The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin… and Me
Course by Vince Gironda Presentation and comments by Alan Palmieri
The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin… and Me By Alan Palmieri
Most who have read my articles on Vince Gironda, know I have a great amount of respect for “The Iron Guru”. I am also honest in my expressions that I didn’t find everything he said or instructed to be the one and only way for doing things nor did they work for me as well as they did for others. Still, and without any reservations I recognize Vince for his many wonderful contributions to bodybuilding, his colorful personality and friendship which he allowed me to be a recipient of. I just finished looking over some of the booklets and material Vince sent to me many years ago, particularly “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin.” I am always amazed at how much information he could pack into so few pages. For example; “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin,” including the front and back covers there are a total of 12 pages. The text constitutes very little and maybe a total of seventeen pictures, which includes the back cover ads. Even more amazing to me was and remains how Vince was able to sell some of his material for the price he did. “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin” sold for $12.00. Thanks to his generosity or our friendship, or some other reasons unknown to me, Vince never charged me for his material. Numerous times I have repeated the story he told me about the value and worth of his material. “It’s in the content, not how many pages, words or pictures I use.” I remember thinking years ago how much I liked this booklet. I remember thinking how short and concise it was and that held my interest. One has to remember however, back in those days things were much simpler than today and as bodybuilding has and is revolving it is also becoming so complex I can’t even
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pronounce many of the words used today let alone know what they mean or explain them. Yes, for me anyway, it was a simpler and more pure time and Vince’s booklet struck a cord. It presented a straight forward workout which in Vince’s words; “These exercises are in my opinion the best I have found to date, and any others are only substitutes and variations.” That pretty much sums it up. Many, if not most, have never seen this booklet let alone read it. Some of us had the distinction of hearing from Vince personally his thoughts related to its contents. Because of its simplicity, the fact I do believe the movements outlined are some of the best, I’m going to share my feelings concerning this wonderful booklet and hope it provides as much benefit for the reader as it did me. Sometime in the early 70’s I opened an envelope Vince sent that contained several of his books. He had done this before and this time I think there may have been two or three in this mailing. I looked them over hurriedly and called Vince to say thanks. I can recall Vince didn’t seem to be in too big a rush nor was he in his usual cranky mood. We chatted for a few minutes and I thanked him for what he sent. He talked about the workout bulletin and I could tell he wanted me to comment but the truth was, I had just flipped through it and hadn’t had time to read it. I recall saying something about how great and informative it was or something along those lines. Anyway, as soon as I hung up I sat down and read it from cover to cover. It took all of five minutes to do that. Here then are the contents of the booklet as well as my thoughts The cover caught my eye. It is a nice shot of Vince from the waist up. It’s the famous “swimming pool ladder” shot only this one is up close and you can count his arm hairs. The title “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin” didn’t really mean a lot to me but what was underneath his picture on the cover did; “These exercises are in my opinion the best I have found to date, and any others are only substitutes and variations.” Vince Gironda. That alone made it worth studying.
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The front inside cover contains a nice introduction by Joe Weider. Knowing Joe and Vince were sometimes up and down toward one another made the intro even more interesting to me. Sure, I know in the publishing business and especially the world of bodybuilding, many things are printed and said that may not be totally true or accurate, but the intro was very appropriate, looked and sounded nice.
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The inside cover and next page contains the “swimming pool ladder” shot of Vince. I’ve never liked it when a picture runs on two pages so I didn’t care for picture layout very much. The first thing and only thing on page three besides Vince is the first topic, Sets and Reps.
