Vince GiRonda’s 6×6 Full-Body Workout Routine

This 6×6 workout routine was inspired by legendary trainer Vince GiRonda – A.K.A. ‘The Iron Guru’ – who is famous for creating some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.

Full-body routines are great for building muscle, gaining strength, and achieving overall body conditioning, symmetry and balance.

This 6×6 routine is especially effective because it maximizes every single movement and every minute of training.

The 6×6 Workout Routine Overview

The goal of this 6×6 workout routine is to get bigger and stronger. There are no frills.

This routine is all killer, no filler, and will light you up like a torch so get ready.

The workouts are fast-paced and intense. You trash iron for an hour straight – sweating, gasping for air and pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion.

Then you get up, dust yourself off, take a shower, have a nice big meal and take the next day off to recover.

There are plenty of rest days built into the routine to allow for ample recovery so you can grow bigger, stronger, and stay energized for your next workout.

The 6×6 Routine

Here’s an overview of some of the technicalities, which I’ll elaborate on in the next section.

Workouts: There are two workouts, ‘A’ and ‘B’. Perform them in alternate order. (A, B, A, B, A…)

Training Frequency: Three workouts per week. (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

Exercises: Six exercises each workout. All compound movements.

Sets and Reps: Each exercise is performed for 6 sets of 6 repetitions.

Rest Between Sets: Keep rest between sets to a minimum. No more than a minute. This increases workout intensity to trigger muscle growth by cashing in on cumulative fatigue. Which is basically hitting your muscles again before they recover from the previous set.

Exercise Order: Perform exercises in the order presented for each workout. Exercise order is selected strategically to increase accumulated fatigue throughout every muscle in your entire body and milk each rep for all its worth.

Weight Selection: Pick a weight you can perform 9-12 reps with while fresh. You will use the same weight for all 6 sets for each exercise.

The 6×6 Workouts

Vince GiRonda used a 6×6 training method to sculpt some of the greatest physiques the world has seen, including the great Larry Scott.

I know I’m going to get shit for adding squats and deadlifts to this routine because Vince was not a fan of either one (in the traditional sense).

He thought squats made your ass look too big which in turn made your thighs look small in proportion.

Vince strived to create visually appealing bodies to the highest extent possible. Meaning muscle proportions and overall look where very important.

I created this 6×6 workout for overall fitness, maximum muscle building, and so its extremely efficient and effective for guys like you and me who have a life outside of the gym.

Thus I added squats and deadlifts to the routine because they are top-notch muscle builders.

If you want a more authentic Vince GiRonda workout, substitute front and back squats for ‘Sissy Squats’, and exchange Deadlifts with back hyperextensions. (Vince apparently thought deadlifts increased the size of the hip and waist region in a way that was detrimental to the ‘V-Taper’ torso.)

But I think that speaks to how effective these exercises are at building muscle.

6×6 Workout ‘A’

1. Back Squat
2. Romanian Deadlifts
3. Pull ups (wear a weighted vest if you can easily do more than six pull-ups in a row)
4. Bent-Over Barbell Row
5. Bench Press
6. Standing Military Press

6×6 Workout ‘B’

1. Deadlift
2. Front Squat
3. Lunges (six reps each leg per set)
4. Incline Bench Press
5. Dips (weighted if you can do more than six reps per set)
6. Upright Row

Quick Notes about the Workouts:

• Alternate between regular Deadlifts and Sumo Deadlifts every other Workout B.
• Warm up with a light jog – 5 or 10 minutes – before attacking the weights.
• Try to complete each workout in under an hour. 75 minutes maximum for first timers.
• Concentrate. Muscles grow when you focus on training them. Zero in with laser beam focus and feel your muscles working each rep.

The first few sets of each exercise should seem like a warm up since they won’t feel too heavy. By the third set you’ll start to feel the burn.

The forth set should be firm but doable with relative ease. The 5th set should be a challenge, and the sixth set should be a struggle. It should be hard to finish the last few reps.

If your sets are not this way you need to either adjust your weight or adjust your rest time between sets.

You should feel a pump in the muscles. If not then we have work to do. Get ahold of me.

6×6 Training Progression

There are three ways to make progress with the 6×6 training program.

The first is to increase the weight used each workout.

The second is to reduce rest between sets.

And the third way is to slow down each rep to increase time under tension.

Which ever way you chose, pick one and stick to it for a few weeks. That way you can determine if you’re actually improving. Only change one variable at a time. You need a consistent measurement so pick one of the those three metrics and use them to determine your progress.

Increase the Weight each Workout

If you can do 6 sets of 6 reps without too much struggle you need to increase the weight.

Sometimes you find this out and it’s too late, you’ve already completed the sets. That’s fine, just make this adjustment: If you can do more than six reps on the last set then do as many reps as possible until you reach failure, so you get all you can out of the workout. Then increase the weight for next workout.

