If ever there were big shoes to fill, you’d have to look at Patrick Schwarzenegger and know that any time this man walked into a gym, all eyes would be on the son of The Terminator, Arnie. It would make it practically impossible to lift any decent-sized weight in a gym without feeling a sense of unease, but luckily Patrick’s fitness goals are far removed from those his father crushed during the hey-day of pumping iron. Instead, Patrick just wants to gain 27 pounds (approximately 12 kilograms) for his 27th birthday. And by that, we don’t mean the stubborn kilos you’ve gained during Covid lockdown. This is 27 pounds of lean muscle.
For the uninitiated, Patrick began as a model, so the idea of bulking up in a similar vein to his dad isn’t quite on the cards. But after suffering a shoulder injury that saw him sidelined for nearly two years as a result, Patrick is looking to set new goals and get back on the fitness bandwagon. In a recent interview with GQ following his role in Netflix’s movie Moxie, Patrick shared how he’s packing on the pounds for his 27th year and what it’s like to work out with the Terminator.
He explained that he’s currently on a 50 days at 5 a.m. program where he wakes up at 5 to be in the gym by 5.30 a.m. “The first thing I do is text this group chain. There’s about 500 people on it. I send them a motivational quote for the day. Then I’ll go and get a little bit of caffeine in my body. I’ll take some beet juice for a pre-morning workout, try to get a little bit of food in my system like almonds or a protein bar – something that gives me a bit of energy – and go work out,” he explained.
In terms of the workouts, he said he’s “really just bulking. When I turned 27 this year I thought it’d be fun to gain 27 pounds. I’m pretty close.”
He elaborated: “I do give days a week. I hurt my shoulder on a military set three years ago, so I couldn’t life for almost a year, and we’re finally back into heavy weights. We switch up the routine every month so it shocks the muscles. No cardio right now – sometimes I’ll go on a bike ride, like, once a week. But it’s a lot of free weights, at certain angles to help take the pressure off my shoulder for increasing the weight load. We go for about an hour and fifteen. That includes a 10-15 minute warmup doing some body movements and band work and warming up my shoulders so I don’t get hurt.”
As for his father, Patrick explained that Arnie has long been a motivator when it comes to fitness. “He definitely introduced me to fitness and made me love it. It really is part of my DNA and my daily routine,” he told the publication. “My dad really got me onto the idea of working out, but it’s been myself that’s focused and wanted to get to different levels of training to become better. Because it just helps me in so many other categories. If you don’t slack off int he gym, you find ways to not slack off in other parts of your life.”
Patrick explained that he’s now eating almost double that which he used to in order to achieve his goals. Rather than work out on an empty stomach which he used to do, he now fuels up before hand. “I have that little snack around 5 before working out, then I’ll have a big smoothie at 7:30 with peanut butter and banana, sometimes oatmeal, chia seeds, flax seeds, bone broth protein, whey protein, and plant protein mixed. I’ll have breakfast at 10 a.m., usually eggs or oatmeal or overnight oats. I usually have lunch around 12:30, then I have a smoothie again at 2 or 3, and then I’ll eat a snack at 5 p.m., usually beef jerky or yoghurt. I’ll eat dinner at 7:30, which is usually some meat and vegetables and some sort of complex carb like sweet potatoes or rice. Then I have a little protein shake before bed.”
And for anyone wondering, yes, he still has cheat meals. “Every weekend is cheat meals for me. Usually I do banana pancakes, ice cream pretty much every night, and just eat whatever I want.”
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