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Basic exercises, heavy weights, high

volume, and high frequency are the
techniques Arnold Schwarzenegger used
to build his massive chest and back. Try
the workout!

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by David Robson And Bill Geiger

Last updated: Oct 31, 2014

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4

It was more than three decades ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger last trained for a competition (1980
to be exact), but even today many young bodybuilders point to The Oak as their biggest source of
inspiration.
Though the black-and-white images have long faded on the walls of hardcore Southern California
gyms, the training philosophies that built the world's greatest bodybuilder live on. In this, the second
exclusive installment exploring Arnold's training, we focus on his chest and back workout.

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"THOUGH THE BLACK-AND-WHITE IMAGES HAVE LONG FADED

ON THE WALLS OF HARDCORE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GYMS,
THE TRAINING PHILOSOPHIES THAT BUILT THE WORLD'S
GREATEST BODYBUILDER LIVE ON."
Arnold paired chest with back, which are antagonist muscle groups; while one contracts, the other is
stretched. Though they are both very large muscle groups, Arnold followed a high-volume,
high-frequency approach, performing this workout three times per week. If that wasn't demanding
enough, he typically came into the gym later in the evening for his thigh workouts!
Here's a closer look at the specific techniques and approaches that helped lay the foundation for his
superhuman gains.

ARNOLD'S CHEST TRAINING

Arnold pecs were truly impressive, even as teenager. It was always one of his strong body parts.
Arnold prioritized chest training; he did it first in his training when fatigue levels were low so he
could train it with maximum intensity.
"I seemed to train my chest hard and correctly from the beginning," he wrote. "My chest grew because
I gave it the most attention, placing it first in my workout."
Here are some of Arnold's best chest-training tips
culled from the many articles he wrote and
interviews he gave over the years.
Arnold competed as a powerlifter early in his
career, so building a big chest started with training
for strength. Arnold's top weights on the bench
included a 500-pound single and 405 for 8 reps.
Arnold once did a 225-pound bench for 60 reps!
Arnold believed the concept of progressive
overload was critical to building his pecs. "I
strongly believe that the size of your muscles grows
with the size of the weights you're using for
repetitions."
Arnold included basic multi-joint movements in his
routine that hit the pecs from every angle, which he
knew would lead to optimal pec development from
top to bottom. "I knew the routine had to be basic
and very heavy."

"ARNOLD PRIORITIZED
CHEST TRAINING; HE DID IT
FIRST IN HIS TRAINING
WHEN FATIGUE LEVELS
WERE LOW SO HE COULD
TRAIN IT WITH MAXIMUM
INTENSITY."

Arnold hit every body part, not just chest, with high
volume and frequency. His offseason routine
consisted of up to 26 working sets on a
high-volume day, and he trained his pecs three days
per week, taking at least 48 hours off between
workouts for recovery. That kind of volume and frequency suited The Oak during his competitive
years, but for anyone with a full-time job, it's likely to induce significant jumps in cortisol levels and
fatigue. Cycle short periods of high volume or high frequency training into your workout on
occasion, but listen to your body for signs of overtraining. Arnold also cycled heavy and light days to
both work the muscles with different relative intensities and ensure he wasn't overtraining his pecs.
Once you become familiar with the various basic movements in the gym, evaluate your weaknesses
and try variations of basic exercises. "Not everybody responds to the bench press. You need to
determine for yourself which are the best exercises for your body." Other variations he commonly
tried included using slightly closer or wider grips on the barbell to move the area of emphasis in or
out a few degrees.
Know the advantages of dumbbells and barbells, but use both in your training. "I feel a better stretch
when doing dumbbells, especially with incline movements. The dumbbells can be lowered deeper
than a barbell." This is important because a muscle that's fully stretched is capable of a stronger
contraction, so long as you don't overstretch the shoulder joint.

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Arnold commonly started with 1-2 warm-up sets and then increased the weight on succeeding sets
(called a pyramid set) while decreasing the reps. Still, he trained in a fairly low rep range, often
starting at 12 and working his way down to six.
Arnold believed that a lack of focus and concentration was the biggest mistake bodybuilders made
when hitting chest. "Flex your pectoral muscles throughout the movement, but especially at the top."
Contracting your pecs hard at the top increases the intensity of the movement.

