Redeem now - When Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to the US in 1968, he lost his first bodybuilding competition.
- He realized he lacked definition in his abs and calves, and began exercising those areas.
- Exercises like planks, wood chops, and roll-outs can help define the ab muscles.
Today, Arnold Schwarzenegger is almost synonymous with a ripped physique. But that wasn't always the case.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.When Schwarzenegger first competed in bodybuilding in the US, he had already earned the title of Mr. Europe. However, upon arriving in the States, he realized the standard was higher.
Writing in his new book, "Be Useful," the former Mr. Olympia explained that he lost his first US bodybuilding competition — in Miami in 1968 — because he lacked muscle definition.
"The winner, a smaller guy named Frank Zane, was much more cut than I was," Schwarzenegger wrote. "I was far too smooth. I'd missed a big thing."
He realized that the main areas he needed to work on were his midsection and calves.
His midsection needed more definition
"The pros in America focused way more on the individual muscles of the midsection than we did in Europe," Schwarzenegger, now 76, wrote. While he had been doing classic exercises to hit the upper and lower abs, like sit-ups and knee tucks, European bodybuilders typically weren't breaking their ab workouts down further.
Schwarzenegger said that up until that point, he hadn't been targeting muscles like his internal obliques, transverse abdominis, or the serratus muscle under the side of the pecs.
Looking back at pictures of himself and Zane on stage at the time, Schwarzenegger said there's a noticeable difference.
"I have a normal six-pack, which looks good, but Frank looked like each one of the muscles in his midsection was traced out of an anatomy textbook and chiseled from granite," Schwarzenegger wrote.
He also focused on his calves
Schwarzenegger started working his abs in new ways and also focused more on his calves, training them first in every workout and cutting all his training pants into shorts so he couldn't avoid seeing them in the gym, he wrote.
"Calves are basically the biceps of the legs. I had 24-inch biceps. I did not have 24-inch calves," Schwarzenegger wrote. "In my mind that threw my body out of proportion, which jeopardized my chances of winning Mr. Olympia and officially becoming the greatest bodybuilder in the world. I wasn't going to be the kind of person who let that happen."
In 1970, aged 23, Schwarzenegger won his first of seven Mr. Olympia titles.
Exercises to increase abdominal definition
If you want to target the same areas that Schwarzenegger did, trainers recommend a mix of exercises that work the abs in three planes of movement.
Exercises that target the obliques (sometimes known as the "side abs") include:
- Side planks
- Pallof presses
- Wood chops
To build the transverse abdominal muscles (the deepest layer of ab muscles), try:
To work the serratus muscles (which sit under the ribs), try:
- Ab rollouts
- Bear crawls
- Single arm band chest presses
Exercises to increase calf definition
In his book, Schwarzenegger wrote that he began doing "a thousand pounds on the calf raise machine for dozens of reps. Seven days a week."
Other exercises to build the calves include:
- Standing and seated calf raises
- Tip-toe walks
- Jumping jacks
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