The Arnold Blueprint to Mass (The Best Free Program for Bodybuilding)

Congratulations, you’ve just started your bodybuilding path or are currently heading down the road to Mount Olympia. It’s time for The Arnold Blueprint to Mass!

Looking for The Arnold Blueprint to Mass PDF? Click right here to access it!

While you’re forging your path in the temple of iron it is important you use the best bodybuilding program available to pack on the most muscle and make sure your time in the gym is well spent. Even outside of the gym, Arnold suggests taking powerful supplements like creatine and sleeping 8+ hours a day.

“I’ve been on that program since May and I feel like every part of my body has gotten bigger”

Jacob Nyhus, bodybuilder

In this article, I am going to showcase by far the BEST FREE program out there. This includes bodybuilding when bulking and the BEST FREE program for cutting.

Introduction and Backstory

Creator of The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Arnold Schwarzenegger - By Madison Square Garden Center - RMY Auctions, Public Domain,
Creator of The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Arnold Schwarzenegger – By Madison Square Garden Center – RMY Auctions, Public Domain,

A little bit of backstory, I have been on lots of different programs. These programs are credible, all of them recommended by popular fitness resources such as r/Fitness or by some of bodybuilding’s biggest people such as Jeff Nippard.

I have tried basically all programs, PPL, Greyskull, Ice Cream Fitness, StrongLifts, and really they all produce decent results but not great results.

Some of these programs aren’t bad at all, in fact, many of them are perfect for beginners or people trying to lose weight, but for many of us trying to put on heavy muscle, look good, and lift big,

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The Arnold Blueprint to Mass is the best program out there.

I have not seen better results with a program yet, and that’s why I am sharing this with you. It is probably one of the most vigorous and toughest programs you will ever have. Additionally, it is created by someone you can definitely trust, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. 

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass – Introduction

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass is a 60-day program that is free for anyone and everyone. You simply just repeat it when you’re done, or move to his blueprint to cut, which we will discuss later on.

It’s a very tough and hard to do program, but simple to follow. There is lots of heavyweight and lots of volume you’ll have to do, but other than that the program has very simple compound lifts that work and build muscle.

His Program Pushes Even The Hardest Bodybuilders to Their Limits

On your first few days of Arnold’s blueprint, it probably will be very difficult for you to recover. 

In fact, for me I felt incredibly hungry and fatigued, downing as much food as I could and sleeping like never before. I felt so tired all the time, searching for answers to resolve the immense fatigue.

The truth was, I wasn’t dieting properly nor sleeping enough. This program taught me the hard way that I NEED to be hitting around 1g/lb of body weight of protein a day and sleeping 8-10 hours a night, not 6.

I have never been pushed harder by a program. I also, and never had a doubt that in the morning if I ate right I would gain that muscle.

Arnold’s Blueprint to Mass isn’t just a simple exercise list. The Arnold Blueprint to Mass has multiple guides informing you about what to do every single day.

This includes diet, supplements, sleep, how to do the movements so you’re activating the muscles correctly, etc. It’s a big guide! As long as you read it and apply it to the gym, you will see your muscles grow and become huge.

What is The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Like?

For starters, very tough. As I mentioned earlier, the number of exercises and toughness of these exercises will leave you grueling in the gym and tired when you wake up.

I still remember how fatigued I was, telling my best friend Ian at school that I just wanted to sleep!!

Arnold’s Blueprint to Mass is separated into three days, chest/back, arms, and legs, then you get one rest day every week.

In the first half of the blueprint, you will do lots of exercises that go in rep ranges of 12, 10, 8, 6. This program WILL vigorously work every muscle group in your body over the week. We will cover the different splits of the workout routine later on in this article.

In the second half of The Arnold Blueprint to Mass, you will focus more on low reps but more sets. Most people are not ready for the second phase transition, but for those that keep pushing, you will be rewarded.

Doing this for 60 days will net you guaranteed results as long as you are bulking and sleeping properly.

