Four Mr. Universe titles, seven Mr. Olympia titles, Conan, Terminator, Governor…does he really need an introduction?
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most famous bodybuilder of all time, an honor he’ll no doubt still hold a century from now. Partly this is because during his Olympia reign his two best bodyparts were biceps and pecs, and these are the two tank top showboats, the muscles that everyone associates with a bodybuilder’s physique. His chest in particular is widely considered the best ever.
So let’s let Arnold describe how he built it with a classic quote and a classic routine from back in the day.
ARNOLD ON HIS FAVORITE CHEST WORKOUT
“I always like to start my chest routine with barbell bench presses. I'll use the pyramid principle, starting with a lighter weight and going to a heavy weight for six reps. After that I’ll do barbell presses on an incline to hit the upper chest. These I like to do for 10 to 15 reps and get a good pump. After that I do dumbbell flyes on a flat bench to really stretch out my pecs and hit the inner part. And finally I’ll end my routine with dips, and I lean into these a lot. This also stretch out my pecs and get a lot of blood in there. Dips also focuses more on my lower pecs.”
