Contents
Giant Hands: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Secrets!
Arnold trained each muscle group with superhuman intensity. By adopting his workouts and his principles, you can pump up epic arm muscles!
Author: David Robson
For Arnold Schwarzenegger, hand training was not just another session with a few finishing sets.
He trained every part of the body with superhuman intensity, pumped every muscle group to the unthinkable limit. To create the giant arms that allowed him to win 7 Mr. Olympia titles, Arnold used all the commandments of the holy book of bodybuilding.
In this article, we will explore in detail the arm training techniques that Arnold used and consider two programs, basic and advanced, based on his techniques. Use them to develop massive biceps if you can handle it!
Hand training: Arnold’s principles
Arnold used his brain and instincts as actively as he did brute force in his quest to develop arm muscles. Anyone who wants to achieve similar results, he advised to do the same. Next, we will look at a few of the main principles on which his hand training was based.
Strive for even development
Arnold always believed that since the hands are visible from all angles and from all conceivable angles of vision, then they must also be trained at all possible angles.
“You can’t develop a champion’s arms just by throwing a heavy barbell, doing bicep curls or triceps exercises,” he said. A clear relief, in which every muscle of the hand is visible, and the uniform development of all muscles – this is what Arnold constantly strived for.
To achieve this balance, proportion, size and shape, work all the muscles in your arms at the same intensity. Break down your arm muscles into separate categories. This is an area in which careful training planning is of paramount importance.
Put things in perspective
Although Arnold recommended training the biceps, triceps, and forearms at the same intensity, he also drew attention to the fact that the triceps are the largest and most difficult muscle mass in the upper limbs. The biceps are made up of two heads while the triceps are made up of three.
If so, Arnold recommended looking at the arms as if they were one-third of biceps and two-thirds of triceps, because if in some poses you can hide the flaws of the biceps, then the triceps are always in sight. Therefore, he advised to train the triceps from a large number of angles. When training your triceps, use a variety of exercises to work all three heads.
Concentration
The utmost concentration on every rep in every set was something of a religion for Arnold. We often hear that when Arnold began to focus on the approach, nothing could distract him.
After training, Arnold was the life of the company, but in the gym he devoted himself entirely to the cause. And it has never been so noticeable as on the day of hand training. Arnold visualized what he wanted to achieve, and believed that by doing so he stimulated the growth of muscle mass.
His statement about visualization has been quoted a million times, but the image is so vivid that it deserves another repetition: “In my mind, I see the biceps as mountains, incredibly huge, and I see how I lift incredible weights with this inhuman muscle mass.”
Anyone looking to achieve limitless muscle volume and mass should not underestimate the power of reason. It was Arnold’s secret weapon in the fight for huge, muscular arms.
Shock your muscles with change
Arnold has always believed that the body has fantastic adaptability and can “get used to a load that would knock even a horse.”
However, he knew that even training at very high intensity would not bear new fruit if you do everything according to the knurled pattern and stick to one program day after day.
Arnold advised to “shock” the muscles by integrating into the program such techniques as changing the working weight, adding reps and sets, speeding up training with more violent lifts, reducing rest between sets, doing unusual exercises or regular exercises in an unusual way.
To achieve the global goal of constantly keeping the muscles in the dark about what training stimulus will hit them today, Arnold recommended using “intensive techniques”, such as:
Forced repetitions. require the participation of a partner who will help you lift the projectile in the final reps, when you can no longer complete the approach on your own. This method of shocking muscles should be used infrequently – in every second workout and in only one set of exercises.
Partial repetitions. With the exception of triceps exercises, which are performed lying down, partial reps can be done without a partner. To do partial reps, keep doing reps with reduced range of motion when signs of muscle fatigue appear. For example, after completing a set of curls for biceps, continue doing partial (half or quarter amplitude) reps until you find yourself in a situation where you cannot move the barbell even one centimeter. Again, use this technique with caution.
Negative repetition. This muscle-shocking move can be integrated into your workout in two ways. The negatives, or the downward phase of the exercise, can be made the main part of the normal approach, in which, in a normal situation, you focus on contracting, or lifting. In the second option, you use the help of a spotter who helps you execute forced negatives at the end of the exhausting set.
For negative reps with a buddy, use a little help during the ascending phase of the movement, and do the negative part yourself. Do two or three reps and then ask your partner to place the apparatus on the stops.
While accented negatives can and should be done more often, forced negatives can be used in every second to third workout to stretch muscle fibers and stimulate new growth. They also develop ligaments and tendons faster than traditional reps, and over long distances provide the ability to lift more weight, which in turn leads to new victories.
Use the perfect technique
To completely isolate the biceps during flexion, Arnold advised beginners to perform this movement with their backs against the wall. He believed that when performing lifts in this position, the arms and only the arms do all the work. The inclusion of other muscles in the work negates the isolating effect we are striving for.
