In case you missed the introductory article for this series, I am one of the authors of Bodybuilding and fitnessand with Week 1 of “The Arnold Challenge” over, here’s what happened.
This challenge requires me to train for a month in a way very similar to seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger during his reign as the #1 bodybuilder on the planet.
For those of you who aren’t into strength training, this calls for two two-hour workouts a day, six days a week, which will include all major muscle groups trained three times during that week. Yes, that’s a lot of volume with little time for recovery. Marathons can be run in less time than it takes to complete a lower body workout.
As of this writing, I’m in the middle of week two, and the first nine days of training have all had their share of unique challenges and highlights. And yes, the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) was intense.
The good news for me, however, is that I’m already seeing results. After a week and three full-body workouts in these two-hour workouts, I’ve already lost eight pounds on the scale, and there are certain lifts I’m getting stronger in. An example is on the incline bench press. The first time I did this workout, I barely lifted 225 pounds for my last set. Now I finish with 235. I can also flat press 125 for reps, even after multiple sets. From now on this will be the maximum number of dumbbells since 125 is the heaviest set I have right now. I wonder what a pair of 150s would look like towards the end of this program.
Before I started, I hadn’t squatted much in the past few months. I train legs, but focus more on goblet squats, leg presses, even some trap bar work. Suddenly, it took me time to get used to getting back under a bar. By the third time I trained the legs, I felt much more comfortable squatting, even with the intense agony my legs felt afterwards. I still need to get stronger with this lift, but I’m pretty confident it’s coming.
Adjustments made after Week 1 of the Arnold Challenge
While I was able to take the time to do these workouts without taking any shortcuts, there are factors that I need to work with and around in order to achieve them. Because I train at home, I don’t have items like a full cable station, hack squat machine, or any of the stand-alone machines you find in many gyms. So I do dumbbell work or use heavier bands whenever possible. As long as it’s a comparable challenge, I go with it.
Also, like many of you, I have a family. My wife and youngest son support this business, but I still want and need to be the best husband and father I need to be. Some days are harder than others, but when I ask them if I’m ignoring them or not doing enough, they keep supporting me.
Then there’s my nine-to-five job. I’m actually lucky to work from home, but I have commitments that need to be kept, which means work days start earlier than normal and can go on late into the night. But the work is getting done. So, to make up for the four hours of training, I got up early to take care of those commitments. Some days I also go to bed a little later. The advantage is that I can take a nap here and there when needed without having to worry about being reported to HR. And I’ve needed a quick downtime on more than one occasion.
Last but not least is during the training itself. When Arnold trained for his world championships, he did so alongside other bodybuilding legends such as Franco Columbu, Frank Zane, Ed Corney and others who graced the weight room at the original Gold’s Gym in Venice, in California. It was also summer.
Conditioning for cold weather
Right now, as my dog continues to bark at passing cars, I’m training in a barn with a high temperature hovering around 35 degrees. That’s been about average lately for your typical West Virginia winter. Sometimes it’s hard to complete supersets when all you want to do is layer as many hoodies, hats, and gloves as possible.
Because of the cold conditions, it’s sometimes hard to get up for every workout because I don’t have that voice to push me or that partner to encourage me to get those last two or three reps which Arnold says is what who makes a champion. Luckily, a few friends put up with a lot of texts between sets and pushed me because they want to see this over now that I’m so far away. This is important when you are in the middle of your second round and doing more than 30 sets of thighs.
Speaking of which, I’ve generally trained with a more intense style of training, so at the high end I can do a little over 30 real work sets per week. I’m also usually done after an hour at most. There are over 30 individual sets on the calves alone in a workout of this program. So you can imagine the amount of work I do with the other body parts. The volume came as a shock to me after Week 1 of the Arnold Challenge.
When it comes to calf training in particular, I don’t have the most optimal equipment for it, so I made the most of my dumbbells and dumbbells. Also, after doing several supersets for quads and hamstrings, it can be quite easy to skip calf training — or at least a few sets — and call it a day. Trying to focus on turning my toes the right way and getting quality contractions can be a mental challenge, especially when I can walk about 200 feet and have dinner at any time.
However, the point of this is to make the program as accurate as possible. So when that third set of the fourth exercise is complete, cutting steps or moving on to the next move is not an option, especially now that there are people in the world who are puzzled by this. I can’t talk about it if I don’t do it right. So, I execute and convince myself that the effort will be worth it. And of course, I really have that faith, otherwise I wouldn’t have started this to begin with.
One week off, three to go
It’s a pink image that can be painted, but I have to be clear about that. The workouts are intense, tough, time consuming, and my percussion gun has been working a lot of overtime to help me recover. I also know that it won’t be the easiest road either. There may be a serious cold front in my area that prevents me from working out, something life related may happen that requires me to make adjustments, and I know there will be days when the weights will be heavier than others.
But now that I’m on this road, I’m finishing the journey, and I hope you’ll join me by following me on my Instagram @rocklockridgewhere I will occasionally share photos, videos and comments.
