Austrian Oak's Routine

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Arnold Schwarzenegger's Workout Routine

This routine is a typical Arnold routine, but Arnold's routine did changed constantly. Sometimes he trained twice a day, and other times, once a day. There were periods when he did lots of forced reps. There were times when he did supersets and giant sets. Arnold tried every thing, and picked what worked best for him at that particular time.

Arnold rested little between sets, and usually increased pound ages wile each subsequent set. Although he experimented with high reps at times, he usually preferred a rep range in the neighborhood of 6 to 10. If he could only do five he would cheat to get past thay sticking point. However, Arnold's cheating wasn't the same as the average person's. If he did a cheat curl, it wasn't the same as an average bodybuilder swinging a weight from top lo bottom. It was controlled, deliberate cheating.

His concentration was complete. As far as the philosophy or his workouts is concerned, he was almost an existentialist. Nothing existed outside the set at hand. To illustrate this, one of his workout partners remembered the time when he and Arnold were doing 20 sets of biceps curls. The training partner said, "Boy, Arnold, we have fourteen sets to go." Arnold replied: "No, we have only one. The one we are working on".

Arnold's Top Measurement

Arms 22 inches
Chest 57 inches
Waist 34 inches
Thighs 28.5 inches
Calves 20 inches
Weight 235 pounds
Height 6'2"


Mon, Wed, Fri

Chest:
Bench press - 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Flat bench flies - 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Incline bench press - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable crossovers - 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Dips - 5 sets, to failure
Dumbbell pullovers - 5 sets, 10-12 reps
Back:
Front wide-grip chin-ups - 6 sets, to failure
T-bar rows - 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated pulley rows - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell rows - 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Straight-leg deadlift - 6 sets, 15 reps

Legs:
Squats - 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg presses - 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg extensions - 6 sets, 12-15 reps
Leg curls - 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Barbell lunges - 5 sets, 15 reps

Calves:
Standing calf raises -10 sets, 10 reps
Seated calf raises - 8 sets, 15 reps
One-legged calf raises (holding dumbbells) - 6 sets,12 reps

Forearms:
Wrist curls (forearms on knees) - 4 sets, 10 reps
Reverse barbell curls - 4 sets, 8 reps
Wright roller machine - to failure

Abs:
Nonstop instinct training for 30 minutes


Tues, Thurs, Sat

Biceps:
Barbell curls - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated dumbbell curls - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Dumbbell concentration curls - 6 sets, 6-10 reps

Triceps:
Close-grip bench presses (for the all three heads) - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Pushdowns (exterior head) - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Barbell French presses (interior head) - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions (exterior head) - 6 sets, 6-10 reps

Shoulders:
Seated barbell presses - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Lateral raises (standing) - 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Rear-deltoid lateral raises - 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable lateral raises - 5 sets, 10-12 reps

Calves and Forearms:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Abs:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

 

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Strong as an Oak: an authoritative retrospective of Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding workout program—every bodypart, every exercise—from the last 35 years of muscle & fitness

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 1 30-45 (warm-up)
Bench Press 5 20-6*
Incline Barbell Press 5 10-15
Flat-Bench 5 10-15
Dumbbell Fly 5 10-15
Weighted Dip 5 15

* Pyramid up the weight and lower your reps set to set.
* FLAT-BENCH DUMBBELL FLY

Arnold did flys 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 lat-spread 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 15-8*
T-Bar Row 5 10-15
Bent-Over Barbell Row 5 10-15
Chin-Up 5 12
Barbell Deadlift 3 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 6-7 6-8
Dumbbell Curl 6-7 6-8
Preacher Curl 6-7 6-8
Concentration Curl * 5 6-8

FOREARMS
Barbell Reverse Curl 5 8-10
Reverse Preacher 5 8-10

Curl
Barbell Wrist Curl 7 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 two-thirds 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 multi-joint 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.

 

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Arnold Schwarzenegger's Squat routine

by Arnold Schwarzenegger - 1976

When I was first learning how to train, I used to do full squats. I did them exclusively for the thighs. I labored under the belief that if I did my full squats faithfully on a firm reps and sets basis, I would get everything I needed in the way of thighs. Over the years my thinking has changed considerably.

Everybody does squats: weightlifters, bodybuilders, football players, track athletes and even ballet dancers. The squat increases the power, speed and spring of the legs. When practiced with heavy breathing, it permanently expands the rib cage. It can help you gain weight. It can help you lose weight. with these multiple benefits, the squat goes on record and the best all-around exercise.

Well, if it could do all these things, how come I even bothered to change my style of squatting? My business is bodybuilding, first of all. It's nice to have all the capabilities of the athlete, and I accept them as a side effect of doing squats. However, I am more directly concerned with defining and shaping my thighs for the purposes of some things from my standpoint, and other things from yours which I think everybody should know.

The full squat, all the way down and all the way up, has the advantage of working a lot of other body parts besides the thighs; like back, glutes and chest. They certainly developed the lumbar muscles of my lower back, That was a terrific advantage. The disadvantage was that 50 percent of the effort worked my thighs, and at least 30 percent worked my glutes. I found that the first third of the movement of coming up from a full squat worked my glutes. The final two-thirds of the movement worked the entire thigh, but no particular part. So, what happened was my rear got big, and my thighs got bulky and shapeless. Nether of these two effects served my purpose for bodybuilding.

