As the son of bodybuilding legend turned movie star turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joseph Baena has learned from the best when it comes to training and motivation. Specifically: start your week strong, and don't forget to train your legs as well as your upper body.
In a new Instagram post, Baena shared a look at his lower body workout, performing a set of weighted barbell squats while wearing a lifting belt. "It’s Monday! Time to get up and get after it!!!" The 24-year-old actor wrote in the caption. "Started the week off with legs. What are you hitting?"
A love of fitness is something that Baena and Schwarzenegger have bonded over, and even though Baena could call on his dad for training advice, initially he chose instead to turn to his highly influential muscle-building manual, The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. "I went straight to the book. I wanted to figure it out myself," Baena told Men's Health earlier this year.
Eventually, they started working out together. "I was being observant, trying to see what he was doing and the way he was acting," he said. "I was able to acquire a bodybuilding mentality—that I could shape my body however I want."
These days, he and Schwarzenegger are regular lifting buddies at the iconic Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, and he calls his dad "the best training partner in the world." He even has a penchant for recreating some of Schwarzenegger's most famous bodybuilding poses from his heyday on social media—and if the resemblance was uncanny before, it really hits home when you see Baena flexing like a young Arnold.
