Vince Gironda

[Plateau_Max]

I went and picked up a "Maximum Fitness" magazine to give myself something to read since I'm STILL waiting for my new phisiology and two nutrition books to come in from amazon.....

Well anyhow, I came across a lengthy portion in the mag about a guy named Vince Gironda who passed on back in 1997. The article talked about how Gironda trained countless A-list movie stars and former Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe winners to include Arnold Schwartzeneggar.

What's got me about this, is his training is supposedly very intense and took guys (even arnold) to new levels they'd never been able to achieve and his workout principles include rest times of 30-45 seconds and no more than 45 minutes of work total.

That right there sort of bothers me as it would seem to bring on so much fatigue as to not successfully complete the latter sets of a workout.

Thoughts?

Oh and apparently he invented the preacher curl and preacher bench.

 

[Richie1888]

and u had never heard of him before ?

 

[PWGriffin]

short resting intervals are perfect for hypertrophy, just not perfect for strength. 45 minute workouts are also on point.

 

[FortifiedIron]

I think even short rest intervals has a vital importance for strength training, especially in strength-endurance and work capacity. However, you need to understand and know how to effectivly utilize it, if not you'll fail in doing so like many people today do.

Hypertrophy has two major aspects: fatigue and tension. Something people are finally starting to understand is the importance of fatigue and its ability for hypertrophy signaling via metabolic processing.

However the most important is tension. The days of weak bodybuilders and 10+ gurus are getting washed away.

Kc

 

[Mudge]

Strength has nothing to do with endurance, therefore "strength-endurance" would sound like something more for MMA training and not really have anything to do with tranditional weight-lifting as we are.

Maximum strength, is for brevity, and has nothing to do with endurnace.

The biggest guys I know personally all train in a traditional bodybuilding way, lots of volume, lots of drop sets, lots of workout changeups, which eventually creates fatigue to the point where you see 260-270 pound guys training with little weights. Short rest periods, to the point of sometimes none (other than dropping a weight and picking up another) is the norm. These are all people with 20+ or greater arms, and under 6 foot. We are one person removed from getting advice from Charles Glass, who is training a local NPC competitor (who also trains people).

 

[Double D]

Strength has nothing to do with endurance, therefore "strength-endurance" would sound like something more for MMA training and not really have anything to do with tranditional weight-lifting as we are.

Maximum strength, is for brevity, and has nothing to do with endurnace.

The biggest guys I know personally all train in a traditional bodybuilding way, lots of volume, lots of drop sets, lots of workout changeups, which eventually creates fatigue to the point where you see 260-270 pound guys training with little weights. Short rest periods, to the point of sometimes none (other than dropping a weight and picking up another) is the norm. These are all people with 20+ or greater arms, and under 6 foot.

Great post Mudge.

 

[Valias]

Yeah i've got a book or two on Vince, i like alot of his principles and dislike some, most of his stuff is a really great read. Alot of people seem to poach ideas from him.

 

[min0 lee]

http://www.criticalbench.com/VinceGironda.htm

Here's an interesting story you might get a chuckle out of concerning Arnold.

Everybody assumes that when he came to America he trained under the trainer of champions, Joe Weider. Nothing could be further from the truth. Weider just promoted Arnold and made a lot of money. Actually they both promoted each other and made a lot of money. Arnold's German industrial sponsor sent him to Vince. Of course, Arnold had a pretty big ego, although he was not that good when he started, being rather on the fat, fleshy side. He walked into Vince's Gym (John Balik, the editor of IRONMAN can substantiate this story as he was standing right there) and said, "I'm Arnold Schwarzennegger from Austria and I'm Mr. So and So." Vince looked up at him through his granny glasses and responded, "You're nothing but a fat you-know-what." For two years, Arnold spent time at Vince's Gym Then, after Joe Weider signed him, he went on to become a movie star and multi-millionaire. Years later, Arnold told Balik that was the best thing that ever happened to him because he thought he was king of the world and Vince brought him right down, shattered his ego. That about sums up Vince and says a lot for Arnold.

 

[Plateau_Max]

I read that lengthy article or the vince memorial, I must say there's a few of the things I'm hearing that go against the grain on things that I'm used to.

For instance I'm reading a book right now called the Optimum Nutrition Bible, and you can tell the guy who wrote it is really pro-vegan so he has a pretty big bias against meat and dairy but at the same time he makes a lot of good points on the importants of particular vegitibles and the way the need to be prepared in order for you to get the most benefit. It seems Vince doesn't think eating a majoral amount of good vegitibles and fruit is important.

I guess this goes to show the battle between those who put their dietary emphasis more on the muscle building factor than the overal health factor.

Jodi????

 

[Plateau_Max]

I'm gonna buy a book by Vince today and get a better idea for sure. I'm a nutritionist yes, by that I mean I've read and researched my guts out on this stuff but I'm not a dietician, you know, I'm not actually certified on anything and can't medically "prescribe" nutrition related plans for people. I guess that's why when I research to this extent I keep stumbling over contradictions all the time.

 

[Valias]

I thought vince advocated steak and vegetables a fair amount. any fibrous kind of vegetables (not carb loaded thus excluding potato's etc), but yeah you do lose some nutrition from those.

 

[LoadedBats]

Vince Gironda promoted the steak and eggs type of diet, low carb stuff for pre contest. It was called "Maximum Definition Diet", the basis was carb cycling. One week of less than 20 carbs a day (from veggies) lots of protein and fat (steak and eggs) then every 2nd or 3rd day from that point on was a carb up day or meal.

This type of diet wasn't meant for long term year round dieting. He advocated eating clean and unprocessed foods, for a general diet, with a little less emphasis on starches and a little more on fats if you wanted to stay leaner, which isn't a bad recommendation.

I've read a handful of his courses and although controversial in regards to some topics, the man was far ahead of his time when it came to a lot of bodybuilding principles.

 

[Plateau_Max]

What did you read? I wanna get something that's more rounded on his ideas and not end up with just a training book or something that I can't really use since I'm not a bodybuilder... just a fitness enthusiast.

 

[JerseyDevil]

Vince was known as the "Iron Guru". Definitely a legend in BB'ing. He was big on using lots and lots of cable movements. From what I recall, he pissed a lot of people off because he was very arrogant, but he was also known to get results.

 

[LoadedBats]

What did you read? I wanna get something that's more rounded on his ideas and not end up with just a training book or something that I can't really use since I'm not a bodybuilder... just a fitness enthusiast.

Unleashing the Wild Physique was the book i read, as for the courses that he put out, i read the Maximum Definition Diet. You can actually search him online, there are a couple websites that have a lot of information about his training & nutrition ideas. I learned more about him through 2 websites that are dedicated to Vince. Check em out sometime.

 

[pazmaniandevil]

hi gang,i`m a newbie here and would like to know which exercises vince gironda recommended worked best for you,thanks