After all of the box-office successes (and failures),
all of the State of the State
speeches and ballot initiatives,
all of the fame and fortune, it's
easy to forget that at his very core
Arnold Schwarzenegger is, first and
foremost, a gym rat.
Long before he ever uttered a
one-liner or sparred with a hostile
legislature, the five-time Mr. Universe
and seven-time Mr. Olympia
spent untold hours toiling away in
shoebox-size gyms across the globe,
pushing, pulling, and pumping
iron. The aim of his efforts was to
become the best bodybuilder on
the planet, and it was a goal he
achieved year after competitive
year throughout the 1960s and '70s.
Ever the student, Arnold continually honed his skills, applying the same rigorous discipline to his gym work as he later would to his film and political careers. Just as important, he was fearless (another common Schwarzenegger theme) in his training. While many of his bodybuilding peers were content to follow the staid dictums that had been laid out decades earlier with blind obedience, Arnold always looked for ways to up the intensity.
During the early to mid-1960s, at the start of his competitive career, he followed a rudimentary training plan that had been designed for him by the elder bodybuilders at the gym in Austria where he first trained. The routine was basic and sound enough, but not the kind that would turn a small-town Austrian kid into a world-class success. As his own development surpassed that of his mentors, Arnold realized that without finding ways to increase the intensity of his workouts he'd probably end his career being known only for having won the Mr. Europe title.
Arnold began scouring Muscle Builder (the forebear to Muscle & Fitness) for ways to amp up his workouts and eventually discovered the Weider Principles-a compendium of techniques designed to increase workout intensity.
By the end of the '60s, he hit upon a formula to his liking-one that involved six days of training twice a day and featured several Weider Principles, including his favorite: supersets.
"One of the most important reasons why a chestback
superset program works so well is the fact
that most chest exercises are pushing movements,
while all back exercises are pulling exercises. The
chest muscles are resting during the lats exercise and
the lats are resting during the chest movement. While
each muscle is alternately resting and working, it
stays fully flushed and pumped up.... When the chest
and upper back are pumped simultaneously, there is
an indescribable feeling of growth stimulation and
massiveness." -Arnold Schwarzenegger
Supersetting involves the grouping
of two or more exercises
performed in sequence without
rest. There are two ways of supersetting:
one that groups exercises
for the same body part, and
another that pairs exercises for
opposing body parts. Arnold was a
fan of both variations, and he applied
supersetting most faithfully
to his chest-back workout.
"There are several advantages to alternating chest and back exercises," he has said on multiple occasions:
In his seminal training tome,
The New Encyclopedia of Modern
Bodybuilding, Arnold explains
in detail the benefits of chest-back
supersetting.
Nowadays, few bodybuilders
perform double-split routines,
believing that two workouts
per day will overtax the body.
It didn't seem to do Arnold
any harm, though, and the
double split wound up being
de rigueur for most of the pros
who trained at Gold's Gym in
Venice, CA, during its halcyon
days of the 1970s.
Arnold's chest/back routine consists of nine
exercises-four for chest and four for back,
followed by dumbbell pullovers, which is a
combination exercise that works the lats
while stretching the pecs. In total it's 45
working sets done with no rest during the
supersets and only a minute or so between
supersets, after which he would spend a few
minutes forcefully flexing the muscle groups
he had just trained.
From start to finish the workout takes about 45 minutes, and by the end of it the Austrian Oak would be drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Legend has it that Gold's Gym would keep an oxygen tank on hand to assist Arnold and his training partners in making it through such physically taxing workouts.
Clearly, the effort wasn't wasted; Arnold's chest would eventually stretch the tape to an improbable 57 inches, due in large part to pecs and a back that still rank among the best in bodybuilding history.
While following Arnold's chest-back routine may not give you a jacket size greater than the average woman's height, it should prove a grueling but effective way to add quality mass to your torso.
The first superset of the
routine would begin with a
warmup of 30-45 reps on
the bench with 135 pounds,
followed by 15 chins. For
the next five sets, Arnold
would shuttle back and forth
between bench presses
and chins, pyramiding up in
weight for the bench press
while reducing reps for both
the bench and chin. Typically,
his rep scheme would be 15,
15, 12, 8, 6 for each exercise.
It's worth noting that Arnold
was diligent about his
breathing and made sure to
take extra deep breaths during
this particular superset.
After resting the two to three minutes he needed to set up for his next exercise pairing, Arnold was good to go. T-bar
rows were a favorite for their ability to add thickness and width as well as provide a great stretch in the lats.
Again, he would pyramid his weight and reps, going from an initial 15 reps to sets of 12, 12, 10, and 10.
Arnold was a master
of training technique,
and nowhere was this
more evident than in
the way he performed
dumbbell flyes.
Typically, you'll see guys bring the dumbbells about as low as their chests and then clank them together at the top of the movement. Arnold's form was nearly the opposite - he made it a point to bring his elbows down as far as possible, with the dumbbells around bench level. As he brought them back up in a perfect arc, he'd stop when they were about a foot apart - just at the point when tension on his pecs was lessening.
Similarly, for barbell rows he'd stand on a bench or high box-the better to get a full stretch at the bottom-and, with his torso nearly parallel to the floor, perform picture-perfect reps. No jerking the weight for him; it was all back taking the load.
Typically, he would perform sets of 15, 12, 10, 10, and 10 reps for each exercise.
By this point Arnold would be
sucking wind pretty good. He'd have
been at it for more than a half hour,
and the dual pump in his pecs and
lats would be stretching his tank
top.
Still, he would soldier on.
He'd strap a dumbbell weighing as much as 80 pounds around his waist and aim for 15 reps in each of the five sets of dips.
