopting a 24/7 bodybuilding lifestyle-represents a sense of satisfaction that we can only really share with each other. We know the feeling of eager anticipation in the hour or two before a workout; of running through the workouts mentally; of knowing, before we even enter the gym, that we are primed to unleash our best efforts. We know the exhilaration from hitting the shower after a pulverizing workout and the satisfaction of a job well done. We know the feeling of walking down the street with our muscles tight and full. We know the feeling of confidence and self-respect that bodybuilding, like almost nothing else, can give us. The values that bodybuilding gave me have served me well throughout my acting and political careers. I've been on movie sets where I heard other actors whining about filming going on after midnight. They would moan, "I can't take it anymore. I have to call my agent. I've had it." I would think to myself, What have you had? What are you complaining about? You're not in a war. You're not a single parent trying to support your kids on one income. You have nothing to complain about. Get over it, wimp. While I was campaigning both for the governorship of California and on behalf of the president before last November's elections, my advisers would often try to tell me that I couldn't possibly fulfill all the obligations I had set for myself. I would immediately counter, "You think this is tough--you should try my chest-back superset workout." Campaigning is never arduous for me, because bodybuilding taught me that if you want something badly enough, you have to work for it and be willing to go the whole nine yards in pursuit of it. And while doing it, you must remain 100% positive at all times, otherwise you will never reach your goal. In an era when pessimism often seems a preferred option, I continue to remain positive in all areas of my life including, of course, bodybuilding. It is an outlook shared by the editors and staff at FLEX and MUSCLE & FITNESS. They celebrate bodybuilding as the totally positive experience it is and as an endeavor that anyone can benefit from. The stacks of letters they receive daily from readers across the globe are testament to the success of their efforts and give them a clear mandate to continue in this direction. I am proud of my position on these magazines, for they echo my own message that bodybuilding should be used, above all, as a positive force for change within oneself. I'm sure you will agree; in fact, I'm positive. By Governor Arnold S chwarzenegger Peak performance: building biceps peaks requires concentration … curls
Flex,, Feb, 2005 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex Every bodybuilder wants peaked biceps. There may be no bodypart more impressive than a spectacularly developed arm capped by a Matterhorn of muscle. To anyone who is looking to add height to his biceps, I have news you may not want to hear--you might not be able to build peaks like mine. Sorry. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Everyone is born with a different set of genes, including those that determine muscle size and shape. Some people naturally have the ability to put on great amounts of muscle mass, while others have to fight for every pound. Some have long full muscle bellies, while others have muscles that are shorter or less round. The kind of muscles you inherit is pretty much the luck of the draw, and since you can't choose your parents, you'll have to make the best of what you've got. Most important is that you work to maximize your own potential, whatever it is. I was fortunate enough to be born with good muscle shape and fullness, particularly in my biceps. From the very start of my bodybuilding career at age 15, my biceps were a strong point, and I found that they were very responsive to almost anything I did to them. In the beginning, I performed a lot of barbell cheat curls to bulk up my biceps. As I began to progress, I realized that bodybuilding was about more than just slapping muscle onto my body. I discovered that I needed to sculpt my muscles, the same way in which a sculptor molds clay into a beautiful form. So, I looked at how different exercises affected my muscles and started to arrange them according to my own specific wants and needs. This type of "instinctive training" was the first key to developing the physique that won seven Olympia titles. When it came to my arms, I saw that I had a natural propensity toward highly peaked biceps. I made the decision to accentuate this strength by including dumbbell concentration curls in my routine. Concentration curls are the single best exercise for maximizing the biceps' peaks-whether they're shaped like mine or are flatter, like Sergio Oliva's--and they should definitely be included in your own biceps workout.
The exercise can be performed in a variety of ways--the one you choose depends on your personal preference. The basic movement requires bending at the waist with a dumbbell held in one hand hanging below your shoulder. Without moving your upper arm, curl the dumbbell up to your shoulder, squeeze the biceps hard at the top of the movement, and lower the weight again in a smooth controlled manner. Concentration curls can be performed either sitting with your elbow braced against your knee or standing with your arm hanging loose. Personally, I prefer standing, but this is a technically advanced form of the exercise, so I'd recommend starting by sitting with your elbow against your knee. You may not be able to develop peaks like mine, or you may be able to build even better ones. The only way you'll be able to know for sure is to maximize your potential, and there's no better way to do so than by performing dumbbell concentration curls. BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER A forgotten gem: expand your knowledge and rib cage with this thi s old-school exercise
Flex,, August, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger Flex At the peak of my bodybuilding career, my chest measured 57", and one of the prime movements that made that sort of dimension possible was the dumbbell pullover. Some authorities disagree, but I firmly believe that doing pullovers for a number of years increased the size of my rib cage and kicked me toward that 57" mark. I further believe that the younger you are when you start training, the more effective this exercise is. For a teenager, I would recommend it as an absolute must for expanding the rib cage. It also, of course, works the pecs, particularly the outer and lower areas, and it gives the lats and serratus a bit of a workout. So what are you waiting for? Roll that dumbbell to the bench and begin a set of pullovers. EXERCISE FORM Lie across a bench with your shoulders resting on the bench top and your feet flat on the floor. Grab a dumbbell and hoist it to arms' length above your head, with both hands pressed against the underside of the inside plate. Then, with just a slight bend to the elbows and keeping the arms rigid, lower the dumbbell slowly behind your head toward the floor. As you lower the dumbbell, try to drop your hips a little toward the floor to increase the stretch. Once you have lowered the dumbbell as far as possible and achieved maximum stretch, return through the same arc to the starting position (dumbbell straight above the chest) to commence the next rep. ROUTINE STUFF The accompanying chart shows a chest-specific intermediate-level training routine incorporating pullovers. Follow this program twice a week, train hard and consistently, and the results will come. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S SUGGESTED CHEST WORKOUT EXERCISE
