“Mini Arnold” Joseph Baena’s Newfound Love For Functional Training Spreads Waves of Inspiration

Functional training is the new trend in the fitness industry, and many influencers and bodybuilders are incorporating the method into their training. Among those is Joseph Baena, the son of Golden Era bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just like his father, the influencer is open to new training methods and often tries functional training.

Recently, Baena shared a glimpse of his functional training with his boys in the gym. This is not the first time Baena has shared clips of his functional training with his fans. The video, as Baena hinted at, was also a reply to people questioning his flexibility.

Baena’s retort to those calling him a “robot”

The video started with, “You probably probably move like a robot since you lift so many weights,” written on the screen in quotes, shedding light on the traditional bodybuilding approach Baena followed. To disprove those saying this, Baena made the transitioning reel and shared his training regime. Baena started by doing a yoga pose, and then he transitioned to the treadmill.

Then he showcased some of the functional training exercises he does. One of them included rope pull-ups. Another required a medicine ball and single-leg squats while moving the ball from left to right and maintaining your position. This training regime of Baena also included some bodybuilding exercises like close grip lat pulldowns and dumbbell chest presses. In the last frame, the son of the bodybuilding legend did different stretching exercises with his boys.

Baena found the regime very beneficial and wrote, “I’ve really enjoyed adding functional training and mobility work into my routine.” He highlighted that functional training has helped him overcome his injuries and increased his range of motion while fixing his posture and alignment. He believes it has “enhanced my athletic performance (especially when I play soccer, swim or other activities) and also helped with my flexibility.”

Like most times, fans went crazy in the comments after getting a glimpse of Baena’s reel. 

Fans see Arnie in Baena

A fan reminisced about the seven-time Mr. Olympia after watching Baena trying out new approaches and called him “Mini arnold.” Another bodybuilding enthusiast expressed his love for the different methods Arnie’s son tries in his training and commented, “Brother i love that you have pioneering ideas on exercise.” Another fitness freak cheered up Baena for his training, writing, “Let’s. Get. Functional.“

After just a glimpse of the training, a fitness enthusiast compared him to the Terminator and commented, “T-800 in training.” An admirer of the Austrian Oak’s son suggested he add “pilates” to his workout as well. One fan did not have much to say than just the fact that Baena was “Looking great.“

Owing to the fact that functional training minimizes the need to lift weights, the seven-time Mr. Olmypia’s son is slowly shifting to this approach alongside his traditional bodybuilding training. What do you think of functional training? Will you add functional elements to your training plan? Let us know in the comments.