Lifting heavy bench presses and pushing your limits is almost every gymgoer’s dream. To achieve it, whose advice is better than that of the most dominant bodybuilder of the Golden Era, the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger? Arnie often shares his valuable insights with his fans on various platforms, and this time, his advice centered on bench presses.

The bodybuilding legend recently shared the ultimate tip on “How to make 225 look like a warmup.” Lifting 225 is not easy, but with the tip that the Austrian Oak shared, you’ll be lifting it like it is child’s play. Let’s take a look at how the seven-time Mr. Olympia wants one to engage in the exercise.

“Think like a row,” says Schwarzenegger

The Austrian Oak recently shared a video of him doing bench presses through the Arnold’s Pump Club Instagram page. For lifting such an immense weight like Arnie, you need to set your feet on the ground under you and “closer to your bu**.” Then you must pull down your shoulder blades, tightly grip the bar, and “imagine pulling the bar apart.”

The Austrian Oak wanted one to think of the lift as if they were rowing. He wrote, “As you lower the bar, pull it down (think like a row) and expand your chest up to meet the bar.” The Terminator highlighted that following this approach will give you a good stretch in your reps, making the results more optimal.

“The bar will come down around mid chest. No need to flare your elbow out wide,” Arnie advised. After this, you need to press up with all your strength and “squeeze your pecs at the top,” he recommended. Following this approach throughout his career, Arnie made the bench press into one of his strongholds. But, after going through a series of heart surgeries, he lost some of his strength. The Austrian Oak misses his prime and had earlier opened up about this. 

Lifting 525 pounds was not an easy journey for Arnie

In an interview on the NFL YouTube channel, the Terminator was asked the question “What do you bench?“ To which Arnie replied, “Well! My best bench press was 525 but this was in the good old days.” Then Arnie shared about how his lifting is in the 70s.

“Now I don’t bench that heavy anymore, you know, after all my heart surgeries and all that stuff, I train lighter but do more reps. But I still workout pretty intense,” says the Terminator. With a hint of humor, the seven-time Mr. Olympia concluded, “I left the heavy lifting for the young guys and women.” This was not an easy journey for the legend; he failed nine times before lifting 525 pounds.

Using the perfect technique gets you the desired outcomes, but it also requires patience, as the Austrian Oak reveals. Only after numerous hit-and-miss trails was Arnie able to perfect his technique. Will you follow the tip shared by him to increase your bench press PR? Let us know in the comments.