Find out which exercises were preferred by nine-time Mr. Olympia Arnold for the formation of a powerful and relief body. Many people strive to be like their idols. You can treat any famous person in different ways, including Arnie, but no one will argue that he did enough to popularize bodybuilding. Almost fifty years have passed since the days when Schwarzenegger shone on stage, but today there are many people who admire his figure. They want to be like Arnie, and not, say, Cutler or Coleman.
This is primarily due to the fact that the figure of Arnold was very attractive from an aesthetic point of view. If you look at his photographs, you can see a real athlete, and not those caricatures that are called bodybuilding stars today. This fact continues to lure people to Arnold Schwarzenegger's exercises. This is what the conversation will be about now.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's early career exercises
Today it is difficult to say exactly how Arnie trained, which is due to two main reasons. First of all, this is, of course, a possible discrepancy between real training and what was described in Weider's journals. These prints were primarily used to advertise their owner's system. It is possible that Arnie actually used other techniques.
In addition, over time, the athlete's views on training tend to change and Arnie himself could not say something. An example is the split system, which Schwarzenegger constantly recalled in all interviews. It was this system that was actively promoted to the masses by Weider. We are not going to dispute its effectiveness, since there is no doubt about it, but we can say for sure that at the beginning of its journey to Olympus, it was not used by Arnie.
You are probably asking - where did this confidence come from? Everything is very simple, because when Arnie started training, the split system was still practically not used and he simply did not know about it. But there is evidence of the words of the owner of the hall in which Arnold began to study, in which he talks about frequent training for a large amount of time. At the same time, all the muscles of the body were pumped in one lesson. Thus, it can be argued that Arnie started with a daily training in which the whole body was trained at once.
Just imagine what kind of load during the daily hours of training fell on the body of the athlete. Add to this the time it takes to pump each muscle group. In this regard, the question arises of how athletes could grow under such enormous loads, because the body simply did not have time to recover. Four reasons come to mind here that can explain this fact. First of all, this is the use of AAS, which at that time were used quite openly. At that time, there were no doping tests yet, and steroids were something like a modern sports diet. Only with the help of a large number of anabolic steroids taken can the growth of Arnie and other athletes of that time be explained.
The second reason is to work on failure, which made it possible to effectively implement the overload principle. By constantly exercising to the point of pain, Schwarzenegger was able to achieve failure, which implies maximum muscle wasting. The easiest way to accomplish this is by cheating. By the way, in his interviews, Arnie often said that he used this method during biceps training very often.
The next reason is to do basic exercises, Arnold Schwarzenegger could grow. Subsequently, he often noted that the main mistake of most modern builders is precisely in ignoring the base. However, there was no particular choice in those days. Today there is a huge number of training methods and various simulators.
The last reason is to prioritize correctly. This primarily means that Arnold Schwarzenegger's exercises are mainly designed to develop the muscles of the arms and chest. Of course, he actively worked on other muscle groups, but only two were prioritized.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's exercises during his prime
Of course, one day Arnie switched to a split system, since it is very effective. It is known that he used a double split, or more simply, the whole body was divided into two parts. This made it possible to significantly increase the effectiveness of the exercises, since the body had additional time for rest. But when Arnie started using the split system, it's hard to say. Perhaps this happened back in Austria. We can say for sure that after returning from military service, he had already used the split.
Arnie's double split scheme looked like this: legs, back and chest trained on one day, and the next day he worked on biceps, delts and triceps. In addition, it should be said that during the day, Arnie conducted two classes. Moreover, he switched to 2-time training a day in Munich.
When Arnie moved to the US, he started using the triple split. Actually, during this period, he had only to develop that powerful base that was laid in his homeland. The only thing Arnie did not know about at first after the move was the need for drying. It was for this reason that he lost to Zayn at the first Olympia.
If we talk about the peculiarities of performing exercises by Arnold Schwarzenegger, then first of all it should be noted the huge volume of loads and frequent exercises. His training program was constantly evolving, and as a result, he began to train on the triple split system. He also chose to focus on the development of the muscles of the arms and chest.
Schwarzenegger's workout in this video:
