Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blueprint To Mass Review

Publish date: 2024-05-07

Does Arnold Schwarzenegger's 8-Week Fitness Plan Work? We Tried It To Find Out

March 8, 2017

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In the world of bodybuilder, there’s everyone else, and then there’s Arnold. Considered the greatest bodybuilder of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger became the youngest person ever to win Mr. Universe.

At age 21, Arnold moved to the United States, and brought the sport of bodybuilding into the mainstream. Considered by bodybuilders and all weight lifters alike, to be the “gold standard” for physique, Arnold was one of the most dedicated, hard-working, and driven competitors to ever grace the stage or the gym.

And if you’ve ever wanted to know what it took to get his barrel-like chest, or 21-inch arms, now you can, with Arnold’s 8-Week Blueprint to Mass.

Who's It For

The Blueprint to Mass is for anyone looking to add serious mass in eight weeks. And with serious mass comes serious workouts. So you need to be dedicated. Putting on mass is not easy, and Arnold trained with max intensity every time he walked into the gym. The program is written in a way where, if you want results, you need to do the same.

The Workouts

Arnold’s Blueprint contains three workouts, done twice per week, for a total of six training days per week. The workouts are split into Chest, Back & Abs, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Forearms, & Abs, and Legs, Calves, & Abs.

The workouts are fairly long and contain a lot of volume, but when maximum mass in just eight weeks is the goal, that’s to be expected.

The program also utilizes a number of methods that Arnold himself used in his training programs, including:

Nutrition

Because of the serious volume in the Blueprint, you need to have a serious nutrition plan as well. The program has you eating anywhere from 3,500 to 3,800 calories on training days.

Like most good nutrition plans, the Blueprint to Mass is based around getting enough protein in your diet to support adequate muscle growth. Arnold always lived off the rule of one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, so that’s what the Blueprint recommends. This means if you weigh 200 pounds, you’re going to be eating 200 grams of protein per day.

Also, because of the high workout volume, you’re going to be taking in a ton of carbs as well, to fuel your workouts. This is not a program for carbophobes.

Supplementation

The Blueprint to Mass recommends a number of supplements, including both creatine and a nitric oxide pre-workout, whey protein, weight gainer, and a recovery drink, among others.

Try These

Muscle Pharm Arnold Schwarzenegger Iron Mass Weight Gainer

Each serving (two scoops) or Arnold's Iron Mass Weight Gainer contains 485 calories and 40 grams of protein. Iron Mass is composed of hydrolyzed beef protein and lactoferrin and a carb blend of sweet potato powder and barley starch. The 21 grams of fat contain sunflower oil powder, whipped cream powder and MCT powder. 
$75.99 at Amazon.com

Muscle Pharm Arnold Schwarzenegger Iron CRE3 Creatine

Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid produced in the liver and helps supply energy to the body. Creatine is mostly associated with power output across long periods of muscle use so most athletes use creatine to help with high intensity training to decrease muscle fatigue and build muscle mass. Arnold's formula contains Taurine L-Glutamine, vitamin C, a vitamin E blend and a HydraFuel Matrix to aid energy and recovery.
$21.49 for 4.44 oz at Amazon.com

Why We Love It

The Drawbacks

There are a few drawbacks to the program, however none of which really take away from the quality of the program. But they are things you should be aware of.

First, the workouts are long. And it calls for six workouts per week. This time commitment is necessary for the program to work, but probably not one that everyone can make.

Second, this is not a program that can really be modified for a lack of equipment. You at minimum need a barbell, full set of dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a squat rack. This makes it difficult to do the program if you don’t have gym access or a near full-scale home gym.

The nutrition plan is also pretty generalized. The meal template the plan lays out may be too much food for some, and not enough for others. Although in this case, you could monitor progress as you go, adding food if you’re not gaining weight, or removing it if you’re gaining weight too fast.

Finally, the program calls for you to use a lot of supplements, which can get expensive. While I would say that none are necessary to get results (outside of creatine) they can help, especially with nutrition. Having a quality protein or weight-gainer may make it easier to eat the required number of calories you need.

Overall, the Blueprint to Mass is a solid program and why would we expect anything less from Arnold? When followed correctly, the program produces great results just two months.

What You'll Need

Unless you've got a full-scale home gym (we can tell you how to build one) you're going to need access to a gym membership for this one.

Where To Buy

Arnold’s Blueprint to Mass is available for free on bodybuilding.com.

The Competition

22 Minute Hard Corps

If you’re not trying to bulk and don’t have long hours to spend in the gym but you still want to get fit and lean Tony Horton offers military-inspired boot camp-style workouts in 22 minutes a day. 22 Minute Hard Corps comes with an 8-week basic training calendar and a basic nutrition guide. So if you have different goals and are willing to pay for it, this military PT-style training program could be for you.
$49.85 at Amazon.com

Jay Cutler's Living Large

Another free online program offered by Bodybuilding.com, like Arnold's Blueprint, but this one is from four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler. His eight-week mass-building program promises the most brutal hardcore workouts that he's used over his years dominating the bodybuilding scene. Don't expect a lot of reps in these workouts. You can anticipate going heavy and then going heavier.

Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size

Shortcut to Size is very similar to the Arnold’s Blueprint in that, it has built-in progression week to week. The main difference is you’re only doing four workouts per week instead of six, so the volume of each workout is a bit higher.

Layne Norton’s P.H.A.T.

P.H.A.T, or Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training, is a power/strength/hypertrophy hybrid program that has you training five days per week. Your first two days are focused on strength and power, training mostly in the 3-5 rep range, with some higher rep accessory work. Days 3, 4, and 5 are dedicated to typical bodybuilding work.

Related Reading:
P90X Review
Focus T25 Review
Body Beast Review
Top 10 Home Exercise Products Worth Your Money

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