Vince GiRonda’s 10-8-6-15 Workout Routine

Subj: How to blast plateaus with Vince Gironda’s 10-8-6-15 workout routine.

Vince Gironda, the same man that brought you the steak and eggs diet and the 8×8 workout, created the legendary 10-8-6-15 routine.

Vince’s 10-8-6-15 routine doesn’t get the glory like his other creations, but its ability to produce results is undeniable.

The 10-8-6-15 workout is unique in many ways, but the most obvious is that the number of reps per set vary. Most people who know Vince GiRonda may recognize his 5×5, 6×6, 8×8, 10×10, or 8×3 workout programs. (Each deployed for a specific purpose, depending on the client.) As you can see, the amount of reps is consistent for each set.

The 10-8-6-15 is different because weaves many complex concepts of bodybuilding into a simple workout program.

At first glance the 10-8-6-15 workout seems light, but rest assured, it works. Typical of Vince’s programs, the 10-8-6-15 gets results, and it gets them fast.

Anyone who executes the 10-8-6-15 correctly can expect to get bigger and stronger (so long as they execute correctly and their nutrition is sufficient. But Vince wasn’t just about gaining weight. In fact, he didn’t have a scale at his gym. He knew people want to look better. This workout delivers on that desire to sculpt a beautiful, healthy body.

The 10-8-6-15 workout improves muscle size, muscle shape and definition. Deploy this routine when you’re stuck a training rut, or need to break through a plateau or if you are just looking for something fresh.

The Vince GiRonda 10-8-6-15 Program Overview

In this section we cover all the details you need to know in order to perform the 10-8-6-15 routines correctly. We outline the exercises, sets, reps, weight selection, tempo, rest and much more so you can start strong.

How to Perform the 10-8-6-15 Workout

Sets, Reps and Weight

The routine consists of only 9 exercises total: 5 upper body exercises, 2 leg exercises and 1 ab exercise. (All of which are explained further below.)

Each exercise is performed for 4 sets:

1. The first set is 10 reps with 50% of your maximum.
2. The second set is 8 reps with 75% of your maximum.
3. The third set is 6 reps with 100% of your maximum.
4. The fourth set is 15 reps with 35% of your maximum.

That’s it. Only 4 sets per exercise. Then on to the next one.

Calculate Your Maximum

This is a critical component:

First, you calculate your 6-rep maximum for each exercise. Your 6-rep max is used to determine the weight used for the other three sets. Your maximum is the largest amount of weight you can do for 6 repetitions. CLEAN reps, perfect form, no cheating.

Spend the first week of this program getting familiar with the exercises and figuring out your 6-rep maximums for each. Find your 6-rep max while you are fresh. In other words, it should be the maximum amount of weight you could rep 6 times in a row on your best day.

Rest Time and Lifting Tempo

Rest up to 60 seconds between sets. This is a departure from Vince’s normal instruction to rest 30 seconds or less between exercises.

That being said, give yourself time to recover between sets and stay focused on on the task at hand. 10-8-6-15 is very taxing when done right. You may want to use that precious minute to regroup for the next set.

That being said, once you mastered the movements, you should reduce rest between sets. Push yourself to start the next set as quickly as possible. Reducing rest between sets is often more effective than increasing the weight. Push yourself to do it!

Lifting Tempo – Take 2 seconds to lift the weight and 2 seconds to lower it. Contract your muscles at the top of the movement for a full second.

Perfect form is paramount

The 10-8-6-15 workout calls for impeccable form. Training is worthless without perfect form. Perfect form makes it priceless. Bear this in mind because form make all the difference.

While perform an exercise you become an unmoving statue locked into position. The only exception is the part of your body required to move the weight in the purest way possible. Move the iron solely with the contract of the target muscle. Nothing else.

If the workout seems too easy you should check in with yourself to see if you truly are training correctly.

Are you 100% focused on training each rep? Do the reps hurt? You need to cross the pain barrier – pain is your initiation. It ain’t workin’ unless you’re hurtin’.

Contract each rep fully at the top other motion. Eliminate momentum completely. No body english or swing or sway.

