There's always someone telling you it can't be done or don't do it. Arnold Schwarzenegger has succeeded in three fields bodybuilding, movies and politics. In this youtube clip you hear it from him on what kind of mindset you need to be successful.

In the 1978 issue of Muscle, while training for the upcoming Mr. Olympia, Ken Waller explained his diet:

"I stay hungry. For me that's eating only four times a day. I eat four eggs and a piece of meat almost every meal. If I eat chicken, it will be four big breasts, that sort of quantity. That's not a lot of food when you are training like I am several hours a day. I'll eat a muffin in the morning. I get my usual cravings at midnight. Then I am stuffing myself in some restaurant when the rest of the world is asleep. Why, just the other night I ate two pints of ice cream and a bag of cookies, and a half a cream pie. I thought my stomach would burst. I'm notorious for excesses, but I manage to control them. Funny though, the next morning my stomach was shrunk more than ever. Maybe I needed it. You can get away with that now and then, but don't try it every day.

Workout principle 1: The progressive overload principle

In order to increase one aspect of physical fitness (strength, muscle mass, stamina, etc.), the muscles must be subjected to more stress than usual. This means that the muscles need to be continually put under increased stress. In order to achieve more strength, heavier weights must be used. In order to achieve more muscle mass, not only do heavier weights need to be used but the number of sets and the number of training units also need to be increased.

Muscle stamina is best improved by shortening the rest between sets or by constantly increasing the number of reps or sets. The progressive overload principle is the core of all physical training and forms a solid basis for successful strength training (super-compensation).

Workout principle 2: The set system principle

In the early years of bodybuilding, most experts believed that wannabe bodybuilders should only complete one set of each exercise per workout. If the whole body is to complete twelve exercises, this would mean twelve sets per training unit.

Joe Weider saw things differently. He was the first to recommend working out using several sets of one exercise (sometimes up to three or four sets per exercise) in order to fully exhaust each muscle group and to stimulate maximum muscle growth.

A lot of bodybuilders from the golden era of bodybuilding didn't have a lot of supplements to choose from so they made their own with good results. One such bodybuilder was Arnold Schwarzenegger. As part of his regime during the bulking up phase of his preparation he would consume a homemade protein shake as a snack before he went to sleep. Below is the drink as he wrote it in his book, Arnold the Education of a Bodybuilder:

Protein Drink:

Below is video of Sergio Oliva Training his quads and hamstrings:

Buy his book for his life story and workout information in his own words. Click on book image to buy.

The following Larry Scott workout and diet information is from an interview he had with Irving Johnson:

How he trains:

In gyms across America many of the weight lifters do set after set week after week and they always look the same with very little muscle gains. To them sometimes it may seem as the only way to make any gains is through the use of anabolic steroids. Well what if I told you that a generation of champions had figured out a way to make real muscle gains with no use of anabolic steroids or supplements. How do I know for sure they didn't take it? It wasn't made or carried in pharmacies in the 1940's to early 1950's.