Tag: Exercise

Resources by Conor Heffernan

Vince Gironda’s Beginner Bodybuilding Course

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Well known as one of the greatest trainers of his age, Vince Gironda’s name has become synomous with bodybuilding champions from Larry Scott to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though Gironda made his name producing some of the greatest bodybuilding champions the sport has ever seen, he sent countless hours with beginners and intermediates seeking to sculpt their bodies or build muscle.

Today’s post discusses Vince’s general bodybuilding approach for beginners with the caveat being that Vince was known for changing exercises based on each trainer’s physique. Nevertheless, there is much to learn from his more generic approaches.

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Resources by Conor Heffernan

The History of 20 Rep Squats

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Though few exercise programmes maintain a venerated status for long in the Iron Game, the mystique surrounding 20 Rep Squat programmes has endured. As hinted by the name, such programmes require lifters to back squat twenty times before unloading the bar, and in my own experience, lying on the ground questioning your decision-making.

Primarily touted for individuals struggling to build mass or to bulk up their legs, such programmes originated in the 1920s and 30s. That they still exist, albeit with some modifications, is testament to their efficacy and popularity. The goal of today’s post is to highlight the original promoters of the programme, to explore the writers who kept the idea in the public mind and finally to question why the programme remains popular in the current age.

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Resources by Conor Heffernan

John Balik, Total Muscularity: SuperStar Nutrition (Santa Monica, 1979)

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Describing himself as Arnold’s Seminar Nutritionist, Balik opened his short pamphlet on gaining muscle with the often forgotten law that ‘nothing beats persistence.’ Produced alongside a pamphlet on gaining muscle, which we’ll be discussing in a future post, Balik’s Total Muscularity represents a great insight into the training philosophy of 1970s Muscle Beach bodybuilding. Sparing myself the task of typing out his pamphlet word for word, which I suspect would infringe on some form of copyright law, I decided that a brief synopsis of the book would suffice. At the very least it would pander to our ever decreasing attention spans.

So in today’s post we’re going to look at Balik’s theories on individual body types, the type of diet he recommended and also what we can learn from it nearly forty years after its publication.

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Resources by Conor Heffernan

George A. Baselice, ‘GIGANTIC ARMS! The One Arm Per Day Blast For Bigger Arms’, Planet Muscle (Volume 5, Number 1, 2002)

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Have you ever tried the professional bodybuilder one-day arm blasting programs? I hope maybe some of you have heard of these and tried them. Primarily because I’d hate to think that I am the only goof who can spend an entire day training my arms!

Now, some of these are downright nutty programs. Most of the methods were “developed” and occasionally promoted in some of the muscle magazines back in the 50’s and 60’s, and some trainers such as Charles Poliquin have refined them a bit today.

At any rate, in most of them, you actually perform arm exercises every half-hour and every few hours you eat proteins. I tried one program and I mean I went from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. doing arm exercises. Don’t ask me what I was thinking! (Or not thinking as the case may be.)

Did I gain the 1/2″ on my arms, five days after completing this particular program, as the varied and sundry past articles claimed I would? Unfortunately, no. Did my arms shrink for the first 24 hours after this workout as most of the article also claimed they would? Unfortunately, yes!

Continue reading George A. Baselice, ‘GIGANTIC ARMS! The One Arm Per Day Blast For Bigger Arms’, Planet Muscle (Volume 5, Number 1, 2002)
Resources by Conor Heffernan

Guest Post: THE HISTORY, EVOLUTION, AND FUTURE OF THE HOME GYM

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While we’re not really sure when people decided to sweat it out in the privacy of their homes, but we’re glad they did. However, the home gym went through many stages during its history and it has a bright future ahead of it. So, if you’re a proud home gym owner (or a future owner) you must know something about its past.

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Resources by Conor Heffernan

A Brief History of Steroids

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Humans are considered to be species that are hard working, competitive and ambitious in all walks of life. Especially when it comes to sports, athletes have been found to be curious and conscious of their performances since the beginning of civilization. Ever since life existed, people have been discovering distinct and incongruous materials to boost their energies from sesame seeds to pituri plant and hallucinogenic mushrooms all have been taken to improve the quality of performances over the years.

Intake of steroids dates back to 1800s, when people had reserved resources and neither was science was at the levels of advancements as it is today. In 1860s, there was a group of swimmers in Amsterdam who were caught to be on drugs for boosting and amplifying their performances. And from there on, there were many and uncountable events when athletes were charged guilty of being on stimulants to enhance their performances.

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Resources by Conor Heffernan

Jay Jacobsen, ‘Carbohydrates Are Not The Devil! All Aboard The Carbohydrate-Glycemic Train’, Planet Muscle (March – April 2003)

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Carbohydrates… those omnipresent fruits, yams, grains and vegetables, are older than mankind. In recorded history, it appears that the Egyptian culture was the first to ‘mill’ their high-energy grain, removing fiber, as well as much of the nutrition. Bingo—mankind had its first refined carbohydrates.

Sugar was first introduced into Europe around 700 AD when Arabian armies brought sugar cane from Northern Africa. Sugar then slithered into Spain, Sicily, and the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean. Sugar was known as “white gold” and was a luxury only the extremely wealthy could afford. With the exploration of the New World, sugar trade became more profitable, and even Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane cuttings to the Americas.

By the time of the American Industrial Revolution, the sugar refining business blossomed. Around 1900, the first sugar-in-the-box product was introduced to the American consumer. Today, the average sugar consumption in America is a mind-blowing per capita consumption from all sources of 160 lbs. per year, 40 teaspoons per day.

The opinions regarding sugar, particularly among athletes and weight conscious individuals, have violently changed since 1900! Instead of white gold some even call sugar white death. For example, If you are a devout Dr. Atkins fan you probably think that eating carbs is analogous to driving drunk (maybe ketogenic stupor driving). But, are carbs the most horrific poison ever created – or are they more of a missing link to huge gains in energy, strength, and a diesel physique?

Continue reading Jay Jacobsen, ‘Carbohydrates Are Not The Devil! All Aboard The Carbohydrate-Glycemic Train’, Planet Muscle (March – April 2003)