Franco Columbu Workout Routine: How To Train Like A Legend

Franco Columbu is considered one of the best athletes of all time when it comes to all-around strength. Sometimes overshadowed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu was a force to be reckoned with regardless of what sport he did. Boxing, powerlifting, Strongman, and, after all, bodybuilding.

Franco Columbu appears to be considered one of the unique hybrid athletes who followed what you may call “powerbuilding.” This text will review Franco Columbu’s history and training philosophy and dig into his unique training. Read to the top for a sample Franco Columbu workout routine.

Who Is Franco Columbu?

Franco Columbu was an expert bodybuilder who competed within the Seventies, throughout the Golden Era of bodybuilding. In truth, he and Arnold Schwarzenegger went head-to-head in Mr. Olympia during this time, fighting for the win. Franco Columbu would prove to be considered one of the best ever, but he was far more than that.

Franco’s Non-Bodybuilding Sports Profession

Before we get to his bodybuilding profession, we wish to review Franco’s other sporting endeavors. He was far more than simply having an awesome physique!

Boxing & Olympic Lifting

Franco Columbu began his athletic life as an amateur boxer in his hometown of Sardinia, Italy. It’s hard to get specific details, but it surely appears he was achieved “with over 30 wins.”

Nevertheless, Franco Columbu would find yourself deciding to quit boxing as he believed it resulted in an excessive amount of damage to the pinnacle. Now that we all know quite a bit more concerning the devastating effect of concussions in boxing, it appears Franco was right.

Franco first began his strength training profession in Olympic weightlifting as a natural athlete who needed to compete. In response to his website, his best lifts were:

• Olympic Press 325 lbs
• Snatch 270 lbs
• Clean and Jerk 400 lbs

Finding any more specific details about this was difficult, so we will not say exactly where and even when it occurred.

Powerlifting

He would enterprise into the powerlifting world after this sting (nevertheless long it lasted). Interestingly enough, Arnold Schwarzenegger frolicked powerlifting before his bodybuilding profession took off. Either way, in keeping with his website, his records were:

• Bench Press 525 lbs
• Squat 655 lbs
• Deadlift 750 lbs

Not only were these his best lifts, but they’re listed as “Powerlifting Records” on his website. These numbers are awesome for anyone, but consider that he only weighed around 200 kilos. That is a 3.75x body weight deadlift and a 2.625x body weight bench press. We tried to search out some more proof of this and located it. In a single video, he’s deadlifting 700 lbs for 3 reps (no straps) and one other of varied lifts, including a 400lb bench press for five reps.

Strongman

One other Amazon achievement occurred late into his bodybuilding profession. 1977 Franco Columbu competed in the primary inaugural World’s Strongest Man competition. He would go on to put fifth, but several notable occurrences exist.

First, Franco Columbu is comparatively small, especially in comparison with other bodybuilders and Strongmen. Standing at just 5’5″, his competition weight was just 185 lbs, while his off-season weight was just 10 lbs greater. All 4 competitors above Franco had him by around 100 lbs. It’s insane that he kept up with guys greater than 50% of his body weight.

Second, a part of this loss is attributable to a horrific knee injury throughout the last event, a refrigerator carry. You may actually see footage here. (Warning! It isn’t too graphic, but you could not want to look at if you happen to’re squeamish with snapping legs.) With that said, compare his size to his competitor, and it’s obvious! Also, it’s price declaring that he was easily beaten before the unlucky event happened.

Third, the guy who finished fourth was fellow competitor Lou Ferrigno! This just goes to further show how bodybuilders throughout the Golden Era incorporated strength training. Compare that to today’s bodybuilders, who will think about using light weights for more reps and a mind-muscle connection.

Franco Columbu Bodybuilding Profession

Now, let’s get into Franco Columbu’s bodybuilding profession. One thing to notice before we start is that, as mentioned above, Franco Columbu was small. He was only 5’5″ and weighed 185 kilos. As such, this led to him competing in various divisions on the time. For instance, the IFBB Mr. World competition had a “short” division. In contrast, Mr. Olympia had a “lightweight” division.

Franco Columbu first bumped into Arnold within the mid-Sixties at a show in Germany. This may result in this unique relationship that lasted until his death. In truth, many persons are aware of how Arnold got here to California within the Sixties to work with Joe Weider. Well, it just so happens that Franco went, too, alongside Arnold. This relationship between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu would last until Franco’s death in 2019, and Arnold is adamant about Franco being the very best lifting partner he ever had.

With that in mind, Weider helped Franco get arrange within the US and provided a minimal weekly stipend as he trained him to compete within the evolving world of bodybuilding. Along with training with Joe Weider’s help, Vince Gironda could be one other key figure in Franco’s training and would shape his lifting style.