ARNOLD'S BACK TRAINING

It would be a mistake to think the "back" consists of a single muscle. It's a group that includes the
middle and lower traps, rhomboids, the upper and lower portions of the latissimus dorsi, the erectors
(low back), and even the rear delts. Arnold's approach to this complex group came from all angles.
When he began competing at the elite level, Arnold's back wasn't as imposing as his mammoth chest
and arms. By employing basic, multi-joint movements to target all areas of his back, he was able to
bring it up.
Here are some the basic principles Arnold followed when training back.
Arnold typically broke his back training into two types of movements: chinning and pull-downs for
lat width, and rows for overall thickness. Lat pull-downs and pull-ups build a strong V-taper, while
rows and bent-over movements better target the middle-back musculature.

"WHEN HE BEGAN COMPETING AT THE ELITE LEVEL, ARNOLD'S

BACK WASN'T AS IMPOSING AS HIS MAMMOTH CHEST AND
ARMS. BY EMPLOYING BASIC, MULTI-JOINT MOVEMENTS TO
TARGET ALL AREAS OF HIS BACK, HE WAS ABLE TO BRING IT
UP."
Chins with an underhand grip and pull-ups were a big part of Arnold's approach to building wide lats.
He also varied his grip width, went up to the bar behind his head and to his chest, and sometimes
used added resistance or simply his bodyweight. The net result was an assault the worked the lats
from multiple angles for better overall development.
"Wide-grip pull-ups coax the upper lats to come out," Arnold said. With wide-grip movements, the
elbows stay out away from the sides, meaning the upper lats become the focus. With close-grip and

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reverse-grip back exercises, the elbows stay in tighter to the sides; this reduces the emphasis on the
upper lats and instead places more of the focus on the lower lats.
One technique Arnold favored was to shoot for a total number of chins, say 50, rather than target a
particular number of sets. "On the first set you may do 10 reps. Perhaps you struggle with 8 reps on
the second set. You have 18 reps now. If you make 5 on the third set, you have 23 reps. You continue
to add them until you reach 50, even though it may take you 20 sets to do it. That's how I built up my
chinning power, and I was very successful with it."
For Arnold, with chins or with any other back
move, gains in strength meant he'd have to
increase the weight. "After you've mastered 10-12
reps in any type of chin, then you can start to put
weight around your waist." Arnold argued that just
increasing the number of reps you do as you get
stronger wasn't as beneficial to the bodybuilder
looking to maximize muscle growth as increasing
the resistance.
Not everyone can do chins or pull-ups with their
bodyweight. Arnold recommended using the
pull-down machine until your strength levels
increase. Once you can do at least 8 reps with the
equivalent of your bodyweight, he suggested
switching over to the chinning bar.
Exercises in which you pull the weight
perpendicularly into your bodyoften called
rowswere also a big part of Arnold's back
workout. He favored all kinds of variationsseated cables rows, T-bar rows, bent-over barbell
rowsbut again each one was done with high volume and progressively heavier weights, pyramiding
the weight up on successive sets for fewer reps.
Between sets, Arnold stretched out his lats, either hanging from a bar or holding on to a stable object
and leaning away. Stretching helped maintain the flexibility around the joint. He often tensed his lats
between sets as well, contracting the muscle as hard as he could to help achieve a superior pump.
Arnold's Chest And Back Workout
Barbell Bench Press
1-2 sets of 15 reps (warm-up); 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
reps
Barbell Incline Bench Press
5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
Flat Dumbbell Flyes
4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
Dips
4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
Dumbbell Pullover
4 sets of 15 reps

ARNOLD WOULD ALTERNATE BEHIND-THE-NECK AND REGULAR PULL-UPS BETWEEN

WORKOUTS.
Wide-Grip Rear Pull-Up
5 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8, 8 reps
Chin-Up (close grip)
4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps
T-Bar Row
4 sets of 15, 12, 8, 6 reps
Bent Over Barbell Row
4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps

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Seated Cable Rows

4 sets of 12, 12, 10, 10 reps

Printable Page

PDF Document

REFERENCES
1. Muscle & Fitness, July 1997: Arnold Talks Training, July 1997.
2. Schwarzenegger, A. & Dobbins, B. (1999). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Simon
and Shuster: USA.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

ARNOLD'S BLUEPRINT TRAINER:
MASS TRAINING OVERVIEW
Watch this video to learn some of Arnold
Schwarzenegger's favorite exercises and preferred
training techniques for building muscle. Get the
knowledge you need to grow!

