A huge percentage of bodybuilders are in trouble due to an injury at one time or another. By some estimates, as many as 80 to 90% of the population suffers from back pain – and bodybuilders can get in trouble just by doing heavy squats or cruel leg workouts with huge loads stressing their spine.
Must they stop training?Many believe that the key to eliminating back pain is rest. (On the contrary, prevention is the key. Smart weight-lifting programs, proper lifting techniques, variety to reach intensity – do not reach high intensity with heavier weights!).Sports medicine journals state that there’s no evidence that bed rest works. That’s what bodybuilders want to listen to. An enthusiastic bodybuilder can’t quit due to back pain.=
They usually work around the injury – trying to strut out of the bed and in to the gym.Well, after consulting your physician and a certified chiropractor, you can do many things to recover and even to keep progress going!
Consider the Gironda 8 x 8 workout.After a lot of back pain, Rich resorted to this method to keep on training hard as he has always been doing. Some of Gironda’s greatest legacies were his ‘crazy’ theories. He challenged everything about the iron game. A challenge which was as legendary as Rich Gaspari’s assaults to the Olympia title and hardcore determination to train heavy all year round.Actually, we don’t know if Vince Gironda was the inventor of this training principle. Anyway, “I come back to this high-intensity ‘honest workout’ more often than any other.”, he wrote in his book
Unleashing the Wild Physique. “I have a definite preference for the 8 x 8 system of sets and reps”.
TIME FACTORS AND MOREI learned more about 8 sets of 8 reps in a 45-minute workout with Rich than I would in a zillions of pages about the principle.First off, you can train hard with a minimum of weight and in no more than 45 minutes – you save both your back and your time! None of the8 x 8 programs should take more than 30-45 minutes to complete unless
you are resting too long – more than 45 second. And that’s no good -training too slowly will cause the muscle to cool off, which is conducive to injury. In addition, if you don’t take minimum rest between sets, you will not take advantage of the positive effects on the cardiovascular system.The 8 x 8 workout is for advanced. It is tough on muscle but also on cardiovascular system. But it is not a program like a circuit or a high reps workout. Yet the feeling is pretty much similar. You feel in debt of oxygen, overpumped and – a few hours after, your glutes, hams, and quads are really sore.
RICH GASPARI’S 8 SETS OF 8 REPS LEG’S DAY ROUTINE
Leg Extensions 1 x 15 (warm up)
Leg Extensions 8 x 8
Leg Presses 8 x 8
Hack Squat 8 x 8
Lunges 8 x 8
Leg Curls 8 x 8
Standing Leg Curls 3 x 15
Here is Rich’s revised version.
You can move to the following after trying the one shown above for 4-6 weeks.
Leg presses 8 X 8
Leg extensions 3 X 10
supersetted with
sissy squats
Lying leg curls 8 X 8
Lunges 8 X 8
POINTS TO REMEMBERRest times must be reduced between 20-30 seconds.For legs, Rich allows a few seconds more.Not even dismount the machine between sets. Remember, rests are only 20-30 seconds long. Choosing machine you don’t have to lean at your waist to pick up plates or dumbbells – which is painful if you are suffering from a back pain.You must exhaust each muscle with the right weight resistance and the last two sets are and must be really grueling. Go for it! VINCE’S SPECIAL TIPThe secret of 8 x 8 workout is short-term recuperation.
Training Muay Thai at
ThailandMuayCamp in Rawai, Phuket Thailand.