What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.
Very few people are recognizable by their first names only, but if I say the name Arnold,
you and I pretty much know exactly who I'm talking about.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I got a gift for Christmas the other day, and I didn't recognize it at first, but I
should have just by how heavy this thing was.
I didn't recognize it because of the black and gray cover, but this is a reprint, an
update of the modern Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Bible of Bodybuilding,' pretty much.
A 796-page book that I actually already own 2 copies of.
Now I own the one that you guys probably many of you watch and would relate to, that yellowish
color, right.
You could probably see it.
I have 2 copies already on my shelves.
One that my brother had and one that I had that when my brother moved I took it from
him.
So I have 3 copies now officially of this book, but it brought to mind, sort of brought
me back to my day of, why I was so inspired by him in the first place.
Arnold was the action hero of the day along with Sylvester Stallone, both of which inspired
me to take what was a hobby at that time into a lifelong passion and now a career.
And I wanted to sort of pay homage to him in the form of a video where I showcase 5
of the things I specifically learned from Arnold that I now apply even in our ATHLEANX
Training.
3 THINGS I DIDN'T LEARN
That being said, I think it's fair to start off with the fact that Arnold and I obviously
don't agree on everything.
During his pursuit of his Mr. Olympia titles, it's been well documented that he himself
has admitted he used anabolic steroids in that pursuit.
Now, it was a time when people didn't know as much about the dangers of anabolic steroids
as they do now.
So I think having channels like this, we can actually educate you
towards what those are and steer you down alternative paths that will allow you to still
make impressive gains and really change your physique but to do so in a much healthier
way.
Secondly, there are obviously exercises in this bodybuilding bible encyclopedia that
I don't necessarily think are the best exercises you can do.
I've gone on record and made videos about 5 of the worst exercises I think you can do,
which I'll link for you up here, that yeah they appear in that encyclopedia.
Does that mean that they're bad exercises, or that they're not effective exercises?
No.
But guys, my responsibility as a professional athlete and strength coach and physical therapist
is
to choose exercises based on a risk/reward ratio that help you to get the results.
We can't compromise the results they'll get you,
but we have to make sure that we get them by staying safe and healthy at the same time
because the athletes' careers depend upon those decisions.
And again, lots of you guys out there have experienced injuries from those same 5 exercises
that I show you in that video.
And Arnold himself with his very favorite Fly's exercise did an interview in 1977 where
he talked about tearing his pec twice while doing Fly's.
So, we have to take all that in consideration and finally, his training workouts were legendary,
2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours at a time.
He could go and do that a day
and then come back the next day and come back the next day.
But again, you've got to look back at the first point when training with anabolic steroid
usage,
you're going to be able to do some crazy and amazing things like that because your recovery
is going to be greatly enhanced.
But that's not what we're doing here, guys.
We've got to make sure that if we're going to train, we're going to train with intensity,
and we're going to get the job done quickly.
With that being said, there's 5 things that Arnold and I do agree on, and it starts right
there with his training intensity.
TRAINING INTENSITY
Very few people train with the intensity of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
All you have to do is look at just a few of his training footage or clips or still photos,
and I guarantee you that every single one of them and if he is mid-set, has got him
gritting his teeth because this guy pushed it every single time.
Matter of fact, it was legendary, his back and forth that he would have with his training
partners to push for just a single additional repetition.
Now why did he do that?
Because he knew that you don't just show up to the gym hoping to get results.
You have to force change.
You have to force results.
And I've got to tell you guys, if you show up to the gym thinking that you're going to
get results just because you get there, that's the wrong mindset.
And it's certainly not what Arnold would condone and it's certainly not what we condone here
at ATHLEANX.
I tell you all the time.
If you're going to be there, put the effort in to get the change that you need to get
out of your workouts.
And I'll tell you, anybody can show up to the gym if they got a few bucks worth of gas
and have a gym membership.
But that doesn't mean that everybody looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If you bring the intensity that you need to your workouts, you will start to change your
body.
I guarantee you.
And if you have to look to somebody for inspiration, see if you can dig up some old clips of this
guy training, and that should be more than enough incentive to change how hard you're
training.
THE ONE DAY CURE
The second thing related to the first one which was Intensity, is a technique that Arnold
used that was certainly intense, The One Day Cure.
He would head up into the mountains with his buddies, take along one piece of equipment,
select one exercise, and do that thing over and over and over again.
And that would be his entire workout.
Why do I believe in this?
I believe that you can absolutely do that.
You can take a single exercise and make it into a workout.
How do you do it?
With intensity.
Again, maybe you've got to adjust those hours that Arnold had because we don't train under
the same influence he did.
However, however, if you have the intent and the intensity in your workout, then you can
take an exercise and make it into a workout.
So much so, in one of our entire phases of NXT, we have our Slash and Burn training.
We devote a single exercise as the only exercise to that workout.
You can get the results, guys.
You can always get results if you choose an exercise, concentrate on getting that movement
from point A to point B using the muscles that you're supposed to be using in the movement.
