Arnold Schwarzenegger is the world’s most popular bodybuilder, well, ever, probably. Anyone who’s ever picked up a dumbbell or watched Pumping Iron would relish a chance to get a bodybuilding workout in with the seven-time Mr. Olympia. 

But Tom Platz says working out with the Austrian Oak isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, during a Jan. 2024 podcast conversation with fellow bodybuilder Dorian Yates, Platz described the perils of following Arnold’s famous workout split.

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Tom Platz on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Workout Routine

Platz was the inaugural guest of Yates’ monthly bodybuilding podcast, Shadow Talk With Dorian Yates. The duo traded war stories and discussed the evolving nature of bodybuilding’s intersection with popular culture. Naturally and as most golden-era conversations do, they found their way to Schwarzenegger. 

“I know you were influenced by [Schwarzenegger] and Mentzer,” said six-time Mr. “O” Yates, prompting Platz to describe his experiences in bodybuilding in the ‘80s. “How did you settle into a style of training that worked for you?”

“I tried training with [Schwarzenegger],” Platz replied. “I got small and I got fat.” 

An astonishing statement about the training style of the world’s all-time most iconic physique athlete, but Platz wasn’t blowing smoke or talking trash. “You were over-trained, right? It was too much?” Yates questioned.

Platz agreed: As “the Quadfather” tells it, there wasn’t anything wrong with Schwarzenegger’s workout routine — he famously, if controversially, won seven Olympia titles before his retirement — it just wasn’t the right training style for his body.

“[Schwarzenegger] trained six days a week, sometimes twice per day,” Platz continued. “I’m not a long, lean, tall guy. I’m much more ‘squatty’; I did much better on three or four days a week. High-frequency training wasn’t right for me.” 

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We’ve all heard an adage about “finding what works for you” regarding fitness. You might be surprised to learn that it also applies to the world’s best bodybuilders. Studies have shown there’s plenty of variability in how different people respond to similar types of exercise: 

One 2016 study comparing low vs. high-volume resistance training protocols observed “no significant difference” in body composition but a slightly greater effect size (or magnitude of change) for low-volume, high-intensity training. (1)

In 2017, researchers refuted what they called the “myth” of “non-response to exercise”, showing that some people needed higher doses of training over a longer period of time than others to make progress. (2)

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Research also informs us that exercise frequency isn’t as important, provided you rack up enough total weekly training volume. (3) So what’s happening here? Did the Schwarzenegger split cause Platz to lose out on gains?

Probably not. Platz was likely embellishing a bit to explain that Schwarzenegger’s preferred training style didn’t align with what his body responds to. Does that mean you should start hitting the free weights six days a week or twice per day? 

Also, no; unless you’re a pro bodybuilder or are indulging in certain pharmacological enhancements. But what we can take away from this is there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Platz, Schwarzenegger, and Yates had different approaches to bodybuilding, but all three of them made it to the top of the game because they found what worked for them and stuck to it. 

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References

Giessing J, Eichmann B, Steele J, Fisher J. A comparison of low-volume ‘high-intensity-training’ and high-volume traditional resistance training methods on muscular performance, body composition, and subjective assessments of training. Biol Sport. 2016 Sep;33(3):241-9. doi: 10.5604/20831862.1201813. Epub 2016 May 10. PMID: 27601778; PMCID: PMC4993139.

Montero D, Lundby C. Refuting the myth of non-response to exercise training: ‘non-responders’ do respond to higher dose of training. J Physiol. 2017 Jun 1;595(11):3377-3387. doi: 10.1113/JP273480. Epub 2017 May 14. Erratum in: J Physiol. 2018 Apr 1;596(7):1311. doi: 10.1113/JP275942. PMID: 28133739; PMCID: PMC5451738.

Ralston GW, Kilgore L, Wyatt FB, Buchan D, Baker JS. Weekly Training Frequency Effects on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis. Sports Med Open. 2018 Aug 3;4(1):36. doi: 10.1186/s40798-018-0149-9. PMID: 30076500; PMCID: PMC6081873.

Featured Image: @tomplatz / Instagram

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