FITNESS REVIEWS AND IMAGES: Mammoth

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Thursday, 30 October 2014

ARNOLD'S BLUEPRINT FOR MAMMOTH SHOULDERS AND ARMS

New Exercise and Fitness Review

Few bodybuilders are made in the mold of Arnold Schwarzenegger anymore. Sure, everyone wants to be the next Arnold, but who could conceivably duplicate the mind-numbing training volume and frequency he achieved? He didn’t just train shoulders and arms for 60-plus sets—he did it three times a week with incredible intensity!

That’s one reason “The Oak” stood out among his peers. Where others would call it quits, Arnold took pleasure in his own pain. The barometer of a good workout was quite simply how much it hurt. The more, the better.

Arnold didn’t just train shoulders and arms for 60-plus sets—he did it three times a week with incredible intensity!

While this kind of volume can’t be sustained long-term, it certainly can flip your personal anabolic switch—provided you can learn to love a bone-crushing delt-and-arms workout.

Here’s a blueprint of how Arnold trained these body parts!

ARNOLD’S SHOULDER WORKOUT

Arnold trained shoulders with the same high-volume approach he employed with other body parts, ensuring that each deltoid head was targeted from different angles. Because multijoint presses from the front of the neck recruited the anterior (front) delts to a greater degree than behind-neck presses, he typically included both in his shoulder workout for maximal development.

“There’s no one exercise that will work all three areas of the deltoids,” Arnold once said. “Therefore, when you’re planning your shoulder routine, you have to include the right variety of movements, so that you get full shoulder development.”

Arnold trained shoulders with the same high-volume approach he employed with other body parts, ensuring that each deltoid head was targeted from different angles.

His full-throttle approach occasionally meant that he did 50 or more sets in a single workout! Remember, too, that Arnold trained shoulders with arms three times per week—an impossibly challenging combination of volume and frequency that helped build the biggest delts the world had ever seen at the time.

In addition to the multijoint presses, he added single-joint moves to better isolate the front, middle and rear delts.

Here are some of the basic principles Arnold followed when training shoulders:

Arnold went heavy with presses and upright rows, especially early in his workouts when his energy levels were highest. Multijoint movements like these are the best mass builders, as they engage the greatest degree of musculature in the deltoid region.

He sought out alternative exercises that worked the target area from different angles. When doing dumbbells rather than the barbell on overhead presses, for example, he lowered the weights several inches below the bottom position of the barbell movement, and he brought them together at the top to elongate the range of motion.

His focus on introducing variation into his training was instrumental in popularizing the Arnold press. The Arnold press is an overhead press that begins with your hands facing your body in the bottom position.

You turn your wrists as you raise the weights, a movement that puts more emphasis on the front delts than the standard overhead dumbbell press does.

Arnold used single-joint movements to complement overhead presses and isolate each delt head. Here, too, he sought subtle differences that would build better overall size. For example, the cable lateral raise in front of the body has a different feel than when the cable runs behind you.

For upper traps, Arnold included a number of movements, including power pulls, cleans, upright rows, and shrugs. He favored shrugs for building meaty upper traps, but was keen to back off the weight in favor of being able to fully shrug his shoulders as high as possible.

Arnold’s basic approach followed a pyramid format: He’d add weight on successive sets for fewer reps. He still kept the weight in the muscle-building zone, rarely doing fewer than eight reps.

ARNOLD’S ARM WORKOUT

Arnold’s guns were his calling cards, and his mental visualization of his biceps as mountain peaks reflected his larger-than-life approach. Arnold frequently did up to 20 sets for biceps, split evenly between mass-builders and those he did for definition.

He commonly supersetted biceps and triceps movements, which served to flush his arms with blood. Combined with his high-volume approach, his shirt-sleeve-busting routine included movements that sought to isolate the three triceps heads, which he achieved by manipulating arm position.

Arnold’s guns were his calling cards, and his mental visualization of his biceps as mountain peaks reflected his larger-than-life approach.

Here are some of Arnold’s best arm-training tips, culled from the many articles he wrote and interviews he gave over the years.

Arnold ranked the standing barbell curl as the top mass builder, but often did the incline bench dumbbell curl as well, which emphasizes the long head a bit better. For Arnold, a mass-building movement meant three things: He could push heavy weights; he’d ensure the movement was taken from full extension to full contraction; and he’d use a weight at which he could barely do 6-8 good reps.

Definition-building movements, on the other hand, were done with lighter weights for sets of 8-12 reps. Here the focus was on squeezing and contracting the muscle, and holding the peak contraction for a long count. Concentration curls, preacher curls, and alternating dumbbell curls were among his favorites here.

Arnold wrote that he always included at least one dumbbell movement in his routine. Supinating his hand (turning it upward as he curled) created a greater peaking effect because the brachialis was recruited into the motion.

While “The Oak” took his curls to failure, he didn’t stop there. Once he reached a sticking point, he’d use just enough momentum to keep the set going. Such cheat curls allowed him to complete an extra couple of reps.

Arnold’s approach to triceps was a bit different. Because his chest was always a strong point, his triceps were already at an advantage. More often than with biceps, he allowed his rep range to drift up to 20 per set in an effort to hyperpump the muscle.

Arnold once suggested a tip he learned from legendary trainer Vince Gironda: To determine which area a particular exercise targets, do 20 sets of that movement—and nothing else for that body part. See where the soreness is the following day. “It’s silly doing a triceps movement and not knowing which part of the triceps you’re hitting,” he wrote.

With triceps, Arnold’s advanced technique of choice was partial reps. After doing a set of full-range push-downs, for example, he’d extend the set with 5-6 partials, over either the top or bottom half of the movement.

Arnold frequently supersetted biceps and triceps movements, which meant that an enormous amount of blood was flooding the muscle. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients critical for growth, and enabled him to achieve his ultimate training goal: the pump. And you’ve no doubt heard about Arnold’s insatiable thirst for a good training pump.

Superset

Barbell Curl
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Lying Triceps Press
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Superset

Dumbbell Alternate Bicep Curl
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Triceps Pushdown
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Superset

Incline Dumbbell Curl
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Superset

Concentration Curls
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Dumbbell One-Arm Triceps Extension
4 sets of 10-12 reps

Bench Dips
1 dropset of 10 reps

Note: Arnold began with three 45-lb. plates across his lap. Each time he hit muscle failure, a plate was lifted off until he was using just his body weight.

References

Schwarzenegger, A. (1997, July 1). Arnold Talks Training. Muscle and Fitness.

Schwarzenegger, A. & Dobbins, B. (1999). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Simon and Shuster: USA.

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About The Author

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

Bodybuilding.com Articles

ARNOLD"S BLUEPRINT FOR MAMMOTH SHOULDERS AND ARMS

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mammoth Chest And Back Workout

New Exercise and Fitness Review

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.

“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.”

“Arnold prioritized chest training; he did it first in his training when fatigue levels were low so he could train it with maximum intensity.”

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 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.

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 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 body—often called rows—were also a big part of Arnold’s back workout. He favored all kinds of variations—seated cables rows, T-bar rows, bent-over barbell rows—but 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.