The One and Only "Iron Guru"
Many young bodybuilders
may not know the Late Vince Gironda. Gironda is known as the
"Iron Guru" having produced countless bodybuilding champions like
Larry Scott, Don Howorthas well as trained several Hollywood stars like Clint
Eastwood. Gironda's contribution to bodybuilding has been tremendous and what
appeals to me particularly is the way he raised many eyebrows by questioning
"established" practices in bodybuilding at that time.
Indeed, some of his
beliefs were controversial, namely his strong stance against shoulder presses,
bench presses and squats. His ideas about low-carb and high-fat dieting are
increasingly gaining scientific backing decades after he proposed them. We will
get the opportunity to explore some of his ideas and philosophy in future
articles. In this article we will look at
some of the Gironda shoulder training techniques that I have learned from
reading his books and articles.
Fig 1: Gironda with his famous pupil, Larry Scott (Left) and (right) his other student, the 'Duke of Delts" Don Howorth. |
No shoulder
pressing
Gironda was not a fan of
shoulder pressing movements but rather advocated isolation movements like
lateral raises for deltoid development.
There are, however, some press variations that he suggested, namely the
Scott Press and the Bradford Press.
(a) The Scott dumbbell
press
Larry Scott successfully
used this exercise to bring up his deltoids to make up for his narrow
structure. He maintained constant tension on the delts by not locking out at
the top of the movement.
(b) The Bradford press
The Bradford press named
after the lifter Jim Bradford is a modified version of a barbell press. This exercise works the front and side deltoids
and recruits the rear deltoids to some degree for stabilisation. Importantly,
the weight need to be lower in this exercise (by about 10-20%) and a slightly wider than shoulder grip is
recommended. Start with the barbell resting on the collarbone as you would in a
barbell millitary press. Then press the barbell until you reach just the top of
the head, move the barbell over your hear and lower it behind your head until
it touches the base of your neck. As a means of keeping constant tension on the
delts the arms should never be extended completely. It is basically a back and
forth movement with the barbell lifted just enough to clear the head. Do not
move the head to make the movement easier, let the movement happen at the
shoulder joint. The video by T-Nation
below demonstrates the proper Bradford Press technique.
The Gironda Lateral Raise
technique
Gironda was very fond of
the side lateral raise, an exercise that he recommended to perform either
seated or standing. The seated lateral raise technique is illustrated in Figure
3 below and is as follows:
- Sit at the end of a bench and maintain a slight forward lean. All four bells of both dumbbells should touch under the legs.
- Raise the dumbbells while maintaining the slight forward bend position until the dumbbells reach head height.
- In this position the palms should be down and the knuckles up, meaning the rear bell should be higher than the forward bell, as if you are pouring water from a pitcher. This ensures that the lateral head does most of the work. Vince recommends 4 sets of 8-12 reps with about 30 seconds rest between sets.
- The torso should not move throughout this exercise. Do not use the forward bent position as a means to use upper body momentum to help you lift heavy weights. I am sure that if you did this in Vince's gym the latter would have thrown you out of his gym.
Fig 3: The seated lateral raise technique from the Vince Gironda Bulletin |
Fig 4: A custom-built equipment for maintaining a slight incline
in standing side lateral raises. Gironda was known for his unique equipment
|
Fig 5: The Iron Guru was always very attentive to form. |
Fig 6: Larry Scott demonstrating the side laterals |
Fig 7: Scott performing the seated version of the facing side lateral raise |
The side swings is perhaps one of the best exercises to work several deltoid heads at the same time and a good means to prevent cheating. Gironda's dumbbell swings work the side and anterior deltoids. To perform side swings, one arm moves in a traditional lateral raise motion
while the other arm is moves up across the front of the body, tight to the
torso, to keep continuous tension on the shoulder and help get a deeper
contraction.
Fig 8: Gironda performing the dumbbell swing and the high pull (described below) |
These two were Gironda's favourite exercises for the side deltoids. Using a shoulder width grip recruits the side deltoid head to a greater degree. The execution of the High Pull is decribed in Fig 9. I believe there is a degree of trap involvement in this exercise. In the case of the barbell upright row the bar is kept closer to the body, as described in Fig 10. Gironda credits the wide grip upright row/ pull component of cleans for the outstanding shoulders of weightlifters rather than the actual pressing movement.
Fig 9: Gironda High Pull |
Fig 10: Execution guidelines for the Gironda barbell (wide grip) upright rows |
Tune in for more from in the "Iron Guru" series
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