Although there are 5- and 6-day variations, the default version of the upper/lower split involves training four days a week.

You’ll find definitions of key terms and concepts, explanations of the role and importance of individual muscle groups, descriptions and types, the latest nutritional information around losing fat and gaining muscle, and much, much more. I believe it is also essential to do certain kinds of stretching during your training. Just as I recommend flexing and posing the muscles between sets, I also believe in stretching certain muscles between one set and the next. The lats, for example, benefit from careful stretching interspersed with various chinning and pulldown movements.” You can throw in some work for your abs as and when you have the time. Arnold Split Program: The Pros 1. Allows For a Higher Volume Of TrainingSchwarzenegger himself would often train twice a day, but only because that was the only way he could fit in the sheer volume of training he was doing. To quote Arnold directly: And there's his training programs. Oh lordy. His beginner program is 6-days with 7-11 types of exercise, each 3 sets of 10 reps minimum, many to failure. That is a LOT. That is a lot for a seasoned professional. For a beginner that's looking at over-training/injury risk. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t follow the same workout split for his entire bodybuilding career. Rather, it evolved over time as he learned what worked best for him and his body. That is, if you’re maintaining your weight on 2500 calories per day, you’d aim for somewhere between 2750 and 3000 calories per day.

Working the upper and lower body separately also allows for a higher overall training volume than you’d typically get with a 3-day full body routine. Distributing your weekly training volume across 5 or 6 workouts, rather than 3 or 4, allows for shorter training sessions, making them easier to fit into your day. When you’re deciding how to set up your training program, you need to consider the recovery requirements of your body as a whole, not just the individual muscles. The Arnold split does have the advantage of training the shoulders and arms when they’re fresher, rather than at the end of a long upper body workout. To get the most out of your training, you should train to failure in each set. This simply means you should continue doing your repetitions until you are unable to lift the weight any more. This ensures that you have stimulated as much muscle fiber as possible.”Next Arnold goes into basic training principles, like what is a rep, a set, and what various equipment is used for. Then you learn about different body types people have. In fact, the biceps were, on average, 17% weaker the day after the run. That’s despite the fact that the biceps are not heavily involved in downhill running. Growing up, my dad was a powerlifter (like a body builder but focused on raw lifting power as opposed to sculpting the body into a perfectly symmetric form) so I pulled down his copy of Arnold's tome and poured over it. In college, I used it as a reference while lifting weights and now, years later, I have the revised edition on my bookshelf and refreshed my knowledge before I started lifting again this year.

NOTE: Most research shows that training to failure doesn’t lead to greater gains compared to leaving a rep or two in the tank. That is, it doesn’t matter if you hit muscle failure, or cut a set short knowing that you could have cranked out another rep or two. Your muscles will still grow at much the same rate. Schwarzenegger first got into bodybuilding when his coach decided that lifting weights once a week would be a good way to condition the team for playing football (soccer). Next Arnold goes through a basic training routine and some intensity boosting techniques like super-setting, forced reps, and slow negatives. The term “Arnold Split” refers to the way the workout schedule is set up (which muscle groups are trained with which other muscle groups, and how often those muscle groups are trained), rather than the specific exercises, sets and reps. Is the Arnold Split Workout Plan Effective?Recovery is about more than allowing enough time between training sessions for the same muscle group. Your body as a whole, from connective tissue to your central nervous system, also needs a break.

Then we are onto book 2: training programs! This is basically what I bought the book for, to hear his advice on which exercises to do to grow which muscle groups and how to build a balanced physique. It's organized by strategies and then by muscle groups. The first part, has some interesting ideas:There’s probably not a bodybuilder alive who hasn’t owned it, borrowed it or at least read several chapters in it. I’m talking about the original Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although it was an invaluable resource tool for bodybuilding, after 15 years it had become a bit outdated. Hence the fully updated and revised New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuildingis perfect for anyone that likes weight training and wants to build muscle. Schwarzenegger, seven-time Mr.Olympia champion, covers all levels of experience and expertise and even goes as far as to show you his secrets to dedication, training, and commitment to help you realize and achieve your fitness goals. Covering every level of expertise and experience, The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding will help you achieve your personal best. With his unique perspective as a seven-time winner of the Mr. Olympia title and all international film star, Arnold shares his secrets to dedication, training, and commitment, and shows you how to take control of your body and realize your own potential for greatness. The next section is all introductory (why exercise? why the gym? why body-building?) and a lot of the material could be condensed. It's just Arnie stating over and over that resistance training is healthy as part of a balanced exercise diet. He then goes into why it's healthy for a range of sports and goals.