Get a Huge Chest With Arnold
Tips From the Austrian Oak

By Ron Harris

As I’ve said before, I’m glad Arnold decided to come out with his own supplement line, because a major part of his marketing was a series of videos done in partnership with Bodybuilding.com. Titled “Arnold Schwarzenegger Blueprints,” in them he discusses a wide range of topics including his early years, motivation, and training tips. It’s refreshing to hear new content from the man many of us were inspired by to start our own bodybuilding journeys many years ago. And it’s also interesting to note that even though 40 years have gone by since Arnold was in his training prime, he still knows his stuff, and the methods he used to dominate the sport in the 1970s are just as applicable today. This month, we look at some golden training advice he shared on the two largest muscle groups of the upper body, the chest and the back. First up, here’s what he had to say about constructing a massive chest as he was known for.

“I think that the three exercises for chest that I have always done, the first year when I started training, and the last year when I was training are the bench press, incline press on different levels, so they start low, medium, and high, and then flyes. I mean to me, flyes were an exercise that gave me the full pectoral development because I went all the way out, almost hitting the ground. And I was a big believer in expanding the chest as much as possible and getting that stretch, because remember with muscles, the important thing always is to get the stretch, and get the flex. So to me, to go as far away with the dumbbells to get that stretch, and then to come in and have the dumbbells touch, and then flex like you’re doing the most muscular, and then go out again, those are the kinds of exercises to me that you could not replace them with any machine. This was it.”

After detailing what he felt were the holy trinity of chest exercises, Arnold then recognized that at some point, chest gains will grind to a halt. Here, he discusses why we all will hit a plateau now and then, and how to burst through it.

“One of the main things when you are creating size, and to create muscle growth, is that sometimes your body will hit the wall. What that basically means is that the body is saying, I know all your tricks. I know you’re gonna start with the bench press. Then I know you’re going to walk over to the chin-up bar and do chin-ups. Then I know you’re going back to the bench press, back to the chin-ups, and so on. I know that routine. I know exactly everything you do, and I am prepared for that. So you have to go and use the shocking principle. The body, if it’s chest, knows I’m gonna start with 135, and then 225, and 275. I’m gonna go now and I’m gonna start with 315.* And I’m gonna do 20 reps with 315, and then I’m gonna have the guys go and pull off plates, and I have 225 left. And then I’m gonna do another 10 reps. Then I’m gonna take another 45-pound plate off and I have 135 left, and I’m gonna do another 10 reps. Or maybe if I can, do another 15 or 20 reps, and let’s see if the pectoral muscle is used to that. And then all of a sudden, you’ll find that your pectoral muscle is shaking after that. And you don’t know what to do because it is cramping, and it is being tortured. It is in pain. Because you have now shocked the muscle.”

*Note: I doubt Arnold would seriously suggest starting with 315 on the bench press without warming up, and simply neglected to mention that you should always warm up. So just to keep you all safe, I am saying it – do not ever jump right into a weight that is very heavy on the bench press or any compound movement. To give Arnold the benefit of the doubt here, he routinely handled 500 pounds for reps on the bench press in his prime when he trained with Franco Columbu, so 315 pounds was not a weight he would have considered “heavy.”

Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram

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