Exercise Scientist Critiques Arnold Schwarzenegger's Golden Era Training
Hands down, the muscle building workouts from Arnold Schwarzenegger's golden era are legendary. His training methods created the blueprint for many of our gains throughout the years, but how do they hold up against the latest research? Exercise scientist Dr Mike Israetel PhD has critiqued the GOATs workout from Pumping Iron, to weigh up whether we should still be training Schwarzenegger style.
In the YouTube video, Israetel reviews Schwarzenegger's Pumping Iron, 'Before I start critiquing please understand: there are levels of respect. And then above that, there are levels of reverence, and above that, there are gods you're not even allowed to look at to revere. Arnold's above that, so nothing I say here is designed to detract anything from Arnold's insights or wisdom.'
'This was filmed in the 70s. We learned some shit and we learned a lot of the shit that they were doing cuz it was right,' says Israetel.
Schwarzenegger's Bicep Training
Critiquing Schwarzenegger's bent over bicep curls, Israetel argues that the technique has 'Probably too much swinging on the concentric,' however, 'A good decent amount of eccentric control — I do like that.'
'Unfortunately this position maximises tension at the very top because that's where the vector to gravity is the highest, and we know now from a considerable amount of research and experience that actually you want most of the tension to be at the lengthened position,' explains Israetel. 'And here unfortunately because of the way Arnold is bent over, the bicep experiences almost no tension at the lengthened position,'
Israetel recommends: subbing bent over bicep curls for lying dumbbell bicep curls
Schwarzenegger's Back Training
Critiquing Schwarzenegger's back training, Israetel adds, 'Those look like flexion rows. Now to be a pedantic asshole, Arnold could be controlling the eccentric more. He can be spending a little bit more time at the bottom.'
He continues, 'So this is actually a really good technique, it's just that Arnold could do [moving] the way back slower.' This is to get more out of the rep and reduce the probability of injury.
However there is another drawback with Arnie's method of training, 'I cannot get within eight or nine reps of my best cable row with just my hands and that means every set I would be doing would be like eight or nine reps in a reserve.' Israetel explains that since his grip and forearm strength is a limiting factor, this can hinder proximity to failure.
Israetel recommends: rows using Versa grips (similar to lifting straps)
Schwarzenegger's Chest Training
'So this is really really good flying technique,' says Israetel. He explains that for dumbbell chest flyes, Schwarzenegger would incorporate a technique where you, 'Go all the way down, but then when you come up just stop like three quarters of the way, and then come down,' So you get constant tension.
He explains, 'The best part of that whole thing is we know now that lengthened contractile positions grow you more than shortened ones and that there's very little force in the shortened position anyway.'
Israetel recommends: to copy Schwarzenegger's technique and maximise on the lengthened portions of chest fly reps.
Schwarzenegger's Periodisation
Israetel reflects on Schwarzenegger's physique and mentions that he clearly went through periods of detraining, 'There are a couple of reasons for this and some wisdom we can take away from this. One is that periodisation means there are times you push your physique hard and times you let off the gas to let everything heal and recover including the psychological.'
'If you always are pushing your physique as hard as it goes, and you're always on your Ps and Qs, trying to stay as lean as possible year round, you will burn out. Arnold never burnt out so we can learn that from him, that pushing and pulling a little bit is always in the mix. It's not just try to be your most jacked and lean ever,' recommends Israetel.
The Verdict
To conclude, Israetel shares, 'You have to remember these were the first people to ever get this jacked and lean on a mass scale, and we've made lots of progress in knowledge and in a competitive aspect since then. So we've been able to push physiques a lot further but it's cool to simultaneously appreciate the fuck out of Arnold's body and understand that by today's standards of leanness — no it does not compare. But also how incredible it was for any time as an awesome aesthetic look, and especially for that time.'
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