During this program you will honestly feel constantly sore, However, the gratification of seeing your lifts go up and muscle grow will far exceed the soreness.

The Two Phases of The Program

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass is split into two phases. The first phase is the first 30 days. The second phase is the last 30 days.

Both phases are set up around the same three-day Chest/Arms/Leg split. However, the reps/sets of these changes in the splits.

Regardless of the phase you are in, you will be doing the same workouts you did before. So there is no need to go out and buy any different equipment.

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass Phase 1

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Phase 1 is the first phase or the first 30 days.

The first phase essentially prepares you and conditions you to the program.

You start off by doing some volume work and alternate each week with strong heavy 5×5 lifts.

This not only confuses the muscle but ensures you get a good ratio of muscle growth to strength growth. Remember, you build more muscle by doing 8-12 reps, but gain strength by doing 1-5 reps.

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass Phase 2

The second phase is the last 30 days, and it is the toughest.

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Phase 2 is almost like the final boss. Everything is increased, massively.

You will feel fatigued and tired as you never had before.

You’re looking at doing 10 sets of 4 reps for most compound lifts, and crazy volume for everything.

You will never be worked harder, but you will know that muscle will grow. This shock to your muscles is almost like cardio and will test your central nervous system to the max.

It is incredibly important you sleep, eat, and recover. Otherwise, burnout will be facing you soon.

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass Workouts

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass showcases the same few workouts throughout the entire program. Here is what you will be doing over the next few months.

Chest/Back Day

On chest/back day, be prepared to walk out with aching pecks and later feel the pain to move your lats. But enjoy the pain. In my opinion, this is the shortest day of The Arnold Blueprint to Mass.

You can usually get this day knocked out in just about an hour to an hour and a half. There aren’t that many exercises. There are only 6 exercises you have to perform, but they are tough.

I recommend doing some light stretching before your workout, it helped me. However, this day can also take forever if you start failing your bench. Personally, once I fail one of my sets, I take a 10-minute rest to try and recover fully before hitting the next set.

Bench Press

Every single chest day, you will be using the bench press. The bench press is an incredible compound lift that works many muscles. Arnold (greatest bodybuilder of all time) would never forget this.

You ideally want to be almost hitting failure every time you bench. Don’t be afraid to ask for a spotter.

People bench pressing on The Arnold Blueprint To Mass.
People bench pressing on The Arnold Blueprint To Mass.

Incline Bench Press

You will also do an incline bench press. This works the upper chest more, helping you develop an incredible physique.

Pectoral Flys

You will also do pectoral flys. The program usually suggests dumbbells, but a machine works great too.

The idea for the pectoral flys is to get a stretch. While you want to use progressive overload and increase the weight over time, getting a huge stretch and putting insane tension on your chest is key.

Pull-Ups

You will do typically 5 sets of as many pull ups as you can do until failure.

Strict Barbell Rows

You will also do strict barbell rows- and these are critical to your success in the program. Skip them and you may never see back growth. (Learn from me!)

Dumbbell Barbell Rows

These are similar to the barbell rows, except with dumbbells. You can have your choice of doing it with a bench and rowing one dumbbell at a time, or rowing both. Whatever your preference is- it works!

Arm Day

Arm day will tear your biceps, triceps, and shoulders to shreds. You will hurt to even do anything like write, grab the TV remote, and for some people even hurt to write for their blog. (I’m sorry, it’s not me!!!)

The Arm Day includes a ton of different exercises:

  • Overhead Press
  • Dumbbell Shoulder Press
  • Side/Front Lateral Raises
  • Barbell Curls
  • Incline Dumbbell Curls
  • Concentration Curls
  • Skullcrushers
  • Tricep Extension
  • Close-Grip Bench Press
  • Forearm Curls

Yep, that is a ton of volume. That’s why I think it is the longest day out of the whole workout. But, on the bright side, your arms will look absolutely juicy after you’re done with the program.

Leg Day

The leg day is pretty simple. Honestly, it probably is the shortest day out of them all, the problem is the squats take forever.

Squatting, in general, takes forever, it recruits such a large muscle group and is such a tough compound lift.

However, after that, you don’t get much more to do.

  • Squat
  • Leg Extension
  • Hamstring Curl
  • Good Mornings
  • Lunges
  • Deadlifts
  • Calf Raises

Most of those can be done pretty quickly, even at higher weights. Don’t skip leg day either. Trust me, you won’t even have recovered from the chest and arm day yet if you want to replace legs like that.

Nutrition Plan

Look, let’s face it. I have been telling you this entire blog post how tough this program is. You need a quality nutrition and diet plan.

You can definitely go Rich Piana on this and dirty bulk. That is, eating as much as you can. While you will put on some fat, sometimes it is needed right away to help muscle growth.

What’s The Best Nutrition For Me?

No matter what, to gain muscle, you need to eat more.

You should be eating 500 calories above your TDEE to ensure the best ratio of muscle to fat gain.

Weigh yourself every day, you should be aiming to gain .5-1lb a week.

Furthermore, make sure that you are eating about 1g/lb of body weight in protein every day. So, if you weight 150 lbs, eat 150g of protein a day.

What Foods Should I Eat Nutrition Wise?

Generally speaking, if you’re on The Arnold Blueprint to Mass, you’re going to need incredible food to keep pushing.

You will feel incredibly fatigued and tired every day. You should be aiming to eat mostly clean. Even if you’re dirty bulking, make sure a lot of your foods include lean meats, vegetables, or fruit. (Are Fruits Even Good For You?)

https://twitter.com/BrendanHarberts/status/901072932696449024

Sample Diet Plans for The Arnold Blueprint to Mass

Here are some sample diet plans you can use. Feel free to adjust them to either add or reduce food. These don’t have to be concrete but will give you a great idea of what you’re looking for.

This is usually what I eat every day. They have great nutritional value and will keep you pushing. Also, it’s cheap!

One Whole Day of Eating

This will be around 3250 calories, which is what I need to gain weight personally.

When on The Arnold Blueprint to Mass, I usually go to the gym after my breakfast. But sometimes with work and college, I have to go after dinner.

  • Breakfast: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
  • Lunch: 1 cup of milk, another Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich (or turkey sandwich) and fruit.
  • Pre-Workout snack: Banana, caffeine.
  • Dinner: Time to hit them calories!! 2 Grilled Chicken, 3-4 cups of milk, 2 slices of peanut butter toast.
  • Snack: Turkey sandwich.
  • Dessert: I usually have a little ice cream or sugary snack. Then finish off the night with something like chicken tenders, or in general a ton of meat. Also, I end up drinking some more milk with creatine, and a multivitamin.

Arnold’s Blueprint to Cut

After you spend all that time in the gym lifting heavy and eating heavy, you’ll likely have accumulated a little bit of body fat. And I’m sure you really want that muscle you’ve developed to show off.

The Arnold Blueprint to Cut, like the Arnold Blueprint to Mass

Arnold’s Blueprint to Cut is essentially what it sounds like. It is just like The Arnold Blueprint to Mass but now you’re cutting down in weight.

You must be dieting properly and restricting your calories and lifting hard. This part of the workout program does have you do lots of cardio. This cardio involves lots of running keeping you in tip-top shape.

Every day will have a different set of exercises than the blueprint counterpart, but they are aimed at keeping the most muscle on you with lower weight and higher reps.

Additionally, every day comes with more motivating messages to keep you pushing to that shredded status.

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass has many motivational videos made about it.

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Results

You’re probably hoping that The Arnold Blueprint to Mass will give incredible results.

And, trust me, it will.

I think it’s almost impossible to not see incredible muscle gain with this program. As long as you do every single set, reps, use progressive overload, and diet you will become huge.

I honestly regretted not finding this program sooner, I feel like I have been wasting my time! The Arnold Blueprint to Mass is the only program I stick with now, the rest just seem mediocre in comparison.

The Results I Got

I talk about how powerful this program is, but I got great results from it too.

For starters, I weighed roughly 145 lbs, and I had a slightly “above average” physique. It looked like I was athletic or in sports, but it didn’t look like I was a bodybuilder.

I started this program and after 3 months hit an incredible muscle hypertrophy phase and just grew. I looked actually like “big” for once.

This guy definitely used The Arnold Blueprint to Mass and has incredible bodybuilding physique.
This guy definitely used The Arnold Blueprint to Mass and has incredible bodybuilding physique.

I think many have this “bodybuilder” image of the greatest bodybuilder of all time Arnold Schwarzenegger stuck in their head. When you do his program, in a sense, you are building muscle the same way as him.

My back grew, my chest exploded, and my arms gorged in size. I went from 13.5-inch arms to 15-inch arms over the next 7 months. I had never actually put my arms through that much stress before on any program.

My Chest exploded. Before, I had small pecs from just benching 2 times a week on a 5×5 program. Now they ballooned for lack of better terms, haha. The tough pectoral flys and incline press in The Arnold Blueprint to Mass showed my striations of the chest and highlighted it.

My legs started to get tree trunked. I had always believed in the “squatting is enough for legs” movement, but now I changed. Hitting that many reps and sets on the leg press, hamstring curl, and more after a leg day just forced growth. My deadlift went from 275 -> 350 in a matter of months.

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass forces mental growth and physical growth.

The Arnold Blueprint to Mass Before and After

Many others have tried The Arnold Blueprint to Mass and have had incredible results.

Here’s a video from Marcel Patillo on YouTube, showcasing his success with the program as well. He used excellent nutrition, followed the program, and grew because of it.

Here’s another video from BluePrintTrainer. He demonstrates how The Arnold Blueprint to Mass is great, and you can see incredible physique changes in him too.

The Arnold Blueprint To Mass -Conclusion

These programs will push you with greater intensity and training than you have ever since before. Always reminding you how hard the Austrian Oak Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed himself every single day.

This will empower you in the gym to become the Mount Olympia champion. I have been bodybuilding for nearly two complete years now and by far have never had a more well-rounded, trusted, and good free program before.

Now it is time to get shredded, get in that gym, and lift hard.

While you’re at it, supplement with some creatine, Arnold liked it and you can read all about it right here: https://vekhayn.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-creatine-does-it-work/

57 thoughts on “The Arnold Blueprint to Mass (The Best Free Program for Bodybuilding)”

  1. I love your article, this is worth reading. Fitness is being a need for me now. Being a big of Arnold, I am going to follow this workout routine for sure. Keep motivating us with your resourceful blogs. I hope this blog will surely help people to achieve their fitness goals.

    Reply
  2. Great article!
    I have been involved in the gym world for some years now, but not consistently. Now I have been going regularly for some time I like to look out for more and new workout programs, especially as I have a six-week limit to any routine.

    Reply
    • That’s really interesting, I think the six-week rule is important.

      Going on any program longer than 6-8 months and your body just won’t adapt to it anymore. Even for the blueprint to mass here, I recommend people hop on the blueprint to cut after 6-7 months.

      Reply
  3. Super keen and intruiged by the article but is it actually possible to get the plan for “free” like stated or do u have to pay for the subsciption to bodybuilding.

    Reply
    • Hey! Bodybuilding.com actually used to offer it for free, now they don’t. In the article I include a pdf to the program that lists all the exercises. Hope this helps!

      Reply
    • Hello Mr.Reilly,

      I cannot believe that after all this time the back exercises were never listed! I feel like an idiot!

      I’ve gone ahead and added them in there for you.

      Thank you so much for letting me know of this, this was a big error on my end.

      Hopefully, you can enjoy the program fully now!

      Please have a great rest of your day, and thank you for commenting,
      Tommy

      Reply

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