Eddie Giuliani was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He was a seasoned bodybuilder who competed against some of the best bodybuilders in history. His bodybuilding career spanned more than four decades, including during and through the Golden Era of bodybuilding.
Giuliani was a serious contender throughout his bodybuilding career. Many champions and bodybuilding legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger trained with, and faced off against, Eddie.
Eddie Giuliani began his professional career in 1951. Throughout his career Eddie competed in over 35 contests, earning prizes and placing highly on multiple occasions. Eddie competed in the AAU and won the Mr. Tri-State, Mr. New York City, and Mr. Atlantic Coast titles. And thus his career gain steam. So he moved to Venice California to train at Gold’s Gym, the Mecca of bodybuilding, to train with the best of the best.
Eddie was 5’6″ tall and weighed 160 pounds while in top shape during competition, and he competed successfully against the biggest and baddest bodybuilders of the time.
Eddie Guiliani Workout Routine
Eddie trained six times per week for up to three hours a day during his prime bodybuilding years. He did 15-20 sets for each muscle group. He strived to train with little rest time between sets. This fast pace style of training burns fat and allows better conditioning and muscle stimulation.
As far as exercises go, he didn’t do anything fancy, just the tried and true bodybuilding training staples like squats, deadlift, bench press, and rows. Each rep was done with intent and intensity.
Eddie trained each body part 3 times per week. Except for maybe 8-12 weeks out of the year where he reduced training frequency down to 2 times per week for each muscle group.
Eddie Guiliani Abs Training
Eddie trained his waist for 30+ minutes each day in addition to his usual routine. He picked two or three abs exercises and did 1,000 reps total. After he left the gym he did no other physical activity.
Eddie’s entire body was strengthened and conditioned due to performing such a high number of repetitions.
However, Eddie’s mind and spirit were equally as hard at work. Eddie mentioned that performing 1,000 repetitions for his waist attacked his neurological system in a good way. It exercised both his resolve and his stomach.
Cardio
Gold’s Gym didn’t have treadmills or cardio equipment. The Golden Era bodybuilders didn’t do much cardio. As Eddie put it, “Cardio was a quick run on the beach”. And that was that.
How did they stay so lean?
They watched their diet, training HARD, and kept the carbs low.
Eddie Giuliani Diet
After training Eddie and his pals would go to the buffet or to the diner and have steak and eggs or an omelette, hamburger patty and cottage cheese.
He’d eat at the old standby’s that all the bodybuilders from Gold’s Gym ate at, like Zuckey’s deli and the House of Pies on cheat day.
Eddie Giuliani’s diet didn’t seem overly extreme one way or another. He restricted carbohydrates in general. Not just during contest preparation, but throughout the entire year, Eddie tried to reduce his sugar intake.
When it comes to carbs, the idea is to find the minimum amount of carbohydrates to have energy and get a pump without ‘spilling over’ and getting fat.
Niacin – Eddie mentioned that bodybuilders took a little niacin because it gave you a ‘rush’ in the gym. That’s because it’s a vasodilator, so it helps get a pump by improving blood flow.
Despite the widespread belief that eating too many eggs might raise cholesterol levels. Eddie thinks this is a fallacy because he ate more than ten eggs every day for years. And he lived to the ripe old age of 87 years old.
Weight Training While Aging
As time went on Eddie Giuliani changed his training style. He still loved training and used it to enhance quality of life.
Like with any senior citizen workout, it’s important to save your joints and train the muscle. As you get older, you reduce the amount of weight you train with, but you train at a faster pace – meaning that you reduce the amount of rest between sets, so that you fool the muscle with volume to make it think it’s working harder.
This is a trick to keep intensity up without overloading the joints with too much weight. He preferred the high-volume method of training as he got older rather than assault with heavy weight, which becomes risky as you age.
This type of training also helped increase blood flow into the muscle, which is critically important. As you get older, your blood flow into the muscle is less efficient. Your circulation isn’t as good as it used to be, so your pump isn’t as strong or maybe your vascular systems is less elastic and doesn’t bounce back as much as it used to.
Late in his life Eddie said he still trained for an hour a day, alternating between weight lifting and cardio workouts. For example he’d training total body lifting iron one day, then the next day he’d do cardio.
Eddie Giuliani Legacy
Eddie Giuliani teaches us that we should never settle for mediocrity in life. Eddie began working out as a skinny Brooklyn youngster, but over time he developed into a skilled bodybuilder with unrivaled knowledge and expertise.
Make the best of your surroundings, no matter your past or current circumstances. Remember that you are far more capable than you may think, just like Eddie Giuliani, and never settle for just being “okay.” Go after what you want and work like crazy for it.
Even in his golden years he trained consistently.
Stimulate the muscle often. Consistency is the best thing to do for a muscle. You need to put blood into the muscle often in order for the muscle to actually grow. It needs to get used to it in order for the muscles to grow and stay large.
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