Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Son Is Making His Bodybuilding Debut – Steal His 9-Move Push Workout

When you’ve inherited genetics from one of the greatest bodybuilders to have ever lived, you might as well take advantage of them, right? Joseph Baena, son of Arnold Schwarzenegger, certainly is.

The 28-year-old is following in his father’s footsteps and competing in his first bodybuilding competition on Saturday, 5 April, at the NPC Natural Colorado State championships. In preparation for his stage debut, Baena has been training alongside Schwarzenegger in the gym. He captioned one photo of him curling a 70-pound EZ bar, in which Arnold stood in the background, writing, ‘You have to shock the muscles,’ as implied advice from his dad.

Baena, who is also an actor, first started training in his teens after Schwarzenegger gave him a copy of The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (which he coauthored). He’s remained natural in his pursuit of building as much muscle as possible, preferring instead to put in intense effort through isolation moves for around two hours a day, six days a week.

‘One of the big things I learned from Dad was not to have the ten-rep mentality,’ Baena told MH. ‘It’s pushing yourself to the limits and going that extra mile, getting those extra reps and half-reps till you’re basically dying.’

That mentality is clear from a nine-move push day workout he recently shared on Instagram. Focusing on his chest and shoulders, Baena even finds time to add in a couple of bicep exercises to really accentuate his physique as he trains at the legendary Gold’s Gym.

The WorkoutHow to Do the MovementsLateral Raise lateral raises shoulder exercise

Grab a couple of dumbbells and stand with them by your sides, with your palms facing your body and a slight bend at the elbows. Stand tall, pull your navel to your spine to engage your core and pull your shoulder blades back and down.

Keeping your back straight, and your upper body still – that means no swinging – lift the dumbbells out to your side, keeping the weights higher than your elbows. Lift until your arms are parallel to the floor, then slowly lower to the start position.

Shoulder Press dumbbell shoulder press

Stand with feet hip-width apart, glutes lightly engaged, ribs stacked. Bring the bar or dumbbells to shoulder height with forearms vertical. Think: elbows slightly forward, knuckles to the ceiling. Lock the ribcage over the pelvis – don’t let your lower back arch.

Move your head slightly back to clear the bar, then return to neutral as the weight passes your face. Fully extend your arms overhead, with biceps close to ears, shoulder blades rotated upward. Think: grow tall at the top. Bring the weight back to the shoulders without collapsing posture.

Rear Delt Fly

Sit on the edge of a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Lean forward as far as possible until your chest is touching your thighs. Without moving your torso, raise the dumbbells up and away from your body in a fixed arc, keeping a slight bend in your elbows. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of each rep before slowly lowering the dumbbells back down to a hang and repeating.

Chest Supported Y Raise

Lay face-first on a bench set to an incline with your arms hanging at full stretch, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Without moving your torso, raise the dumbbells up and away from you, so you’re creating a Y-position at the top. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of each rep before slowly lowering the dumbbells back down to a hang and repeating.

Incline Press dumbbell incline press

Begin with the bench set at a 30°-45° incline. The higher the end of that range, the more you will target your upper pecs and shoulders. Sit at the end of the bench with the dumbbells on your knees. Lean back on the bench and lift the dumbbells over the chest by alternately kicking your knees up to help you. Have your feet planted on the floor, core engaged and arms locked out with the dumbbells directly above the upper chest.

Slowly lower the elbows into an arrow shape just below your shoulders so that you get a big stretch across the chest. Keep the dumbbells an equal distance the entire rep and don’t let them move further apart. Pause for a second before pushing the weights explosively away from you, back to your starting position as you exhale, ready to repeat.

Dumbbell Bench Press

Lie back on a flat bench holding two dumbbells above you with a shoulder-width, overhand grip.Drive your feet into the floor to contract your quads and glutes, and clamp back your shoulder blades to shorten the weight’s path of travel. This increases neural drive to your chest, delts and triceps. From the starting position, breathe in and lower the bells slowly until they skim your chest. Focus your mind on activating your chest muscles and push the weight back to the starting position explosively as you breathe out. That’s one rep.

Cable Fly

Attach stirrup handles to the high pulleys of a cable crossover machine. Take one in each hand – your arms should be outstretched with a slight bend at the elbow. Place one foot slightly forward, brace you core, and pull the handles slightly downward and across your body until your hands meet, then return to the start position.

EZ Bar Curl

Hold an EZ bar with a shoulder-width grip and your arms extended. Lift it up to your shoulders without moving your elbows. Lower until your arms are fully extended, then repeat.

Lying Bicep Curl man completing lying bicep curls on a bench

Lie on the floor, or on a flat or slightly inclined bench with a low-pulley cable handle at your feet. Grab the handles, letting your arms extend fully, while keeping your upper arms tight to your side and feeling for a deep stretch in the biceps.

Curl by flexing at the elbow only, keeping your upper arms and shoulders pinned in place. Pause and squeeze hard at the top, then lower under slow control, back to a full stretch. Repeat.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Son Is Making His Bodybuilding Debut – Steal His 9-Move Push Workout

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