Columbu began competing in bodybuilding contests in 1966, and over the next years, he steadily participated in various NABBA and IFBB events. He made his Olympia debut in 1972, securing a fifth-place finish, and was the runner-up in 1973. In 1974 and 1975, he won the under-200-pound division on the Olympia but was defeated by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who claimed the general Olympia title each years.

To make sense of this, on the time, Mr. Olympia split the competitors into “lightweight” (under 200 lbs) and “heavyweight” (over 200 lbs) divisions. The winners of those two divisions would then compete against one another to win the general title. Franco Columbu won the lightweight division of Mr. Olympia twice, but his best friend Arnold kept him from winning overall.

This may all change as Arnold retired after the 1975 win, which gave Franco the possibility he needed to grab the general title, and that he did. In 1976, Franco won his first Mr. Olympia title and have become the primary winner ever to weigh lower than 200 lbs!

Primed to construct upon this win, Franco’s reign would unfortunately get cut short as he would suffer his Strongman accident the next yr, forcing him to take day without work. Since Franco didn’t just sit around while he recovered, he got his chiropractic license spurred by his fascination with the body and recovery.

In 1981, Franco Columbu would go on and make his return to bodybuilding and enter his last Mr. Olympia retook his crown. That said, there’s quite a little bit of controversy surrounding this win. It is vital to indicate that Arnold Scwarneagger promoted Mr. Olympia, and lots of people consider each Danny Padilla and Tom Platz had a greater physique. Either way, this was his last competition.

Franco Columbu’s Bodybuilding Titles

Here’s a recap of Franco Columbu’s wins at major competitions.

• 1970 IFBB Mr. World (short)
• 1970 IFBB Mr. Universe (short & overall)
• 1971 IFBB Mr. World (short & overall)
• 1974 Mr. Olympia (lightweight)
• 1975 Mr. Olympia (lightweight)
• 1976 Mr. Olympia (lightweight & overall)
• 1981 Mr. Olympia

Franco Columbu’s Workout Routine

So now, let’s get into Franco Columbu’s workout routine and the way he was prepared to be such a serious player on the planet of bodybuilding. We’ll let you know that his training program is a little more complicated than others, as he didn’t use a general 4-day split.

Subsequently, we’ll divide his program into two parts: the training split and the actual training sessions.

Franco Columbu broke down his body parts into the next muscle groups.

• Chest & Shoulders
• Back
• Legs
• Arms
• Abs

Sometimes, he would pair a training session with two body parts, akin to arms and abs, but Franco divided his training into 14-day (2 weeks) blocks, where he trained for six days and rested for the seventh. He would normally train twice a day, with an AM and a PM session, but some days, he’d just train once. This schedule allowed him so as to add much volume, but it surely was a brutal set-up.

We will lay out the two-week schedule after which his training sessions. The next days include either one or two divided sessions (AM and PM).

Week 1

• Day 1- Chest, Shoulders, Abs // Arms
• Day 2- Back // Legs
• Day 3- Chest, Shoulders, Abs // Arms
• Day 4- Arms
• Day 5- Legs, Abs // Back
• Day 6- Chest, Shoulders, Abs
• Day 7- REST

Week 2

• Day 1- Arms // Legs
• Day 2- Back, Abs
• Day 3- Chest, Shoulders // Arms
• Day 4- Back, Abs // Legs
• Day 5- Chest, Shoulders, Abs
• Day 6- Arms
• Day 7- REST

Franco Columbu’s Workout Sessions

Now that you simply see how the training split is about up, we’ll go over the actual sessions. You will notice the times have different muscle groups. Subsequently, you’ll plug the next training sessions wherever you see them within the above template.

We’d like to say that Franco liked to make use of supersets, so now we have those listed as such.

One other vital variable is that Franco would really like to ramp up the load and reduce reps throughout the sets for some exercises, akin to the bench press. Subsequently, we are going to list the corresponding reps.

For instance, once you see Barbell Bench Press (15, 10, 4), you may use weight and perform 15 reps in the primary set. Then, you may up the load and perform 10 sets within the second set, after which repeat this for the third set, where you may use 4 reps.

Chest

Shoulders

Arms

Legs

Back

Abs

We couldn’t find his specific ab training, so we’re using movements Arnold was known to make use of. As they trained together often, it could likely be similar.

We haven’t got a particular rep scheme, so depending in your needs and time, you should use 3-5 sets of 6-15 reps for every exercise.

Franco Columbu’s Cardio

Relating to cardio, Franco Columbu is thought to be against the notion that “you would like cardio.” He believed that their bodybuilding training style throughout the Golden Era was their cardio. Now, it’s worthwhile to realize that their sessions could last 2-3 hours with a ton of volume, which could be very different from how most individuals train today. You may see him discuss this on this short clip.

