THE OG: 10-8-6-15

We're back and we're busting plateaus with Vince's answer to high-intensity training

The late great Mike Mentzer, whose “high-intensity” training style is said to have influenced the creation of the 10-8-6-15

Welcome back, my friends, to the OG, my series on all things Vince Gironda. I sat down over Christmas and really had a good think about everything I could say with regard to the great Iron Guru. Turns out, there’s a lot.

We’ve already had Vince’s biography and two instalments laying out the principles behind his approach to bodybuilding, in both practical and more theoretical terms. Then we looked at Vince’s 8x8 workout, otherwise known as the “Honest Workout,” and how proper breathing technique is essential to being able to perform this workout. Last week we discovered that Vince actually invented German Volume Training (no, he really did).

This week we’re going to look at another routine, one that’s rather different from the 8x8 or 10x10 in purpose and principles.

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If we train long enough, we all inevitably end up stuck in a rut. On a plateau. Treading water. Call it what you will, it amounts to the same thing: no progress, frustration, loss of enjoyment. Many will give up altogether.

I’ve actually already talked about Vince Gironda’s thoughts about plateaus, in another post. I noted how Vince recommended, among other things, a change of scenery and a change of mindset to break out of a rut. Often, those two things go hand in hand, he thought: Go and train in a new place and your outlook will almost inevitably change.

Here’s what Vince says in The Wild Physique.

Ninety percent of bodybuilders at any one time are in a training rut. And this is how it should be! If continuous growth were possible, we would all have built our Mr. Universe bodies in a matter of months. Realistically, this is impossible. What is possible is to regain former greatness in a matter of months. Muscles have a built-in memory, which means that a former 18-inch arm can be regained in much less time than it took to build it in the first place.

The logical assumption for breaking out of a rut would be to increase the intensity and the weight resistance used in your exercises, yet this seldom works beyond a certain point. In actuality, you could dig yourself into a deeper rut.

Personally, I can often break a sticking point by simply deciding to do it. This, of course, is what athletes and weightlifters do before an important event. They plan their training to reach an all-time plateau at the time of competition. There is no doubt that the enthusiasm generated from the knowledge that you simply must be at a personal best by a certain date is very conducive to maxing out and reaching it.

If you enthusiasm is waning, a change from home training to gym training could be the answer. No champion bodybuilder has ever won international titles training exclusively at home. Britain’s Reg Park came the closest. He would train in a garage, which had no heat or electric light. His workouts were performed with the help of three sweat suits for warmth and four candles for light. Although Reg trained with a couple of partners, it took a visit to New York and California gyms for him to reach his peak.

Vince also noted a wide array of variables that could and should be taken into account when evaluating whether you really are in a rut or not. Here I’m quoting myself:

Gironda goes on to mention [in The Wild Physique] the effectiveness of increasing workout speed (how quickly you complete your workout) to break out of a rut; that you need to have a well-developed idea of what you actually want to achieve; that you must rest and especially sleep adequately; that you must cultivate enthusiasm for working out; that you should cycle your training regularly; that you should never work out to a state of total exhaustion; that you should take an occasional layoff; that you should cleanse your body of mucus regularly using psyllium husk; and that you should try to reduce unwanted stress in your life.

Vince clearly believed, then, that many bodybuilders who thought they had reached a real plateau—a place where progress was no longer possible—were probably mistaken. Even so, he did think such a place existed.

One tool he had for breaking out of a real performance-based plateau was a workout called the “10-8-6-15”, which he published in one of his many pamphlets. As the name suggests, the workout involves four sets: a set of ten reps, followed by a set of eight reps, followed by a set of six reps, then a final set of 15 reps. Simple. Well, not quite. But luckily for you, I’m here to explain the rest in detail.