J's Big Gym

Stretching… Arnold?

He may be on in years, and I’m definitely showing my age, but Arnold is the guy who pumped life into the sport of bodybuilding.

Can you imagine in the late 70’s Arnold was talking and writing about being more balletlike and elegant?

Read what he had to say about stretching:

“Stretching is important while you’re exercising. When you are first starting, it can be as important as the training program.  You should understand how to develop yourself so you don’t end up with a clumsy, "musclebound" body. The musclebound body is created by people who only lift weights and flex and contract their muscles, whose only thought is to get muscles. Stretching the muscles making them long and limber, is one of the things that sets off the champion from the guy who is as big as the champion but who doesn't look as good.

As soon as I started doing the stretching exercises my muscles starting flowing together, my whole body began looking more symmetrical.  My movements became more balletlike, my posing improved, and the way I walked and handled myself was more elegant.”

Future blogs will have the how to’s  of stretching.

"ARNOLD: The Education of a Body Builder" by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Douglas Kent Hall, pgs 192-194; 1977