Arnold's Encyclopedia

[Jr. Yates]

ahhaha good story!

[pac-man]

Definately an inspirational book yet it is near impossible to follow the routines even if you had all day to do nothing but eat, sleep, and train.  Great book none the less.

[FREAKgeek]

Pretty much agreed. Worth the read and pics if you're into iron history.  Thats it. Training advice is enough to kill an adult gorilla.

[kicker]

I like the first edition better because of the pics of old-school greats like Franco, Waller, etc.  I don't think the text itself underwent much revision when the new edition came out.

[gibberj2]

bigironmike i think arnold didn't train that way at all he just pretended to, to fool everyone else into doing everything wrong. there are many stories about arnold doing stuff like that.

[snatch_clean]

bigironmike i think arnold didn't train that way at all he just pretended to, to fool everyone else into doing everything wrong. there are many stories about arnold doing stuff like that.

If you ever read any of the old muscle mags from the 70's you will find most the pros trained with what will today be considered excessive volume. If you compare the training routines of today's pros with those from the "Iron Age" then its apparent that doing high frequency high volume work was considered the only way to build muscle during Arnold's time. 25 rep warm-up sets and pyramiding and hitting each bodypart with in excess of 20 sets was the norm.

Now we all know muscle mags aren't the place to get honest training information. But comparing apples to apples (muscle mags from the 70's to the late 90's) training volume recommendations have decreased considerably.

Arnold despite whatever other claims he may make is NOT a bodybuilding pioneer in forms of training. He did whatever every other pro did and that included the drug routines. Arnold himself says he came to the US to take advantage of their superior training and supplementation knowledge. Like any pro he adjusted the training to suit his own body but none of his recommendations are either original or groundbreaking. He is not an Arthur Jones or a Vince Gironda. The training routines in the book are a regurgitation of the old muscle rags and from Arnold's Education of a BB. The only thing that the book is good for is the pictures.

[Gord]

...Arnold despite whatever other claims he may make is NOT a bodybuilding pioneer in forms of training. He did whatever every other pro did and that included the drug routines. .

I don't think I've ever read anywhere Arnold claiming to be a "bodybuilding pioneer".

Almost ever bodybuilder or trainer, including figures like Gironda and Jones, would've been influenced, to varying degrees, on their training philosophy by what came before. Of course they would add their own touches and interpertations. Although to be fair to Jones, many of his nautilus machine designs were original and inventive.

[snatch_clean]

I don't think I've ever read anywhere Arnold claiming to be a "bodybuilding pioneer".

Almost ever bodybuilder or trainer, including figures like Gironda and Jones, would've been influenced, to varying degrees, on their training philosophy by what came before. Of course they would add their own touches and interpertations. Although to be fair to Jones, many of his nautilus machine designs were original and inventive.

Of course he did not make the claim to be a bodybuilding thinker. He did whatever was needed to get big.

I always find it funny when people say that no one can train each bodypart 3x weekly and with high volume. One must look at the way the Bulgarian weightlifting team trained under Abadjiev. 3 training sessions per day on MWF and 2 sessions for TuThSa. Granted each workout lasted only between 20-30 minutes with low reps (singles mostly and a few doubles) and only a few lifts were trained (clean and jerk, front squat and snatches). As for the crazy drug regimes that they are supposed to take its common knowledge that the only "sport" where drugs are so integral to success is bodybuilding. No other sport relies so heavily in chemical assistance, not weightlifting, not sprinting, throwing or jumping except possibly powerlifting. Anabolics help accelerate protein synthesis therefore it will definitely help the Bulgarians recover faster. Combined with a maintenance diet ensure they stay in their weight class but eventually come competition time they have to wean themselves off the sauce (for the purposes of passing the drug tests). And anabolics do not help the CNS recover. When you are doing over a third of your lifts at over 90% of your 1RM you are sitting right at the edge of burning out your CNS.

I think muscle fatigue is highly overrated and most people can make faster gains by avoiding muscle failure and cyling their intensity and going heavy every 3rd or 4th workout. 2x weekly squatting is not a big deal for a person on a decent diet its the heavy deadlifting that causes rapid burnout and not surprisingly the Bulgarians never did any heavy pulls (explosive deadlifts topped off with a second pull) as heavy pulls exceed what they can clean and their top squats were conservative (20% more than their max clean). Of course the Bulgarian example is just an example as how one can sustain high frequency. It is important to note that the highly tested and clean (not sarcastic) American weightlifting team trains with what they called the Modified Bulgarian (to suit their lack of chemical assistance).

[WillRiker]

Minimization of fatigue is key when you want to incorporate multiple workouts per week. Weightlifters squat 3-5 times a week. The Bulgarian system called for squatting each training day. Of course they kept their reps low (mostly singles, doubles and a few triples). No high rep failure training.

I made the greatest size gains in my legs when I trained them twice a week. I was careful to minimize low back fatigue. I was doing some kind of pulling movement everyday and squatting 2x weekly. I could constantly feel my back. Eventually one adapts or decides to chicken out and cut back on frequency. Given that all the pro BB'ers are doing drugs it is easy to see how they could sustain such workouts.

