What Is Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bicep Workout For Big And Muscular Biceps?

Tips to get huge biceps like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Image via alphacoders.com)
Tips to get huge biceps like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Image via alphacoders.com)

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most famous bodybuilders in history. He won seven Mr. Olympia titles and was also the Governor of the US state of California for two terms.

That's some serious muscle. In addition to his impressive physique and political career, Schwarzenegger is also known for his incredible biceps. In fact, it's difficult to find someone with bigger arms than him even today. So what was his secret? In this piece, we'll find out just how Arnie was able to build his terminator arms.


Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bicep Routine

Double-Split Training

Split training is a way where you train different body parts on different days. For example, if you’re training arms, your split might be to work out biceps one day and triceps the next. That allows you to train each muscle group at its optimal intensity level, as well as move between exercises that target different parts of each muscle group.

Split training is also a good way to balance out your workouts so that they don't become too monotonous or repetitive. As Arnold Schwarzenegger trained his biceps with two different exercises (one for each arm), he used split training in his workout plan for big and muscular biceps.


Curling Heavy For High Reps

To get Arnold Schwarzenegger-like biceps, you'll need a day devoted to curling heavy for high reps. For this workout, you need to perform six sets with ten reps each. You'll rest 1-2 minutes between each set and 3-4 minutes between each exercise.

Once you've completed all your sets, take one day off before beginning the next week of training. The same goes for the second week: perform six sets of ten reps on Monday, and take Tuesday as your rest day (for a total of two days off during the course of one week). Repeat.

If you want bigger biceps than ever before in just four weeks, keep at it till they're ready to pop out of your sleeves. Essentially, go hard one day, and take your time to recover; 24 to 48 hours is key.


Arnold Schwarzenegger's Best Biceps Exercise

  • Barbell Curls
  • Barbell Preacher Curls
  • Barbell Concentration Curls
  • Barbell Reverse Curls
  • Barbell Zottman Curls - It's done with a dumbbell and an underhand grip. You'll find this exercise in many bodybuilding workouts, but Schwarzenegger's version is particularly effective for building bigger biceps. You'll need to perform this movement slowly and deliberately, as it puts tremendous pressure on the biceps muscles. Once you've mastered that, try doing it standing up so that your upper back and shoulders are involved too.
  • Barbell Hammer Curls - This variation targets the brachialis muscle more than standard dumbbell curls because of its unique grip position: the palms face each other instead of being turned away from one another like they normally would when doing hammer curls (which are also great).

Things To Avoid

Avoid overtraining. Like any muscle, training the biceps too much or too often can lead to injury. You should avoid training the same muscle groups two days in a row by resting at least one day between workouts. You should also avoid training the same muscle groups too often by resting at least two days between workouts.

Avoid intense weight lifting. When it comes to lifting weights for your biceps, Arnold Schwarzenegger advises keeping the intensity low so that you don't risk injuring yourself or tearing your tendons or ligaments. The goal is simply to increase your size; there's no need for super heavy weights here.

Heavy lifting doesn't always translate to better and more gains, just greater strength. If getting stronger and lifting more load is also one of your goals, by all means, lift heavy. But if you think you need to lift heavy to get bigger, you're mistaken.


Arnold Schwarzenegger had one of the best bicep workouts of all time

Arnold Schwarzenegger's biceps workout is a favorite of many and for good reason. It was one of the most popular and effective arms routines of his time, so it's no surprise people still use it to this day.

Schwarzenegger used this bicep workout to get huge arms. It's a great routine for beginners and intermediate lifters looking to build big biceps. If you want to take your training to the next level, try adding in some heavy barbell curls or dumbbell hammer curls as finishers at the end of your training session.


Conclusion

Arnold Schwarzenegger's biceps workout may seem a bit intimidating, but it's also one of the easiest to follow. All you have to do is train your biceps every other day. and follow this routine.

If you train consistently, eat well, and get adequate rest, you too can get massive biceps like Arnold Schwarzenegger's.

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Edited by Bhargav
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