Increase the weight used each workout by 5-10 pounds per exercise.

Brief Rest between Sets

Keep rest periods between 30-45 seconds. No more than one minute rest between sets, and only if you’re new to the program.

Short rest periods create cumulative fatigue. Short rest periods don’t give muscles enough time to clear lactic acid out from the previous set. Lactic acid build-up breaks down the muscle making it ripe for growth.

The muscles rebuild bigger and stronger after the workout, as long as you rest and get enough good food to eat.

Lifting Tempo

Lifting tempo refers to the speed of your reps. There are four parts to any lifting movement.

1. Lifting the weight (concentric phase)
2. ‘Top’ of the lift (when muscle contraction is where you want it.)
3. Lowering the weight (Eccentric phase)
4. End of the lift (also the start)

The goal is to keep maximum tension on the muscle. Lifting too fast reduces the amount of tension. Lift just fast enough so that there’s minimal momentum each rep.

When you get the hang of lifting, you want to get a good rhythm with your reps.

How do you know when you’ve got rhythm? You know when it happens. It’s when you hit a grove and the weight just seems to glide through space – you can feel your muscles working – stretching and squeezing the right amount.

You might even rock a little bit with the movement of the weight. That’s ok, a little momentum is fine when used strategically. (I.e. to squeeze out those last few reps).

Start here: Take about two seconds to lower the weight, pause for one second at the bottom of the movement, (while keeping all tension on the muscles), then three seconds moving the weight back to the starting position. And finally take one second at the top of the movement. Really SQUEEZE at the top of the rep.

Take a big gulp of air and repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

Exercises Order

Perform the exercises in the order prescribed in the workouts below.

The exercises order is purposely selected to pre-exhaust certain muscles.

This makes the subsequent exercises more effective by fatiguing all the secondary and supporting muscles. When I say this is a full body workout I meant it. Every muscle in your body gets worked every exercise to some degree.

You may notice that you struggle lifting weight that you normally lift a lot more of. This is normal. That’s the accumulated fatigue kicking in and it’s working.

A Note About Vince

Vince was primarily concerned with aesthetics. That is the look of the body. He HATED certain exercises with a passion. Hated them mo much that he banned certain exercises from his gym. If you were caught doing crunches in Vince’s gym he’d throw your ass out on the street. It was his way or the highway.

He also wasn’t fond of squats and deadlifts. He thought they made your hips, butt and waist too big. This throws off the proportions that make a body look good.

The ideal physique has wide back and shoulders that taper down to a tight, trim waist. The lower half has wide, sweeping thighs that balance the top half of the body.

If the butt, hips and waist is too big you lose the ‘Wow’ factor. The body because blocky and too thick throughout. This is fine for powerlifting, but not for aesthetics and beauty.

I get that and his argument is sound. But it’s only valid for the top 1% of people that already have a muscular physique and want to complete.

Unless you’re a finely tuned lifting machine preparing for a bodybuilding contest, do the squats.

But most guys like you who want to stay lean and strong will want to do squats and deadlifts.

This workout is to build the most muscles in the shortest amount of time possible. Your glutes and legs are your biggest muscles groups so train them hard. You’ll burn more fat than ever before if you do.

My Thoughts on the 6×6 Workout Routine

Effective and Efficient Training – I think the 6×6 workout routine is great for building muscle in quick fashion.

6×6 workout trains your whole body with a few lifts. The majority of your muscles are engaged during each lift.

6 reps is the entry point to the hypertrophy rep-range. It’s right on the cusp of strength and building muscle. So you could argue it’s the sweet-spot for muscle building.

It’s a Unique Hybrid Workout Routine – 6×6 training is great for building muscle, increasing strength, and improving the overall look of your physique.

This full body routine hits every muscle group so they all grow in proportion to one another.

An aesthetic body required proportions of each body part to be ‘right in relation to the size of each other part.

Total body training ensures balanced muscles. Front, back, lower and upper body muscles are trained with 6×6 workouts.

The more intense the workout and the more muscles you train, the more growth hormone and testosterone that’s released by your body naturally.

To be honest though, any method of training that pushes your muscle to the brink will be effective, but the 6×6 workout is a well-rounded routine that strengthens your entire body.

It’s a Mega Fat Burner – You will absolutely slash and burn through body fat during each 6×6 workout. You’ll also maximize your muscle building potential.

Muscle burns calories 24/7, so over time you’ll turn into a calorie burning inferno.

6 reps is the sweet spot for muscle size and strength. Coupled with moderate-heavy weight, slow lifting tempo and short rest between sets, and you have the right combination for maximum muscle growth potential.

If you liked this workout, check out Vince GiRonda’s 8×8 Workout and 10×10 German Volume Training.

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