learn from the greatest, with Arnie’s own 8-week training regime

Want to get big arms this winter? Good. How about a big chest? And big legs, big thighs, big head, big personality… big everything basically. Who better to teach you than The Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, this is not a feature about how to build muscle over 70 – almost unbelievably, Arnie is now 73 years old – this is a workout from the peak of Arnie’s movie star days when he was The Terminator, Dutch in The Predator and most famous of all, Kindergarten Cop.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is hands down one of the best bodybuilders who ever lived. His physique was almost too perfect: broad chest and shoulders, tree trunks for arms, glutes as tight as a tiger. And if you want to be as big as he used to be in his peak in the 70s, all you have to do is to follow the Arnold Schwarzenegger 8-week muscle building workout plan, explained below.

The ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger Blueprint to Mass’ is not an overly complicated workout plan. Much like the Mike Tyson bodyweight workout, or the Superman-style Henry Cavill workout, this strength and bulk-building bonanza uses simple gym exercises that require no nuanced knowledge about how different machines work in the gym. Following the plan, you will be doing a lot of weighted squats, barbell bench presses, overhead presses and the likes.

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Before we move onto discussing the Arnold Schwarzenegger 8-week muscle building workout plan, let’s talk about nutrition for a minute. Probably you know that in order to build muscle, you must supply your body with the right nutrients so your body can grow. This involves upping your protein intake and making sure you eat some healthy carbs throughout the day, but especially before and after the workout, to aid muscle performance and regeneration.

Arnie reportedly took around 1 gram of protein per pound of body mass when he was competing. According to Wikipedia, he was around 260 lbs (~118 kg) ‘off season’, before he started cutting for competition. That means he took 260 grams of protein per day, which is an insane amount. You don’t necessarily have to take that much but you will most likely have to eat more than you do now.

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Back to the Arnold Schwarzenegger 8-week muscle building workout plan. The eight week plan is broken down into Phase 1 and – not surprisingly – Phase 2. Phase 1 is the first four weeks while Phase 2 starts at week 5 and runs all the way through the end of the plan. The main difference between the two phases is the way you perform the exercises.

In both phases, you will be working out for six days a week, following this pattern:

Monday: Chest, back and abs
Tuesday: Shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms and abs
Wednesday: Legs, calves and abs
Thursday: Chest, back and abs
Friday: Shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms and abs
Saturday: Legs, calves and abs
Sunday: Rest

If this looks like a lot of effort and many hours spent in the gym every day, we have some bad news for you: that is exactly the case here. The Arnold Schwarzenegger 8-week muscle building workout plan might not complicated but it is tough as hell and will require you to lift heavy weights until you can’t life anymore.

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As Arnie himself once said: “Experiencing this pain in my muscles and aching and going on and on is my challenge. The last three or four reps is what makes the muscles grow. This area of pain divides a champion from someone who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.”

“I have no fear of fainting. I do squats until I fall over and pass out. So what? It’s not going to kill me. I wake up five minutes later and I’m OK. A lot of other athletes are afraid of this. So they don’t pass out. They don’t go on.” Do you want to be a champion? Get familiar with pain, your new best friend.

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As you might have noticed, the workout plan includes abs exercises pretty much every day. Back in the day, abs were thought of as ‘high load-bearing’ muscles and were trained pretty hard. The current consensus is different now but that said, Arnie did have a pretty amazing six pack so feel free to do the recommended amount of abs exercises.

Gallery: How to burn belly fat and get in shape (T3)

HOW TO BURN BELLY FAR AND GET IN SHAPE

If you’re trying to lose weight fast, it can be easy to get caught up with fad diet or other “quick fixes” that promise a flat stomach in days. Don’t worry about it though, as there are ways to lose weight that are tried and trusted. Not easy and quick weight loss maybe, but doable.

If you’re serious about losing weight, you’ve come to the right place. We won’t promise a six pack in as many hours, but we can guarantee expert advice and key tips for losing weight quickly, but in a healthy and sustainable way. We’ve also got the lowdown on the best exercise for losing weight fast, and all the gear you’ll need to get started.

IS THERE A “BEST” WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST?

The best way for you to lose weight fast will depend on your starting point, your end goal, and your lifestyle. In this article we lay out ten strategies that are applicable to everyone, whether you’re a fitness novice looking to shed several stone, or you simply require motivation to keep going.

