This classic shot of Vince Gironda, the legendary Iron Guru, was taken way back in the 1950s. His aesthetic physique, with its symmetry, lines, and rippedness, holds up today. Yep, even now most guys would kill to walk down the beach looking like Vince…
And get this: Back in the day, when Vince competed, judges would score him down for being too cut. That’s right, his muscle definition was too much to handle. LOL.
We met Vince Gironda after he had closed his gym in Studio City, where he had trained many movie stars to get in shape, including Clint Eastwood. And it was there that he trained the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott.
Vince was in his 80s when he would visit us at the Iron Man magazine offices, but he was still as brash as ever—and he always regaled us with his training methods…
One of Vince’s most famous methods was his density protocol, which entailed moderate poundages but with short rests between sets. One of the most famous bodybuilders to use a version of it was Danny Padilla, known as the Giant Killer in the 1970s and ’80s for his ability to vanquish the bigger bodybuilders in the game at that time with his flawless mass. Here’s a great shot of him, just a casual double-biceps pose in the gym…
Danny trained in line with the Density method created by Vince Gironda—5 sets of 12—same weight on every set, with short rests between sets—never more than a minute. When he was able to do 12 on all five sets, he would up the weight a bit. The first sets were fairly easy; the last few were brutally hard…
It worked so well because the first few sets were exhausting primarily slow-twitch fibers—and spurring them into growth. The last two or three sets were very difficult and had him activating primarily fast-twitch growth fibers. A very efficient way to train and get a double-barreled growth effect—extreme hypertrophy in multiple fiber types.
If his method sounds familiar, it’s because we based our 4X Mass Method on Danny’s training, which was an off-shoot of Vince Gironda’s Density method…
The bonus of this style of training is you don’t have to use joint-crushing poundages—the weights for 4×10, 4×12, or 5×12 are moderate due to the fatigue/exhaustion factor created by short rests between sets. That’s excellent for the older bodybuilder. Oh, and the pump is unreal…
Try 4X for multi-muscle-fiber growth success—no high-rep sets or joint stress.
> The 4X Mass Workout 2.0 is available HERE
If you want our NEWEST e-book that includes 4X, Positions-of-Flexion programs, and many free mass-building bonuses…
Grab this for your muscle-building library: the After-40 Muscle-Size Manual package HERE
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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