Breathe DEEPLY. Inhale through your nose and exhale through pursed lips. Pay special attention to your breathing. Our breathing muscles are atrophied and must be strengthened. Big deep breathes floods your bloodstream with much-needed oxygen. And oxygen is needed to build muscle.

10-8-6-15 Training Split

The 10-8-6-15 calls for 6 workouts per week. 3 upper body workouts and 3 legs workouts each week. Alternate between upper body one day then legs the next.

Monday: Upper Body Workout

• Exercises
  • Barbell Bench Press to Neck
  • 45-Degree Lat Pull with Pulley
  • Barbell Upright Row
  • Double Dumbbell Triceps Pull Over
  • Thumbs up Bicep Curl

Tuesday: Leg Workout

• Exercises
  • Special Squat
  • Alternate Calve Heel Raise
  • Barbell Quarter Roll-Up

Wednesday and Friday: Same as Monday (Upper Body)

Thursday and Saturday: Same as Tuesday (Legs + Abs)

Abdominal training should be done on leg days. Ab training is required but if you want to train abs, then train abs.

Each workout takes about 30 minutes to complete.

10-8-6-15 Exercises

The exercise descriptions below are stitched together from Vince GiRonda’s writings about the 10-8-6-15 program.

Barbell Bench Press to the Neck (Guillotine Press)

Target Muscle Group: Chest/Pecs

1. Begin in a normal bench press position. Hands at a medium-wide grip. Cross your feet and raise your legs in a bent position. Keep your feet off the floor and your legs off the bench. Only your back, butt, and back of your head should contact the bench.
2. Elbows should be directly under the barbell.
3. Slowly lower the bar to your clavicle, feel a nice stretch in your chest muscles then return in a straight line upward.

45-Degree Pulley Pull

Target Muscle Group: Back/Lats

This is a unique type of row. It’s very ‘Vince GiRonda’

1. Grab the bar and move back until the weight stack is suspended in air while you arms are straight. Bend forward from hips until the stomach is resting on your thighs. Knees should be bent about 35 degrees. Drop your head between shoulders and extend arms forward. It will look like you’re a jockey riding a horse staring down at the saddle. Your back will be almost parallel with the floor.
2. As you begin to pull the weight back, raise your head and pull your shoulder back and move your shoulder blades toward your hips. Imagine sliding your shoulder blades into your back pockets.
3. As the weight is returned to the starting position, scoop downward with the handle, do not let elbows straighten out completely, also keep your elbows turned slightly out to the sides. This part of the movement is going to work the middle-lower part of the outer lats.

Keep your lats engaged throughout the entire movement. It will take some practice but once you lock into position, stay there! It will begin to burn but do not compromise form. When your lats begin to tire, and they will, fight like hell to keep the back arched and shoulders back and down.

Barbell Upright Rowing

Target Muscle Group: Shoulders/Delts

1. Grab the barbell about 15-18” wide and stand straight up with shoulders rounded forward. Rest the bar on your thighs. This is your starting position.
2. Pull the bar up to the neck, flair your elbows out to your side. Be sure to keep the tension on your shoulders. Do not engage your traps. Your traps should be relaxed the entire movement.
3. Now slowly lower the bar until it touches your thighs back in the starting position. Keep your shoulders rounded forward and elbows slightly forward, almost like you’re going to internally rotate your arms slightly.
4. Keep the bat close to your body and pull it straight up. Stang tall, keep your head up and looking straight ahead. Do not rock or bend backward. All energy moving the bar should be generated from the shoulder muscles.

Double Dumbbell Pullovers

Target Muscle Group: Triceps

1. Lay down on a flat bench, feet touching the floor.
2. Press two dumbbells over your chest with the dumbbells touching. Palms facing each other.
3. Keep your elbows pointed straight up towards the ceiling as much as possible. Slowly bend your elbows back and lower the dumbbells just past the shoulder until you get a nice stretch in your tricep.
4. FLEX your triceps to move the dumbbells up to the starting position. Flex triceps as hard as you can at the top of the movement. You should really feel it flex in the 3 inched closest to the elbows on the back of your arms.

