Every year, thousands of men attempt to bulk up their chest muscles to achieve that “chiseled” look, only to end up with a sub-optimal chest. The problem is that most chest workouts focus on the lower portion of the pecs, with little attention given to the upper portion. The result is a bunch of men with large but weak pecs. The solution? A workout that addresses both the upper and lower pec regions.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Chest Workout is a unique exercise program that will develop your strength, power, and explosive muscle tone to the fullest. The program design is based on the Arnold Schwarzenegger training method that he used when preparing for his bodybuilding career. This program is NOT like most of the chest workouts you will see on the internet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the quintessential hardbody. You won’t find one-dimensional muscle heads in the gym with him, he actively sought to make his physique better and stronger. What’s more, his workouts were purposeful and strategic, designed to improve his physique and make him look his best.. Read more about arnold workout routine and let us know what you think.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for many things: his thick Austrian accent, his unconventional personality, and his desire to give back and change the world. Of course, Arnold is also known for his incredible breast development!
Arnold Schwarzenegger had the largest chest in the history of professional bodybuilding. In the prime of his life, Arnold’s chest reached an incredible 60 cm. Even legendary bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman couldn’t keep up with Arnold in terms of breast development!
Arnold trained his chest 2-3 times a week with high volume bodybuilding style workouts. He did many different chest exercises including bench press, squats and dumbbell swings to fully develop.
Here is the exact breakdown of training that Arnold used at the height of his bodybuilding career:
Intersessional training Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Monday: Chest / Back
- Tuesday: Shoulders/Arms
- Wednesday: Feet
- Thursday: Chest / Back
- Friday: Shoulders/Arms
- Saturday: Feet
- Sunday: On the website
As you can see, Arnold trained his chest and back twice a week – Monday and Thursday. Arnold did all the chest exercises and then all the back exercises. Arnold liked to train his chest and back on the same day of training because it gave him an incredible upper body pump.
Let’s take a look at one of Arnold’s favorite off-season chest workouts. Look at this:
Arnold SchwarzeneggerIntersessional chest muscle training
- Bench press, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
- Incline bench press, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
- V-bar curl, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each.
- Flat DB Machs, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each
- Cable crossover, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps.
Arnold performed five different chest exercises with numerous sets and reps for each exercise. Most bodybuilders overtrain quickly, but it worked wonders for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold says his favorite chest exercises were the bench press, incline press and dumbbell swings. Arnold used the bench press and incline press as his main exercises to build chest mass. Arnold was strong enough to bench press 500 pounds in one repetition and could bench press 315 pounds on a flat or angled bench in a set of 20 reps. Talk about a strong chest!
Another of Arnold’s favorite exercises was the flat barbell swings. Here is an excellent video of Arnold doing this exercise:
Arnold performed dumbbell movements with a huge range of motion. He lowered his arms as far as he could and then only lifted the dumbbells 80% to keep a constant tension on his pecs.
Arnold says the dumbbell swings were absolutely necessary for him to really isolate his chest.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s high intensity training techniques
Arnold Schwarzenegger liked to mix different high intensity training methods in his chest workouts. One of her favorite ways to stimulate breast growth was to use a series of falls.
A drop set is a training method that involves training to failure, reducing the weight of the exercise, and training to failure again. This process can be repeated as many times as needed in succession. Here’s Arnold with his thoughts on the drop set:
Without stripping, there’s no excitement!
No, Arnold is not talking about undressing his maid. He’s talking about taking the weight off the bar during the drop set! Here are three of Arnold’s favorite techniques in the drop sets to build a huge chest:
- Impact Method
- Procedure 1-10
- Start of rack
One of Arnold’s favorite techniques in the fall series is what he calls bumping. Arnold usually did a few warm-up sets of bench press or incline press before using his heavier weights. Using the punching method, Arnold threw a heavy weight on the barbell and immediately performed a large set of double dips.
Here Arnold describes the shock method:
I’ll start with the 315. And I’m gonna do 20 reps at 315. Then I lower the weight and do 10 more reps. Then I drop the weight again and do another 10 or 20 reps. Then my breasts twitch, they cramp, they suffer because I shake the muscles.
Another of Arnold’s favorite drop sets is the 1-10 method. Arnold starts with a heavyweight for a rehearsal. Then he drops the weight and does 2 heavy reps. Then he drops the weight and does 3 heavy reps. He keeps lowering the weight until he has done 10 heavy reps in the last set. It’s a brutal training method, but it worked like magic for Arnold.
The last drop set method Arnold used for his chest is called Rack Run. For example, Arnold did dumbbell movements with heavier weights. B. with 70 pound dumbbells. After he failed, he switched to 60-pound dumbbells and trained until he failed, then to 50-pound dumbbells, and so on.
By the end of the set, he was lifting 10-pound dumbbells, doing as many reps as he could, and his chest was sore.
Arnold liked to use these high intensity techniques in the off-season to build muscle. However, about 3 months before the race, Arnold changed his entire training program. He began a new 6-day training regime with training twice a day. Look at this:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is training for the contest
- Monday:
- AM: Chest / Back
- PM : Feet
- Tuesday:
- AM: Shoulders/Arms
- PM : Taurus / abs
- Environment:
- AM: Chest / Back
- PM : Feet
- Thursday:
- AM: Shoulders/Arms
- PM : Taurus / abs
- Friday:
- AM: Chest / Back
- PM : Feet
- Saturday:
- AM: Shoulders/Arms
- PM : Taurus / abs
- Sunday: On the website
This new format allowed Arnold to train each muscle group 3 times a week. Arnold believed that this increase in training frequency was necessary to achieve optimal competition form.
Arnold also began using antagonistic supersets in all of his workouts. For example, Arnold does a chest exercise, rests 30 seconds, does a back exercise, rests 30 seconds and does another chest exercise.
This is what a typical chest and back workout before the game looked like for Arnold:
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pre-competition chest and back workout
Superset 1:
- A1 : Bench press, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
- A2: Pull-ups (wide/forearm grip), 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each
Superset #2:
- B1 : Incline bench press, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
- B2: Tug of war (wide/upper grip), 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each
Superset No. 3:
- C1 : V-bar curl, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each.
- C2: Dumbbells, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
Upper set #4:
- D1 : Flat DB Machs, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each
- D2 : Dumbbell Rowing, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps
Top set #5:
- E1 : Cable crossover, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps.
- E2 : Seated cable pull, 3-6 sets of 5-20 reps each
As you can see, Arnold performed about 5 antagonistic supersets for his chest and back. Antagonistic supersets have many advantages over regular straight sets, including greater muscle endurance and quality fat in both muscle groups.
Consequently, Arnold used a high volume, high frequency and, in many cases, high intensity training program to build his largest chest ever.
If you’re looking for a new chest program, the Arnold Chest program will give you lots of ideas. I especially like how Arnold focused on the exercises that best fit his structure and how he integrated high intensity training methods like drop sets and antagonistic supersets.
Even if you don’t follow Arnold’s exact routine, you can learn a lot from the Austrian Oak about how to build strong, full breasts.
Never forget that:
Without stripping, there’s no excitement!
Thanks for reading and good luck with your strength training!
Dr. Mike Jansen.
Thanks for stopping by my site! My name is Dr. Mike Jansen, PT, DPT, and I am the founder of Revolutionary Program Design. If you want to reach your size and strength goals faster, you’ve come to the right place. My goal is to make RPD the best strength training resource in the world. So lean back, kick back and relax. There has never been a better time to lift weights or learn the art and science of developing strength training programs.
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