Vince Gironda

Biography Early life and career Gironda was born in The Bronx, New York. While he was still a young child, the family moved out west to Los Angeles when his father, a stuntman, was offered work in the upcoming Ben Hur film. Vince tried his hand at being a stuntman as well but when he saw a photograph of John Grimek, he realized he needed more physical development and began lifting weights at the age of 22.

The first gym he trained at was the local YMCA. He was there for approximately eight months before moving to the Easton Brothers' gym. The Easton brothers taught him to be one of their instructors. He worked there and experimented with training protocols before opening his own gym in North Hollywood, California, in 1948 called Vince's Gym, where he earned a reputation as a personal trainer.

Diet Gironda promoted a low-carbohydrate high-fat diet and invented a diet known as the "Steak and Eggs Diet". However, his original 8 x 8 routine consisted of an Upper Body Split and Lower Body Split on various days. During his career he would routinely promote 6 x 6 (6 sets x 6 reps) or 8 x 8 (8 sets x 8 reps) schemes. For 8 x 8 sessions, Gironda stressed good technique, good tempo and a good deal of weight. His 8 x 8 program was what he called his “honest” program because of how it humbled lifters to use lighter weight and focus on working the muscles instead of concentrating on what was being used. His pre-contest system of training for Mohamed Makkawy consisted of attacking three different body parts with three exercises per part (a total of 24 sets per muscle area—8 sets per exercise), a routine Makkawy repeated exactly twice more. This routine included three 2 1/2-hour workouts, with one hour off between training sessions. The second day consisted of training the arms and calves, and the third day consisted of training the upper legs and abdominals.