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Arnold Schwarzenegger last competed more than forty years ago (1980 to be exact). However, even today, many aspiring bodybuilders cite 'The Oak' as their greatest motivation.
Schwarzenegger has the largest chest in the history of recorded professional bodybuilding. His chest in his prime was a mind-blowing 57 inches. Ronnie Coleman, a great bodybuilder, was unable to emulate Schwarzenegger's chest development.
Schwarzenegger used intense bodybuilding-style workouts with high repetition counts to train his chest two to three times a week. To ensure total development, he engaged in a variety of chest exercises, such as bench presses, dips and dumbbell flies.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Chest Workout
Arnold Schwarzenegger advises that you limit your chest exercises to bench press, incline press and pullover for the first few months of training.
The first two workouts are compound barbell fundamentals, which are well known strength and muscle-building exercises targeting the chest, shoulders and triceps muscles. These are the go-to exercises for strengthening pecs for any level of lifter, provided your shoulders are in a good condition.
The third exercise, the pullover, is not commonly used by iron-pumpers today. However, Schwarzenegger believes it helped him enlarge his rib cage to the astounding 57 inches it measured at his peak.
It consists of the following:
- Beginner’s chest workout plan:
- Barbell bench press: 5 sets of 8-12
- Barbell Incline Press: 5 sets of 8-12
- Pullover: 5 sets of 8-12
Arnold Schwarzenegger suggests adding a dumbbell fly and parallel bar dip to your repertoire after roughly six months of training.
These extra exercises target various muscle fibres for a more thorough growth of the pectorals by working them from various angles. Both exercises stretch the muscles, which many traditional bodybuilders believe promotes muscular growth.
Intermediate chest workout plan:
- Bench press: 1 x 15 (warm-up), 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4
- Incline barbell or dumbbell press: 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4
- Dumbbell flys: 3 sets of 10, 8, 6
- Parallel bar dips: 3 sets of 15, 10, 8
- Straight-arm pullovers 3 x 15
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Back Workout
To believe that the back is made up of just one muscle would be incorrect. The middle and lower traps, rhomboids, upper and lower latissimus dorsi, erectors (low back), and even the rear delts are a part of this group. Arnold Schwarzenegger approached this complicated group from a variety of perspectives.
Here are some fundamental guidelines he used when working on his back. He usually divided his back exercises into two categories: rows for general thickness, chin-ups and pull-downs for lat width.
Pull-ups and lat pull-downs strengthen the V-taper, whereas rows and bent-over exercises are better at working the muscles in the middle of the back.
Schwarzenneger used a combination of pull-ups and chins with an underhand grip to develop wide lats. He also changed the width of his grasp, reached up to the bar with his chest and behind him, and occasionally employed additional resistance or just his own weight. Eventually, the attack worked the lats from a variety of angles to improve their overall development.
However, rather than just copying his regimen, he advises everyone to try out different things till they find what works best for them. It may have a detrimental effect on your motivation if what worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't work for you. The routine you stick with is eventually the best.
