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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bodyweight Home Workout Routine

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bodyweight Home Workout Routine

Arnold's regime is simple.

Do as many sets as necessary to hit the prescribed reps for the beginner and advanced workout regime.

If the exercise states 50 reps you can do 2 sets of 25, 5 sets of 10 etc. whatever range you need to break each set down into is fine (in the CrossFit world this is known as a 'chipper' workout) - just ensure your form is on point.

Below you'll find my form guide for each of Arnold's exercises as well as the beginner and advanced regimes below.

You can view Arnold's original post on Reddit, 'Stay home, stay fit' here.

Arnold's Exercises


Position your hands on the floor, slightly wider than shoulder width.

Straighten your arms while ensuring they remain perpendicular to your body, walk your feet backward.

Lower your chest down to the floor by flexing and bending your arms.

Once your chest has touched the ground proceed to drive your body back up until your arms are fully extended.


Raise your body between a pair of chairs until your arms are almost at full extension.

As you breath in begin to lower yourself down by flexing the elbow, your torso should stay upright and your elbows should remain tucked in to your side to ensure you're focusing on the triceps as opposed to the chest.

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Lower yourself down until there's at least a 90 degree angle between your upper and lower arm.

Flex and drive through your triceps to power yourself back up until your arms are almost at full extension.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.


Grip the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width, place your heels firm on the ground and maintain a straight body.

Squeeze your shoulder blades together as your move your elbows down and back, forcing your chest up toward the bar.

Pause and contract at the top before lowering yourself back down until your arms are fully extended.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.


Begin laying down on your back with your knees slightly bent, if possible hook youir feet under a piece of furniture.

Begin raising your shoulders off the ground as your curl your torso upward towards your knees while contracting your abdominal muscles.

Slowly lower yourself down until your shoulders return to resting on the floor.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.


Lay down on your back with your legs extended out in front of you.
Tense your core and bend your knees as you bring your legs up towards your chest - hold and squeeze for a second to feel the contraction before returning your legs to their extended position, do not let your legs touch the ground between reps.

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Begin with a broom stick handle, barbell or similar resting across your shoulders.

Maintain a slightly wider than shoulder width stance and bend your torso until parallel to the floor.

Begin to rotate your torso until your broom stick/barbell is as close to the floor as possible while ensuring your lower body remains stationary.

Alternate direction and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.


Stand up straight.

Your legs should be in a stance slightly wider than shoulder width with toes pointing outwards, head forwards, back straight.

While maintaining a straight back bend your knees and drive your butt backwards until your quads are parallel to the floor, if you’ve got the flexibility I recommend going slightly below this parallel level.

Begin to slowly lower your torso by bending the knees as you maintain a straight posture with the head up. Continue down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Pause for 1 second at the bottom of the repetition.

Drive through your heels to raise your torso back to the starting position, ensuring back is straight for the duration.

Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions.


Press on the platform by pushing through the balls of your feet as your heels are raised off of your makeshift platform.

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As you reach full extension flex your calfs for 1 second.

Lower your heels back down to return to the starting position to complete the repetition.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.


With arms fully extended and slightly inside shoulder-width grasp your pull-up bar and assume a dead hang position with palms facing towards you.

Tilt your head to look slightly upward and maintain a small arch in your back, this will create the slight angle you'll maintain in your torso for the duration of the set.

Drive your arms down and back, pulling through your back and biceps until your chin clears the bar (ideally reaching chest height with the bar).

Squeeze the biceps and hold the contracted position at the top of the rep for a second.

Slowly lower yourself back down to the dead hang starting position.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions with this full range of motion.

Arnold's Beginner Bodyweight Home Workout

Push-Ups - 25 reps

Dips Between Chairs - 20 reps

Row Between Chairs - 30 reps

Sit-Ups - 30 reps

Bent-Leg Raises - 25 reps

Bent-Over Twists - 25 reps

Squats - 25 reps

Calf Raises - 25 reps

Chin-Ups - 10 reps

Arnold's Advanced Bodyweight Home Workout

Push-Ups - 50 reps

Dips Between Chairs - 50 reps

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Row Between Chairs - 50 reps

Sit-Ups - 100 reps

Bent-Leg Raises - 50 reps

Bent-Over Twists - 50 reps

Squats - 70 reps

Calf Raises - 50 reps

Chin-Ups - 30 reps

What's Your Take On Arnold's Bodyweight Regime? 

 

Scott J.
Scott J.https://ignorelimits.com
I’m SJ. I’m a fitness enthusiast and published author. I transformed my body from a skinny fat 135lbs with 18% body fat to a solid 192lbs at 8% body fat. I became qualified in a field I was passionate about. I founded several online businesses that allow me to pursue ideas and projects in my life that I am passionate about without having to constantly worry about money. I published several eBooks explaining the training and dieting techniques I used to achieve the body I have today. I learnt a plethora of new information on dieting and fitness by reading and applying what I read, to find out what does work and what doesn’t work, because as I’m sure you’ve noticed the health and fitness industry is full of non-sense claims and BS. I found out what was true and what worked for me and applied that knowledge. And you bet I had fun during the whole process.

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