There are several ways to do squats. The most conventional of these remains the regular squat with the barbell resting on the shoulders behind the neck and a movement consisting of a full deep knee bend with return for the fully erect position. There is the half squat - half way down and all the way up -- that may also be done astride a bench of protection against going too deep. Another is the tension squat where you don't lock out your knees at the top. You drop three-quarters of the way down and return to a position three-quarters of the way up. The movement is performed through the middle half of the entire range of movement. There is the jump squat which is excellent for weightlifters and other athletes interested in getting extra spring and starting power. Front squats, where the weight is held across the chest, is done with a straight bar. The sissy squat involves only the front quadriceps and is done with the hips held forward, dipping low using knee flexion only. The hack squat is done with the barbell held behind the legs, or on the specially designed hack machine. The one-legged squat rounds out the basic list of the most familiar forms of the squat.

For me, the only advantage of the full squat was that it built my back along with my thighs. As a result I was able to deadlift 700 pounds. If you want power, the full squat is the way to get it. If it's shape and size you want, then there are several different and better ways, such as I described.

Position of the feet exerts different pressures and enables you to concentrate on different areas of the thighs. For instance, when you put your feet close together and parallel, all the effort of the squat goes into the quadriceps and gives the thigh a front sweep look. It should be done with a block under the heels for better balance. A friend of mine, Karl Schranz, world champion skier to many years, worked his legs that way using as much as 400 pounds. Skiers everywhere are now doing this exercise.

With the feet a normal width apart, say, about 18 inches, every area of the thigh, outside middle and inside, is worked in the regular squat movement. With the feet farther apart, toes pointed out, the effect of the squat is felt on the inside of the thigh. The heels may also be moved closer together with the toes still pointed out, and the inside thigh continues to be effected. The position of the feet largely determines which part of the thigh will work.

I have reverted to using the vertical sliding Smith machine for my squats. This machine enables me to concentrate on my legs. I can place my feet forward of the vertical line of my body, and I can't fall back, like I would using a barbell. Thus, with my back straight, feet about 10 inches apart, and my knees straight ahead. I do tension squats, going three-quarters of the way down and coming up to a position a quarter of the way form the top. The movement gives my thighs an incredible burn and gets the more lateral muscles. I always do this one before a contest. I burn out as many reps as I can, never completing a movement If you lock out, you give your muscles a chance to rest, and that 's not what you want. you have to torture the muscle with unusual training so that it will respond.

I used to use a lot of weight on the squat. Not anymore. I find now that concentration lends its own form of resistance. By thinking I can direct the effort, I can make every movement count, not only the sets. By doing the sliding squat on the sliding Smith machine, I am able to concentrate using less weight. I direct my attention to what the thighs are doing. I literally think the definition into them. The pleasure of my thought overrides the pain. The positive aspects of cuts and veins and shape spur me on, and the whole thing become a labor of love.

I would always have a beginner start with the parallel squat, five sets, starting with 20 reps and decreasing the number on subsequent sets, finishing with six reps. For the beginner I would increase the amount of weight only as I perceived his increased muscle size. I wouldn't try to rush his strength. I would experiment with him, vary his squatting post ion, try to find what was best for him. People have different structures, therefore they must utilize the "instinctive" training technique. A great bodybuilder like Frank Zane squats narrow while another great one like Ken Waller squats much wider, and both of them have sensational thighs. Everybody beginner, intermediate and advanced., alike, should all experiment with various foot positions to determine what favors them.

I usually warm up with 135 pounds, 30 reps, I drop to 20 reps on my second set, then down to 15 and 10 for the others. As I go down in reps, I go up in weight, peaking at about 400 pounds for eight reps.

I prefer to start out with leg extensions. I get more definition when they precede squats. By the time I get to the squat my legs feel numb, like I couldn't use another pound on anything. But after my first couple of squat sets the numbness goes away. The lingering transition makes my squats doubly effective in getting definition.

I wear a lifting belt for squats, but not tight. For guys who are afraid of getting sore, or who can't walk or exercise for a couple of days following leg work, I'd suggest they use the sauna or steam room and whirl pool after their workout. I let the heat penetrate me, and that usually relaxes me and dissipates any soreness.

I personally like the pain form training because it indicates I've worked hard enough for things to grow. It's a great satisfaction.

Some bodybuilders like to squat without a mirror in front of them. I like the mirror. It helps me keep in the groove. In order to see myself in it I have to keep my head up. That forces me to come up with my back more vertical which shifts the weight all to my legs. It allows me to see if I am twisting to the side, which is a bad habit to get into for the questionable pressures it puts on the spine.

You can guess by now that I have gotten away from using monstrous poundages on squats of any kind. My needs have forced me to find ways or doing leg work that develop cuts and definition along with size. I am still experimenting. Just remember, you have to apply the technique of quality training to your legs the same as the rest of your body. That means more sustained tension, shorter rests between sets, no rest between repetitions and, finally, total concentration. Do that, and you'll end up with great legs.

 

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Arnold's All-Out Chest-Back Workout

Here's a outline, complete with some of Arnold's thoughts about each of the pec exercises he used in this Chest back 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 X 30-45
Bench presses 5 X 20-6
Wide-grip behind-the-neck chins 5 X 15-8
Incline barbell presses 5 X 10-15
T-bar rows 5 X 10-15
Flat-bench dumbbell flyes 5 X 10-15
Wide-grip barbell rows 5 X 10-15 (performed standing on a block for better range of motion)
Dips 5 X 15
Close-grip chins 5 X 12
Stiff-arm pullovers 5 X 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.