Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Workout Routine
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s high volume workout routine. This routine was featured in a 1991 issue of Muscle Mag.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Chest:
Bench press – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Flat bench flies – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Incline bench press – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable crossovers – 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Dips – 5 sets, to failure
Dumbbell pullovers – 5 sets, 10-12 reps
Back:
Front wide-grip chin-ups – 6 sets, to failure
T-bar rows – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated pulley rows – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell rows – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Straight-leg deadlifts – 6 sets, 15 reps
Legs:
Squats – 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg presses – 6 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg extensions – 6 sets, 12-15 reps
Leg curls – 6 sets, 10-12 reps
Barbell lunges – 5 sets, 15 reps
Calves:
Standing calf raises -10 sets, 10 reps
Seated calf raises – 8 sets, 15 reps
One-legged calf raises (holding dumbbells) – 6 sets,12 reps
Forearms:
Wrist curls (forearms on knees) – 4 sets, 10 reps
Reverse barbell curls – 4 sets, 8 reps
Wright roller machine – to failure
Abs:
Nonstop instinct training for 30 minutes
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Biceps:
Barbell curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Seated dumbbell curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Dumbbell concentration curls – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Triceps:
Close-grip bench presses (for the all three heads) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Pushdowns (exterior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Barbell French presses (interior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
One-arm dumbbell triceps extensions (exterior head) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Shoulders:
Seated barbell presses – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Lateral raises (standing) – 6 sets, 6-10 reps
Rear-delt lateral raises – 5 sets, 6-10 reps
Cable lateral raises – 5 sets, 10-12 reps
Calves and Forearms:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday Abs:
Same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
I need direction
Very good training !! My muscles were fucked up!
my regular routine–day 1
TRICEPT–lying tricep ext,close grip,kick back,standing tricept ext,tricept press down
day1—–warm up 20 reps light load..3set 10 reps all regular load,,,
CHEST–barbell bench press,incline barbell press,pull over,and dick line,,,
Monday: Arms
Tuesday: Chest / Back
Wednsday: Legs
Thursday: Arms
Friday: Chest / Back
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Rest
Forearms,Abs andlegs 6 days a week.
Chest he tried to do 20 sets!
Monday – Biceps – Arm
Tuesday – Triceps
Wednesday – Chest
Thursday – Back
Friday – Thai
Sat – Shoulder
i have been training this routine and its going well in three months.
best routine ever:)
Monday- chest
Tuesday- back
Wednesday- shoulders/traps
Thursday- core
Friday- arms
Saturday- legs
or same except no extra arms day and include triceps on chest day and biceps on back day
Ok, I have been doing exactly what arnolds routine is now and I feel twice as good. thanks
Is it me or is this routine suggesting doing calves, forearms and abs 6 days a week? That seems a bit much with no rest.
My routine
Monday
core,abs,chest,biceps,rear delts.
Wednesday
core,abs,legs,triceps,front delts.
Friday
core,abs,chest,biceps,forearms,obliques.
Sunday
abs,cardio.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can change this up. Cheers
listen there is one way to get huge and mass muscle,
1.heavy weight worck till failure dont matter the reps, make shure you do 3 sets ( make shore every set is to complete failure)
2.make shure you eat all you protein etc calories eat twice your weight.
3.plenty of sleep ( when you are awaike keep active like what i do take my dog play football in my garden for like 20min i only play football once a week. Clean your house make shure you aarent on the computer ore laptop all day.
4.drink green tea to recuperate muscle ore any other sumplements
P.S YOU WILL NEAVER GET A LEAN BIG BODY THAT YOU WANT IN 6MUNTHS ORE 12 MUNTHS ANNY BODY WHO SEAS U CAN ARE COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS AND THEY ARE PROBABLEY FAT AND EAT MC DONALDS EVERDAY ( IT TAKES YEARS TO GET LEAN TOOK ME 2 YEARS AND I AM STILL NOT ARNOLD´S SIZE)
chers –like ore dislike i dont give a fuck—
the Arnold proven 5 x 5is best for mass gain. After mass reached then go to 5 x 12 or 3 x 12-15 whatever you prefer. Also, what is your over age 50 plan dude?
