Vince Gironda was a sculptor. Not of marble or bronze, but of flesh. He was a master of “cosmetic bodybuilding,” which today has become a lost art form. In it’s place have emerged the philosophies of “functional training,” “lift more weight at all costs” and “gain muscle bulk, no matter where it ends up.” In his heyday 50 years ago, Gironda turned out more bodybuilding champions from his North Hollywood studio than another other gym in America. His #1 secret weapon – his “magic chisel” – were his unique “Gironda” exercises…
When you have huge, thick forearms that are so muscular, it looks like you have a bowling pin implanted in them, and when they are so vascular that they look like a map of the Los Angeles Freeway system, and when the cuts are so deep you could lose loose change in there… I think that is pretty darn cool. Gnarly, even. Unfortunately, not many bodybuilders have that “look” because there are two ubiquitous “forearm problems” that almost every bodybuilder experiences… Fortunately, there is a secret remedy for both. It’s not new, it has simply been forgotten, except by those who are students of old time strongman methods…
I was scheduled for front squats today, and previously was gearing up to start moving the poundages back up at least in the ballpark of my former 315 “glory days”… However, I slightly tweaked my lower back on T-bar rows last week so I started thinking about what I could do for legs that would put zero load on my spine but at the same time could build some mass. For some reason, “Zercher Squat” just popped in my head. The thing is, I’ve known about this exercise for ages, but for some reason had NEVER tried it before! Well, today I tried it…This exercise is evil (translation = “I like it!”)…
Saturday, April 8th, 2006. It’s axiomatic that exercises that give you the best results are always the hardest ones to do. If you want a huge back… you row and deadlift. If you want huge legs you squat… OR… you do THIS exercise – that almost no one wants to do because its one of the hardest of all.
