Denis Pedneault is "The New Iron Guru"

Most people who are familiar with the history of bodybuilding are aware that the late Vince Gironda was known as "The Iron Guru." Gironda, who operated Vince’s Gym in North Hollywood, California, for some 50 years, died in 1997, just five days shy of his 80th birthday.

Vince started as a competitive bodybuilder and carried on until the early ‘60s, when he transitioned into being an influential personal trainer. In fact, John Balik, the publisher of Iron Man, told me that Vince invented the profession of being a "personal trainer."

I don’t know who first called Vince "The Iron Guru," but the label probably stuck because of his extensive knowledge of all things important to bodybuilders: training, nutrition, and posing. Whereas some trainers know a little bit about one thing, he knew a lot about everything. Vince’s methods were often unique as well as controversial, and he pioneered many of the training and nutritional concepts bodybuilders take for granted today. Vince also held firm beliefs on how the ideal male physique should look – in particular, he valued shape and symmetry over sheer size. He also felt that drug-built bodies were grotesque, and that drugs were destroying the sport. In one interview in the ‘90s, he called modern bodybuilding a "drug cult."

Gironda was prolific. His writing appeared in various magazines for decades, and he had a monthly column that appeared in MuscleMag for about 30 years. Vince also wrote numerous short training manuals, and he even penned a full-length book with Robert Kennedy, the publisher of MuscleMag, called The Wild Physique. The man’s words carried weight.

But not everyone admired Vince, and not everybody liked him. Vince had a brash personality, was very outspoken, and often clashed with those around him. He had no fear in telling people what he thought. It is bodybuilding legend that in the '60s, Vince called Arnold Schwarzenegger a "fat f***" the first time he met him. Arnold must have had a thick skin because Vince helped him with training and nutrition after that, and there are plenty of pictures around of Schwarzenegger wearing a Vince’s Gym tank top.

Vince didn’t save his insults for the rich and famous. I once talked to a guy who trained at Vince’s Gym for eight years, but rarely spoke to Vince, always trying avoid him whenever he came to the gym. "Have you heard the names he called people?" he asked me. I had. I’ve met numerous people who went to see Vince at his gym only to find out he didn’t want anything to do with them, called them names, or, more often than you’d think, threw them out the door if he didn’t like the way they trained.

Few people who met Vince escaped his wrath. I trained at Vince’s for a number of days in the ‘80s. Although Vince grew to like me, I was first greeted with, "What do you want?" The first day I trained there I wore a red sweatshirt and he abruptly told me, "You look like a goddamn reindeer wearing that!" He saved the really brutal stuff for my tall friend Kevin, whom Vince didn’t like much. Kevin was over six feet – much taller than Vince, who stood about 5’8" at best. Kevin unwisely pointed this out to Vince one day in the gym and from that moment on Vince called him "The Sasquatch," and introduced him that way to everyone who came through the door. Kevin couldn’t wait to leave each day.

Vince was loved and hated, but no one I’ve talked to will ever deny this: he knew his stuff. I learned more from those few days that I spent with Vince than I ever learned from anyone else in my life. Most others who trained under him have said the same thing. As a result, many think of Vince as the greatest bodybuilding trainer who ever lived. That’s why I produced two exercise DVDs called The Vince Gironda Exercises: Vol. 1 and The Vince Gironda Exercises (and More!): Vol. 2. Vol. 3 is in the works.

When Vince died, I was saddened, not only for the passing of someone I considered to be a great, unique man, despite his flaws, but also because I believed he was the best bodybuilding trainer the world has seen, and maybe will ever see. It seemed like the end of an era.

Or maybe not.

At the 2006 CBBF National World Qualifier, I met Denis Pedneault, an exceptional bodybuilder who, despite being the lightest guy in the competition (135 pounds, I believe), beat everyone there. He went to the IFBB world championships that year and placed seventh in the bantamweight category – an incredible feat for a first-timer at that level.

