Vince Gironda
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[edit] Early life
Vince Gironda was born on November 9th, 1917 in Bronx, NY. While Vince was still a young child, the family moved out west to Los Angeles when his father, a stuntman, got 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.
[edit] Early career
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 in 1948.
[edit] Training philosophies
Gironda is often quoted as saying that bodybuilding is 85% nutrition. In fact, he was what some may call a health food nut. He was also an early proponent of low carb dieting, and recommended the use of numerous supplements, including desiccated liver tablets.
He had many unorthodox training ideas. For example, unlike many other physique trainers, he was not a fan of squats. His gym, therefore, had no squat racks. In addition, he was one of the first few in the bodybuilding scene to comment that sit-ups do nothing to the formation of abs. Many people do not believe him. Time has proved to the skeptics that Gironda was right afterall.
He even hated using the bench press for chest training, thus, for Vince, bench press was an inferior exercise. Much like the squat rack, a bench press bench was not allowed in Gironda's gym. He called his Gironda dips bar the best way to developed good pecs. For Vince, pecs should be a wide slab, and not some kind of woman breast look.
[edit] Trainer to the stars
By the early 1950s he was a very well known trainer of both champion bodybuilders and movie and television actors. Gironda claimed to be able to get a person into shape faster than anybody. He also claimed that the movie studios would send their actors and actresses to him for that reason.
A short list of stars who trained at Vince's Gym include: Cher, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, James Garner, Brian Keith, Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong) and Erik Estrada.
[edit] Gironda's reputation among bodybuilders
When the 1960s rolled around, Vince's reputation grew as a personal trainer grows due to his pupils winning all the important contests, the most well known being Larry Scott winning the first IFBB Mr. Olympia in 1965. Bodybuilders who have trained at Vince's Gym over the years, have included "Body by" Jake Steinman, Lou Ferrigno ("The Incredible Hulk"), Frank Zane, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gironda came to be known as the Iron Guru.
[edit] Career as a writer
In the 1970s Vince wrote countless articles for Iron Man, managed his mail-order business, started a nutrition supplement company and authored his own training and nutrition manuals, all the time still operating his Gym.
In the 1980s, a book was published which the collaboration of MuscleMag International publisher Robert Kennedy titled "Unleashing the Wild Physique". It contained tons of knowledge Vince gathered and tested throughout his 30+ year career. The release of the book prompted a promotion tour where the Iron Guru gave sold out seminars throughout the US and Canada.
[edit] Downfall of Vince's Gym
In the 1990s the growing popularity of state of the art gyms appealing to the masses and more personal trainers to the stars made it difficult for simple Gyms to operate and so Vince's Gym closed in November 1995.
[edit] Death of the Iron Guru
On October 18th, 1997, less than 2 months before his 80th birthday, Vince Gironda passed away.
[edit] Books
- Robert Kennedy and Vince Gironda, Unleashing the Wild Physique, 1984, Sterling Pub. Co, ISBN 0-8069-7888-0
- Alan Palmieri, Vince Gironda Legend And Myth, CD-ROM, 2004
