Vince Gironda’s 6 X 6 Workout Routine
One of the most interesting people that you’ll ever read about in the old-school bodybuilding literature is Vince Gironda “The Iron Guru”. I first learned of him from reading his monthly column in MuscleMag International Magazine before his death in 1997. Since then I’ve went on to read numerous books, courses, and articles about Vince Gironda and his unique training methods.
Numerous bodybuilders, athletes, and Hollywood celebrities trained under Vince. Even the great Arnold Schwarzenegger was a student of his back in the “Pumping Iron” days.
A lot of Vince Gironda’s methods made a lot of sense, especially his training routines. Some of his stuff was a bit quacky and weird. And certain things he taught were just down right stupid (in my opinion).
One such example is that he was totally against drinking water during a workout. He wouldn’t let his gym members drink any water during or immediately after their workouts. I don’t know if he was just trying to be a tough coach or if he really thought it helped. But today it’s pretty much common knowledge that sipping water and keeping yourself hydrated during a workout can help replace the fluids lost from sweating and increase your exercise performance.
However, the purpose of this report is not to talk about merits of Vince’s water manipulation theories, but rather to cover one of his most famous workout programs that has been shown time and time again to produce really good results.
The 6 X 6 Workout Routine
Vince Gironda became widely known for his idea of doing your exercises for 6 sets of 6 reps with very short rest period between sets, sometimes resting as little as 15 seconds between sets. This method has been shown to stimulate muscle hypertrophy from cumulative fatigue over the course of 6 sets. This style of training is great because it increases your work capacity and builds muscle with a much lower risk of getting injured compared to traditional heavy lifting type of workouts.
When doing the 6 x 6 training routine you need to keep the same weight while doing your working sets. Then each workout you’ll strive to make some form of progressive overload. Either by increasing the weight lifted by 5 pounds, provided that you were able to get all 6 sets of 6 reps by yourself with good exercise form, or by reducing the rest times between sets until you are literally down to resting only 15 seconds between sets.
When training using the 6 X 6 method you need to always make sure that your rest intervals remain the same during all 6 sets of the exercise. It is best to first select a specific rest interval before you start. So if you decide to rest 30 seconds between sets, than make sure to stick to that exact rest time so that you can monitor your progress correctly.
Having a timer or a watch with a second hand is really helpful for keeping the rest times accurate. Obviously this isn’t the type of workout routine to follow for those who go to the gym to socialize. So if you are going to chat with your buddies, or try to strike up a conversation with the cute girl wearing slim fitting yoga pants, please do it after your weight training workout is finished.
Note:
It’s ok to rest a few minutes between different exercises. It will take some time to move from one exercise machine to another and get set up. But once you start an exercise you are on the clock, so time your rest periods accurately until you complete all 6 sets of 6 reps for that exercise.
Click The Links Below To Download The Full Vince Gironda 6 X 6 Workout Of The Month
–>> Vince Gironda’s 6 X 6 Workout Of The Month – PDF
–>> 6 X 6 Printable Workout Charts – PDF
If you have any questions or comments about this workout program,
please post them in the forum and we’ll chat there 🙂