Sets and Reps
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Sets and Reps Beginners should start off with 3 sets of 8 reps. After the first month they should graduate to 5 sets of 5 reps. The third month, 6 sets of 6 reps. This of course should be retained for at least 3 months before trying the advanced 8 sets of 8 reps. Abdominal work should never be employed by slow gainers and should never be used to remove fat as it cannot do this. Abdominal work only builds muscle. Nutrition and fast workouts only can reduce fat tissue. Calfs are a high rep muscle and 20 reps minimum should be employed. Select a weight that you can handle properly and in slow form for the full muscle workout. You are not going to use more or less than one poundage with each muscle worked. Do not jump your weights more often than every third workout as too fast advancement of weights only spells sloppy form. Always choose a weight you can handle with good form for all your sets. Rapid breathing or multiple breathing breath control should be employed on any and all strict form exercises. Not many words but a lot of food for thought in that opening, a lot to think about. After reading the booklet a couple of times I came back to this section in order to see if I could determine how many times per week one was to work each muscle group. How should one set up this routine? Sorry I never had the chance to ask Vince about that since it’s not indicated in the book. As with a great amount of Vince’s material, it presented me with more questions. I often thought Vince was laying a trap to see if anyone was paying attention because he could be so vague sometimes.
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Wide Pec Dips
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Wide Pec Dips Use a parallel bar 33” wide and remember this above everything else – elbows must be wide and straight out from the shoulders. The head is down chin on chest and the back rounded forward. The feet are under the face or slightly in front. Dip as far down as possible and return as high as you can. Never change this position as this isolates the pectoral muscle and does not bring the triceps into play as in the elbows back style. If you are not strong enough to perform this exercise correctly use the same head, shoulders, and arm position and place your feet on a high bench or table and with knees bent and pointed to the floor, perform a wide push up with boxes or pedestals to place hands on. This description is provided with an illustration from the waist up, of how the movement is to be performed. Unfortunately hand spacing and feet position which are critical are not shown. I wrote an article related to dips and dipping which may be helpful. The title is “Dips and Dipping” and can be found in the Article Section of my website www.PalmieriBodybuilding.com This movement should definitely be considered a major pec movement. Vince and many others consider it to be the primary pec builder even over the bench press. The 33” hand spacing is of particular importance in using the dip for pec development over triceps. When working triceps you can and should bring your hands much closer together. Vince didn’t include it in this booklet but the picture at the right shows Larry Scott performing wide reverse grip “V” bar dips which are unsurpassed for total pec development. In other publications Vince talks at length of the superiority of this movement. “V” bar, reverse hand grip, chin on chest, feet in front of body are all important to ensure correct action.
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Lat Pulls
Lat Pulls Use the same pulley you have devised for the triceps rope pull, except you must have a handle instead of the knotted rope. The handle can be two circular rings as used in ring work or a pair of parallel 1” bars 6” apart to grasp and pull to the chest. You may choose to use a straight bar 11” wide with a ring welded in the center to pass the rope through and tie. You will also need a 2 x 4 board to rest
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your heels against so the weight does not pull you forward. Grasp handle and lean as far forward as you can with your knees slightly bent and let your head down between your arms. From this position, start pulling handle back and sit back at the same time. As you pull and sit back the chest should travel up until you reach a perpendicular position. At this point the chest is very high and the shoulders are drawn back and down for full contraction of the lat. Remember, the back is arched at the finish and the legs are still in the same position – slightly bent. Well now, got that! Pretty difficult to assimilate I think; even though I knew what Vince was talking about concerning the knotted rope. What I learned early on from Vince was his little tweaks here and there were not only important to him, they were important if you were going to get the results his suggestions and methods provided. This section reads as though the person reading this booklet has already been introduced to some of the methods Vince fails to address in more detail. For Vince that was not strange. A lot of the time you just had to try and figure it all out. That’s why I get tickled today when I hear some so called fan of Vince’s describing a movement and how it must be performed exactly as Vince described. Vince had dozens of ways of performing any movement. He also adjusted things constantly from one individual to another. When Vince instructed a person, that individual got the impression there was only one way of doing something. Vince made sure you felt that way. The truth is, Vince may have told me to perform a movement one way and instructed someone else to perform it another way. Why? Honestly I believe Vince constantly tried to improve on things and used his students as guinea pigs. His quest to experiment and learn was one of his passions.
