What made this gym great was Vince Gironda the owner. Larry stated that no man was respected as much as Vince Gironda for his mind and knowledge of bodybuilding.
Vince’s Gym was located in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. Simplicity was the key to this gym and no fancy equipment was to be found. Even the roof leaked. Now let’s see what made Vince’s Gym so special according to Larry Scott.
1960 Mr. America Ray Routledge would do heavy full squats on a special machine that would build the lower thighs while keeping the butt small.
Hollywood strongman / actor William Smith would do rep after rep of one-arm tricep extensions on an overhead arrangement designed and built by Vince. William Smith had phenomenal tricep development as witnessed in his films and TV appearances.
Actor Clint Walker was also in the gym working out, doing curls on the preacher bench.
Mr. California, Bill McArdle could be seen doing long lat pulls with Mr. America, Don Howorth.
Height class Mr. Universe winner Gable Boudreau could be spotted doing tricep pressdowns with a special V-bar that Vince designed.
John Tristam had great legs and could be seen doing barefoot calf raises on a rubber pad provided by Vince.
Larry said Gold’s and Bill Pearl’s Gym were great but he preferred Vince’s since this is where he became a champion.
What made Vince’s so good was Vince and the champions that trained there, bodybuilders and actors alike.
Vince stressed training without injury. Good muscle building burn type pain was alright but a torn ligament or other similar injury would put you out of action.
Larry said Vince was a training wizard and every piece of equipment was designed to allow maximum exercise without pain. Poorly designed exercise equipment was a major cause of bad pain and injury.
Vince had a specially designed preacher bench to avoid pain and injury. Many preacher benches were poorly designed and caused injury.
Vince had a special EZ Curl bar which took the pressure off the wrist and put it on the biceps or triceps.
Vince also had a perfeclty designed long pull triceps setup with a special v-handle.
The main thing was that if you trained under Vince’s care you were going to do the movements correctly.