Generally speaking the best way to lose weight quickly, and maintain that weight loss, is to follow a steady, manageable plan. Don’t try to take on more than you can reasonably fit into one day, unless you’re willing to make the sacrifice. Most likely sleep or your social life.

The NHS recommends that you aim to lose no more than 2 lbs (1kg) per week; anymore than that and you risk burning out and giving up. With that in mind, here are ten strategies to get you losing weight quickly.

1. ACHIEVE A CONSISTENT CALORIE DEFICIT

The short answer to the question of how to lose weight fast is to achieve a consistent calorie deficit. That is, burn more calories than you consume.

If you eat 2,500 calories a day – the recommended daily amount for a man, although of course this can vary wildly depending on your height, weight and frame – and burn 3,000, you are in a calorie deficit.

If, however, you burn 3,000 but have consumed 3,500, you’re not in a calorie deficit, even though you’ve almost certainly been working out a lot have burned that much energy.

What you need to do is ensure you’re eating the right food and doing the right exercise so that you’re sufficiently full and satisfied even when consuming fewer calories than you burn. Here’s how…

2. DECREASE CALORIE INPUT THROUGH DIET CHANGES

As we alluded to above, a common pitfall that many people experience when trying to lose weight is that as they start exercising more, they feel like they need to eat more to keep their energy levels up and consequently fail to see results. Instead, we recommend adapting your diet to get the most out of your calories.

All foods have different energy densities. Foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains have low energy density, which means you will get fuller faster when eating these than you would high energy density foods.

Nutritionist Jenna Hope explains: “Proteins and healthy fats promote more stable blood glucose levels, keeping you fuller across a time period and less likely to crave sugar or over eat,” and so these are the kinds of foods you should get the majority of your calories from.

Consuming the same amount of calories as you are now (or fewer if possible), but getting more nutritional value from them will help you feel fuller for longer and lose weight more quickly as a result.

3. DON’T CUT OUT ALL OF ANY SINGLE FOOD GROUP

We all know that some foods – and some food groups – are healthier than others, and that we need every type of food in our diet. The problem is that many of us aren’t getting the right balance.

Spoon Guru nutritionist Isabel Butler (MSc, ANutr) recommends that “the best way to reduce weight and maintain the weight loss is by simply eating a balanced and healthy diet, without refusing yourself particular foods… If you do cut out foods, you need to make sure your diet is still balanced and you are getting the nutrients your body needs from other sources.”

For example, unless you’re training to become a weightlifter, there’s nothing wrong with carbs per se, but the biggest food culprit when it comes to hindering weight loss is the simple carbohydrate.

Compared to complex carbs like beans, whole grains and vegetables, which break down and release energy slowly, thereby keeping you full and energised, simple carbs such as sugar and starchy foods which break down into sugars – such as pasta and spuds – give you a shorter boost of energy, then leave you wanting more.

The likelihood is that the more simple carbs you eat, the more you’ll end up eating overall, harming the balance of your calorie deficit.

One easy trick if you’re a carb fan is to swap out white pasta or rice for courgetti, or noodles made from other vegetables like butternut squash. This can make an arrabiata, curry or stir fry much lower in calories. You’ll hardly notice the difference when you’re eating it, but you’ll be fuller for longer despite consuming fewer calories.

4. TRY A FOOD SUBSTITUTE

Sometimes it’s a real struggle to reduce the calories you take in, or even just to track them. If you’re constantly on the move and don’t have the time to count calories, or you have the best intentions and are cooking fresh with ingredients that aren’t all labelled with their nutrition info broken down, then accurately tracking calories can be a nightmare.

To ensure you’re getting a good mix of nutrients, as well as all-important protein, you could try a food substitute such as Huel.

This is not marketed as a dietary aid, but it is highly nutritious, and makes calorie counting a lot easier. A word of caution though: Huel may replace meals from a nutritional standpoint, but slurping a cool, slightly slimy milkshake instead of getting your teeth into a warm, healthy paella isn’t for everyone.

5. TRY INTERMITTENT FASTING

Some people thrive on intermittent fasting, which means significantly cutting calories – or completely fasting – for a portion of the day or week, and then eating normally for the rest.

