ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER turned 79 on July 30, and while he may not train as hard as he used to, he’s still in incredible shape.
Schwarzenegger puts the reason for his good to health down to consistency, discipline, and having a solid routine. He believes a good morning routine helps conserve mental energy for the decisions that actually matter later in the day.
“Every day, I do the same thing to start,” Arnold recently wrote in his Pump Club newsletter. “I wake up, start the coffee, feed the animals, drink the coffee, get on my bike, ride to the gym, work out, then ride to breakfast. There is no thinking. There is no deciding.
“My body knows the sequence, and it carries me through it before my mind has a chance to argue. Once that first sip of coffee hits, muscle memory kicks in and my body knows the next thing to do is get on the bike.”
By establishing a sequence of habits that happen automatically, Schwarzenegger avoids wasting energy deciding what to do. The routine effectively becomes what he calls an “anchor”.
“Your energy is limited – you only get so much of it in a day,” he wrote. “When you spend it deciding whether to do the things you already know you should do, you have nothing left for the things that actually require thought.
“It is a huge use of energy to sit there and figure things out as you go. So do not decide. Build the anchor instead. Pick the sequence that starts your day and run it the same way every time, until your body does it without asking permission.”
How Arnold Schwarzenegger trains at 79
Schwarzenegger’s workouts from his bodybuilding prime are the stuff of legend – but they weren’t sustainable. “I sometimes trained five hours a day with weights,” he told Business Insider. “That’s a lot of stress on the body, and clearly the body was not meant to do all that.”
As he’s gotten older, Schwarzenegger has traded heavy free weights for exercise machines and long sessions for more efficient, shorter ones. “For me today, the machines are better simply because there’s certain movements I can’t do because of shoulder problems or knee problems,” he said.
Schwarzenegger’s daily workout now includes 25 sets of weightlifting exercises along with biking for cardio, usually for around 45 minutes. He has said that this method allows him to maintain mobility and functional strength. He’s not too concerned with aesthetics anymore.
At an age where many people have long given up on strength training, Schwarzenegger is proof of the power of consistency. We hope we can still do what he does at 79.
