Vince Gironda inspired training sessions: 8x8 training, attitude and principles

He will forever be known as the "Iron Guru". Learn more about Vince Gironda's old-school bodybuilding philosophies, nutritional recommendations and sample workouts!

If you're a fan of bodybuilding or physique competitions, then you may know that many of the top champions work with a trainer and/or nutritionist to help them prepare for their competitions.

Many of the people these athletes hire are known as coaches or "gurus". You may recognize the names of some of the top "gurus" of today, but there is one bodybuilding guru who could be considered the original.

He was the "Iron Guru" of the golden era of bodybuilding and worked with many champions of the time including the original Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott, Lou Ferrigno, Frank Zane, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Who was Vince Gironda?

Vince Gironda was born in the Bronx in 1917 and moved to Los Angeles with his family after his father got a job as a stuntman. The young Vince originally wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but then turned to training with weights after seeing a photo of the then famous bodybuilder John Grimek.

At the age of 22, Gironda began training at the local YMCA before moving on to train at the Easton brothers' gym. They taught him everything he needed to know to become a trainer. During this time, he took part in bodybuilding competitions himself.

Even though he never won a competition, in 1962 he came 2nd in the Mr. Universe competition with a body weight of just under 80 kilos. The spontaneous apprenticeship with the Eastons ended when Gironda decided to open his own gym in North Hollywood called "Vince's Gym".

During the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, his reputation as a trainer grew thanks to the aforementioned champions who won competitions and claimed to owe it to him. This led to him becoming a trainer to the stars, working with numerous Hollywood stars over the years including Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington and Sean Penn.

The Vince Gironda training mindset

Gironda was one of the first to talk about the role of the mind when it came to developing the body. He made sure that all the people he trained didn't just focus on what they were physically doing during the workout. They also had to believe and trust that they could achieve the goals they had set for themselves.

How Vince Gironda shared his knowledge

In addition to his personal training, Gironda was also a talented author who wrote many articles on muscle building over the years that were read by many people across the country. Gironda's knowledge and passion when it came to training was shared by those who followed him until his death in 1997 - a month before his 80th birthday. While many of his ideas were originally published in the fifties and sixties and later ignored in favor of more modern discoveries, some of his principles are still propagated and continue to help many people today.

Vince Gironda's nutritional philosophies

Even though he was primarily known as the iron guru, Gironda also helped many people with their nutrition programs. His philosophy was that bodybuilding is 85% nutrition. Many consider Gironda to be ahead of his time, as he promoted low-carb diets long before they became popular.

He also promoted the use of nutritional supplements. The products he recommended included dried liver tablets, kelp tablets, digestive enzymes and glandular products.

Some of his dietary recommendations were controversial. Among his favorites were fertilized chicken eggs and cream. Other foods he recommended were based on the particular athlete and what he believed was needed. He did not have a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition.

Principles that Vince Gironda rejected

Gironda was known almost as much for what he disliked as what he favored. Regardless of the athlete he was training, for example, he was totally against the use of anabolic steroids and he spoke out against their use throughout his career.

Other topics he spoke about included his exercise selection. Gironda's focus was primarily on bodybuilding and body development and his exercise selection reflected this.

For example, he was not a fan of squats. As a result, there was no squat rack in his gym. Gironda believed that squats train the gluteus and hips, which can affect their proportions compared to the thighs. He occasionally made an exception for women who competed and, in his opinion, had deficits in these areas. Otherwise, he recommended leg extensions, leg curls and other exercises that isolate the quadriceps and hamstrings.

He was also against sit-ups and was among the first to criticize this exercise as one that doesn't really target the abs.

Bench press to the neck and Gironda dips

Another exercise that Gironda disliked was barbell flat bench presses. He felt that this exercise recruited the front shoulder muscles too much, which to him meant that it wouldn't help the chest. Instead, he developed and promoted the Gironda bench press to the neck. This variation of the bench press uses a wide grip and the exerciser lowers the weight to the lower part of the neck instead of the chest.

Another exercise he modified according to his preferences was classic dips. His Gironda dips had the exerciser looking down and the chin touching the chest. The hands are positioned so that the fingers are inside the handles. The elbows are extended and the legs are stretched forward instead of being bent under the body. Gironda felt that performing dips in this manner would isolate the pectoral muscles and minimize triceps involvement.

Vince Gironda's "honest" training programs

Although Gironda's contributions to the world of fitness and bodybuilding were numerous, there is one that still stands out from the rest decades later. His 8 x 8 program has been referred to as his "honest" training program, as it encouraged exercisers to use lighter weights and focus on making the muscles work rather than focusing on the weight used. This principle has also been referred to in recent years as high density training.

In this program, 8 sets of 8 repetitions are performed and the rests between sets last only 30 seconds. It is impossible to do this with heavier weights without sacrificing the correct form of the exercise, which Gironda strongly opposed. He believed that using lighter weights and shorter rests would maximize muscle fiber growth and help burn as many calories as possible in the shortest amount of time possible.

There were two different ways to train with the 8 x 8 method. You could either use a full body training program or focus on individual muscle groups, as is the case with a bodybuilding split program. Both options were intense and you could be sure afterwards that you had done a serious training session.

If you use the full-body training program, you should limit yourself to a maximum of 5 exercises. Even if this is only 8 sets for each major muscle group, this is a total of 40 sets per training session.

Example of a Vince Gironda 8 x 8 full body training program

Exercise	Sets
1. leg presses	8	8
2. leg curls lying down	8	8
3. seated rowing	8	8
4. dumbbell incline bench press	8	8
5. side raise	8	8

The Vince Gironda inspired 8 x 8 training program

If you want to use a bodybuilding split program, you should stick to three or four exercises for the larger muscle groups such as legs, chest and back. For smaller areas such as biceps, triceps and calves, only two exercises each are recommended.

The split program below is an example of what such programs could look like. Gironda had different athletes perform different programs based on their individual needs.

Monday: Vince Gironda 8x8 chest training program

Exercise	Sets
1. bench press to the neck	8	8
2. gironda dips	8	8
3. flying movements on the incline bench	8	8

Tuesday: Vince Gironda 8x8 back & biceps training program

Exercise	Sets
1. barbell rowing	8	8
2. lat pulldown	8	8
3. dumbbell pull-ups	8	8
4. barbell curls	8	8
5. hammer curls	8	8

Thursday: Vince Gironda 8x8 shoulders & triceps training program

Exercise	Sets
1. push presses (barbell shoulder press with leg swing)	8	8
2. side raises	8	8
3. upright rowing	8	8
4. dumbbell tricep press overhead	8	8
5. tricep press on cable pulley	8	8

Friday: Vince Gironda 8x8 quadriceps, leg flexors & calves training program

Exercise	Sets
1st leg press	8	8
2. leg extensions	8	8
3. deadlift with straight legs	8	8
4. leg curls lying down	8	8
5. standing calf raises	8	8
6. seated calf raise	8	8

* 30 seconds rest between exercises

**Gironda preferred to perform dumbbell exercises with both arms at the same time rather than alternating them to minimize rest times and maximize effort.

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/vince-gironda-inspired-workouts