Golden Era Training vs Modern Science: What Still Holds Up
Golden-era routines were built on high volume and high frequency, often six days a week. Modern research agrees that more weekly volume grows more muscle, up to a point, but shows that frequency matters little when volume is equal and that most people do not need the era’s extreme workloads.
General education, not medical advice. AI-assisted research and drafting, human-edited and checked against the cited sources. How we work.
Key takeaways
- More weekly volume grows more muscle, up to roughly 10–20 sets per muscle.
- Frequency matters little once weekly volume is equal.
- Training to failure every set is not required for growth.
- Protein needs plateau around 1.6 g/kg, far below some era diets.
- Keep the era’s basics and consistency; drop the extreme workloads.
On this page
Golden-era bodybuilding still shapes how people train. This page puts the era’s main habits next to current research, then turns the parts that hold up into a practical four-day plan.
Golden-era habits vs current evidence
| Topic | Golden-era practice | What research shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly volume | Very high, often 20+ sets per muscle per session | Growth increases with weekly sets; 10+ sets beat fewer (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), and 12–20 looked optimal in trained men (Baz-Valle et al., 2022) | Keep the principle, cut the dose |
| Frequency | Each muscle 2–3× a week, six days | No meaningful difference in growth between frequencies when weekly volume is equal (Schoenfeld et al., 2019) | Choose what fits your week |
| Effort | Often trained to failure and beyond | Failure and non-failure training produced similar growth (Grgic et al., 2022) | Stop 1–3 reps short on most sets |
| Exercise choice | Free-weight compound basics | Compound lifts are an efficient base; add isolation for lagging muscles | Holds up |
| Protein | Very high, mostly whole foods | Benefit levels off around 1.6 g/kg/day (Morton et al., 2018) | Enough, not excess |
| Physique goal | Proportion and symmetry | Not a research question; still central to judging | Holds up |
Golden-era practice is summarised from first-hand accounts (Schwarzenegger & Dobbins, 1998).
Volume: right direction, extreme dose
The era’s core belief, that more work builds more muscle, is broadly supported. A dose–response meta-analysis found that 10 or more weekly sets per muscle produced more growth than fewer sets. A later systematic review of trained men found the best results at around 12–20 weekly sets. Golden-era champions often went well beyond this, and many had pharmacological help recovering from it. For a natural lifter, the useful takeaway is to build up toward the 10–20 set range gradually, not to copy a 1970s routine.
Frequency: twice a week is plenty
Training each muscle two or three times a week, as the era did, works well. When weekly volume is equal, research finds no meaningful difference between training a muscle once, twice or three times. Frequency is therefore a scheduling tool: higher frequency spreads volume so no single session is too long.
Failure: optional, not required
Forced reps, drop sets and training past failure were standard tools in the era. A 2022 meta-analysis found that sets taken to failure and sets stopped short produced similar muscle growth. Stopping one to three reps from failure on most sets, and taking only the last set of an isolation exercise to failure, keeps quality high and fatigue manageable.
A modern classic-style 4-day template
This plan keeps the golden-era exercise menu and body-part focus, but uses volumes from current research. Each major muscle lands at roughly 10–16 hard sets a week.
| Day | Exercises (sets × reps) |
|---|---|
| Mon: Chest & back | Bench press 4×6–8; chin-up 4×6–10; incline dumbbell press 3×8–12; barbell row 3×8–10 |
| Tue: Legs | Back squat 4×6–8; Romanian deadlift 3×8–10; leg press 3×10–15; leg curl 3×10–15; standing calf raise 4×10–15 |
| Thu: Shoulders & arms | Overhead press 4×6–8; lateral raise 4×12–20; barbell curl 3×8–12; close-grip bench 3×8–12; incline curl 2×10–15 |
| Fri: Chest, back & legs (volume) | Incline press 3×8–12; cable row 3×10–12; dumbbell pullover 2×10–15; front squat or hack squat 3×8–12; seated calf raise 3×12–20 |
Weekly hard sets: chest ~10 (plus some from pullovers), back ~12, quads ~10, hamstrings ~6 plus hinge work, side delts 4 plus pressing, biceps ~5 plus chin-ups, calves 7. Add sets to a lagging muscle in 8–12-week blocks.
Worked example: progressing the bench press
Week 1: 80 kg for 8, 7, 7, 6 reps. Using double progression, keep 80 kg until all four sets reach 8 reps, then add 2.5 kg. Use the 1RM calculator to check that the estimated max is trending up every few weeks.
What to keep and what to leave
Keep compound basics, body-part focus for proportion, steady overload and the habit of training for years rather than weeks. Leave six-day double splits, routine failure training and protein intakes far above about 1.6–2.2 g/kg. Above all, don’t judge your progress against physiques built with drugs.
Limitations of this guide
Golden-era training is described from memoirs and books, not controlled studies, so the comparison is between accounts and evidence rather than two datasets. Most modern studies are short and use young participants, and they rarely include elite bodybuilders.
Common questions
Is golden-era training still effective?
Its foundations are: compound lifts, progressive overload and consistency. The very high volumes and six-day double splits are more than most natural lifters need or can recover from.
How many sets did golden-era bodybuilders do?
Accounts describe very high totals, often 20 or more sets for a body part in one session, two or three times a week. Modern research suggests about 10–20 hard sets per muscle per week is enough for most people.
References
- Schwarzenegger A, Dobbins B (1998). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. New York: Simon & Schuster. (Primary account of the era’s split and double-split training.) Source (opens in a new tab)
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW (2017). Dose–response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(11), 1073–1082. PubMed (opens in a new tab)
- Baz-Valle E, Balsalobre-Fernández C, Alix-Fages C, Santos-Concejero J (2022). A systematic review of the effects of different resistance training volumes on muscle hypertrophy. Journal of Human Kinetics, 81, 199–210. PubMed (opens in a new tab)
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J (2019). How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(11), 1286–1295. PubMed (opens in a new tab)
- Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Sabol F (2022). Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 11(2), 202–211. PubMed (opens in a new tab)
- Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training–induced gains in muscle mass and strength. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(6), 376–384. PubMed (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia contributors. “Mr. Olympia” (list of winners and history). Wikipedia, accessed 2 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Related tool: One-Rep Max Calculator. Estimate your max from any set of 1–12 reps with three formulas, then get percentage, rep-target and warm-up tables.
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This guide is general fitness education and does not replace advice from a doctor, registered dietitian or qualified coach. Stop any exercise that causes sharp pain. See the full disclaimer.