I do each body part 6 times a week.and I’m buck as fuck
Welcome to the Internet where any old idiot can ruin an intelligent conversation.
Your mom probably has bigger arms than you. Still playing Everquest in your basement?
my routine is
Back/Biceps
chest/triceps
legs/sholders
Never miss a leg day even though it sucks i never really worked out legs that much until about two years ago had an Old Head at the gym school me a little bit since then have had massive gains i take PH’s and off cycle but have had Zero sides unless crazy muscle is a side effect. With the first PH I took was when i first started out power lifting i my bench went from 185 to 295 in just under 3 weeks i agree that diet and nutrition is a huge part of working out but dont forget supplementation or you will miss out on what you can really do.
” IF YOU FIND THE WORLD ON YOUR SHOULDERS REP IT”
whats ph im intrested ?
Pro Hormones
The best way i think to go about this sort of training is to split it up so for example.
monday:
chest,triceps, upper back
tuesday:
legs, lower back, biceps.
wednesaday:
shoulders, abs, forarms
then repeat this on thursday,friday and saturday. rest on sunday. this is what works best for me.
I had been training my muscles once a week, good workout but way to much time off between. I have been doing exactly what arnolds routine is now and I feel twice as good.
I need to make my arms as 20 inch
yeah its as simple as that, as long as u eat the right foods at the right time then there is no problem in putting alot of weight in next to no time! but nothing matches the power of a good quality AAS
also i put on 19 pounds with out rods n 6weeks
yes i do the monday wenday friday work out in 2 nd half hr to 3 hr nd the tueday thuday satday n 1half to 2half hr
guys steroid arent everything….u can get massive amounts of energy from eating a lot of raw eggs and mutton as well…i mean…3 litres of milk everyday…good amounts of juice and nice quntities of glucose during workout and around 12 eggs throught the day can release a lot of energy….and the main thing z this….givr up alcohol and cigarettes and ull c how rewarding even a totally natural non steroid diet can be!!!
Aronld a big advantages over the average person….First steroids giving him maxium recovery and gains any substance could help do at that time, second would be good genetics, and thrid would be his training schedual, he has stated that on a typical training day he would be at the gym at 7am train 1 or 2 muscle groups then go and have lunch, rest for awhile and then be back for an afternoon workout, then off t
hey, i think that he probably didn’t start with heavy weight, in some video’s on youtube you see him with 15lb dumbells, 30 lb dumbells, etc. I think this program could work if you start with nothing for weight and do all the sets day in day out, slowly adding a progression of heavier weights. You should try construction, 9hrs a day of volume and 50yr olds can do it.
That’s the only way you would be able to do it.
What you have to be aware of is Arnold didn’t have a full time job like we do. He trained in the morning and again in the afternoon 6 days a week with 1 day of rest each week. If he had a job that consumed 8 – 9 hours of his day, he would not have had the energy left over for this kind of workout regime. I have to admit it is a full on workout program. I do honestly believe if he trained his entire body over 3 or even 4 days he would’ve grown a lot more in size over the years, like many pro body builders of today, who train their entire body over 5 or 6 days. Arnold was doing this workout program for years and his body was used to it. Maybe he felt at the time that if he stretched his entire body workout over more days of the week he would’ve gone backwards with his gains. Who knows? I honestly put it down to knowledge of the sport then as compared to now. It’s like anything. Only time and learning from the past will advance and improve on any system. Pro body builders of today who train their entire bodies over 5 to 6 days are overwhelmingly huge. Arnold has admitted increased knowledge and changes in today’s training principles have proven results in the size of competitors these days. Back in the 70′s pro body builders were massive, but they had nothing on the body builders of today who are way bigger, and have much more definition.