Don't just try to move a bar or try to get from point A to point B thinking that that's
the goal.
It's only the goal if you get there using the muscles that you were intending to use
in the first place.
Arnold knew this.
He practiced this.
He lived this, and we do, too.
SHOCK THE MUSCLES
Number 3, showcasing the actual Yin and Yang of Arnold Schwarzenegger and just how complete
he was when he approached his training was the fact that he also believed in
shocking the muscle and not doing the same thing over and over again, and applying a
variety of high intensity techniques from Running the Rack to Drop Sets to Negative
Only Sets
to Forced Reps, so many different techniques.
Why?
Because he truly realized that in order to change your body, you have to challenge yourself
atall aspects.
And you have to do so in a way that your body is not comfortable.Guys, if there's one thing
you learn from this principle is that your workouts should never feel comfortable,
if you want to at least garner a change from them.
If you want to garner a change, you have to challenge yourself.
Your workouts should be very inefficient.
I know there's certain training methodologists today who believe that the goal is to become
very efficient in what you do, but not if you're looking to force size gains,
not if you're looking to become a bigger, better version of yourself, a stronger version
of yourself.
You have to realize that all these methods and techniques
make your muscles uncomfortable and unaware of what's coming next, and even as a trainer
to athletes, we can't predict everything that's going to happen on the field.
The moment you think that you're going to train somebody specifically for what's going
to happen on the field is the moment you become a bad trainer.
Because when they get out on the field, something unpredictable happens always, and if they're
not training in the weight room to handle and be prepared for that unpredictability,
then they're going to be doing themselves a disservice.
So, if anything, make sure that you're employing a lot of different techniques.
We apply hundreds of techniques throughout all of our ATHLEANX Training Programs that
keep you guessing, that keep your muscles on their toes so that
they're never used to what you're doing but as a matter of fact, they are forcing themselves
to change to adapt to what you're doing.
21's
Number 4, and one of those specific techniques that I didn't mention last time is 21's.
Now we know he's famous for doing and applying his 21's to Curls.
And what the 21's are if you're not familiar, he would start in the lower range or the lower
half of the range of motion on a Curl.
He'd perform 7 reps down from the low point to the halfway point.
From the halfway point he would then perform 7 reps from here and up,
obviously having to stop at the hardest range of motion and then come back up, 7 reps that
way.
But before he put the bar down, he'd have to then go and do full reps for 7 more.
So you get 7, 7, and 7, there's his 21.
One of the best techniques that I use, again, from the time I was a small guy, a small kid,
trying to become Arnold Schwarzenegger til now.
And not only that, but we employ that technique with lots more than just Curls.
Matter of fact, in ATHLEANX, we apply it ab exercises.
There's lots of ways that you can take ab exercises, divide the range of motion up into
that lower half, top half, and of course the full range, and get tremendous results from
it.
DETERMINATION
And last but not least, one thing we can all learn from Arnold Schwarzenegger is the fact
that when it comes to training, he never made excuses and
he never let anybody stand in the way between him and his goals.
He had a determination unlike any other.
You look at it.
This is a guy who came to this country not speaking English,
who went on to become the governor of California.
This is someone who proclaimed to us all that he was going to be the next big action star,
got laughed at,
and then became the next big action star So, you think about it, are there people who have
told you you can't do something?
Maybe now, beginning of January you've set a resolution and people say, 'Hey, you're
not gonna stick to it.'
Or they try to drag you down because it makes them feel better about
themselves that they've already given up.
Don't let it happen.
If anything, let Arnold inspire you to do something different this year.
Set a goal and stick to it.
Don't make excuses.
I know them all.
I, I, guys.
I've used them all.
I've used them all myself.
Didn't have enough training equipment at home to work out.
Didn't have a gym membership or couldn't get to the gym.
I, uh, I wasn't strong enough.
I couldn't do a certain exercise.
You work within your limitations, and then you figure out a way to get it done.
We all might have some limitations.
We all might have some inconveniences, but there's always a way to get it done, and Arnold
Schwarzenegger always found a way to get it done.
And as I've said, if there's negative people that try to deter you from your own determination
to reaching your goals, then you've got to figure out a way to get around them, too,
because nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to achieve if you set your mind
to it, and that is one big thing that I learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger for sure.
Guys, if you found this video helpful, if you like Arnold Schwarzenegger, obviously
as much as I do, if you grew up, whether or not you even own the book ok
because I know a lot of you guys out there do, the fact is, you can learn something from
anybody.
You can be inspired by anybody.
You don't have to agree with everything they say,
but you could be inspired by somebody to do things and change the way that you do things
and I certainly was here, leave your comments below.
Let me know what inspires you.
and lastly, if you're looking for a training program that not only reflects the influences
I had in my development and my career,
but has now taken it to the next level, put the science back in strength, then guys, that's
the ATHLEANX Training System.
You can find it over at ATHLEANX.COM.
In the meantime, if you found this video helpful, leave a thumb's up.
And tell us whatever else it is that you want to see, and I'll be sure to make that video
in the coming weeks.
See you soon guys.