Шварценеггер Арнольд. Энциклопедия бодибилдинга. The Education of a Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger (англ.)

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

•

Part Two

Muscles

Chapter One: Introduction

There is nothing as good as bodybuilding to get your body

tuned up and totally in shape. It doesn't matter whether you

want speed or brute strength, whether you want to run or de-

velop endurance power. The only activity that can build the en-

tire body evenly and uniformly is progressive weight resistance

training.

Twenty years ago there was a widespread negative attitude

toward bodybuilding. A lot of coaches and other people con-

nected with the various sports claimed it was not the right kind

of training for athletes, that it was just to look big and massive

and muscular. They equated size and muscularity with awkward-

ness. All bodybuilders were said to be musclebound. It has now

been proved that bodybuilding and weight resistance training

are valuable for every purpose. Today we find weight rooms in

high schools and universities. These are used by all kinds of

athletes from runners to baseball players. In fact, in the last ten

years, professional football teams all across the United States

have made incredible advances through pre-season programs in

weight training. Recently, I asked Brian Oldfield what advan-

tages weight lifting had given him, and he said his ability to put

145

146 Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder

the shot farther and with more accuracy was directly connected

to the increase in pounds of weight he lifted while training in

the gym. Karl Schranz, a skier with a body weight of only 160

pounds, went on television and demonstrated the 400-pound

squats he did for his legs. O. J. Simpson was able to win the

Superstar games with the extra points he won from weight lift-

ing. It works for the guy who builds his body to be Mr. Universe,

for someone who simply wants to trim down his stomach and

broaden his shoulders a little bit, or for someone who needs to

improve his circulation. Weight training is being used more and

more for physical therapy following orthopedic operations. Its

benefits go far beyond physical fitness. Bobby Fischer lifted

weights to help him feel more confident before the world cham-

pionships in chess.

Weight resistance training develops every muscle in your

body. Which is not something you can say for any other sport.

Take tennis, for example. After you've played for some time,

your legs will develop; but nothing significant happens to your

shoulders, back, chest, or abdominal muscles. I discovered a sim-

ilar thing when I was skiing. I built up incredible endurance in

my legs, but my arms and upper body stayed weak. In other

words, in almost every sport there are some muscles, some areas

of the body, that are neglected. But I can promise you one thing

about progressive resistance weight training: if you are doing

your workouts properly, after a short time you will notice that

you not only feel and look better, but that your tennis, golf,

skiing, swimming or whatever will be greatly improved. You'll

have better stamina, agility, coordination and resilience.

The General Nature of Exercise

One very good reason to train is that the body doesn't get

enough physical activity to keep it tuned and responsive. A

hundred years ago we had to do everything with our bodies. We

had to walk to a farm to get milk, we worked to get lumber and

stones for building a house. We had to work with our hands, we

had to run, we had to crawl under things, we had to swim. The

Introduction 147

efforts of everyday living kept the body in shape. But now, be-

cause almost everything is done with machines, people have be-

come lazy. I'm as guilty as anyone: I drive my car a block to the

supermarket to buy food.

If we don't have any exercise to stimulate the muscles, they

deteriorate. That's why today there are lots of needless injuries.

People pick up something heavy and pull the muscles in their

backs. Housewives make a bed and dislocate a shoulder. Guys

try to change a tire and rip a bicep. Why? Because the body isn't

prepared. This alone is a very good reason to do some kind of

bodybuilding.

In the human body there are over 600 muscles, which are

made up of approximately 100 billion muscle fibers; we are not

even aware of many of these muscles, muscles that make the

fingers close and give you a strong grip, muscles that open the

eyelid, muscles that work so automatically you've never even felt

them before. In fact, the human body is more than half muscle.

Muscles are used in every movement we make. They propel

food along the digestive tract, suck air into the lungs, tighten

blood vessels to raise blood pressure when needed to meet an

emergency. The thing that first turned me on to bodybuilding

was realizing that through weight resistance exercises I could

stimulate each muscle in the body. I could be in control of it and

not merely a victim of its weaknesses.

Most people are aware only of muscles that they use in every-

day work. But when you do unusual movements or use your

body in unusual ways, you feel muscles you never knew existed.

I've seen people who have climbed a mountain for the first

time—ten miles of hiking and climbing—and the next day they

came down and said, "Wow, my calves hurt. . . my lower back is

stiff." It was the first time they'd felt their calves or lower back in

their whole lives. They'd never even thought of themselves as

having muscles in those places.

I remember once my mother was lifting up the heavy mat-

tresses to make a bed and she pulled her bicep. It was the first

time she was conscious of having a bicep. And at the same time

she was horrified that I was into weight training, that I was eager

to stay in shape, to avoid such injuries.

Most people prefer to let their muscles remain anonymous.

