How Arnold Programs His Workout For Maximum Gains…

There are 3 things that build Arnold’s physique: That are training, diets, and sleep… and roids ( of course….)

And..  today we’ll only focus on Arnold’s training, and of course when we’re talking about training, we’re talking about progressive overload, train to failure, high volume and all that stuff.

But… There is something that I think equally important to all that basic stuff, but we rarely even think or discuss this particular ‘thing’.

This ‘thing’ is about programming your workout session. This is where you program your workout split, your training volume, exercises and all that stuff. 

And little did you know.. Arnold is a master at this. And today we’ll look at how Arnold programmed his workout.

And at the end of this newsletter, I’ll give you the sample programs.

Arnold Split

Let’s start on how he split his workout during the week. Arnold trained using the Arnold Split, and before I explain why Arnold uses this split… 

This is what Arnold Split looks like… 

You can do it like this:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
Chest & Back	Legs	Delts & Arms	Chest & Back	Legs	Delts & Arms	Rest

Or

Rest every 3 days:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
Chest & Back	Legs	Delts & Arms	Rest	Chest & Back	Legs	Delts & Arms

There are 3 reason why Arnold uses Arnold Split:

1. Arm Day

Arnold wants to have big arms… so what did he do? He of course doesn’t train arm after he tired training chest or back. Arnold gives his arm a full day of full energy where he can go all out on his arm.

2. Arnold can use superset

When you use Arnold Split, you train opposite muscle groups on the same day. So after you do a set of bench press you can superset it with barbell rows. Btw… superset means doing 2 different exercise without resting between each one.

And not only Arnold… the science also agrees. ‘Research indicates that supersets can lead to similar gains in muscle size and strength compared to traditional sets’

3. Arnold can go all out on every muscle you train

When you do PPL (Push, Pull, Legs) Spit for example.. And you do push day for example..

Here’s what happens: you go all out training your chest and shoulder, and after all of that hard training, you have to go all out again on your triceps.

Here’s the thing… you can’t expect your muscles to grow at their best when you train them when they are tired. 

But the thing with Arnold split is different. After you train your chest, the muscles you’re using to train your chest are not the same as the muscle to train back. So, if you go all out on the triceps, chest, and shoulder… Your biceps, and back are still fresh, and you can also train your back as hard as you train your chest. And that is one of the huge advantage of using Arnold

Compound or Heavy Lift first

“Started out with basic movements and trained them very heavy. Heavy training develops muscles to a degree that you can’t get exclusively from light, pumping workouts.” – Arnold

Arnold always prioritize compound movement in his training… so for example in his first day in the Arnold split… Arnold always did big heavy compound movements… so he always start bench press, pull up and rows..

But actually…. Why? 

There are actually 2 important reasons:

1. Go Heavy

Everyone can bench press heavier than they can do chest fly. And it’s because of one thing… You use many muscle groups. 

And why must you put it first? It’s because if you don’t do compounds at the start of your workout… you’ll not produce strength as much as you can.

2. Compounds drains your energy

As I said… you can lift heavy with compound movements. And if you lift heavy it means that it drains your energy. 

And if it drains your energy… you don’t want to do it at the end of your workout. 

Because if you’re tired… How can you lift the heaviest weight you can lift?

That is why you must start every workout with compound or heavy movement?

But… What if it’s an arm day? 

There are no compound exercises there.. It’s all isolation.

Arnold did it like this…

Start with the exercises that you can lift the most weight.

And those exercises are overhead presses, barbell curl, close grip bench press, overhead extension, and all ‘heavy’ exercises.

So it can be like this. 

Muscles you want to build faster. 

The last thing is to emphasize the muscle you want to build faster.

So for example… Arnold want to make his biceps big big… 

So, what did Arnold do?

He always put biceps first in his workout session… 

And it’s the same thing when it comes to chest.

He always does chest first, then back. And the result? The best chest of All time.

So that is the 3 things to consider to program your workout, 

By the way…. Here the sample workout out.

🏋️ Superset 1
Standing Barbell Curl  4 × 8–12
Close Grip Bench Press  4 × 8–12

🔁 Superset 2
Dumbbell Lateral Raise  3 × 10–12
Concentration Curl  3 × 10–12

🔁 Superset 3
Reverse Pec Deck (Rear Delt)  3 × 12–15
Rope Triceps Extension  3 × 12–15

🔁 Superset 4
Front Raise  3 × 10–12
Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly  3 × 10–12

🏁 Final Exercise
Lying Dumbbell Lateral Raise  4 × 15–20

You can change the exercises with other exercises that I’ve given in exercise selection. Change compound with compound exercises and isolation exercises with isolation.

Chest & Back 

Compound: Flat Bench, Incline Bench, Pull Ups, Barbell Row

Isolation: Db Pullover, Cable Chest Fly, 

*Adjust your reps and set based on your preference*

You can use superset for training back & chest

🏋️ Superset 1
Flat Bench  4 × 8–12
Pull Ups 4 × 8–12

🔁 Superset 2
Incline Bench 3 × 10–12
Barbell Row 3 × 10–12

(No superset)
Db Pullover 3 × 12–15
Cable Chest Fly 3 × 12–15

You can change the exercises with other exercises that I’ve given in exercise selection. Change compound with compound exercises and isolation exercises with isolation.

Legs

Compound: Squats, Romanian Deadlift

Isolation: Leg Extension, Seated Leg Curl, Lying Leg Curl

*Adjust your reps and set based on your preference*

Squat 2 x 8 – 12

Romanian Deadlift 2 x 5 – 8

🔁 Superset
Leg Extension  3 × 10–12
Seated Leg Curl  3 × 10–12

Lying Leg Curl 3 x 10 – 12

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Without consistency… all things don’t matter. So how to be consistent?

This is Arnold’s #1 hack to motivate himself. Just by seeing his idol’s picture, he feels motivated all the time.

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