Arnold’s “Golden Six” Exercises Reviewed (SURPRISE!)

Arnold Schwarzenegger had 6 favorite exercises that he called the “Golden 6” and said they were responsible for the majority of his muscle growth and massive early in his bodybuilding career. In this video, I am going to show you Arnold’s Golden Six exercises, as he referred to them, and give you my thoughts on each one to see if they are worth adding to your routine.

The first exercises in Arnold’s Golden Six is the foundational lower body compound exercise known as the barbell squat. I think that this exercise highlights one of those non-negotiable movement patterns that we attribute to muscle size and strength. If you want bigger, stronger legs, then you better be squatting.

After all, Arnold did say it was the king of all lower body exercises. However, if you find that your body does not allow you to squat due to your biomechanics, then you simply have to find another squat variation you can do. I’ve gone on record about my knees hurting when I squat, so I squat to a box or perform Bulgarian split squats. There is always a variation of the squat that you can do.

Next up in the Golden 6 exercises from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s routine is the wide grip bench press. While I love the bench press for its ability to grow not only a bigger but a stronger chest as well, I don’t love the wide grip position. As you can see in the video, his hands are nearly at the end of the barbell. This is a tough position for anyone with shoulder issues and I while I would say the bench press is a staple exercise here, you would likely be better off doing it with a narrower grip than Arnold.

If you have shoulder issues that prevent you from performing the barbell bench press comfortably or safely, then I would recommend that you opt to use dumbbells instead. The freedom of motion will allow you to press comfortably and safely while still delivering the chest gains you are looking for.

Arnold’s third exercise in his Golden Six is what he calls the chin-up. However, this name is interchangeable with the exercise that we know as pull-ups (underhand vs overhand grip). I love this exercise and I think that its inclusion is great. One change I would want to make to Arnold’s pullups is to narrow the grip (just like the bench press) albeit for a different reason. The wide grip that was used by Arnold during his chin-ups / pull-ups does a better job of targeting the teres major as opposed to the lats. So if you were doing pullups to increase the width of your lats, you’d opt for a narrower grip.

Next is the behind the neck barbell press and here’s where Arnold and I disagree. I think that a vertical press is an important inclusion in the golden six to complement the horizontal pressing that comes in the form of the bench press. However, pressing behind the neck is less desirable for the greater population. Arnold was able to get away with it due to his form and shoulder mobility and flexibility - he was able to keep his elbows pointing forward towards the scapular plane.

For most gym goers today, posture is a limiter for this exercise. Having rounded shoulders will make it extremely difficult if not impossible to keep your elbows point forward while pressing the bar overhead and behind the neck. Instead, I would prefer to see the bar out in front of you when you press, so that you can keep your elbows and shoulders in the right position.

Exercise number five in Arnold’s Golden Six exercises is the barbell curl. A simple, no frills exercise that helped to build Arnold’s big biceps. I think that a heavy barbell curl is one of the best exercises you can do for your biceps as the overload you get is almost unmatched. You don’t have to be afraid of momentum with a heavy curl, but don’t get too lax with it otherwise you are making a great exercise far less effective. It’s hard to argue with Arnold including the barbell curl as a staple exercise to build big arms.

The last exercise in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Golden Six routine is the sit-up. I like sit-ups as a basic ab exercise. The two most important things you can do is remember to paint your spine down to the ground on every rep by posteriorly rotating your pelvis and not anchoring your feet under something when you do it if you have back pain. Anchoring your feet over something will instead engage the hamstrings which will take some of the load off of the psoas and the strain off the low back.

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