Foundation is everything. Build a solid foundation first and all else falls into place. The Parable that contrasts the folly of building a house on sand versus the wisdom of building one on a rock is timeless.
In building muscle, in getting stronger, in getting healthy; it’s all about setting the foundation – First!
And in laying the proper foundation, you would do no better than to listen to, or rather follow the guidelines of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s freehand exercise program.
Just to be clear, put aside all the hype and promises of magazines and self-proclaimed gurus aside for moment. You know the promises…
Gain 40 lbs. in 3 months!
Put 3 inches on your guns in 4 weeks!
Guaranteed to get you MASSIVE in 2 weeks!
Those magazines – and some muscle promoters – are shameless.
In reality, or in my reality, if you can gain 1 to 2 lbs. of lean muscle per MONTH; you’re doing great. Think about it. Next time you’re at the supermarket, take a look at what 12 lbs. of beef equates to. That’s a lot of muscle.
Now imagine it spread over your shoulders, back, chest, arms, and legs with a slim waist. You’d look pretty good.
But first you have to set a foundation…
A muscle building course that I really like is Rusty Moore’s Visual Impact Muscle Building Ebook. You can google it to find out more about it or you can check out my review of it by clicking here.
One of my concerns with his program is that it basically throws a everyone into the same program. There’s no foundation building for beginners.
That’s in complete contrast to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s philosophy. And that’s what I want to talk about.
Which would be appropriate as this is part 3 of my Arnold articles.
In the first article on Arnold Schwarzenegger, I discussed his thoughts on having the right mindset and the need for having goals – you can read it here.
In the second article, I talked a bit about his thoughts on eating and nutrition. It was the eat big – get big approach. Although he has stated periodically throughout his career, and post career, that he never subscribed to the bulk-up/cut-up approach to muscle building – I guessing he might have!
Now let’s talk about setting the foundation…
For most experts and gurus, setting the foundation is using compound exercises and starting out with a whole body routine in one session and doing it 3 times a week. There is almost no thought given to free-hand exercises. And if there is, it’s minimal.
But free-hand exercises is crucial to getting your body functionally strong and primed for muscle building. Arnold wrote in his seminal autobiography, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder:
“In the beginning it is advisable for you to lay a solid foundation with what we call ‘freehand exercises.’”
“Freehand exercises help build muscle size, give definition, and create the kind of muscle contour that gives the body the look of a sculptured Greek god.”
“Freehand exercises are the perfect way to begin bodybuilding.”
And here’s what I truly appreciate about Arnold’s commitment to helping guys get in great shape. He doesn’t tell you to join an expensive gym, hire a personal trainer, buy weights/benches/etc., or any of that. He advises everyone to start with freehand exercises and stay with it for 2 to 6 months.
Freehand exercises cost nothing – only your time and commitment. And without those 2, all that other stuff is meaningless.
That’s great advice.
By the way, back in the mid-70′s – before his book came out – I bought all his training booklets (along with everybody else’s). One of this booklets was dedicated to using freehand exercises. It’s where I first saw a handstand push-up being done. I was thinking – wow! To this day, that’s a great movement that will smoke your shoulders.
Let’s talk about Arnold’s workout recommendation, then I’ll share some of mine.
Exercises
- Push-ups – Basic upper body movement that really hits the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core muscles statically (plank).
- Dips Between Chairs – Use 2 chairs that are strong enough to hold your weight. Which means no plastic or patio chairs. Strong, sturdy dining chairs.
- Rowing Between Chairs – Great movement for your upper back. Just takes a broomstick and 2 chairs.
- Bent-Leg Sit-ups – Has fallen out of favor with all those “experts” but it really works your whole abdominal group plus your upper leg tie-ins.
- Bent-Leg Raises – Lie on your back with your hands under your rear for support. Your chin on your chest and pull the knees to your chest.
- Bent-Over Twists – With broomstick across the back of your shoulders, lean over until your upper body is parallel to the floor and twist your torso left to right and back.
- Deep Knee Bends – Stand tall and squat all the way down. You can elevate your heels on a book for balance or as you descend, roll up on your toes so that your butt hits your heels. You can also extend your arms out in front of you as you descend for balance.
- Calf Raises – Done one leg at a time. Step up on a thick book with just the balls of one foot. Go up and down, then switch legs.
- Close-Grip Biceps Chins – Done with hands about a foot apart. You will need a chinning bar.
Training Guidelines
- Arnold advises against using a particular set or rep sequence here. Rather, he suggests picking a number. Let’s say 20 because you can only do 5. Or 50, if you can do 20. Pick a number and shoot to do the total in a few a sets a possible. The first few workouts you might do 4 sets of 20, then 14, then 10, then 6 while resting about 30 seconds between sets. But the key is perfect form. 5 reps 10 times with precise form is better than 2 sets of 25 sloppy push-ups.
- Higher reps for Legs and abs. For abs, the minimum total is 100 reps or more. For legs, he looks for minimum total of 50 – as in 2 or 3 sets of 50 reps. But your legs are strong and can handle it.
- Make time to jog or swim. For jogging, Arnold writes “running around the block is okay, but I would suggest something more imaginative, such as cross-country running, which is running up and down hills, jumping over trees, and other things that really get the body moving. (Jumping on and off curbs, dodging between parking meters and cars can give a similar result.)”
- He also recommended interval training or wind sprints. A long time before all this HIIT fad hit.
- Give full concentration to each exercises. Feel what the exercise does to the muscles as you move.
- Good form is more important than number of reps. Add resistance as you get stronger but never at the expense of good form.
- After a workout, do some poses in front of mirror and check you progress – honestly.
- Eat well and rest adequately.
My thoughts
I love freehand exercises. Push-ups, dips, chins, deep knee bends are all great ways to strengthen your body and build muscles.
In fact, there is something about moving your whole body that makes it fundamentally different and harder than its weightlifting counterpart. Think about it. What is harder – wide grip chins where you touch your chest all the way up to the bar or lat pulldowns. When I was close to 220 lbs., I could do maybe 8 chins but used upwards of 270 on the lat pulldowns.
Why are squats harder than leg presses? You move your whole body in every rep versus just pushing with your legs on a leg press machine.
It’s like all the “little supporting muscles” stabilize and work harder to support the main movers. And it makes the freehand exercise just that much harder.
If you’re interested, I did a little – crappy – video of me recommending a freehand exercise circuit routine that will challenge you and make you break a sweat – a big sweat. All it takes are 2 chairs and a broomstick. Try it for a few weeks – guarantee you will get a good workout.
I was going to link but – hey it’s my website – here’s the video (mute or turn off the volume – it’s not worth it)
Lastly, in his words -
“Anything worth doing at all is worth doing well. Put your heart and soul into your training, diet and sleep programs. Success in bodybuilding could be a key to other successes. It has been for me. I believe you can do anything you want – build a great body, obtain wealth, be a success in life – if you want it badly enough and are willing to work for it with all your heart.”
Amen.