Plus it is their job. I always make the greatest strength gains during the summers when I had not a thing to do. Once school begins my gains slow down. A lot of pros keep day jobs but thats not a priority it just helps with their grocery bills. School is my priority and I might only be getting 6 hrs sleep and not 9 hours after a big squat day.

Exactly, just keep the fatique in check and you can train a muscle several times a week!

[GoneAway]

Awesome book.

[TMATX]

Great book. Motivational etc....Great for exercise reference

I tried the Intermediate II workout plan. I was looking to advance my program and I was pretty much on my own for a year. So I bought this book figured I had been working out for about year and wanted to try the Intermediate II program. My goals are to go in to Figure/Fitness. LMAO like I said I was on my own at the time (clueless).... so I did the program in the book for about 2 weeks. Holy hell I have never been so sore or tired in my life. That was all it lasted for me. I thought it was just because I was a female that I was having issues with it.

And then I met my w-out partner (fitness pro) who was like WTF are you thinking? We had many great laughs about it still to this day. You live and you learn. :)It seems BBing & training has evolved so much since the time those workouts were published. I could be wrong.

[gibberj2]

I'm absolutely certain that Arnold didn't train with half that frequency. He was just saying the same garbage that everyone else said and kept the truth to himself. that's the way things are.

[Darren Avey]

Dear Friends
Kind regards
The Arnold encyclopdiea is a load of crap, he would never tell people how he trained.
As neither do i, i want people to continue to be jealous of my physique which is why i never tell them how i get to look this good, i dont want people getting as good as i am.
yours faithfully
John

[Jr. Yates]

Even if you did give all your secrets away they might not even work for any of the people to learn them. but yes i don't think Arnold would give away everything but his book has to be somewhat exciting to read, otherwise it won't make any money.

[FREAKgeek]

I own the first edition. 
The thing I notice is that you can tell that there were still tensions between Arnold and Sergio when the book was published. There are hardly no pics of Sergio in the book and in the "hall of fame" color section, it's a pic of sergio way past his prime.

Also, in the competition area, there is no display of the 1980 mr O scorecard, it seemed to of skipped over that year.

just subtleties I’ve noticed

[Sean-DeMarco]

Hey guys I just got this book for christmas.....I've been wanting it forever. What do you guys think of it, so far I love it and I'm already learning some more stuff...mostly about diet but its got some excersises i've never seen before in it.

...Great book, very motivational. I own both the paperback (circa. 1988) and bought the anniversary hardcover edition when it was released as well.~

[marcie999]

The pictures and the different exercises are inspiring. I've read and heard enough of what a bastard arnie was to secure an advantage and a win, so I dont believe he's set out all his secrets. I remember my bro and his BB mates all telling stories about how sneaky and egomaniacal he was. Still, I guess if you are an experienced BB you can read the book and fill in the gaps about the "supplements" and dosage regimes he's left out.  The copies at our library are constantly on loan and falling apart.

[gibberj2]

yea but the routines are totaly bogus and cannot be performed by human beings.

[dorkeroo]

I am actually lucky enough to have a signed, personalized copy. I have another one that I read and the signed one that I keep for myself.

[Jr. Yates]

whoa! that is lucky how did you get to see Arnold?

[dorkeroo]

whoa! that is lucky how did you get to see Arnold?

It was actually an auction I never got to meet him. Needless to say after that item he never auctioned (to my knowledge) anything like that again, just autographed things. I remember it was something I actually wanted that I got for once. It is authentic and actually, my brothers and I compared the writing to the writing he does on Total Recall, and it was spot on, it is pretty neat.

[Darren Avey]

So you paid about 10 times what the book retails for in stores just because some clown signed it?!

[dorkeroo]

So you paid about 10 times what the book retails for in stores just because some clown signed it?!

Yes I paid 10 times what it retails for. You know, I don't know you, you don't know me and I think perhaps you are out of line. If you are like this in person, I can only imagine what a treat you are to be around. Please keep comments like this to yourself. I didn't pay that much for it, it was important for me to have and I wanted it. I really wish people like you were accountable for saying stupid things like this. Even in person I would have more respect for it, but, not on here.

[anvil]

Nice, big heavy book.  i can press it over my head for 7-8 reps!

[pumpster]

The book is one of many with good training advice; it gets a lot more attention because his name's on it. The principles are nothing new, as Bill Pearl said. The only difference is the amount of volume. The same exercises can be used with reduced volume and frequency.

His published routines have been consistent dating back to magazine articles I read in the 70s, and were similar to what others were doing; no fiction there. His love of volume was such that it motivated him in '80, as most know. Cutting up while on roids following a double-split for 2-3 months a year with no other occupation, while living a great life on the beach is far from impossible.

3 times a week training per muscle's viable including going to failure every workout, if volume's on the low side.

No surprise that only a few mediocre pics of Oliva are included. He always understood that perception = reality for those who don't try to read between the lines.