For the close-grip chins, he preferred using a V-bar attachment that he'd drape over the overhead bar. If none were to be found, he'd take a narrow, overhand grip and shoot for five sets of 12 reps.
Despite his state of near-total fatigue, he'd knock out five sets of 15-20 full, breathing- intensive reps to finish the workout.
Arnold always finished up his workouts with a few
minutes of flexing and posing. He liked the
idea of further flooding each body part with
oxygen-rich blood, and he believed this gave
his muscles a harder, more defined look that
would carry over to onstage success.
Finally, after 45 minutes and a few pounds of lost sweat, Arnold's morning workout was done. "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!"
Long before he ever uttered a
one-liner or sparred with a hostile
legislature, the five-time Mr. Universe
and seven-time Mr. Olympia
spent untold hours toiling away in
shoebox-size gyms across the globe,
pushing, pulling, and pumping
iron. The aim of his efforts was to
become the best bodybuilder on
the planet, and it was a goal he
achieved year after competitive
year throughout the 1960s and '70s.Ever the student, Arnold continually honed his skills, applying the same rigorous discipline to his gym work as he later would to his film and political careers. Just as important, he was fearless (another common Schwarzenegger theme) in his training. While many of his bodybuilding peers were content to follow the staid dictums that had been laid out decades earlier with blind obedience, Arnold always looked for ways to up the intensity.
During the early to mid-1960s, at the start of his competitive career, he followed a rudimentary training plan that had been designed for him by the elder bodybuilders at the gym in Austria where he first trained. The routine was basic and sound enough, but not the kind that would turn a small-town Austrian kid into a world-class success. As his own development surpassed that of his mentors, Arnold realized that without finding ways to increase the intensity of his workouts he'd probably end his career being known only for having won the Mr. Europe title.
Arnold began scouring Muscle Builder (the forebear to Muscle & Fitness) for ways to amp up his workouts and eventually discovered the Weider Principles-a compendium of techniques designed to increase workout intensity.
By the end of the '60s, he hit upon a formula to his liking-one that involved six days of training twice a day and featured several Weider Principles, including his favorite: supersets.
Ready... Superset... Go!
"There are several advantages to alternating chest and back exercises," he has said on multiple occasions:
- It saves time and the workout
goes much faster.
- You can handle heavier poundage,
for more mass and power.
- You get a greater pump and a continuous flushing effect of both areas for the entire workout, and you keep the pump longer.
- Greater muscle-density results because you can work to the absolute limit of your physical capacity.
The Routine
| Morning | Evening |
| 1. Chest, back | Thighs, calves, abs |
| 2. Shoulders, arms | Calves, abs |
| 3. Chest, back | Thighs, calves, abs |
| 4. Shoulders, arms | Calves, abs |
| 5. Chest, back | Thighs , calves, abs |
| 6. Shoulders, arms | Calves, abs |
| 7. Off | Off |
From start to finish the workout takes about 45 minutes, and by the end of it the Austrian Oak would be drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Legend has it that Gold's Gym would keep an oxygen tank on hand to assist Arnold and his training partners in making it through such physically taxing workouts.
Clearly, the effort wasn't wasted; Arnold's chest would eventually stretch the tape to an improbable 57 inches, due in large part to pecs and a back that still rank among the best in bodybuilding history.
While following Arnold's chest-back routine may not give you a jacket size greater than the average woman's height, it should prove a grueling but effective way to add quality mass to your torso.
Superset 1
Superset #2//
Again, he would pyramid his weight and reps, going from an initial 15 reps to sets of 12, 12, 10, and 10.
Superset 3
Typically, you'll see guys bring the dumbbells about as low as their chests and then clank them together at the top of the movement. Arnold's form was nearly the opposite - he made it a point to bring his elbows down as far as possible, with the dumbbells around bench level. As he brought them back up in a perfect arc, he'd stop when they were about a foot apart - just at the point when tension on his pecs was lessening.
Similarly, for barbell rows he'd stand on a bench or high box-the better to get a full stretch at the bottom-and, with his torso nearly parallel to the floor, perform picture-perfect reps. No jerking the weight for him; it was all back taking the load.
Typically, he would perform sets of 15, 12, 10, 10, and 10 reps for each exercise.
Superset 4
By this point Arnold would be
sucking wind pretty good. He'd have
been at it for more than a half hour,
and the dual pump in his pecs and
lats would be stretching his tank
top.Still, he would soldier on.
He'd strap a dumbbell weighing as much as 80 pounds around his waist and aim for 15 reps in each of the five sets of dips.
For the close-grip chins, he preferred using a V-bar attachment that he'd drape over the overhead bar. If none were to be found, he'd take a narrow, overhand grip and shoot for five sets of 12 reps.
The Finale
Whether one can
actually expand the rib cage via exercise is
open to debate, but Arnold believed it and so
performed pullovers throughout his bodybuilding
career.
"You'll not believe the ache in the sternum
that this movement will produce!" Arnold
said. "It literally pulls your chest apart and
forces it into new growth."
The fact is, regardless of its purported rib
cage-expanding properties, the pullover is
an excellent exercise for targeting both the
lats and the hard-to-reach serratus, and for
providing the pecs with a great stretch.
Arnold liked to lie across the bench to better
sink his hips toward the floor and get an
even stretch throughout the thoracic region.
Despite his state of near-total fatigue, he'd knock out five sets of 15-20 full, breathing- intensive reps to finish the workout.
Post-work out
Iso-tension Contractions
Finally, after 45 minutes and a few pounds of lost sweat, Arnold's morning workout was done. "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!"
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