Arnold’s Ab Workout: Sculpting The Austrian Oak’s Trunk

In 1968, 20-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger lost the IFBB Mr. Universe to a ripped Frank Zane. In his , Arnold pinpointed his lack of ab development and muscle definition as a significant contributor to his loss. Learning from that humiliating experience, the Austrian Oak made sure that a nicely developed abdominal region would never be his downfall again.

During his Mr. Olympia winning streak (1970-1975, 1980), Arnold followed a high-volume ab routine that helped him develop abs that complemented his outstanding chest, wide shoulders, and arm development.

In this text, I’ll lay out Arnold’s exact Mr. Olympia ab workouts, along together with his training suggestions and key insights on how one can present the midsection to the very best effect on stage.

Arnold’s Ab Workout

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ab routine was performed several times per workout because the last a part of the workout. It was designed to hit the three key areas of the abdominal region – the upper abs, lower abs, and obliques – while also improving core strength.

Arnold’s Seventies Mr Olympia ab workout consisted of the next five exercises:

1. Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 25-50 reps
2. Roman Chair Sit-Up: 4 sets of 25-30 reps
3. Lying Leg Raises: 3 sets of 25-30 reps
4. Side-to-Side Twist: 3 sets of fifty reps
5. Seated Leg Tucks: 4 x 25-50 reps

The Exercises

1. Hanging Knee Raises

The hanging knee raise, a variation of hanging leg raises, is Arnold’s favorite move to focus on the lower portion of the abdominals. Here’s how he did it:

1. Hang from a pull-up bar along with your hands shoulder distance apart. Your legs needs to be together, and your knees bent barely.
2. Pivot from the hips to bring your knees as much as your abdominal area.
3. Now, round your back, bringing your knees as high toward your head as possible. You shall be attempting to roll yourself right into a ball.
4. Hold the highest contracted position for a second.
5. Lower under control to the beginning position.

Arnold’s Training Tip:

Perform the exercise slowly and deliberately to avoid using momentum to get your knees up.

2. Roman Chair Sit-Up

The Roman Chair, or hyperextension bench, is a padded bench with seat and foot supports designed to can help you work your core at a spread of angles. Here’s how one can do the Roman Chair Sit-Up:

1. Sit on the bench along with your feet hooked under the foot supports. Fold your arms in front of your body.
2. Maintain a good core as you lower your torso back to a 70-degree angle. Don’t go to this point that your back is parallel to the ground.
3. Contract your abs to curve your torso as far forward as possible. Fully contract the abs in the highest position.

Arnold’s Training Tip:

Place a block under the back of the Roman Chair to extend the problem of the movement. When you’re gym doesn’t have a dedicated Roman Chair, you can too perform this move on a seated calf raise machine.

3. Lying Leg Raises

The lying leg raise is an exercise that has fallen out of favor with the conclusion that the abs don’t actually attach to the lower body through the legs. Because of this, the effect on the abs is minimal. Nonetheless, Arnold swore by the results of this move on his lower ab development.

1. Lie on a flat bench in your back along with your butt on the top of the bench in order that your legs are hanging off the top.
2. Place your hands on the bench by your hips and extend your legs out straight.
3. Without bending your knees, lift your legs as high as possible.
4. Pause in the highest position, then lower to just under parallel.

Arnold’s Training Tip:

Keep your head up by taking a look at your feet throughout the movement.

4. Side-to-Side Twist

The side-to-side twist was Arnold’s favorite exercise to develop the obliques together with the waist. He alternated between the seated and standing bent-over version of the exercise. Here’s how one can do the seated side-to-side twist:

1. Sit on a bench with feet shoulder-width apart and an unloaded barbell across your shoulders. Hold the bar out wide.
2. Keep your head looking directly ahead as you twist as far to the appropriate as possible.
3. Hold the intense position for a second, then reverse to twist in the other way.

Arnold’s Training Tip:

Quite than swinging backwards and forwards, perform the exercise in a fluid, smooth motion.

5. Seated Leg Tucks

The seated leg tuck (also called the In and Out Abs Exercise) contracts the rib cage toward the pelvis, working each the lower and upper abdominal area.

1. Sit on a bench along with your legs together and extend in front of you with knees barely bent. Hold the edges of the bench for support.
2. Lean back at a 45-degree angle.
3. Concurrently, curl your torso up as you draw your knees toward your head.
4. Hold the highest contracted position for a second after which slowly return to the beginning position.

Arnold’s Training Tip:

Don’t allow your feet to the touch the ground between reps.

3 More Ab Training Suggestions from the Austrian Oak

1. Training Frequency

Throughout the Seventies, bodybuilders were known for his or her high-volume training programs. The workout just described saw Arnold performing greater than 500 reps every workout. Arnold felt that the abs needs to be worked several times every week. Leading as much as the Mr Olympia competition, he was even known to work the abdominal muscles twice per day.

2. Oblique Training

Arnold wasn’t blessed with a naturally small waist. So, the very last thing he desired to do was make his midsection look any greater. Because of this, he never added extra weight to his oblique training. As a substitute, he used controlled twisting movements with an unloaded bar.

3. Work Abs Last

Arnold would train his abs at the top of his workout. He believed that his mental focus needed to go on his other muscles and major body parts and that he could afford to work the abs when his energy was diminished after smashing his chest, back, or quads.

Arnold’s Ab Posing Strategy

While Arnold’s abs during his Seventies Olympia reign weren’t a weakness, neither were they a standout. He never had the nice abdominal development of such competitors as Frank Zane or Serge Nubret.

Arnold was a master poser who knew how one can showcase his physique to its best advantage. Take a take a look at video and photos from his Mr. Olympia wins, and you will notice that he often twists his body while posing. This appeared like a tiny waist while emphasizing his gargantuan biceps and back.

Wrap Up

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s abs training routine was a product of its time. From a contemporary perspective, it appears to be very high volume and includes at the very least one exercise that’s frowned upon today. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a denying the outcomes that Arnold was capable of achieve with this routine.

Why not give it a try to see if it does the identical for you?