Lou Ferrigno quote: "From what I see, most people train one bodypart a week. I think you should do more that that, hit it twice a week. They’re also doing 20 sets, which is way too many. I believe you should do only 10 to 12 sets, max, per bodypart. After every 72 hours or so, you should hit that part again. You can rotate exercises.

The best regimen for me is three days on/one day off. I’ll do chest and back on day one, biceps and triceps on day two and shoulder and legs on day three. The beauty is you can change exercises all the time, which always makes it interesting. You don’t need to do that much. It’s how you train. I do one warmup set, then four sets, eight to 10 reps, three exercises per bodypart. It should never take more than an hour to do your weight workout. You can add up to 30 minutes of cardio a few times per week."

Shoulders

Standing Dumbbell Overhead Press     4 Sets x 10 Reps

Dumbbell Lateral Raise     4 Sets x 12 Reps

Seated Bent-Over Lateral Raise     4 Sets x 12 Reps

Biceps*

Barbell Curl** 2 Sets of 15-20 reps

Incline Dumbbell Curl 3-4 Sets of 10-8 reps

Preacher Bench or Preacher Machine Curl 4 Sets 10-8 Reps

Triceps

Pushdown 4 Sets of 10-8 reps

Lying Tricep Extensions 4 Sets 10-8 reps

Standing French Press 4 Sets of 10-8 reps

Forearms

Barbell Wrist Curl 4 Sets of 15-10 reps

*Note: Lou likes to pyramid up in weight/down in reps for successive sets.

**Eight light warmup sets

Back

Chinups  As many sets as it takes to complete 50 Chinups

Bent Rows  5 Sets of 8-12 reps per set (increase weight each set)

T-Bar Rows  5 Sets of 8-12 reps per set

Chest

Dumbbell Preses 5 Sets of 8 to 10 reps (first set is warm up)

Flys 4 Sets of 8 to 10 reps

Incline Barbell Press 4 Sets of 8 to 10 reps

Legs

Squats 4 sets of 12 to 15 reps

Leg Extensions 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps

Leg Curls 4 Sets of 8 to 10 reps

Abs

Crunches 2 to 3 sets

Big Lou Ferrigno flexing in Pumping Iron Movie