SETS REPS
Barbell bench presses
5 15*, 10, 8, 6, 4
Incline bench presses
4 10, 8, 6, 4
Incline flyes Dips
3 10, 8, 6 3 15, 10, 8
Dumbbell pullovers
3 15
* Light warm-up set. BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER Contract to grow: improve your contractions to jack up your muscle mass, rep by rep
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , August, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger WHAT'S YOUR GOAL FOR A given set during a workout? Is it to get the weight up as many times as possible? Is it to pile on maximal tonnage and see if you can lift it? The answer is bodybuilding is about training muscles, not lifting weights. Your goal should be to achieve the highest quality of muscle contraction on every rep of every set. Here are a few ways to do that: START LIGHT. To ensure a quality contraction start out on an exercise using a very light weight, concentrating on how the muscles feel during the movement. Gradually increase the weight from set to set. If and when you get to a point where you can no longer feel the muscles working as they did when the weight was lighter, you're probably working too heavy and need to take some weight off until that "feel" is reestablished. TAKE THE HARD ROAD. Biomechanics experts often speak of being at a mechanical advantage, the position at which a lever, or in our case a muscle, is at its strongest for a given movement and thus can perform the task easier. Bodybuilders, however, should seek the
opposite. For example, the more you bend your elbows on a flye or lateral raise, the easier it will be to lift the weight. But when you extend your elbows to the point where they're just slightly bent, the pecs and middle deltoids, respectively, are forced to work harder and will grow that much larger. GO SLOW. As you've probably discovered already, the more slowly you do an exercise, the more difficult it is. So slowing the speed of a given exercise--on both the concentric and eccentric phases--is another way to achieve optimal contraction. That isn't to say that you should do every exercise in super slow motion, but performing your reps more deliberately can be helpful if you're in a training rut and need to get back on track. REACH THE PEAK. Used by body-builders for years as a means of increasing intensity in their workouts, peak contraction involves squeezing your muscles at the top of every rep for a count or two. Be forewarned: You likely won't be able to do as many reps with this technique, provided it's new to you. GET HOOKED ON CABLE. I'd never tell you to abandon dumbbells and barbells completely in favor of cable equipment, but the constant tension on your muscles they offer will maximize the quality of each contraction. Every once in a while, do a workout using nothing but cables. Again, let me repeat the point of this column: For results, the quality of your muscle contractions is paramount. Now take this advice to the gym and turn every rep into a growth opportunity. Due to the volume of mail he receives, Arnold cannot respond to individual readers' questions. The information presented here is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health-care professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Adapted from material previously published in MUSCLE & FITNESS. BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR,, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80 Get trapped: building traps the size of ski slopes is simple. Just learn to shrug
Muscle & Fitness, Fitness , July, 2004 by Arnold Schwarzenegger FILLING OUT YOUR SHIRTS--which I know is important to every guy reading this--requires not only a well-developed chest, back and shoulders but upper traps, too. Serious bodybuilders usually include traps exercises in their workouts, either in their shoulder or back workouts. But a lot of people don't do enough traps work, if any. That's a mistake. SHRUG IT OFF Training traps is easier than many bodybuilders think. One major action of this muscle is simply to lift the entire shoulder girdle, which means "shrugging" the shoulders upward. The shrug is just what it sounds like--lifting the shoulders toward the ears. There isn't much more to the technique than this. Doing a shrug exercise involves holding a pair of dumbbells, a barbell or the handles of a particular machine (a shrug machine or the handles of a military press machine as you stand on the seat) to provide resistance, and lifting your shoulders as high as you can toward your ears. Ideally, you should hold the position of full contraction and squeeze at the top, then slowly lower your shoulders to feel a stretch at the bottom. The range of motion is very short: the distance you can lift or lower your shoulders. You often see bodybuilders making shrugs more complicated than they have to be. For example, some roll their shoulders forward and back as they do the lift. This doesn't add any benefit to the exericise and, in fact, can be dangerous. All that really counts is the muscular contraction that takes place directly against gravity--straight up, not forward or back. And be sure to keep your head up. MORE WAYS THAN ONE While shrugs are the primary exercise for traps, this muscle is involved in a number of other movements as well. There's a lot of traps effort in conventional deadlifts, for example. In fact, it's not a bad idea to finish reps of deadlifts with a pronounced shrug, since the goal is to build your physique, not to develop maximum power and strength. (I wouldn't recommend that same technique to a powerlifter, for instance.) Another exercise that involves the traps is the upright row. As you lift the bar to your chin, you'll feel your traps contracting as part of the movement. And while this is an integral part of the exercise, there are other moves in which you should be careful not to involve the traps. An example of this is the dumbbell lateral raise, which is meant to isolate the middle deltoids, not the traps. The shoulders should pivot as the weight comes up, but you should try not to shrug at the same time. No matter how far along you are in your development, you'll find you can use quite a lot of weight with shrugs. But as with all exercises, the idea is not to work too heavy or too light. The correct weight is one that allows you to work completely through a short range of motion using strict technique, holding and squeezing at the top, completing 10-12 reps.
The only bad thing about training your traps? Your collared shirts will no longer fit around your neck! BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MR. OLYMPIA 1970-75, '80
