Arnold’s 800 Reps and the Rest of Us

I’ve been thinking about the tension between remembering that less is more and rest, recovery, and stepping back are not signs of weakness but essential parts of the cycle. That some days, the answer truly is to close the laptop, take a walk, stretch, breathe, give yourself a minute.

But.

Other days, we need the opposite reminder: that doing the work is essential. That meaningful accomplishments don’t float down from the heavens and land in our laps, and that waiting for your lucky break will rarely get you where you want to go. Pretty much anything worthwhile is built with focus, effort, and the unglamorous showing-up-again-and-again kind of consistency most people never see.

Because the cliché is true: If you want what you’ve always had, keep doing what you’ve always done. So if you want something different, you’re going to have to do something different. Something in your behavior, your habits, your rhythms, your effort is going to have to change.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger speak on a podcast, and he shared a story that stopped me in my tracks. He was talking about his training for the Mr. Olympia competition and mentioned, almost casually, that he had come across a tricep exercise he thought he should add. And then he said, again somewhat casually, that at the time his typical pattern was 40 sets of 20 reps of an exercise.

Forty. Sets.

Of twenty reps.

Eight. Hundred. Reps. In one workout.

Wild. Completely, utterly wild. Lightyears beyond what any of us should be doing with our bodies.

But it did speak to me about something important: this is how Arnold became Arnold. He didn’t tap into some secret formula. He didn’t manifest his way to the top. He simply did the work at a level most people wouldn’t dream of.

Now, before you panic: I am not suggesting that any of us should train like that (please don’t), or that the only path to success is obsession. It’s not. Our goals matter, but so do our health, our joy, and our lives.

What I am reminding all of us, myself included, is this:

Whatever your goal is, doesn’t matter if it is publishing a book, losing 20 pounds, walking a marathon, growing a garden, baking a perfect pie, whatever it is will take work. Some days will be easy. Some days will be annoying. Some days you’ll feel like you’re cooking with gas and others you’ll wonder why you ever started.

But as Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps’ coach) famously said: “It takes what it takes.”

And that, really, is the whole truth.

The art is learning when it’s time to rest… and when it’s time to push. When “less is more” and when “more is necessary.” When to give yourself grace and when to give yourself a gentle nudge (and sometimes a strong shove) back on the path to what you want.