Thumbs Under Bicep Curls

Target Muscle Groups: Biceps

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Place your thumb under the dumbbell handle. Palms facing straight ahead. Stand straight up with your knees slightly bent .
2. As you curl the bar up let your wrist bend back so that your palms face the ceiling.
3. Keep your upper arm pressed firmly to your sides, extend the biceps 100% at thebottom of the curl by flexing your triceps.
4. Alternately curl the dumbbells and contract the biceps forcibly at the top position.

Barbell Quarter Roll-Up

Target Muscle Groups: Abdominals

1. Lay flat on a bench with your feet on the floor.
2. Hold a barbell across your shoulders, resting just under the collar bone. Hold your elbow high toward the ceiling. (Almost like you would when loading the bar for a front squat.)
3. Roll your head and shoulders forward until your abs are flexed. Contract your abs in the position as hard as possible until they cramp.

Alternate Calve Heel Raise

Target Muscle Groups: Calves

1. Hang a weight from your waist with a weight belt.
2. Stand on a wood block – usually about 4 inches high.
3. Place your feet 6-8 inches apart and hold onto something steady that won’t move.
4. Raise up on the toes of the left foot while the heel of the right foot is stretched down. Keep your knees slightly bent throughout the movement.
5. Now alternate, and lower your left heel into a fully stretched position while rising up on the toes of the right foot. Make sure you shift your weight.
6. Go all the way up to your tippy toes and contract fully in the top position.

The “Special Squat”

Target Muscle Group: Thighs

Vince Gironda squats come in a few varieties. Most of them are quite nuanced so pay special attention to the details. These will feel awkward until you get the hang of it.

1. Hold a barbell across your front delts like in the front squat position. (Place the barbell either across the front delts or the back if using a Smith Machine.)
2. Place your heels up on a 2” board, about 12-14 inches apart.
3. Lower the body to a full squat position. Hips MUST be directly under the bar and your back must remain straight throughout the entire movement.
4. Press into the block/ground to raise up to a position where the thighs are parallel to the floor. Then immediately lower your body back down to the deep squat position (ass to grass).
5. Now raise your body to a 3/4 squat position. Go up to about 80-85% of your beginning position but not all the way. Do not fully straighten your legs. Keep the tension on your thighs.
6. Welcome the intense, deep burn and relish in it.

10-8-6-15 Workout Routine Recap

Use Perfect Form

Using strict form. You will want to cut yourself slack while training. Don’t allow it! Soldier up and grit your teeth through the pain. Magic happens when you transcend the pain barrier. Precision, precision, precision. Keep your form clean and your body tight.

Focus like a laser beam

Concentration is key. Focus on forcing blood into the muscle you are training. Contract the muscle to the greatest extent possible while adhering to the exercises instructions. Forceful muscle contraction on each rep of each movement is what produces extraordinary results.

Stick to the script

Perform the workout exactly as prescribed or you are wasting your time. Optimal results require you to do no more and no less than what is described in the routine.

Not many exercises but performed as outlined, one of the most grueling workouts you can go through. Take your time and master the movements before you begin.

Strive for shorter workouts

Increase training intensity by resting less time between sets. This creates accumulated fatigue and is more effective at building muscle than increasing weight.

Increase weight slowly

Increase the weight only once per week. Adding too much weight too fast will make you stall out because it leads to bad form. So, take it slow and steady.

But remember – Don’t cheat! Cheating reps only cheats yourself. It robs you of any good progress. So push your self as hard as you reasonably can, but leave your ego at the door.

Final Thoughts about 10-8-6-15

At first glance the 10-8-6-15 workout seems too easy to be effective. It’s low volume and relatively light weight. This program is the perfect example that looks can be deceiving. The 10-8-6-15 routine is as good as advertised (maybe better than advertised).

Each exercises is selected to sculpt your physique in a particular way. In a way that makes you look athletic and aesthetic. Body sculpting is about creating a pleasing ‘illusion’ after all.

The more I learn about the Iron Guru, the more I realize that Vince GiRonda’s genius knows no bounds.

Related:

Vince GiRonda’s Steak and Eggs Diet

Vince Gironda 8×8 Workout

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