The most popular form of intermittent fasting is the 5:2 diet, where you eat normally for five days a week but then eating no more than 600 calories two days a week.

There’s also the 16:8 diet, which is a bit different. With this diet you can eat anything for 8 hours a day, but can only drink water during a 16 hour fast. The recommended time to eat is between 10am and 6pm, although this can be flexible depending on what time you’d prefer to start or end eating (as long as you stay within an eight hour window).

The benefits of intermittent fasting is that during the fast period the body will run out of carbohydrates to run on, and so start to take energy from the body’s fat stores, thus starting to burn that belly fat once and for all.

6. DRINK MORE WATER AND LESS ALCOHOL

Drinking more water – especially before a meal – can help us to feel fuller, thereby helping us to stop eating sooner and consume fewer calories than we otherwise would have.

What’s more, few of us consider what we drink when we total up our daily calorie count and so potentially hundreds of extra calories can sneak into our bodies. Replacing fruit juices, fizzy drinks and even tea and coffee with water means we can save up our calorie allowance for the good stuff: the food that fills us up.

Top tip: keep a reusable water bottle with you at all times and restrict what else you drink. This can feel like a hard habit to break at first, but is surprisingly easy to maintain once you have a zero calorie drink to hand 24/7.

Reducing the amount of alcohol we drink also comes with benefits. Most obviously, alcoholic drinks are often very calorific, so drinking less alcohol means consuming fewer calories. Simple.

Secondly, drinking alcohol increases our appetite, so we’re more likely to eat more than usual – and more of the bad stuff – when we’ve been drinking. Cheesy chips, I’m looking at you.

Lastly, we all know how we feel after a night of heavy drinking. Ready for a session and the gym and a day eating fruit, veg and simple carbohydrates? We didn’t think so. Drinking alcohol not only means we take in more calories at the time, but can affect our ability to function well and make healthy choices the next day.

7. INCREASE CALORIE OUTPUT THROUGH EXERCISE

Now we’ve tackled diet and nutrition (calories in), it’s time to look at exercise (calories out).

Even if you’re eating healthily and are reasonably active in your daily life, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to lose weight quickly without additional exercise, whether that’s running, gym, crossfit, team sports, cycling or any of the other myriad activities available.

What’s more, working out will make you look and feel better and in our view, once you start looking and feeling better, it gets a lot easier to find the will power needed to improve your diet.

When it comes to choosing what type of exercise you do, the most important thing is that it’s something you enjoy and will stick to. Don’t force yourself to run if chances are you’ll be walking ten minutes in.

8. FOCUS ON WEIGHT TRAINING IN ADDITION TO CARDIO

There are two main types of exercise: cardio training and weight – or resistance –training.

Both burn calories, the difference is that whilst cardio burns a lot of calories upfront, weight training continues to to burn calories post workout.

This is because weight training builds muscle, and muscle burns more than fat as you carry out day-to-day tasks. In short, the greater your muscle:fat ratio, the more calories you burn even when you are standing still.

Weight training may seem daunting, but you don’t have to join a gym and face up to the squat rack right away. There are so many weight exercises you can do at home with simple bits of equipment from dumbbells to kettlebells, and balls to ropes.

All of this aside, don’t neglect cardio, as cardio workouts are important for fitness and stamina, and will still burn calories.

9. VARY THE INTENSITY OF YOUR WORKOUTS

As well doing both cardio and weight training, if you want to lose weight it’s also important to vary the intensity with which you exercise.

In any given week, and within any given workout, you should exercise both aerobically (a little out of breath but not gasping) and anaerobically (going flat out, like when running for a bus).

Aerobic exercise needs oxygen to give muscles energy and generally requires moderate exertion. Examples include gentler running, cycling and swimming.

It’s a crucial part of losing weight quickly because it uses both sugar and fat as its energy source, but to burn fat you need to do it for long enough that you’ve burned through your sugar stores first.

Anaerobic exercise, on the other hand, primarily uses sugar as its fuel. This doesn’t mean that it’s not good for weight loss, though. Anaerobic exercise helps build muscle, and as we explained above, this will help you burn calories even when you’re resting. Anaerobic exercises are generally high intensity, for example sprinting and weight lifting.

A running watch or fitness tracker will help you to know what intensity exercise you’re doing. As they either have built-in heart-rate trackers or pair with ones you strap to your chest, they can show you how hard you’re working out and let you know when you need to push it harder.

