Arnold Schwarzenegger Old School Workout Program
Arnold Schwarzenegger's profile has a healthy dose of glitz in it, but his workout routine was blue collar. No one outworked Arnold in the gym. And that's super impressive because Arnold didn't use abbreviated workouts. He put out high watt intensity for the duration of a long workout. And he didn't just do it a couple or so times a week - Arnold often trained six days a week, often using a split workout set up. That translates into a huge volume of work.
How did Arnold keep up the intensity for the long workouts? He had a passion for working out and a passion for success. Arnold pushed as hard on the last set as he did on the first. And that allowed him to build a body that was incredible.
Arnold's split routine was featured in his book
The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. In it he notes this weekly training schedule:
Day 1 - Chest and Back
Day 2 - Shoulders and Arms
Day 3 - Legs and Lower Back
Day 4 - Chest and Back
Day 5 - Shoulders and Arms
Day 6 - Legs and Lower Back
Day 7 - Rest
That's a challenging rotation, and even more so when you consider that Arnold wasn't performing 2-3 sets per exercise, but actually 5 sets. In his autobiography, Arnold lines out a leg training session:
Squats - 5 x 10
Leg Extension - 5 x 10
Leg Curls 5 x 12
Lunges 5 x 8-10
Standing Calf Raise 5 x 15
Seated Calf Raise 5 x 15
He typically rested a minute or two between these sets.
Arnold's old school approach was to directly address each muscle group with a lot of work. Yes, many of the Old School bodybuilders used somewhat abbreviated workouts, or full body in a day programs, but Arnold started the move toward high volume split routines that blasted a muscle group with a big load of work.