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Triceps Rope Pulls
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Triceps Rope Pull This exercise brings four aspects of the triceps into play – low, middle, high and the outside head, which gives that thick look. This exercise requires a pulley 6’ off the floor and 10’ long. Kneeling down on the floor and rest your elbows on a 16” high bench. At this point you reach back over your head and grasp the ends of a knotted rope you have tied the 10’ length to, and with elbows and head resting on bench, pull to arms length and lock out. When letting rope return to starting position, be sure the hands touch the upper back. Not as confusing as many things Vince wrote but still you can see how I struggled with this one, especially since he had informed me of the great importance of having a “V” bench to perform this movement. This description does not even mention the “V” bench, yet in conversation he suggested not using a “V” bench prevented the movement from being beneficial. One of the big reasons Vince demanded a “V” bench be used in this movement was to allow the head to remain low and down while the elbows were to remain above the head. Vince stressed the importance of this over and over yet no mention of it here. What he does mention and the second point that he stressed was the height of the pulley from the floor – 6’. Using a pulley of a lat pull-down unit would not suit Vince, that would be too high and not to his exacting standards. “Forget doing them if you’re not going to do them right. Do them right or don’t do them at all.” Ah yes, the Vince Gironda sting!
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The Perfect Curl
The Perfect Curl Or, the complete curl. This curl involves the three aspects of the bicep – low, belly and high or peak. The first part of this B.B. curl is: elbows resting on pelvis or hip bones and the body inclined with head and shoulders back of hips. This
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aspect of the curl involves the low bicep and brachiealis as the B.B. is curled the first 10 or 12 inches. At this point the body is then starting to travel (head and shoulders) forward until body is in erect position. This part of the curl involves the belly or middle par of the bicep. The third part of the curl is body, shoulders and head inclined forward and the movement completed. This portion of the movement involves the peak or high bicep. Reverse the procedure as you lower the weight and use a weight you can handle properly, say about 60 percent of your maximum B.B. curl. As for speed in performing this exercise, this curl should take about 6 seconds, and all your sets should be performed with the same poundage. This description takes some time and re-reading to comprehend. It takes even longer to master the movement. I don’t think I have ever witnessed anyone perform the curl as Vince just described but I can assure you of one thing, if you ever get it down you will definitely feel it in your biceps. Most people perform a curl using either strict or loose form and they don’t spend time on the technique just described. It is difficult to do and forget about heavy weights. It is virtually impossible to use heavy weights and perform the movement accurately. Would I recommend performing the “Perfect Curl” each and every time one did barbell curls? Absolutely not, but I would recommend learning the technique and applying it frequently.
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Deltoid Lateral Raise
Deltoid Lateral Raise Take two dumbbells and hold them in front of hips with the palms facing each other and all four bells touching. From this position raise out to the sides with the elbows unlocked and slightly bent; Travel upwards until bells have reached the height of top of head. At this point the palms are down and knuckles up. Do not
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let the front part of the bells raise any higher than the back or you will shift the resistance from the lateral head of the deltoid to the anterior or front. Also do not let the bells swing back. Keep them slightly in front of the body, never directly to the sides. This is a different approach from what many classify as lateral raises. Vince would preach about twisting the hand so the pinky finger was higher than the thumb. His example was; “act like your pouring water from a pitcher.” The description above however, does not stress this point. Why? I don’t know. Most of Vince’s instructions on lateral raises do and in personal conversations he always did, so this remains a mystery to me. Especially since the picture illustrating the description plainly shows the “pouring” action at the top of the movement.
