When I started getting into bodybuilding at the age of 19, I tried many programs in search of the right one. I read a lot of literature on the Internet, and one day I learned about Vince Gironda, the legendary champion coach. I consider his physique ideal, and I have always strived for it. He is not like modern steroid bodybuilders who look grotesque with their unnatural mountains of muscles. Vince's figure looks perfect - clear relief, lack of excess fat, correct proportions and symmetry.
The program is suitable for any training - with iron, horizontal bar and uneven bars. This is a universal training method ; it will be described in more detail below.
Vince is the author of many programs and training methods. Particular attention should be paid to his 8 by 8 program, which helps to gain high-quality sculpted mass, increase endurance and improve heart function. The program is also ideal for losing excess weight and burning fat. A couple of years ago, one of my friends asked for help with a program for losing excess weight - he had a wedding planned in a couple of months, he wanted to look good. He weighed 105 kg. I recommended Vince Gironda's 8 x 8 program - and after just two weeks of regular training, he began to lose weight.
Vince Gironda's 8v8 technique
When Joe Weider brought the overweight Arnold Schwarzenegger to America, the first thing he did was send the Austrian to Vince's gym in Studio City, California, to get him into top shape. They say that upon entering Vince Gironda, he introduced himself like this: “I am Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Universe.” To which the incomparable Vince replied: “You seem like just a piece of bacon to me!”
Yes, Vince knew how to choose words. He was also known for his active nature and did not tolerate those who refused to follow his instructions. The list of reasons why a person could be kicked out of his gym included laziness, doing back squats and bench presses, taking steroids, mentioning the word “jogging,” asking for advice and refusing to follow it.
Aside from some personal foibles, Vince was probably one of the greatest bodybuilding trainers of all time. Some of his ideas about training and nutrition were quite unusual. But no matter how unique they were, the results of their use spoke for themselves.
At the height of his fame, Vince developed more Mr. Americas and Mr. Universes than any other coach in history, a record that has yet to be broken. His two most famous students are Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, and Mohamed Makkawy, who was second at Olympia twice (in 1983 to Samir Bannout and in 1984 - after Lee Haney. Vince himself achieved impressive muscle development and definition long before definition became fashionable. I think this was the reason why he did not take any major titles - he was too ripped for those days and for my age!
If something works fine, why change everything?
For six months, the young athletes worked in a given mode, changing the set of exercises from time to time. This system allowed:
- avoid monotony and sports plateau;
- maintain motivation;
- pump up your muscles from all angles.
Moreover, Gironda advised to change programs more often, others - to stick to it for several months and not remove their favorite exercises from the complex.
The coach took a philosophical approach to the matter and stated:
If there are no breakdowns in a well-functioning mechanism, there is no need to repair it. When there are results, why change anything.
Legendary trainer
Until Vince's Gym closed after 50 years of success, it was the go-to place for Hollywood stars who needed to quickly get in shape. Film producers often sent their bloated actors and actresses to Vince to work his magic on them. Although Vince's hall was located very close to several studios, Armand Tanny once said: "If Vince had built his hall in Tibet, instead of near the film studios, his followers would have become pilgrims."
Vince knew how to get movie actors into shape so quickly that it seemed like a miracle - not in months, but in weeks or even days. Cher, Erik Estrada, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Michael Landon, Kurt Russel, Burt Reynolds, Carl Weathers and Tommy Chong are just a few of the many stars who have passed through Vince's hall.
Vince Gironda's Best Workout Program
Vince Gironda was known for his unusual training methods. Some of his unique exercises include bench presses from the neck up, pull-ups to the sternum (until your chest touches the bar), bicep curls with the bar sliding across your body, and a special type of sissy squat. His training systems included 15 sets of four repetitions, three sets of 12 repetitions, six of six, ten of ten and four exercises, each for a specific “part” of muscle, connected in a giant set. His favorite system for advanced bodybuilders was the “eight by eight” system. “I have a special affinity for the 8-on-8 system ,” he wrote. “I turn to this high-intensity, honest workout more than any other when I want to help an experienced bodybuilder achieve maximum muscle fiber growth in the shortest possible time.”
8x8 is probably the most effective set-to-rep ratio ever developed for building muscle size while toning it up. Vince called it “honest training” because of its ability to produce pure muscle fiber size. “Stick to the 8x8 pattern and your muscles will swell, giving you solid volume and density,” he promised.