10. TRACK YOUR INPUT VS. OUTPUT (THAT ALL IMPORTANT CALORIE DEFICIT)

It’s important to decide how you want to measure your success and keep track consistently, understanding that you will see daily fluctuations due to things like digestive contents and water retention.

Running watches are the easiest way to track your progress, remain motivated and keep weight off. Depending how fancy you go, you can track pretty much any metric that works for you, certainly way beyond whether you’ve achieved your 10,000 steps. Whether it’s weight, BMI, resting heart rate, calories burned or activity level, the best running watch will track it all.

Many wearables branded as fitness trackers also have a stab at these more advanced metrics nowadays, but we’d always recommend a watch over a band.

Another way to keep track of your progress is the old fashioned method of weighing yourself. The great thing about modern bathroom scales is they don’t just tell you your weight; they also let you know your body fat percentage.

This is a much, much better metric to track than weight alone. If you’re working out while dieting you can easily put on weight, even when running a calorie deficit, just because muscle is heavier than fat.

Now, although the calculations of body fat percentage scales produce are based on sound science, accuracy can vary. The key thing to note is that if the overall trend is going down, you’re doing well.

We can’t stress enough the importance of giving your body time to lose weight. You can lose weight faster by using the right gear and having the right knowledge and attitude, but you’ll likely need to redefine what ‘fast’ means to you.

12/12 SLIDES

And finally, it’s worth mentioning the three ‘Arnie-methods’. These are specific ways to perform exercises in order to “help shock your body even more and open yourself up to more growth.” Understandably, these make the workout even harder to stimulate muscle growth even more.

The first method is ‘1-10 method’ where you perform 10 sets of one exercise, starting with your one rep max working your way down to 10 reps in the last set with a weight you can lift that many times.

The ‘stripping down/shocking principle’ pushes your muscles even further. After you finished with last set, take some weight off and churn out 5-10 reps. Then, without any rest, keep repeating, dropping the weight between each sets until there is nothing left but the bar. Do 20 reps with that and you’re done.

The final method is called ‘max effort’. As the plan explains: “Pick one exercise and see what you can do for a 1-rep max. To get there, work up to the weight with the following rep pyramid, taking ample rest between each set: 20, 15, 10, 8, 5, 3, 1, 1, 1 (max).”

You can find the full detailed plan of Phase 1 here and Phase 2 here.

Chest

Arnie’s plan uses simple chest exercises throughout the plan, such as the flat and incline barbell bench press and a special ‘superset’ where you’ll need to perform dumbbell flyes and dumbbell pullovers back-to-back without a break in Phase 1. During Phase 2, you’ll switch things up and perform dumbbell flyes and cable crossovers as a superset.

Back

As well as doing wide-grip chin ups, you will be required do a superset using two out of these exercises: bent-over row, dumbbell row or T-bar row. T-bar rows are a variation on the theme and involves pulling a hinged-barbell towards your chest.

Abs

Although you will perform abs exercises every day, you will only have to do one at a time. None of them will be easy, though, especially the hanging leg raises, one of the best exercise to make that six-pack pop but also pretty hard to master. Other exercise include decline sit ups and kneeling cable crunches.

Shoulders

Arnie recommends bombing the delts with exercises such as the clean & press and his signature move, the Arnold press. As well as those two, you will be required to do not one but two supersets per day, including front and lateral raises, upright rows and dumbbell presses.

Biceps

Biceps training is pretty straightforward: you will be doing standard barbell curls mixed with a superset of seated incline two-arm dumbbell curls with concentration curls. Easy-peasy.

Triceps

Another no-frills workout. To train the triceps, you will have to do close-grip bench presses with supersets of barbell skull-crushers and one-arm overhead dumbbell extensions. On the second day you will swap out barbell skull-crushers for triceps pushdowns.

Arnie also trained his forearm doing a superset of wrist curls and reverse wrist curls on arm days.

Legs

And finally, the legs! Be like Arnold and never skip leg day. Following his plan, you will be bombing your legs, twice a week for eight weeks with exercises such as back and front squats, romanian and standard deadlifts, good mornings, lunges and leg extensions/curls. Just make sure you are ready for the DOMS to set in a day after the workout.

Tags: 8week, Arnies, greatest, learn, regime, Training