How Arnold Schwarzenegger Built His Muscular Physique

Arnold Schwarzenegger, known as the “Austrian Oak” in bodybuilding circles, is world renowned for having achieved the Mr. Olympia title seven times in the contest’s history, with only one other competitor having won the title more times. 

To achieve his award winning physique, Schwarzenegger employed many tried and true exercise principles that are still popular today. 

Under the guidance of legendary publisher and trainer Joe Weider,  Schwarzenegger incorporated high volume training in his workouts, typically performing eight to fifteen repetitions for four to six sets per exercise.

By utilizing the progressive resistance and overload principles, Schwarzenegger was able to continually increase the load and stress that he placed on his muscles, which stimulated continuous growth. 

Other exercise techniques such as forced reps, rest/pause, and pyramiding allowed Schwarzenegger to provide an element of variation to his work out program, allowing for varied stimulus on his muscles and minimizing the opportunity for stagnated growth or plateaus.  
 

Schwarzenegger generally adhered to a five day per week workout cycle which allowed him to adequately stress all of his muscle groups while allowing for the appropriate amount of recovery between workouts. 

His workouts were structured around compound movements, exercises that involve several different muscle groups, such as bench presses, squats, rows and dead lifts. 

By arranging his workouts according to related muscle groups, Schwarzenegger was able to take advantage of the shared stress that was placed on his muscles. 

For example, chest exercises would be performed on the same day as triceps exercises, as the triceps are involved in most every chest movement that involves pushing, like flat and incline bench presses and dips.  This strategy was carried over into other body part combinations such as training back with biceps and thighs with calves.        

Schwarzenegger has long been admired by bodybuilders, strength athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike.  While Schwarzenegger’s genetic capacity to develop great muscle size and symmetry is not typical among bodybuilders and athletes, by employing some of the above principles into a sound workout program, desirable results can be achieved by most anyone. 

It must be remembered, however, that adequate ingestion of nutrients such as quality protein is vital to muscle growth and development.