ARNOLD

How Did Arnold Schwarzenegger Train in
His Prime?
Here’s how Arnold Schwarzenegger describes some of the
philosophies and training methods he used to build his physique back
in the 1970s. Where relevant, I’ve also added some notes on how
those practices compare with recent research on the subject of
resistance training and muscle growth.
Progressive Resistance
“Your muscles will grow only when they are subjected to an overload.
They will not respond to anything less. As you grow stronger, the only
way to make your muscles continue to grow is by increasing the
amount of work you force them to do. This is most easily done by
increasing the amount of weight you use in each exercise.”
NOTE: Although adding weight is one way to increase the amount of

work your muscles do, adding reps is also a viable option. You’ll gain
more strength with low reps and heavier weights. But if it’s more mass
that you’re after, research shows similar gains in muscle size across
a wide spectrum of loads, ranging from light to medium to heavy.
Full Range of Motion
“Except for very specialized partial-range movements, bodybuilding

exercises should take any muscle through its longest possible range
of motion. You should take care to stretch out to full extension, and
then come all the way back to a position of complete contraction. This
is the only way to stimulate the entire muscle and every possible
muscle fiber.”
NOTE: One of the things that stimulates growth in a muscle is
subjecting it to high levels of tension at long muscle lengths, a
phenomenon known as stretch-mediated hypertrophy. By that, I mean
you want to challenge your muscles in a stretched position, which is
one of the benefits of training through a full range of motion.
Stretching
“I believe it is also essential to do certain kinds of stretching during

your training. Just as I recommend flexing and posing the muscles
between sets, I also believe in stretching certain muscles between one
set and the next. The lats, for example, benefit from careful stretching
interspersed with various chinning and pulldown movements.”
NOTE: Recent research shows that stretching between sets leads to

a faster rate of growth than just sitting around doing nothing. The main
stimulus for muscle hypertrophy is mechanical tension, and this
tension can be produced by actively contracting your muscles or
passive resistance to stretch.
Forced Reps
“I prefer a kind of forced reps which is sometimes called rest-pause

training. You use a fairly heavy weight and go to failure in the set.
Then you stop, let the weight hang for just a few seconds, and then
force out an extra rep. Again, rest only a few seconds before forcing
out another.”
The Stripping Method
“When you come to the end of a set and seemingly cannot do another
repetition, that doesn’t necessarily mean the muscles involved are
totally fatigued, only that they are too tired to lift that amount of weight.
If a plate or two is removed, you can do more repetitions. Take
another plate off, and you can keep going even longer.”
Running The Rack
“This is one of my favorite ways of using dumbbells to shock the body.

It involves doing an exercise with a set of dumbbells, putting them
down, picking up the next lighter weight, and doing another set without
stopping. For example, I would do dumbbell presses starting with 100-
pound weights and going to failure, then immediately setting them
down and continuing with 90-pound dumbbells. Again, when the 90-
pound weights got too heavy, I would go down to the 80s, then the
70s, and so on.”
NOTE: Drop sets, sometimes referred to as descending sets, stripping

or running the rack, are a highly effective way to build muscle in less
time than traditional training. In some studies, subjects gained just as
much muscle as they did with straight sets, but their workouts were
50% shorter. More here.
The Platoon System (21s)
“You do a series of half reps in the upper range of motion, a series of

half reps in the upper range of motion, and then a series of full reps.
You can use any number of reps — I always did 10-10-10 — as long
as you do the same number for each of your half reps and full reps.
Traditionally, many bodybuilders have used seven reps – hence the
name 21s.”
1 to 10 System
“First you do a light warm-up, then you immediately go to a weight so

heavy you can barely do one rep. As quickly as possible, you strip off
some weight so that you can do two more reps. Again, you take off
weight and this time you do three reps. Keep taking off weight and
increasing reps until you reach ten repetitions. The overall total of reps
you do this way is fifty-five — which is a lot.”
Progressive Workload
“Using this training system, you plan your three-times-a-week body
part sessions so that the first is intense, with relatively high reps and
sets, but you don’t use the heaviest weights possible. You increase
the weight for the second session, but still stay short of going all out.
For your third workout, however, you go very heavy, keeping your
reps down to four to six maximum per set.”
NOTE: These days, this type of approach to training is known as daily

undulating periodization, or DUP for short.
Training to Failure
“To get the most out of your training, you should train to failure in each
set. This simply means you should continue doing your repetitions
until you are unable to lift the weight any more. This ensures that you
have stimulated as much muscle fiber as possible.”
NOTE: Most research shows that training to failure doesn’t lead to

greater gains compared to leaving a rep or two in the tank. That is, it
doesn’t matter if you hit muscle failure, or cut a set short knowing that
you could have cranked out another rep or two. Your muscles will still
grow at much the same rate.
Double-Split Training
“Double split training simply means breaking up each day’s workout

into two different sessions. With the double-split system, you train full
out in the morning, recuperate during the day, and come back to the
gym rested and ready to go to the limit again.”

ARNOLD

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ARNOLD

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How Did Arnold Schwarzenegger Train in

NOTE: Although adding weight is one way to increase the amount of

Full Range of Motion

“Except for very specialized partial-range movements, bodybuilding

“I believe it is also essential to do certain kinds of stretching during

NOTE: Recent research shows that stretching between sets leads to

“I prefer a kind of forced reps which is sometimes called rest-pause

The Stripping Method

“This is one of my favorite ways of using dumbbells to shock the body.

NOTE: Drop sets, sometimes referred to as descending sets, stripping

The Platoon System (21s)

“You do a series of half reps in the upper range of motion, a series of

“First you do a light warm-up, then you immediately go to a weight so

NOTE: These days, this type of approach to training is known as daily

NOTE: Most research shows that training to failure doesn’t lead to

“Double split training simply means breaking up each day’s workout

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