When I first started training when I was 15, I trained my entire body over 2 days, 6 days a week, just like Arnold. I thought it’d work for me. I did that for 2 years and thought I got pretty big. But I was constantly sore and tight and was never training a fresh muscle. Fatigue got the better of me and I gave it up for 12 months. I then went back a year later and trained my body over 3 days, twice a week with a day’s rest at the end of the week. I made even more gains a lot quicker than I had previously. But it did get to a point again eventually after 6 months where I was always sore and wasn’t recovering in time, but didn’t want to take days off to recuperate, because for some wierd reason I thought I’d lose gains. It was stupid I know. So I gave up again. Then went back again 6 months later and trained over a 4 day period instead with even better results. Workout days had an even more reduced number of exercises, which meant I could smash two body parts per day with max intensity like never before and receive even better gains. The body parts I was training every time were nice and fresh. I felt strong & fresh, not constantly sore & fatigued like I did previously when trying to cram so much into one workout. I’m 32 now and still train with this 4 day workout program. I usually have a day rest after each 4 days. So it’s more like a 5 day full body workout. I have to admit, I am not confident in training my whole body over 6 or 7 days to this day. I personally believe I’ll go backwards in gains doing that as I’d be resting trained muscles for too long. But it’d probably be even more benefitial to me to tell you the truth. I think this is what Arnie believed back in the day with his 2 day full body workout. He thought it worked for him, and he was not confident in stretching out his program over more days in the week even though I believe it would’ve been profoundly benefitial for him. I think his muscles would’ve had such little time to recuperate and it limited his growth gains while training so ballistically. I think there’s only 3 body parts that you can successfully get away with training so frequently at such intensity and still make gains on, and they’re the calves, abs and biceps. Arnie’s program was advanced for it’s time and was betetr than programs of the 50′s. Programs of the 90′s were better than Arnie’s program of the 60′s & 70′s. Programs of today are better than they were 10 years ago at a pro level, and in the future I’m sure they’ll improve again. Sorry for the length of my comment, but I felt I had to write this in such detail to get my point across. But make what you want of it. Feedback is welcomed.
@ Nick,
I agree 100%. Even Arnold gained most of his mass on Reg Park’s 5×5. if you look at his picture at age 18 or 19, after doing fullbody 5×5′s, he didn’t gain much mass after that.
Arnodl gained small portion of his mass training this way.
This routine is rediculous. 0.1% of the populaion would gain on this. Way too much. You only need 3 days a week on a 5×5 protocol that lasts no more than an hour. You can either train intense or for a long time not both. You need big compound moves and plenty of food and rest not a stupid marathon workout
You know I don’t understand bodypart training. When you perform the deadlift !Which body part day are you doing? The D.L. hits whole body practicly
dude u r targetting ur back basically…..all of it!!1 esp the lower back…
This classic routine is one of the best for some,others couldent keep up with his routine,Arnold hit each muscle twice a week but when he needed defintion he trained each bodypart three times a week for 20 to 30 sets.I doubt any one can keep up with this kind of pace and make gains,but your not Arnold swarzenegger.
Is this possible to do within 3 hours?
It is possible, he worked out for more than 2 hours a day, i think he said 5-6 somewhere. He also took steroids dont forget that, without steroids you would be overtraining like crazy with this workout, so do not attempt this if your not on roids, even if your on roids do not.
Hi there is that even possible?
wouldnt that take about 2 hours at least?
Back and chest alone are alot rite? Doing 2 compounds one day is bad isnt it?
I know he took steroids at a young age but i mean those woulndt have given him massive energy .
So do you recomend I follow this program or reg parks 5×5?
I wana train everyday to gain mass as well losing the belly to get the 6pack so intense weights with a bit of cardio is good but should i modify arnolds?
I mean what works for him wont neccesarily work for everyone.
So MON WED FRID Id do:
Chest- flat and incline.. Back- rows deadlifts pullups Legs -squats,extensions and lunges
those are the most important obviously with isolation exercises not needed alot because if one were to hit the above compunds HEAVY 3 times a week ,it would be enough?
Your advice please!!!
thanks
Ali,
Yes, Arnold did Chest, Back and legs all on the same day, three times a week. He basically split a 3-day-per-week full body routine into 2 different workouts, totaling 6 workouts per week.
hi there
so the mon wed friday wrkout..
he did ALL 3 …chest back and legs on EACH of mon wed frid????????
thanks
im a bit lost at understanding this workout
so what did he do on each day?
as in Mon wat did he do?
etc
thanks again
he did cheast, back and legs on mondays,wedsdays and fridays and on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays he did biceps, triceps and shoulders. basicaly he did forarms and abs every day.