Edited by Dr. Luca Franzon
We begin the new year with a journey into the past, going to rediscover and perhaps for someone to discover, one of the greatest personalities that body building has ever known.
Vince Gironda was born on November 9, 1917 in the Bronx, NY. His family moved to Los Angeles when his stunt father got the job offered to him in the upcoming Ben Hur film. Vince, fascinated by his father's work, decides to follow in his footsteps but, after seeing a photograph of John Grimek, realizes that to be successful he must develop his muscle mass. At the age of 22, Vince Gironda began training under the guidance of Easton's brothers who later made him work as their instructor. In 1948 he opened his own gym in Hollywood.
Vince was a well-known trainer to both bodybuilders and television and film actors including: Cher, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, James's Garner, Brian Keith, Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong) and Erik Estrada. Among the bodybuilders we remember Larry Scott, who won the first Mister Olympia in 1965, Jake Steinman, Lou Ferrigno ("the Incredible Hulk"), Franc Zane and even Arnold Schwarzenegger. His success as a personal trainer was such that he earned the nickname "Iron Guru".
Vince Gironda dies on October 18, 1997, just before his 80th birthday.
Among the countless techniques used by Vince, 8 x 8 was one of, if not his, favorite training strategy, so much so that he describes it with the following words: "I have a clear preference for the set and rep system. eight by eight. I often go back to this honest high intensity workout to get advanced bodybuilders to have maximum muscle fiber growth in the shortest time possible. "
Vince said to choose three or four exercises per muscle group and to do eight sets of eight repetitions for each one. Between sets, recovery times had to be between 15 and 30 seconds. The training had to include two or three muscles. Despite the considerable amount of work, given the very short recovery times and the execution times that had to be 2 seconds for the eccentric phase and two for the eccentric phase, the training session lasted from 45 to 60 minutes. Vince already understood that a longer time frame would coincide with the increase in secretion of catabolic hormones and the decrease in secretion of anabolic ones. One of his ideas about this was that the sessions should be timed and that efforts should be made to reduce the time it takes to train.
Gironde argued that increasing workloads was not the only way to increase workload intensity. Although in favor of adding discs to the barbell, Vince argued that strength training could not be separated from correct execution technique. However, he believed that the high volume of training performed in less time was more effective.
"To have bigger muscles, you have to increase the intensity of the work done in a given time interval. This means the minimum recovery between sets. Go further. "
The one developed by Vince Gironda is certainly a high-intensity method and a good technique for training the cardiorespiratory system (to such an extent that it can initially limit its development). All this is equivalent to a high EPOC and at the same time favors the development of definition, muscle hypertrophy and good cardiovascular and respiratory conditioning.
Finally, due to the remarkable stubbornness it takes to complete such an intense workout, the 8x8 is certainly also a good exercise to strengthen character and spirit of sacrifice.
SOME RULES OF THE GURU REGARDING THE 8 X 8:
Always stay focused.
Do not place the dumbbells and / or the barbell between sets.
Remain seated at the machine until you have completed all eight sets of eight repetitions.
No recovery between one muscle group and the other. By the way, to follow the instructions given regarding cadence you will have to leave your potential training partner and train yourself.
Reduce the load used to perform eight repetitions by approximately 40% to be able to perform all eight sets of eight repetitions while respecting recovery times.
It is mandatory to use the same load for all eight series. If you notice that in the fourth or fifth series you are no longer able to perform eight repetitions, it means that the initial load was too high.
Use it for the whole body or just for deficient muscles.
Vince always had a penchant for 20 reps in calf training. He often advised continuing to do eight sets but raising the reps to twenty.
THE BOARD
Although superfluous, it is still good to remember that this proposal is not a card for beginners and that it takes at least two years of experience on the shoulders before approaching such methods.
The last words of this article are linked to the title, that is, they try to go back to the origins. I say this because too many times you see articles presenting workouts that are nothing more than slight modifications of techniques born 60 years ago.My invitation is to read what the fathers of bodybuilding have written in order to be more critical of those who write books, promising miraculous muscle growth !!! Let's go back to training as we once did trying to understand that the fifth essence of bodybuilding is the effort and the joy of trying it ... leaving other essences to others .............. !!!
"And when they ask us what we are doing, you can answer them: WE REMEMBER." Ray Bradbury