“You need to find the right trajectory and perform each movement with maximum amplitude,” he said. “When you do curls, you should bring your arms to your shoulders. If you go off course and walk a couple of centimeters to the side, you are reducing the load on your biceps and not getting the desired result. “
All of this is also true of the triceps and forearms. Perform each repetition at full amplitude and control the movement of the projectile for maximum results.
Arnold also believed that the grip was a key success factor. He was opposed to starting the biceps curl with wrist flexion. In this regard, he said the following: “All we can achieve is relieve stress from the biceps by using the strength of the forearm, rather than the strength of the biceps, and the result is powerful forearms and mediocre biceps.”
Cheating
Ideal exercise technique was the rule for Arnold, but there was room for exceptions in this rule. Cheating Arnold considered it an effective way to bring the muscles to complete exhaustion.
In fact, Arnold was one of the earliest defenders of cheating, and his mentor Joe Vader eventually officially recognized cheating as one of the.
Arnold’s trademark “controlled cheating” was acceptable because it didn’t simplify the exercise, but made it even more difficult. Here’s how he explained it in The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding:
“Let’s say you’re doing a biceps curl with a lot of weight. You lift the bar five or six times and then find yourself too tired for a clean repetition. At this point, start using your shoulders and back to lift the bar and do four or five more reps. Connect your shoulders and back just enough so that you can continue the approach, and your biceps take over when they are able to do so. By cheating, you can get your biceps to do more work than they can without the help of other muscles, so you put more stress on them, and not lose the load. “
The principle of cheating can also be applied to dumbbell curls and other bicep curls.
Use supersets
Arnold has always believed in making the most of his gym time, and often included supersets in his workouts. He especially emphasized the importance of this technique for creating his fantastic hands. The second arm workout described in this material is composed primarily of supersets that maximize the load on the biceps and triceps.
Supersets shock muscles due to the complex stress that the entire muscle mass receives. This forces the maximum possible blood flow to the area of interest and leads to rapid growth.
Weak links priority
If you have a part of your body that is particularly lagging behind, Arnold advises you to train it first. When applied to arm training, this principle is most often used for underdeveloped muscles in the forearm, which is often the result of genetic characteristics, rather than something else.
To prioritize weak forearms, Arnold recommends training them “separately when you are rested and energized.” This can be done either before training the muscles of the arm, or on another day. As an alternative, Arnold advised training weak forearms on leg day when the muscles in the arms are rested.
However, even if you do everything according to plan and strictly follow Arnold’s recommendations, there may still be weak areas that require special attention. They need to be targeted and trained accordingly. For biceps, triceps, and forearms, Arnold recommends targeting weak points in several ways.
Use dumbbells. By training with dumbbells and doing the exercise with one hand, you will be able to focus more on each side of the body than when working with both hands with a barbell. This will help you get the most out of each muscle group. Here’s what Arnold says: “Doing the entire set with one hand allows for maximum concentration and intensity, which ensures that each hand is working to its limit.”
Start with weak points. By training your weak muscles first, you can give them maximum exercise, as at that point they will be fresh and ready to go.
Special attention to technique. Maintaining flawless technique is even more difficult when you are working with a weak muscle group, as it often does not have the strength to move the projectile along the correct trajectory. Therefore, when working with lagging muscles, you should pay special attention to technique.
Posing
One memorable scene from the movie Pumping Iron) shows Arnold straining his muscles and posing between sets when the muscles are filled to the limit with blood. Arnold believed that posing between sets helped him fully control the muscles he was training and lengthen specific muscles for more proportional development.
Walking through the main competition poses, in which the arms are more involved, and holding each pose for at least 3 seconds, is one way to increase the peak contraction and send additional blood volume to the muscles.
Change the position of your hands
Arnold’s love for changes in training for continuous muscle stimulation extended to the grip. He recommended constantly changing the distance between the arms, since even a slight difference in the position of the arms can help to fully work out all muscle zones.
This rule can be applied to training biceps, triceps and forearms as an additional way to shock muscles and stimulate growth. For example, biceps, curls, and triceps presses can be performed with wide, narrow, regular, or reverse grip.
Arnold’s hand workout
Arnold’s Basic Hand Workout
This 30 minute basic workout is not as difficult or extensive as the next superset program. By doing it once a week, you will lay the foundation for further dividing and drawing the muscles that advanced training is aimed at.
Arnold’s Basic Hand Workout
Note. When doing biceps curls, start the movement with your knuckles facing forward. At the same time as lifting the dumbbell, rotate the hand to the supination position – when the little fingers turn outward – and end with a peak contraction. The secret to great results is to always supine the hand: on each repetition of concentric flexions, or Arnold flexions, rotate the hand outward for a peak contraction.
Arnold’s Advanced Hand Workout
The next workout was one of those Arnold used at the top of his career in the early to mid-seventies.
Because of its intensity, I recommend doing the program in the first or second session of the daily split, or on a designated day. Arnold’s Superset Program encourages maximum muscle separation while stimulating further growth to improve shape and definition.
This workout assumes that the forearm muscles will be worked out, as Arnold recommends, on a separate training day so that you can pay maximum attention to the lagging muscle group.