Arnold Schwarzenegger is a seven-time Mr Olympia winner and a prominent figure in the bodybuilding realm. He was recently invited to the “Joko Podcast,” where he was asked a question about how he got his muscle definition. Arnie had a very simple answer to the question by the host. “I got my definition from overtraining,” Schwarzenegger said while revealing the workout he engaged in.
Arnie explained how he used to do thirty-five sets for his chest day. For many, this would be a tremendous amount of sets, but for the Terminator, it was the only way he knew to train his chest adequately. Arnie said, “To do 35 sets of a body part like I did three times a week, that was definitely overtraining, and to me, I never knew exactly how to do it without the 35 sets.” He thought every exercise had a specific purpose—to hit different parts while training.
Arnie used to start his chest day by doing five sets of bench presses, barbell incline presses, flys, and pullovers with dumbbells. After doing five sets of each, he used the NAS and pullover machine. Lastly, he did the cable crosses to feel the striations and followed the same method of training for his back.
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The Terminator did his chin-ups using the wide grip, with five sets in front and five in the back. His greatest rival, Frank Zane, advised him to do close-grip chin-ups for better results. Then he did the T-bar rowing with big plates on it, pounding it against the chest. He also did the barbell row for lifting further up, reaching the chest, while standing on a bench.
Lastly, he did cable rowing, hitting his back and chest muscles, saying, “They go way to the front and way to the back, and so this is how on and on and on that pulldown.” Arnie concluded and said, “So it was 35 sets, so I’m going to go now, so each one was hitting a certain area.” Continuing, Arnie said,” That’s how I got my definition.” He added that instead of burning the fat, he just worked it off.
The Terminator not only shared his intense workout regime but, earlier, had some tips on combining speed with strength.
Combining strength with speed can boost your performance: Arnie
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The seven-time Mr. Olympia explained that combining both of these can significantly boost your performance. He gave examples of many athletes from different sports who became successful by following this approach.
He gave the example of Olympic medal winner Bruce Jenner, saying, “He was one of the first athletes that kind of had the sensitivity to understand that, yes, in fact, I combine speed with strength that can only help me rather than just having speed and no strength, so he worked on the strength and he kept working on the speed, and I mean, he outperformed everybody.” Arnie also gave examples of figures like Mike Tyson and Ken Norton and how they became rugged fighters.
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As Arnie shares his intense workout regime for his chest and back, he is going against the grain to advocate over-training. Something that many fitness trainers might not agree with. But that being said, the Austrian Oak knows his stuff. So will you follow Arnie’s advice, or will you stick to your basic workout routine? Let us know in the comments.
