what arnold taught me

I subscribed to Arnold Schwarzenegger and his app in August. It's October now and I'm the most jacked I've ever been. (This is a little obnoxious to say, I know. I would like to qualify and say I could be a lot more jacked, and I'm also not that jacked.)

I think the app is working for me because (1) it locked me into a specific workout program, and (2) that workout program works. Arnold and the team start everyone on the same program — "The Foundation." They tell you, stick to the program. Don't bounce around. And their program worked better than the programs I was doing before. I think it's because it's more volume, more reps, and also more exercises. It's challenging. Yet doable, because the program is 3 full body workouts a week, which I have been finding is the perfect amount for my life. Why was I ever doing 4 before?

I won't discount that I had a good base with lifting going into August, and perhaps this app was just the match that lit existing kindling.

All this said, here's what I've been most surprised by.

I'm most surprised by how well the app and content have been able to keep me motivated and thinking about fitness. I turned on push notifications for the app, so every article the team publishes, I read. The articles are a mix of motivation and tactics, but they really keep me in the headspace as well as informed.

How do I put it, the app brainwashes me in a way that I'm very happy with. I want to find more apps and newsletters to brainwash me in the ways I want to be brainwashed. Arnold's team is onto such a powerful mechanism. (I want to see if I can find a similar app and newsletter for mindfulness.)

Anyway, I recommend the app plus turning on notifications and reading all the articles plus getting enough protein.

Now, I want to share a roundup of some tips I've gotten from Arnold's newsletter and app. These aren't the main points, the main points are do the workouts and read the articles and get enough protein. But these minor points are interesting to me.

1. Warming up before working out prevents injury (studies show). I'm very serious about warming up. I have been injured in the past but not on this program. I love the warmup in the app. It gets me going. It's 3x10 squats, 3x10 pushups, 3x10 lunges, 3x10 inverted rows.
2. Doing heavy warmup sets before your working sets lets you lift more while still not accumulating fatigue (studies show). I believe the study they cited was 5 reps x 80% of the working weight, versus smaller amounts. The former led to more strength while still not leading to fatigue.
3. Listening to slow music after workouts can help with recovery (studies show). I love this because I already listen to my ballads and R&B (my fave genre) after working out :)
4. Eat a lot of protein, but also eat a lot of fiber.
5. I love this 5 minute salad recipe from Arnold's team and I've been making it. I use this store bought chicken breast.
6. The hard reps are where the gains happen (studies show). If you aren't increasing the weight or reps, there won't be gains. You want to work towards that are involuntarily slow and take a lot of effort. You don't want to go to failure either though - the goal is 2-3 reps in reserve.
7. Rest days are crucial for gains. The app and content continually reinforces this. I'm reminded of a crazy workout I read in Tim Ferriss's 4 Hour Body that involved 4 day, then 7 day, then 9 day rests. That purportedly resulted in insane gains. To me, this demonstrates the point is to take your rest days for sure and then push hard when you're actually at the gym.
8. Form matters a lot. If you're not using the right technique, you could be wasting work or setting yourself up for injury. They point this out in a good number of the exercise videos. As Arnold put it in a tricep extension video, these little things are the difference between those that win and lose competitions.

Whatever I marked "studies show," the newsletter cited a study and explained it, I just haven't put in the effort to link them. Which is not the best journalism but hey you're not paying me and I'm on deadline.

Finally, I'm leaving out a lot of fun life lessons and good vibes that Arnold and team put out. Their whole shtick is being a positive corner of the Internet. I think I'm underselling that part of it, but perhaps that's the most important part. They make fitness feel fun and approachable and that's probably what's most rare in the fitness industry. I never felt much that any of this was a chore or an obligation.

Oh also, I no longer have back pain, mostly. I attribute this to strength and stability and balance gains in my legs (how do I explain, it feels as if the muscles around my knees are engaged where they previously weren't, and also my feet are stronger at gripping the ground). I also attribute it to the fact that my hamstrings are less tight.