What impressed me about Denis at first was his physique: thickly muscled and perfectly proportioned. What piqued my interest more was that I found out he is a lifetime natural competitor, making the physique he achieved nothing short of extraordinary. Then I discovered how knowledgeable he is about training, nutrition and posing, and that he teaches exercise prescription at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada. What’s more, despite having French as a first language, he can write well in English! Robert Kennedy told me that when he started MuscleMag back in the '70s, he knew that he wanted to have Gironda writing for him because of the knowledge he possessed. I felt the same about Pedneault, which is why Denis’s "Body Sculpting" column has appeared here since March 2007.

Denis pumps up backstage at the 2009 Arnold Amateur Championships.

My respect for Denis has steadily grown since I first met him. His knowledge is one reason, his open-mindedness another. When I asked him if he knew Gironda’s work, he admitted he didn’t, but he immediately wanted to learn more. So I gave him some of Gironda’s books and my DVDs and he quickly absorbed it all and ended up incorporating some of Vince’s ideas into his own training regime, he wrote about in his column in April. Most trainers I know have egos that would get in the way and would eschew the work of others, but not Denis.

Denis also wanted me to see what he’d developed, so he sent to me a two-disc DVD package he produced called Bodysculptre. It’s a fairly low-budget affair, like most bodybuilding-based DVDs, and it’s all in French (I only speak English). But it’s jam-packed with information, containing more than three hours of content, including almost two hours of real training footage that feature many of Denis’ unique exercises and the different methods he uses to execute them. I couldn’t understand much of the dialogue, but I picked up plenty of valuable training tips, as I’m sure anyone who’s interested in advanced weight training would. This is one of the best training videos I've ever seen.

As I got to know Denis better and seeing first-hand the breadth and depth of knowledge he has, he reminded me more and more of Gironda. But there’s one big difference between Vince and Denis. Whereas Vince was harsh and outspoken, Denis is soft-spoken and well-mannered. Denis is just as forthright with his opinions, mind you, but he’s just not the kind of guy who’d ever get in your face, or call Arnold Schwarzenegger a fat, well, you know what. Denis is never anything but polite.

That soft-spoken demeanor of his will only help him. With broad expertise that spans training, nutrition, and posing, which are the key things bodybuilders need to know, and with a strong commitment to drug-free bodybuilding, I believe that Denis Pedneault is now emerging as the "The New Iron Guru." He’s one of the few who knows it all, and can teach it. This is good for the bodybuilding world, and it’s good for readers of SeriousAboutMuscle.com.

Denis trained Nicolas Blanchette for his first bodybuilding show, the 2009 IDFA Montreal Classic.

Given that Denis and I have both worked on separate video projects, it seems logical that we’ll collaborate on new videos in the future. Right now we’re working out the details. And since Denis has already taken some of Vince’s material to heart, I’ve loaded him up with as much more as I can find and asked him to "look into Gironda’s methods and see if you can improve upon them." Gironda never had an education beyond high school; his knowledge of training and nutrition was derived from reading and from his own experiments in the gym, both on himself and those who trained under him. That’s one of the reasons why many people not only admired Vince, but considered him a genius and a "man ahead of his time." Basically, he figured it out for himself. Denis, with a formal education in kinesiology behind him, has the skill to assess what Gironda developed and, possibly, take it even further.

Then there is Denis’ own work, which he has already documented in Bodysculpture and used on himself to build a world-class physique, and which he also uses on others that he coaches. We’re going to be telling you more about his work, and we’re also going to be using his training methods on some of the people whom we feature here.

Vince Gironda was one of a kind, the original "The Iron Guru," and the bodybuilding world lost someone special when he died. Frankly, I believe no one will ever replace him, but now, 12 years later, there is someone who can carry on with the kind of work that Gironda started. Look for much more from SeriousAboutMuscle.com and Denis Pedneault – in my opinion, a man worthy of the label of "The New Iron Guru."

...Doug Schneider, Publisher
das@seriousaboutmuscle.com

Doug Schneider is the publisher and chief photographer for SeriousAboutMuscle.com, BodyBuildingLive.com, and SeriousAboutFitness.com.