“I do squats until I fall over and pass out. So what? It’s not going to kill me,” Arnold Schwarzenegger once said in one of his conversations with the media.

The six-time Mr. Olympia believed that large muscle groups like the legs required significantly more volume than smaller ones, and he trained them meticulously with a structured plan. Here’s a look at how he used to train his legs.

Core Leg Workout Routine

‘Arnie’ believed in compound exercises rather than isolation movements. Some of his go-to exercises for building his legendary legs were as follows:

Barbell Squat

• 5 sets of 8 reps
• Primary quad and overall leg mass builder.

Front Squat

• 5 sets of 8–10 reps
• Emphasizes quads and upright torso position.

Leg Press

• 5 sets of 10 reps
• Controlled volume for quad overload.

Leg Extension

• 5 sets of 10 reps
• Targeted quad isolation.

Lying Leg Curl

• 8 sets of 10 reps
• Hamstring focused.

Supersets and Shock Techniques

Before reaching his prime, Arnold’s legs were not on par with his upper body. To achieve a proportionate physique, he used supersets to challenge his legs as much as possible.

“The key to my success with these supersets was working very hard on my leg extensions instead of taking it easy in preparation for the squats that I was about to do,” said Arnold Schwarzenegger in his conversation with Muscle&Fitness.

Leg extensions immediately followed by squats to isolate the quadriceps before the compound load. After reaching failure, reduce weight and continue reps for additional muscle stimulus.

During his peak, Arnold Schwarzenegger used to train his legs thrice a week to ensure they looked just as impressive as his upper body. He split his leg workouts across two sessions, three in the morning, two in the evening.

While you may not need to go at it this hard, tell us which part of Arnie's leg workout you're planning to add to your routine.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi