"The Education of a Body Builder" by Arnold Schwarzenegger

• I wanted more, I demanded more of myself.
• I learned this pain [from lifting] mean progress. Each time my muscles were sore from a workout, I knew they were growing.
• Normal people can be happy with a regular life. I was different. I felt there was more to life than just plodding through an average existence.
• From the beginning, I was a believer in the basic movements, because that was Reg Park’s preference.
• The basic exercises were creating for my a ruffed foundation, a core of muscle I could later build upon for a winning body.
• Basic exercises: bench presses, chin-ups, squats, rowing, barbell curls, wrist curls, pullovers, leg extensions, calf raises.
• The secret is contained in a three-part formula I learned in the gym: self-confidence, a positive mental attitude, and honest hard work. Many people are aware of these principles, but very few can put them into practice.
• I think it’s the key to success in everything: be honest; know where you’re weak; admit it.
• As soon as I grasp something, I take control.
• One word was constantly on my mind: perfection.
• There are certain things you can win and still not be sure you are the best. So if it’s important for you to be the best and not just the winner, and it was for me, then you go on.
• It’s important that you like what you do, and we loved it.
• Your first concern must be yourself. You have to invent the means to take you over the top.
• I knew the secret: concentrate while you’re training. Do not allow other thoughts to enter your mind.
• Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you to develop into a winner.
• It’s always foolish in business to say, “oh, he’s my friend, he’s going to take care of me.”
• Business and friendship are two different things, as they should be.
• I can apply my success to everything. One thing is that people listen much more to bigger guys; the bigger you are and the more impressive you look physically, the more people listen and the better you can sell yourself or anything else.
• For me, life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
• “I can’t…” should be permanently stricken from your vocabulary, especially the vocabulary of your thoughts.
• You must see yourself always growing and improving.
• The secret is to make your mind work for you--not against you. This means constantly being positive, constantly setting up challenges you can meet--either today, next week, or next month.
• The mind is incredibly. Once you’ve gained mastery over it, channeling its powers positively for your purposes, you can do anything. I mean anything.
• If the mind doesn’t want to lift weights, the body won’t lift them.
• Be honest. Honesty is the key to how much you can improve.
• You must know why you are training in order to give it your best and be productive.
• In order to build muscles we must first have the nutrients that promote growth.
• The secret of rapid weight gain is a high-protein, high-calorie diet.
• It’s very important that you expose your weaknesses, that you constantly point them up to yourself. Let the mirror be your reminder.
• The important thing is to do the exercises correctly; that counts for everything.
• Do not let your ego get in the way of your progress.
• The more fully you do the repetition, the more fully your muscle is developed.
• Doing exercises correctly, perfectly, doing full movements, is the most important thing in bodybuilding.
• Give your full concentration to each exercise. Feel what the exercise does to your muscles as you move.
• Do not underestimate the part your attitude plays in bodybuilding. Mental strain and worry can drain the body and adversely affect both your workouts and muscular growth. A good positive mental attitude ought to go beyond the gym.
• I have found that the best way to get great workouts is to have an enthusiastic training partner.
• There are no “secret” exercises in bodybuilding. The secret is not what exercises to do but how you do them.
• When you exercise you should be totally aware of the muscle you are working on.
• The worst mistake the average aspiring bodybuilder makes it attempting to do too much. This results in overtraining, no muscle growth, and total discouragement.
• Perform all exercises with equal energy and enthusiasm.
• The name of the game is to do as much for each muscle as possible, and to develop the entire body uniformly.
• It isn’t how much weight you handle but rather how much weight you handle in the correct form that will give you the best body.
• The reason we split up the exercises is to give 48 hours of rest to the muscles, to allow them to recuperate from injury or soreness.
• For your abdominals workout you should alternate one set of leg raises with bent legs with one set of twists with the broomstick in a bent-over position. You combine them in order to save time. The leg raises are for the abs, and bent-over twists are for the obliques, at the side of the waist.
• Do not decrease weight in any exercises. Keep the weights up and try to increase your number of repetitions. Push yourself.
• You must approach all of your training with a positive mental attitude and the firm conviction that you will succeed.