When it comes to bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger knows best. His plan for quality mass and extreme strength isn't complicated. In fact, it's steeped in the fundamentals and old-school exercises that should be at the heart of everyone's program. It's a surefire road to growth, but it's fraught with pain and struggle. If you want to learn bodybuilding from the world's best bodybuilder, you're in the right place<br /><br />Chest:<br />"There are three chest exercises that should always be done," Arnold says. "The bench press, the incline bench press at different angles, and the dumbbell flye."<br /><br />Back:<br />"For back, I did chin-ups, bent-over barbell and dumbbell rows, and the T-bar row. Any kind of rowing movement will give you that thickness. Those are the exercises I relied on from the beginning of my career to the end."<br /><br />Arms:<br />Arnold relied on the barbell curl to build thick biceps, but he also used incline dumbbell curls and concentration curls to isolate his biceps.<br /><br />"For triceps," Arnold says, "we did a lot of narrow [close-grip] bench press in the early days. And then triceps push downs and overhead triceps extensions later."<br /><br />Shoulders: <br />Arnold's shoulders were built by barbell presses, behind-the-neck barbell presses, lateral raises, military presses, and dumbbell presses. "We always did presses behind the neck and a special dumbbell press which would stretch out the front delt at the bottom and fully flex it at the top. Now those are called Arnold presses."<br /><br />Legs<br />"The squat is the most important exercise to create big thighs," says Arnold. "I did back squats, front squats, leg extensions, lunges, single-leg deadlifts, good morning exercises, and a lot of leg curls."<br /><br />Abs:<br />"The regular training we did for abs was just leg raises, knee raises, crunches, and sit-ups. We all believed in doing 500 reps of Roman chair sit-ups."