8 to 8 ratio is so effective that at the beginning of my competitive career I was able to gain 8 kg of muscle in nine months without steroids by working according to this scheme. I still resort to it when I need to tighten up lagging body parts.
Vince warned that this combination is not for beginners: “You need to build a base before you can benefit from this very advanced form of training. I think you will need at least two years of regular training.”
The essence of the 8 by 8 technique
8x8 is a high-volume , fast-paced workout that targets muscle size. It is not intended to develop strength, but gives purely bodybuilding, or cosmetic, effects. The 8 by 8 method will also help you get leaner, since the short rest between sets forces the cardiovascular system to work in a more intense calorie-burning mode, in addition, the metabolism and endocrine system are stimulated, and fat has no choice but to burn.
Here's how it works. Choose three to four exercises per muscle group and perform eight sets of eight repetitions of each exercise. Yes, that’s 32 sets per muscle group! During a training session, you work two or three muscle groups, resting only 15-30 seconds between sets, and finish the workout in 45 minutes, with a maximum of 60.
Although this volume of training is reminiscent of the crazy training style of Steve Michalik or John Defendis, it is a completely different matter. The 8×8 method does not involve 2-3 hour marathon workouts; you can do it in an hour. This number of sets will not cause overtraining because you are not exceeding the time after which the volume begins to affect your recovery abilities and hormone production. You are simply overloading your muscles by giving them more work in less time. Moreover, as you will see, all these sets are not performed to failure.
Many people believe that the only way to increase muscle size is to increase lifting weights. This is wrong. Overload is absolutely necessary for building muscle, but it can be achieved in different ways.
A progressive increase in working weights is just one of them. Vince welcomed adding weight to the bar as long as he maintained good form, but he also believed that doing more work in less time was the best method of ensuring overload.
The Iron Guru advised: “To gain muscle, you should aim to increase the intensity of the work you do over a given period of time, which means less rest between sets. Push yourself. I believe that training should fit within a time frame, and you should constantly try to narrow it down. This is another form of progressive resistance building and is more important than simply adding weight. The principle of overload explains why sprinters have larger muscles than distance runners. Although more work is done in a mile race than in a 100-yard dash, a sprinter does more work per second. So his muscles will be bigger.”
Vince's Rules
When people came to Vince's gym, he usually discussed the goals of the training with them, briefly explained the methodology of his training, along the way, finding out if his future wards had any health problems, if they were undergoing any treatment, or if they had other problems that could interfere with training. Having explained exactly how he could help improve a client's physique, Vince proceeded to outline the rules of training. Rule number one was that no work would result in zero muscle growth. He repeatedly emphasized: “My system works, which sometimes cannot be said about my students. If you don't want to work, you know where the door is."
Another point he insisted on: there should be no music in the gym! After much thought and numerous attempts, Vince came to the conclusion that music only helps to establish and regulate the rhythm and tempo of aerobic exercises performed in a lively dance manner. Also, since everyone's taste in music is different, some may enjoy it while others find it distracting and annoying. Vince felt that those who required music during training did not have the mental attitude necessary to succeed in bodybuilding.
“It’s impossible to work on creating and changing muscle forms while listening to the soundtrack of a new-fangled rock band,” he once answered when asked why there was no music in his gym. “Do these musically inclined people not understand that achieving physical perfection requires a vivid imagination, great desire, absolute faith in oneself, a mental picture of the result and endless devotion to the chosen path? How can you achieve this while listening to distracting music?” The question is closed. The teacher said his word. By the way, Joe Gold also never allowed music to be played in his gym - this is perhaps the only thing on which he and Vince agreed.
One last thing Vince insisted on was that it doesn't matter what time of day you train, but it would be a good idea to do it at the same time every day. This allows the body to adjust its internal clock. After several regular workouts, the body itself prepares itself for work at the appointed hour. In anticipation of the workout, your tone will increase. Hardgainer.RU
Rest between sets
Vince recommended a very “businesslike” approach to training pacing. He said that simply using the 8x8 format is not enough to initiate muscle growth. It is much more important to maintain the pace of your workout. “A minimum of rest between sets is the main thing,” said the master. When Vince trained Mohammed Makkawi for the Olympia, he had him do eight sets of eight reps in five minutes or less.
Your goal is to reduce the rest period between sets to 30 seconds at the beginning, and then to 15-20. As you adapt, you may only need 5-10 breaths between sets.
