Do you happen to know who the “Iron Guru” is??
I’m speaking of one of the most unconventional bodybuilder / athlete’s of all time, Vince Gironda.
If you don’t know much about Vince, I’ll get into more in a sec but, if you’re any bit of a muscle building enthusiast like myself, you should know who this guy is!
He’s for sure one of my favorite bodybuilders of all time along with Franco Columbo and Frank Zane.
For the past few weeks, I’ve really been digging into and doing a ton of research on The Iron Guru’s methods and wouldn’t you know, many of them go right along with what I believe in and know works when it comes to building muscle.
One of my good fitness buddies and friend, Mike Westerdal, of Critical Bench sent me a super secret book that covers Vince’s whole philosophy and methods on how to build muscle. It’s absolutely mind blowing some of the things I have been learning! At this time, I can’t reveal any more info about this “Secret Iron Guru Book” but, in good time I promise I’ll reveal more….
Now, to catch those of you up to speed on just who this Iron Guru really is, I want to do a quick introduction on The Iron Guru himself so here goes…
Like me, Gironda believed and was often quoted as saying when it comes to building muscle and getting lean, it’s 85% nutrition if not more. I can’t agree more!
Just like I am, he was a total health nut when is came to eating and what he put into his body. His overall philosophy of eating was based around low carb principles and actually recommended eating anywhere from 8 up to a whole dozen of “fertile hen eggs” per day. As of right now, I eat about 6 whole Cage-Free Organic eggs per day but, don’t really ever see myself eating 12! He used to say that eating a dozen of these eggs per day was like taking steroids or had a similar effect.
What I truly admire about Vince is that he was just straight off the cuff and all about no Bull Sh*t! He did what worked and tried out-of-the-box techniques to figure up ways to get results. He almost never provided supporting scientific evidence for his theories but, I think the physique he possessed during his career and the one’s he help produce were evidence enough that his methods worked.
Take Larry Scott for instance…
Now, as I was saying, what I like most about Vince was that he had a very “unorthodox” way of approaching training. For example, he didn’t use squat racks, nor did he even possess one in his famous gym. Instead he did different forms of the Front Squat, Sissy Squats (which I don’t agree with too much), and other front squat variations.
He was totally against any form of floor abdominal training which goes right along with what I believe, as with a true athlete, you need to be on your feet, not the floor. That’s how you build muscle…
Now what I really agree with is the fact that he was against the bench press as a main chest builder exercise. Who would’ve thought???
I’ve gotten this question a ton, “What do you bench”??
Well, to be honest, I haven’t benched for about 4 maybe even 5 months now! Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll even program it into my routines again. I don’t really find it that effective versus the other more athletic type of movements that are available to use. Personally, as of right now, I’m training for strictly performance but, if I were to be training for more hypertrophy and pure muscle growth, I would still not be benching…
I find movements like dips, weighted push ups, suspended push ups and fly variations, DB presses, and floor press variations to be more effective for athletic style bodybuilding. In fact, what I like is Vince’s “V-Bar Dips” which he considered to be the best overall chest developer exercise ever.
Now, I don’t agree 100% with his style of Wide Grip V-Bar Dips due to the fact that they can destroy your shoulders but, I do highly believe in using dips to build up your upper body. When it comes to dips, I believe you should keep your elbows in tight to avoid shoulder issues down the road. But, if you have a strong and highly stable set of shoulders now, you could probably get away with doing them to help grow your chest up a bit.
The last thing I really admired about Vince Gironda was the fact that we wasn’t just some muscle bound bodybuilder. He was an ATHLETE as well as he possessed great levels of both strength and skill.
It’s been said he’s done anywhere from 30-50 handstand push ups in a row without the use of a wall…..
He’s done 1 arm rows with a 175 lbs DB for 20+ reps….
Now, you want to talk about strong??? How about Vince doing multiple reps of muscle up on rings with a 100 lbs DB attached to his waist!
Or, how about this classic pic of The Iron Guru…
Now, to be able to do just one single 1 arm pull up is an AMAZING feat but, to do it while holding on to a 100lbs DB is just FREAKISHLY STRONG!
I’d say there’s probably ZERO bodybuilders out there right now that can do one single 1 arm pull up. Maybe I’m wrong but, that is some serious strength!
Overall, Vince was a BADASS and well ahead of his time. He was a trend setter in the world of bodybuilding as well as with building muscle and nutrition in general for sports and training.
Like a lot of leaders out there, Vince had a TON of haters and naysayers saying his methods were far fetched and just made up BS. But, As I said before, his results with not only himself and his clients spoke for themselves!
Speaking of HATERS, and NAYSAYERS, this is what you need to say to them…
I can also attest that his methods work as I’ve seen results myself using some of his teachings as well as with my own clients.
You’ll be seeing more about Vince and his methods of training in some future posts but, for now I need to ask you an important question…
What SPECIFIC BODY PART would you like to build up STRENGTH and SIZE in the most?? Post up your answer in the comments and that’s what I’ll go over next!
Live Aggressive and Get Strong!
PS – Stay tuned for more info on the “secret book of training” on Vince Gironda coming real soon!