Arnold Schwarzenegger's full-body superset workout delivers big gains in little time

Arnold Schwarzenegger's grueling golden era workouts were renowned for using supersets to hit multiple muscle groups and leave him with a tremendous pump. But, in the latest drop of his newsletter— The Pump Club — the Terminator and his team deliver a workout suitable for us mere mortals that will only take around 35 minutes. Just grab two medium to heavy dumbbells, grit your teeth and get ready to grind.

The reason Arnold favoured supersets was that they allowed him to pack more exercises into his workouts in considerably less time. This is because you’re performing two exercises back to back without rest. Plus, supersets are a one-way ticket to an insane pump, as they place the muscles under more tension (also key for hypertrophy), which we all know Arnie was a massive fan of.

For this workout, work your way through all the sets in each superset below— taking a two-minute break after each one— before moving on to the next two exercises. Although some of the exercises do require an adjustable weight bench, don’t worry if you don’t have one, you can 100% still do this workout at home. Just use a chair instead and do the alternative exercises we’ve suggested below. Here’s the workout:

Superset 1

• Incline dumbbell press – 3 sets x 5, 5, 7 reps /or seated dumbbell press
• Chest-supported dumbbell row – 3 sets x 5, 5, 7 reps/or bent-over dumbbell row

Superset 2

• Rear-foot elevated split squat – 3 sets 6, 8, 10 reps each leg
• Hamstring walkout – 3 sets of 10-20 reps

Superset 3

• Incline bicep curls – 3 sets of 6, 8, 10 reps /or standing bicep curls
• Pushups – 3 sets as many reps as possible /or kneeling push-ups

It's also no secret that Arnold was also an advocate for eating enough protein to help grow and repair his muscles, so make sure you get some in you after this workout, whether it's via a protein powder or whole foods. Fancy more full-body workouts from the bodybuilding champ? Here's a 15-minute dumbbell session for those days you're tight on time, or if you fancy ditching the dumbbells altogether, give his no-equipment lower body workout a go.