By Phil Edgar

Since his bodybuilding career, Arnold Schwarzenegger has become the poster child of it all. In the sixties, Arnold took bodybuilding from a little known sport and sparked the surge to the multi million dollar a year industry it is today.

Better known for his acting days and career in politics, Arnold has always had a winning mentality in whatever he’s done – and that all started in his bodybuilding days.

Arnold trained intensively. Sometimes twice a day to trick his muscles into growing when he’d hit a plateau. These days, however, bodybuilding know-how has come along a fair bit and there are now very simple yet effective ways of building muscle.

There are many gain muscle work outs that you can from the internet, but for now, let’s just look at the basics, and the things Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was doing to prepare for his first Mr. Universe title at the tender age of 22.

First, I must tell you, that to gain muscle there are three key rules you must abide by -

* Training – You must exercise each muscle group in your body with free weights.

* Eating – You must have a healthy, high calorie diet

* Rest – You need plenty of rest as your muscles don’t grow in the gym, they grow when you sleep.

Let’s get into work outs. The first thing you need to know is that you should be training three times per week for an hour each time. Always have at least a day’s rest in between workouts and do as little or no cardio exercise whenever possible.

Workout 1

Squats, Deadlifts, Calf Raises, Abdominals.

Workout 2

Bicep Curls, Lateral Raises, Lat Pull Downs, Bent-Over Rows

Workout 3

Shoulder Press, Abdominals (optional), Tricep Curls, Bench Press

For each exercise, complete as follows

* 2 warm-up sets of 8 reps (don’t work to failure) * Increase weight and perform 1 set of 8 reps (work to failure) * Increase weight and perform 1 set of 6 reps (work to failure) * Increase weight and perform 1 set of 4 reps (work to failure) * Increase weight and perform 1 set of 2-4 reps (work to failure) * Drop the weight back down to the weight of your first set and work to failure * Half that weight and work to failure

Follow this gain muscle work out program, combined with a good diet and plenty of rest, and you’ll be built like Arnold Schwarzenegger within months!