Originally published in 1985 and since been updated, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding is one of the most popular bodybuilding books. It’s popular among beginners learning how to build muscle and experienced bodybuilders who are fans of Arnolds sucess. Arnold is endeared by all bodybuilders because of his multiple olympia wins, perfect symmetry, charisma, and his rise to great sucess from his roots as an unknown austrian bodybuilder.

The The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding is a massive 800 pages. You are going to want to make sure you have spare time when you start reading it because it’s hard to put the thing down. Arnold gives his own personal insight and tips throughout the book, making it very interesting read. This encyclopedia covers a lot of things that other bodybuilding books don’t. It has a photographic “Bodybuilding Hall of Fame”, how to pose and handle publicity, injuries. He covers nutrition and supplementation, but it’s outdated since it was last updated 1999. There has been quite a bit of new supplements and nutrition science that has come out in the last 10 years.

Arnold had workout routines set for beginners and advanced lifters. His workout routines are all high volume, but his advanced routines are very extreme. For example he recommends working out 6 days a week all with multiple sets. I think every natural would overtrain to some degree on the advanced routines. Arnold gives some special tips on how to define and bring up certain muscle parts. I don’t agree with some of the information in his book, as some of it is long held myths, that have been debunked.

We owe a lot to Arnold for what he did to the sport of bodybuilding. He made it look cool and appealing and no one has looked as symmetrical as him on stage since then. However, the workout plans he suggest are just too extreme for the vast majority of people. It would lead to overtraining and no muscle gains for most. Arnold has some of the best bodybuilding genetics ever, making recovery easier. Arnold also used steroids whiched helped him even recover even faster. If a bodybuilder with average recovery genetics used steroids, he would still probably overtrain on these routines. Most people who try his routines wind up very dissapointed when they don’t gain muscle. If everyone had the genetics, there would be a lot of people who could be built like him, just following his routines.