Nevertheless, there are other videos by which Arnold states the alternative. He claims they did lots of cardio, and even Franco pushed him to run. Further, keep in mind that Franco was a boxer and would still hit the luggage and jump rope. So what is the deal?

Well, we will not say needless to say why Franco seemed so against the thought of doing cardio. Perhaps it looked different after they did it, and it was just something that happened naturally fairly than planned. Nevertheless, planned or not, cardio continues to be cardio, and you continue to get the identical advantages.

Keeping that in mind, Franco probably meant they didn’t plan a 60-minute session on an incline treadmill. Their cardio was sporadic, shorter in duration, and of upper intensity. Within the video above, Arnold talks about “running 10 blocks,” which might be around 0.5 to 0.75 miles, which likely took 5-6 minutes of running.

Franco Columbu’s Weight loss plan

Franco Columbu, like all bodybuilders within the Golden Era of bodybuilding, ate your basic clean, whole-food weight loss program. Like his ab training, we are going to say that finding his specific weight loss program was somewhat tricky. With that said, we are able to give you a number of variables.

There’s good evidence that Franco prompted using 3 fundamental meals with 2 smaller snacks throughout the day. The snacks were between lunch and dinner, followed by a nighttime snack.

Concerning specific foods, Franco promoted getting protein from quality sources akin to chicken, fish, beef, and pork. One food that actually stands out here is Franco’s heavy emphasis on eggs. Franco loved eggs, and so they were considered one of his favorite protein sources.

When it got here to carbohydrates, he preached that they were vital for providing energy but needed to come back from clean sources. He would promote steamed vegetables, rice, fruit, and beans.

By way of fat, it seems his fat intake was like an afterthought. He preached that it is best to eat these whole foods, and your fat intake could be met if you happen to did. Again, he often ate eggs, fish, and beans, simply to name a number of fat sources.

Unfortunately, getting information on exact calories or macro ratios is hard to do.

Other Accolades Of Franco Columbu

Because of Franco’s extensive athletic profession, he has a litany of varied achievements.

One other big a part of his life was film! Many individuals know of the bodybuilding documentaries he appeared in. Nevertheless, he also appeared in several Hollywood movies; as you can likely guess, lots of these movies were alongside Arnold. These include:

• Stay Hungry (1976)
• Pumping Iron (1977)
• Conan The Barbarian (1982)
• The Terminator (1984)
• The Running Man (1987)

He also began his own production company, Franco Columbu Productions, which produced several movies akin to “Beretta’s Island,” and “Doublecross”.

Perhaps essentially the most random achievement was his ability to pop balloons together with his breath. In April 1979, Franco could blow up a hot water bottle until it burst in only 55 seconds using only sheer lung power (that’s 28.5 lbs/square inch)!  This put him within the Guinness Book of World Records for the very best lung power. To be honest, we’re unsure what “hot water bottle” means. We tried to look but couldn’t find any definitive answer, but here’s a video of him popping some sort of balloon at 0:23!

As we mentioned above, Franco Columbu also became a chiropractor. He would then go on to writer several books covering bodybuilding, nutrition, and fitness. A few of his more notable titles include;

• Winning Bodybuilding (1977)
• Coming On Strong (1978)
• Winning Weight Lifting and Powerlifting (1979)
• Weight Training and Bodybuilding: A Complete Guide for Young Athletes. Wanderer Books (1979)
• Franco Columbu’s Complete Book of Bodybuilding. Contemporary Books (1982)
• The Bodybuilder’s Nutrition Book (1985)

Achievement Awards

Here’s a take a look at the assorted other achievement awards Frank Columbu collected during his life, as shown on his website.

• 1983- Induction into the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
• 1985- Received a Certificate of Merit from the IFBB
• 1988- Awarded the very best civilian honor of merit – the merit of Ufficiale – by Francesco Cossiga, the President of Italy
• 2004- Received the FBB Achievement Medal Award
• 2006- Inducted into the Worlds Gym Hall of Fame
• 2007- Received the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame Award
• 2009- Received an award from the ICA for “Special service to the chiropractic occupation and the world of fitness.”
• 2009- Awarded Arnold’s Classic Lifetime Achievement Award

Franco Columbu

Taking a look at this text, it is simple to see Franco Columbu’s insane life and large impact on sports, fitness, and health. He’s considered one of the strongest strength athletes pound for pound, which is further exaggerated by the indisputable fact that he was also a Mr. Olympia champ. Pair this together with his profession in film and becoming a chiropractor, and it’s clear that Franco Columbu is really considered one of the best figures in bodybuilding and sports as a complete.