Freak Fitness
Darren Mehling
BA, CSCS
As a strongman competitor, Darren has pulled 50,000 lb trucks and dead lifted 805 lbs. As a competitive bodybuilder, he has won Provincial Super-heavyweight & Overall titles. As President & CEO of FREAK Fitness, he has coached his clients to hundreds of Novice, Provincial/State, National, and IFBB Pro titles. Having been involved in the sport of bodybuilding for over 20 years, Darren has his finger on the pulse of the local and international bodybuilding scenes, and will be keeping you informed through his column, “Freak Fitness."
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What Arnold knew at the time that most others did not was that what made this “double-split” method work so well was frequency. Because Arnold was able to train a specific body part twice as often as those training it just once a week, he was able to double the amount of stimulus, and ultimately able to build his body twice as fast. Arnold especially loved the a.m./p.m. training split because it allowed him to get in one training session in the morning before he went to work and then another session after work.
Now, before you consider trying this advanced training schedule, you must take into account that the need for optimal recovery is increased dramatically; there’s very little room for deviation. For an Arnold-like “double-split” to be successful for you, you’ll have to make sure you have the time outside career and family obligations to train twice a day. You’ll also have to make sure you get at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night, and you’ll have to make sure you’re consuming enough food and taking proper nutritional supplements such as BCAAs and creatine HCl to maximize recovery.
With that said, if you can ensure those recovery elements are met, go ahead and train like Arnold … so you can gain like Arnold!
SO YOU WANT TO TRAIN TWICE A DAY LIKE ARNOLD?
There’s no debate that Arnold has become a legend not just in the sport of bodybuilding, but in business, film, and politics as well.
As an athlete, he won the Mr. Europe contest at age 19, he won the Mr. Universe contest five times, and he won the Mr. Olympia contest seven times. As an entrepreneur, Arnold used money from his small mail-order business and his bodybuilding competition prize winnings to make investments in real estate, helping him become a millionaire by the age of 30. As an actor, Arnold became one of the top-earning male action stars in the 1990s with his leading role in the Terminator movies, among others. As a politician, in 2003 Arnold became only the second foreign-born governor of California.
One thing that helped Arnold always best his competition was his unrivaled work ethic. During his bodybuilding career, Arnold was famous for training twice a day, which he believed allowed him to do twice as much work as his competition.
At first, Arnold received a lot of criticism for his high-frequency training. Many argued that training twice a day and training major body parts twice a week would quickly lead to overtraining and injury. After Arnold started his winning streak, showing dramatic improvements each subsequent time onstage, the same critics took a closer look at what Arnold was doing, because clearly it was working!
Arnold switched up his training split over time, based on what he felt he needed to focus on, but the most common training split he followed was this:
Mon: Quads (a.m.), Hams (p.m.)
Tues: Chest (a.m.), Back (p.m.)
Wed: Delts (a.m.), Arms (p.m.)
Thu: Quads (a.m.), Hams (p.m.)
Fri: Chest (a.m.), Back (p.m.)
Sat: Delts (a.m.), Arms (p.m.)
Each workout was no longer than 45 minutes, but his volume ranged from 20 to more than 30 sets each session.
What Arnold knew at the time that most others did not was that what made this “double-split” method work so well was frequency. Because Arnold was able to train a specific body part twice as often as those training it just once a week, he was able to double the amount of stimulus, and ultimately able to build his body twice as fast. Arnold especially loved the a.m./p.m. training split because it allowed him to get in one training session in the morning before he went to work and then another session after work.
Now, before you consider trying this advanced training schedule, you must take into account that the need for optimal recovery is increased dramatically; there’s very little room for deviation. For an Arnold-like “double-split” to be successful for you, you’ll have to make sure you have the time outside career and family obligations to train twice a day. You’ll also have to make sure you get at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night, and you’ll have to make sure you’re consuming enough food and taking proper nutritional supplements such as BCAAs and creatine HCl to maximize recovery.
With that said, if you can ensure those recovery elements are met, go ahead and train like Arnold … so you can gain like Arnold!
Instead of training twice a day, what if you spent half your day training! Check out our 12-hour arm blitz special here!
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