Watched Arnold on Netflix and got inspired to just get back to basics and lift lots of iron once again (with quit a bit of cardio mixed in). There’s a scene in the 1st episode where he describes picking 4 muscle groups / exercises and doing 20 sets of each (not doing that many don’t worry), which made me feel something for the first time in a while 💥💥💥
Doing this for the next 4 weeks—Welcome to the Arnold Recomp 💪💪💪
Daily Pre-Workout Stretch
Hip Cycle (repeat for each leg)
Kneeling hip flexor stretch (30 seconds)
Dragon pose (30 seconds)
Kneeling, knee-to-butt (30 seconds)
Half-splits (1 min 10 seconds)
Spend 10 seconds during this with toes angled outwards or inwards
Full splits (30 seconds)
Additional Stretches I always Do
Cat cows with flipped wrists
Hip Cars (hip / leg circles while on all 4s)
Frog Pose
Deep Squat
Skandasana (deep squat on 1 side with the other leg straight and toes pointed towards ceiling)
Sitting hip activation (sit on butt with feet on ground and drop knees side to side making your legs look like a 4)
Additional Stretches I Sometimes Do
Sitting or standing wide-leg forward fold
Standing or sitting straight leg forward fold
Pigeon
Shoulder pigeon
Puppy pose (often on yoga blocks)
Monday (Chest and Shoulders)
Stretch / Warmup
Circuit 1 (10x through as fast as possible)
10x Flat Barbell Bench
10x Military Dumbbell Press
Circuit 2 (4x through w/ 30 sec rests between sets)
10x bent arm lateral dumbbell fly
10x bent over dumbbell shoulder fly
Treadmill Cardio (speed / incline used are examples and should be tailored)
5 minutes at 7.5 MPH 0% incline
13 sets (every 2 sets, increase interval speed by 0.1 MPH to increase difficulty)
2 minutes at 8.0+ MPH 5% incline
1 minute at 7.5 MPG 0% incline
Tuesday (Back and Triceps)
Stretch / Warmup
Circuit 1 (10x through as fast as possible)
10x barbell row
10x barbell skullcrushers (super setting this may be difficult in the gym but any basic tricep exercise works)
Circuit 2 (4x through w/ 30 sec rests between sets)
10x tricep pushdowns
10x straight-arm pushdowns
Treadmill Cardio (speed / incline used are examples and should be tailored; speed not changed until the last 10 minutes for this circuit)
5 minutes at 8.0 MPH 0% incline
15 minute circuit:
Every minute-on-the-minute increase incline by 0.5% (final minute will be at 7.5%)
5 minutes at 8.0 MPH 0.5% incline
5 minutes at 10.0 MPH 0.5% incline (2 MPH increase from baseline)
5 minutes at 7.5 MPH 0.5% incline (2 MPH decrease from baseline)
Wednesday (Legs and Core)
Stretch / Warmup
Circuit 1 (10x through as fast as possible)
10x deadlifts
Max toes-to-bar
Circuit 2 (4x through w/ 1 min rest between sets)
10x front squats
Circuit 3 (4x through w/ 1 min rest between sets)
10x seated calf raises
30x seated calf raise pumps (bottom to middle)
30x seated calf raise pumps (middle to top)
Core Exercises
100x weighted decline sit ups (as fast as possible)
100x ab wheels (as fast as possible)
100x half v-ups, 50 each side (50 of right hand to left leg and vice versa; opposite hand and leg on the ground for the exercise)
As fast as possible but turn into “digestible” chunks
Stairmaster Cardio (DO NOT HOLD ONTO THE RAIL) (speed / incline used are examples and should be tailored)
5 circuits:
2 minutes “walk” (e.g., 10)
1 minute “jog” (e.g., 16)
Thursday (Yoga + Cardio)
45 min Peloton or other Yoga (Kirra Michel for Peloton is amazing)
Treadmill Cardio:
30 min easy jog (e.g., 7 MPH for me)
15 min incline walk (4 MPH at 15% incline is pretty intense for me)
Friday (Chest and Back)
Stretch / Warmup
Circuit 1 (10x through as fast as possible)
10x incline barbell bench
Max wide-grip pullups
Circuit 2 (4x through as fast as possible)
10x dumbbell flys
10x each arm, single arm dumbbell rows
Treadmill Cardio:
30 min easy jog (e.g., 7 MPH for me)
15 min incline walk (4 MPH at 15% incline is pretty intense for me)
Saturday (HIIT Cardio on a Track or Treadmill)
Stretch / Warmup
Track / Treadmill Cardio
2 mile jog warmup (6 - 8 MPH on treadmill)
4 x 1 mile sprints (3 min rest between each one)
4 x 1/2 mile sprints (2 min rest between each one)
4 x 1/4 mile sprints (2 min rest between each one)
2 mile jog cooldown (6 - 8 MPH on treadmill)
Sunday (Legs, Biceps, and Core)
Stretch / Warmup
Circuit 1 (10x through as fast as possible)
10x back squats
10x barbell curls
Circuit 2 (4x through as fast as possible)
10x each side barbell back lunges
10x dumbbell
20 minutes of Peloton or other core workout
Treadmill Cardio:
30 min easy jog (e.g., 7 MPH for me)
15 min incline walk (4 MPH at 15% incline is pretty intense for me)