ARNOLD'S BLUEPRINT TRAINER:

MASS NUTRITION OVERVIEW
Quality mass comes from quality calories. Arnold
Schwarzenegger knew that fact inside and out. Learn
more about how he ate and follow his nutrition blueprint
for more mass!

ARNOLD'S BLUEPRINT TRAINER:

MASS SUPPLEMENTATION
OVERVIEW
Look under the hood of Arnold Schwarzenegger's
signature supplement line! Learn about the products
Arnold recommends for incredible results.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Robson
As an active martial artist, bodybuilder and accredited personal
trainer, David employs the latest cutting edge research to
enhance his own progress.

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barmen1
What the article fails to mention is that he actually did this
whole workout as one giant set.

Rep Power: 0

he would superset the chest exercise with the back one, taking
no rest in between. I've found the exact workout routine
somewhere else.

Body Stats
ht: 5'9"
wt: 189 lbs
bf: 18.0%

So yeah, do this with supersets. It's ridiculously awesome and

tough!
Jul 21, 2014 6:22pm | report

Theuusch
Not even close.

Body Stats

Jul 22, 2014 8:32am | report

ht: 5'11"
wt: 185.2 lbs
bf: 13.0%

Rep Power: 0

Patman23051
^^^^^

Body Stats

Jul 22, 2014 9:00am | report

ht: 5'6"
wt: 161 lbs
bf: 11.0%

Rep Power: 0

TrojanMuscle1
Arnold did supersets and giant sets as his
COMPETITION PREP program; he did not always do
supersets offseason. That information is in his
Encyclopedia.

Body Stats
ht: 6'0"
wt: 230 lbs
bf: 13.0%

Rep Power: 0

Jul 22, 2014 10:33am | report

kjeldsmark
I love doing this workout just as superset chest with back all
the way. It is ridiculously tough ;-)
Jul 22, 2014 2:24pm | report

Body Stats
ht: 5'7"
wt: 175.49 lbs
bf: 18.0%

Rep Power: 0

Kuzon
Only bodybuilding.com would challenge and advocate natural
lifters to lift at the same pace as Arnold. Pretty low of bb.com to
try to get views by recommending this workout to natural lifters.
Rep Power: 0

Article Rated:

Body Stats
ht: 6'2"
wt: 173.8 lbs

Jul 22, 2014 9:03pm | report

TankMcRae
Body Stats

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Rep Power: 0

nice dude, Arnold only used Steroids in contest prep

btw to try to add mass while cutting, and a lot of the
pros are off more than they're on (with the exception of
a few who are on year round, go look up Lee Priest's
video about his cycling), I'm natural and have done lifts
like these numerous times, what's overtraining is
relative to the individual

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arnold-schwarzenegger-mammoth-chest...

ht: 6'3"
wt: 248.4 lbs
bf: 12.0%

Jul 30, 2014 8:41pm | report

SamSix
@TankMcRae if you think he was only on during prep
you are high on something. Pros then and pros now
never come off. Ever.
Rep Power: 0

Body Stats
ht: 5'11"
wt: 213 lbs
bf: 14.0%

Jul 31, 2014 12:13am | report

spirall08
@SamSix Exactly right

Body Stats

Jul 31, 2014 7:38pm | report

ht: 5'11"
wt: 181 lbs
bf: 10.0%

Rep Power: 0

germankid
Bodybuilding should not have this article here...moreover, the
Arnold products are not sponsor by Arnold..plus the quality is
awful. There is even a law suit filed by Arnold over all this.
Cant just believe this article is here.

Body Stats
ht: 5'11"
wt: 170 lbs
bf: 6.0%

Rep Power: 0

Jul 23, 2014 12:21am | report

barmen1

Rep Power: 0

Are you sure? Because he's always in pictures with the

MP execs. Where is this law suit? Link? I'm curious.
Because from what I've seen, he's behind it. Look on
here for his blueprint trainer. Sponsored by his series,
whose parent company is MP. I don't think he'd have
contributed to the trainer if he was suing them...