If your tempo for each exercise is 2-0-2-0 (two seconds lifting the weight, no rest, then two seconds lowering, then the next rep), then each rep will take four seconds. Therefore, one set of eight repetitions will take 32 seconds. With a rest of 15-20 seconds, 24 sets will be completed in 18-21 minutes, and 32 sets will be completed in 25-28 minutes.
Working weights
Short rest intervals between sets will limit your workload, but that's okay. Initially, the weights will drop slightly. Most people require a 40% reduction in weight (compared to their normal weight for eight repetitions to failure). For example, if you typically perform flyes with 25-pound dumbbells for eight reps with 60 to 90 rest between sets, you'll have to drop the weight by 10 kg to successfully perform eight sets of eight reps with 15 to 30 rest. As you adapt to the program, you will be surprised how much weight you can add while maintaining minimal rest intervals. Gradually you'll get pretty close to your normal weights, which is where the serious muscle growth should start.
Choosing the right weight is critical. The first workouts using this scheme should be deliberately easy. If you try to lift too much weight, you may not be able to handle all the reps in the last few sets, and you will also ruin your ability to progress over the next few weeks. Vince emphasized using the same weight for all eight sets. If you reach failure on the sixth or seventh rep of the penultimate or last set, that's okay, but if it happens on the fourth or fifth set, the weight is too heavy.
Training strategy
The training process is built on the principle of split training, and the participation of antagonist muscles.
An example of a classic NOT cycle:
- Day 1 – pectoral and back muscles,
- Day 2 – legs and abdominals,
- Day 3 – rest,
- Day 4 – arms and shoulders,
- Day 5 – rest.
Natural athletes with a lack of calories and sleep may notice a decrease in performance and lack of recovery.
If this happens, try structuring the cycle a little differently.
Example of one loop:
- Day 1 – pectoral muscles and upper back,
- Day 2 – legs and abdominals,
- Day 3 – rest,
- Day 4 – shoulders and lats,
- Day 5 – biceps and triceps,
- Day 6 – rest,
- Day 7 – rest.
Training based on the NOT principle is divided into two phases:
- Phase 1 lasts 6 cycles and contains 10 sets of 10 repetitions.
- Phase 2 lasts 3 cycles and contains 10 sets of 6 repetitions each. Moreover, the weight for the approaches should be such that you can perform 12 repetitions.
The idea of such cycling is very simple - a phase with a large volume and average intensity is replaced by a phase with a lower volume and lower intensity.
Training beyond will
Most of your sets will not fail, and none will continue beyond the point of failure. On the last or penultimate set, it will be normal to reach failure on the sixth or seventh rep. Having completed all eight repetitions in all eight approaches, you can increase the weight in the next workout.
While you won't be pushing yourself to failure on most sets, make no mistake - this is one of the hardest training programs you'll ever do. Working large muscle groups and multi-joint movements with free weights is especially challenging. You will experience tremendous muscle burning, local fatigue, lack of oxygen and difficulty concentrating.
This method is a real test of strength, endurance and mental toughness. Gironda called this “training beyond the will.” At first you will doubt whether you should continue, but once you start, you will not be able to stop.
Number of sets and exercises
Vince generally recommended limiting the number of sets to 12-15 per muscle group. He said that if you can't squeeze a workout into 12 sets, then you're not concentrating enough. However, he also believed that sometimes this rule can be broken. The 8 by 8 program is just that case.
Vince recommended one to four exercises for each muscle group, depending on the circumstances. In your case, it is better to perform eight sets of eight repetitions of two to four exercises per body part. For large muscle groups this will be three or four exercises, for small ones – two or three. This is exactly how Vince trained Makkawi, preparing him for the Olympia.
Vince, however, said that Mohammed was a genetically gifted athlete, and not everyone can handle such a volume of work. The optimal number of exercises and sets per muscle group depends on your experience, stress response, and recovery abilities.
The most important point is to do exactly as many exercises as you can in 45 minutes.
Gironde system
Many believe that he worked exclusively with celebrities and titled athletes. Actually this is not true. Vince took custody of promising newcomers and worked out the system on them. It was noticeably different from standard methods.
So, contrary to the statement that the number of training sessions for a beginning athlete per week should not exceed 3, Gironda insisted that in the first seven days you need to train for 6 days, giving the body a day of rest. If other coaches recommended performing 10 repetitions in 3 sessions, then Vince suggested :
- In the 1st week - limit yourself to 1 set.
- In the 2nd week I added 1 more set.
- In the 3rd week I brought it up to 3.
- On the 4th I installed a 3-time regimen with pauses every other day.
