Arley Scopes Out Vince's

Since I haven't finished answering your questions about comparing the Dungeon to Vince's Gym, I'll continue on with that first.

As mentioned before, there wasn't a 'guru' that I was aware of at the Dungeon. At Vince's it was the namesake himself, but for the most part he was not exactly outgoing. You asked a question and if he was in the right mood you got an answer - short and to the point.

Vince's was small and though it contained some innovative pieces of equipment (the famed Scott bench, a prototype Smith Machine, and the rings that hung from the ceiling and were a sort of 'provide your own resistance' crossover machine), there were no squat racks or bench press benches. The emphasis was more on isolation movements and pumping. Some of the regulars I remember were Larry Scott, Don Howorth, Gable Boudreaux, Bill McArdle, John Tristram, and Don Hollingsworth.

Regarding why a lot of bodybuilders from that era trained each body part 3 times a week, I'm not sure of the 'science' behind it (Dave might help here) but historically we can probably trace it back to the fact that for years weight trainers stuck to a 3 times per week total body workout. When the first split routines were conceived it was usually upper body one day, lower body the next, usually on a 6 day per week basis so that each body part got the 'required' 3 workouts.

Efforts to 'equalize' the workload resulted in other pairing, such as chest/back/shoulders one day and legs/arms the next or chest/shoulders/arms one day and legs/back the next (a Bill Pearl favorite), but it was still 3 days each for the serious guys.

I do remember Larry Scott saying that he hit upon his split of working each body part twice a week because of a tight schedule - he was working full time and taking some night classes and had to get in and out of the gym in a hurry. It sure worked for him and soon others were finding it worked for them.

Better not make this too long. If Henrik & others are interested, I might tell about watching Mike Mentzer do his 'actual' workout...

Arley

Click here to go back IronOnline Stories