Body Stats
ht: 5'9"
wt: 189 lbs
bf: 18.0%

Jul 23, 2014 9:04am | report

jake776
@germankid Why should a bodybuilding site not have
an article on one of the best bodybuilders of all time? I
don't understand your logic
Rep Power: 0

Body Stats
ht: 5'9"
wt: 149 lbs
bf: 10.0%

Also, the products are sponsered by him. The law suit

your talking about is a small supplement company in
Nevada that is using his name without his permission.
Musclepharms Arnold Schwarzenegger Series is
completely sponsered by Arnold and on reddit he has
even said he uses the products. Get your facts straight
before you start spreading incorrect information.
Jul 23, 2014 5:05pm | report

Poliana
love this article! thank you!

Body Stats

Jul 23, 2014 1:58am | report

ht: 5'10"
wt: 183 lbs
bf: 27.0%

Rep Power: 0

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BeXtreme
Need lots of strength N stamina to pull em up

Body Stats

Jul 23, 2014 5:18am | report

ht: 5'10"
wt: 149.91 lbs
bf: 9.0%

Rep Power: 0

Unquit8239
Lol I read the first sentence of the fourth paragraph of the Back
part as "Arnold typically broke his back" and was like wuh?
Thought some of you might enjoy that
Rep Power: 0

Body Stats
wt: 155 lbs

Jul 23, 2014 7:28am | report

Sephiroth66
Glad I wasn't the only one that did that lol. I was
thinking "Dang ... he must have trained the crap out of
that thing constantly" :)
Rep Power: 0

Body Stats
ht: 6'0"
wt: 211 lbs
bf: 16.0%

Jul 24, 2014 12:32pm | report

barmen1
Welp. Looks like I was wrong. My bad fellas! I admit when I'm
wrong. The article I read mislead me.
Jul 23, 2014 9:01am | report

Body Stats
ht: 5'9"
wt: 189 lbs
bf: 18.0%

Rep Power: 0

ROMEYROME10000
Wrong with what barmen1 ?

Body Stats

Jul 23, 2014 10:58am | report

ht: 5'9"
wt: 198 lbs
bf: 21.2%

Rep Power: 0

jaysny87
I love high volume, anything less feels like wasted time in the
gym. This is what I call working out.

Body Stats
wt: 196 lbs

Jul 23, 2014 8:31pm | report

Rep Power: 0

fourfourteen
Great workout routine. The only thing I would add in his
dumbbell back flys, but he is Arnold so no disagreements here.
Jul 24, 2014 12:10pm | report

Body Stats
ht: 6'0"
wt: 238 lbs
bf: 13.0%

Rep Power: 0

bryanberic
Arnies legacy lives on and the rest of us can only come close!

Body Stats

Jul 29, 2014 3:01am | report

ht: 5'8"
wt: 200 lbs
bf: 20.0%

Rep Power: 0

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canadian15
How come on the Arnold blueprint has a 5th set to start off with
30 reps but this doesnt?
Rep Power: 0

Body Stats
ht: 5'7"
wt: 146 lbs
bf: 13.0%

Jul 30, 2014 10:43pm | report

SamSix
Body Stats

because, fun fact, arnold himself didn't write this routine

or approve it. some nobody publisher on this website
just threw together a chest/back routine and slapped
arnold's name on it.

ht: 5'11"
wt: 213 lbs
bf: 14.0%

Rep Power: 0

Jul 31, 2014 12:15am | report

Babylio
Just order my supplements. Can't wait to get restarted again.
Been out all summer.

Body Stats
ht: 5'11"
wt: 198 lbs
bf: 29.0%

Jul 31, 2014 10:45pm | report

Rep Power: 0

VTrendafilov
Can someone prove that Arnold actually done this ? I mean he
was a superset man and his chest / back workout was chest
movement back movement paired in a superset ..... Explain
this.

Body Stats
ht: 6'0"
wt: 189.6 lbs
bf: 9.0%

Rep Power: 0

Aug 5, 2014 1:53am | report

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