148 Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder

They take it for granted that the body just moves. Then they are

baffled when something goes wrong. One of the benefits of body-

building is that it makes you aware of all your muscles. You start

getting sore in certain parts of the body when you train. You

realize what an incredibly complex machine the body is. For that

reason, it's very important when you're doing your first workouts,

laying the foundation for future training, that you are really sen-

sitive and tuned in to the soreness. Remember the soreness and

connect it in your mind with the exercise you were doing. This

will help you later on to know that when you train certain areas

you should concentrate on a specific kind of exercise and do it in

a specific way. From the very start you should look on soreness

as positive, as a sign of building, of growth.

Mind and Body

You must consider that in the beginning you are training the

mind as well as the body. The mind, after all, makes you want to

train; it turns on the body. Because the mind motivates you to

train the body, you have to train the mind first. If the mind

doesn't want to lift weights, the body won't lift them.

The mind is incredible. Once you've gained mastery over it,

channeling its powers positively for your purposes, you can do

anything. I mean anything. The secret is to make your mind

work for you—not against you. This means constantly being posi-

tive, constantly setting up challenges you can meet—either to-

day, next week, or next month. "I can't. . ." should be perma-

nently stricken from your vocabulary, especially the vocabulary

of your thoughts. You must see yourself always growing and

improving.

You should strive to improve your body a little bit at a time.

Don't push the mind too much either; let the mind stay hungry

for more, tease the mind a little bit. This is why I suggest you

start small, with a fairly easy program. Let the body say to the

mind, "I feel good, this isn't too hard. I'm ready for more!" Give

it more, give it a little bit more. Then, slowly, as the mind is

ready for it, you can increase the amount of weight you use and

the number of repetitions you do of an exercise.

Introduction 149

A Reason

You should know why you are going to start training. This is

one of the most important steps in initiating a successful body-

building program. You should not go to the gym because some-

body says, "Hey, you're a slob. You ought to do some weight

training and get in shape." That isn't a good reason, because you

would be trying to satisfy someone else's wishes, not your own.

You should have a very good reason why you want to get into

weight resistance training. The best thing to do is to sit down

and say to yourself, "What do I want to get out of it? What is my

goal?"

Be honest. Honesty is the key to how much you can improve.

Your reason could be that you want to be a bodybuilder, a com-

petitive bodybuilder. That will certainly get you started training.

But even if you only want to lose a few inches around the waist,

you should be very explicit and spell it out for yourself. "The

reason I want to do this weight training is that I want to lose this

waist. I look in the mirror, it looks horrible." Or, "I'm a doctor

and when my patients look at me I know they're thinking, 'What

kind of example is he setting?' " Whatever your reason is, write

it down and put it where you'll see it in the months to come.

Next you have to decide what you want to look like. Again, be

explicit. My own image was Reg Park. I built it so clearly in my

mind I could actually see myself standing in Reg Park's body.

This second step, forming an image in the mind, creates what I

call the want power. You have an image of what you want to look

like, which in turn creates the willpower to go into the gym and

work out. Now you have a goal. Without it you'd be like a ship

without a destination. You must know why you are training in

order to give it your best and be productive.

I conduct seminars all over the world, and the first thing I hear

is: "Am I going to find out in this seminar how to do a curl?"

"Will I find out how to do a bench press?" I say to them, "Wait a

minute, the first hour will be just on what our goals are. Why we

train. What makes us not go dancing in the evenings but go to

the gymnasium instead and spend two hours doing workouts." A

150 Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder

lot of people are confused about my reasoning; they think the

exercises in the gym are the most important thing. But I maintain

the most important thing is to be straight in your mind, to be

honest with yourself. The exercises are the easy part.

Analyze Yourself—Be Realistic

Before you start working out it's very important to look at your-

self and categorize yourself in terms of which of the three body

types you are—ectomorph, endomorph, or mesomorph. Remem-

ber these are not rigid definitions. Most people are a combina-

tion of characteristics from more than one type. But the domi-

nant characteristics are what you should be looking for in your

assessment.

The Ectomorph: A thin person with a light bone structure and

long tenuous muscles. The ectomorph has a tough time gaining

weight and building strength.

The Endomorph: A stocky person with thick bones and a gen-

eral tendency to be round and stout. The endomorph will gain

fast and be able to handle heavy training. His body is more likely

to remain blocky and muscular without showing great cuts or

definition.

The Mesomorph: Anatomically, the ideal body for weight re-

sistance training. The mesomorph has a large frame and the ca-

pacity for becoming muscular fast.

You can improve your body. All that you should look for in

training with weights is that you should achieve 100% of your

potential. That potential varies greatly among three body types

and individuals within each type.

If you are a skinny guy, an ectomorph, you are not really lost,

though your kind of muscles are the most difficult to build. You

may need to change your metabolism and perhaps correct a prob-

lem with your thyroid gland so you can start gaining weight—so,

in a way, you're on the safe side.

If you're an endomorph, one of those round people who really

don't have muscle tone to begin with, you should realize that

your type of body will probably not go all the way to Mr. Uni-

verse. You won't have it as hard as the ectomorph, but you'll