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Thigh Squat
Thigh Squat You start this movement as you would any squat, with bar high on chest and resting on the front deltoids. Heels are placed about 12 inches wide and on a 2 x
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4 board. From this position, start upward but keep your hips forward and under shoulders. As you rise, the hips move forward until they are well out in front of the body. The completed squat leaves you with your knees still bent and the hips out in front of shoulders and shoulders over heels for balance. This is an unlocked squat and is sometimes referred to as the Burlesque Bump. No Stress is placed on the Gluteus Maximus so this exercise will never spread or build muscle in the hips. Ahhhhhh, and you thought Vince never allowed squatting in his gym. Disproves that myth doesn’t it! The description above is in Vince’s own words, not mine or someone else’s. Vince did advocate squatting. Sure he had his own overbearing way of promoting the method he accepted… that was Vince. Still it shows all those who have repeatedly stated Vince didn’t approve of squatting didn’t know what they were talking about or – perhaps it was Vince once again being successful in misleading. The truth is Vince never was opposed to squats. He suggested front squats, thigh squats, hack squats, sissy squats, squats with feet close together, roman chair squats… he just didn’t favor or recommend heavy back squats.
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Calf Toe Raises
Calf Toe Raise If you do not have a calf machine use a belt with chain and hang a dumbbell between your legs. Next, hold onto something in front of you or place hands
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against a wall for stability. The feet are placed parallel, 4 inches apart on a 3 inch block. Keep your knees slightly bent throughout the movement and as you raise up on toes bring heels together and as you lower heels let them spread out to starting position. Calfs are a high rep muscle and should always be worked 20 reps per set. Advanced men may go to 30 reps providing form is good. No surprise here. I knew Vince felt high reps were mandatory for calf development. Once I tried to explain I actually had better results in the 8 to 12 rep range with calf raises. I can assure you that conversation did not go very far. Still, I feel a combination of high rep lighter weights and low rep heavier weights are best for calf development. My personal opinion - sure is, but it has worked for me and countless others as well. I firmly agree with Vince the calf is a stretch muscle requiring a full stretch and full contraction in order to develop to their fullest potential. I also feel 80% of the people who have inferior calves do so not because of genetics but because they do not work calves properly.
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Frog Set Ups
Frog Set Ups Lie flat on your back and draw heels up under hips wide and out to sides like a frog. Now place hands with B.B. plate behind the head. Curl head down with chin to chest and shoulders rounding forward and body curling up until only small of back remains on the floor or table. Remember, this is a roll up type of movement and not a stiff back set up. Never do any more sets and reps on abdominal work
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than you would any other muscle you wish to develop. Abdominal work does not reduce. Only nutrition and a workout with a minimum of rest between sets can reduce. Controversial statements, without a doubt, but they are valid for many who have failed to obtain the much desired “6 pack” from conventional methods. This brings us to the back cover of “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin”…
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There you have it, some memories I have from years ago of a man and his kindness in sharing his material with me. At the time I had no way of knowing the value or importance of what was taking place. As I once again, for the thousandth time, review my worn and torn copy of The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin with its rusty staples I can only think back to a time I wish I had fully grasped and appreciated. Lesson here, don’t take things for granted and don’t let time slip through your fingers. The pictures and descriptions are taken from Vince’s “The Vince Gironda Workout Bulletin.” Any omission or confusion that results from something not being fully explained is how it is. That’s just the way it was with Vince. Contained herein are the pictures Vince used in his booklet and the text from the course is enclosed in a box border. Text that does not appear in a box border are my comments or additional information. For the most part Vince’s work is often a contradiction and requires study and learning as well as reading between the lines. His genius is often overlooked as was his ability to promote himself, ideas, methods, and techniques. He constantly studied and experimented… another lesson all should learn… don’t be afraid to try something new and different. Although Vince gave the impression he was stuck in a time-warp nothing could be farther from the truth. He was constantly trying different things whether it was diet and nutrition or exercises and techniques. Often what Vince presented in his personality was not really what he had going on in the inside – sometimes it was… it was all part of the Gironda mystique. www.PalmieriBodybuilding.com Alan Palmieri – Palmieri Bodybuilding
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