Franco Columbu 14 Day Workout Routine and Diet

Franco Columbu won the Mr. Olympia title twice, in 1976 and 1981, and was one of the strongest bodybuilders who ever lived. A former boxer and powerlifter from Sardinia, he stood about 5 ft 5 in yet is reported to have deadlifted 750 pounds, which is why he is often called one of the first powerbuilders.

His training matched that background. Instead of a fixed weekly split, Columbu ran a 14-day cycle that hit each body part about twice a week, often with two sessions a day, and mixed heavy sets of 1 to 5 reps with high-rep pump work.

This guide covers who Columbu was, his full 14-day split, the workouts published as his 1981 Mr. Olympia routine, how to run the cycle (including rest times) and the simple diet he followed.

Franco Columbu Stats

Who Was Franco Columbu?

Francesco “Franco” Columbu was born on 7 August 1941 in Ollolai, a mountain village in Sardinia, Italy. He boxed and lifted competitively before moving into bodybuilding, so he came to the sport with a strength athlete’s base.

In the mid-1960s he met Arnold Schwarzenegger in Germany, and the two became training partners and lifelong friends. Columbu followed Schwarzenegger to California, where they trained together, ran a bricklaying business on the side and became central figures of bodybuilding’s Golden Era alongside rivals such as Sergio Oliva. Columbu was later the best man at Schwarzenegger’s wedding.

At the 1974 and 1975 Mr. Olympia, Columbu won the lightweight class but lost the overall title to Schwarzenegger, a rivalry shown in the documentary Pumping Iron. With Schwarzenegger retired, Columbu won the overall title in 1976, joining the short list of Mr. Olympia winners.

In 1977 he entered the first World’s Strongest Man contest. He badly injured his knee in the refrigerator race but still finished fifth. He did not compete again until the 1981 Mr. Olympia, which he won in one of the most debated decisions in the contest’s history.

Away from the stage, Columbu qualified as a chiropractor, wrote several books on bodybuilding and training, and appeared in a number of films, including small roles alongside Schwarzenegger. He died on 30 August 2019, aged 78, while swimming off the coast of Sardinia.

Franco Columbu’s Strength: The Original Powerbuilder

Columbu’s strength set him apart from the other bodybuilders of his time. These are the best lifts most often cited for him. Dates, bodyweights and conditions were not recorded the way a modern powerlifting meet result is, so treat them as reported bests rather than official records.

For a man of about 5 ft 5 in, those numbers are extraordinary. They explain why his workouts always start with heavy, low-rep sets before moving to the high-rep work bodybuilders are known for, a mix of strength and size training that is now called powerbuilding.

The Franco Columbu 14-Day Workout Split

Columbu summed up his approach in one rule, and described how he fitted heavy deadlifts into it:

“Train each body part twice a week, as hard and relentless as possible each time. Every second week, I’d dead-lift after my leg routine. My dead lift workout was 300 for five reps, 400 for five reps, 500 for five reps, 600 for two or three reps, 650 for one rep and 700 for one rep.”

Franco Columbu

Rather than repeat the same seven days, his split runs over two weeks. Here is the full cycle. On days with one session, it is listed under the morning column.

Count it up and chest and shoulders get five sessions in the 14 days, as do arms, while back and legs get four each. That is roughly two to two and a half sessions per body part per week, which fits his rule. There are 12 training days and 2 full rest days, and six of the training days have two sessions.

How to Run the 14-Day Cycle

• Run days 1 to 14 in order, then start again at day 1. Days 7 and 14 are full rest days.
• On the double days (1, 2, 5, 8, 10 and 11), train in the morning and again later in the day, with several hours and at least one meal between the two sessions.
• If you can only train once a day, give each session of a double day its own day. The cycle then takes about 20 days, and each body part still comes round every four to five days.
• Add the deadlift sets after the leg workout in the second week of the cycle (the leg sessions on days 8 and 11) and leave them out in the first week. If your lower back is not recovering, deadlift after just one of those sessions.
• The routine names the ab days but not the exercises. Two or three movements, such as hanging leg raises, crunches or cable crunches, for a few sets each are enough.
• Add weight on the heavy sets first: the 4-rep bench press set, the last squat sets and the deadlift singles. Keep the high-rep sets controlled and focused on the muscle.

Rest Times Between Sets

The published routine does not list rest periods, so the times below are general guidelines, not Columbu’s own numbers. Research in trained lifters has found that resting about 3 minutes between sets of multi-joint exercises led to more strength and muscle growth than resting 1 minute, so don’t rush the heavy work.

Franco Columbu 1981 Mr. Olympia Workout Routine

The workouts below are the version commonly published as Columbu’s routine for his 1981 Mr. Olympia comeback. This version has circulated in bodybuilding magazines and books for decades. We have not been able to confirm where it was first printed, so treat the exact sets and reps as reported rather than verified.

No weights are given. On the pyramids, where the reps drop from set to set (for example 15, 10 and 4), add weight each set so the last one is close to your limit for that number of reps.

Chest Workout

Shoulder Workout

Back Workout

Arm Workout

Every arm exercise is paired with one for the opposite muscle, so the triceps rest while the biceps work and vice versa. That keeps the session short, which matters when arms share a day with chest and shoulders or legs.

Leg Workout

For scale, Columbu’s own deadlift sets ran 300, 400 and 500 lb for five reps, 600 for two or three, then singles at 650 and 700 lb. That is a ramp from about 40% of his reported best to about 93%. Build yours the same way from your own max: the last single should be heavy but not a grind.

This is a long session, with more than 25 sets before the deadlifts. If it runs past what you can do with good form, cut the leg extension and lunge sets first, not the squats.

Franco Columbu on Listening to Your Body

Despite the volume, Columbu was clear that the plan serves the body, not the other way round. His view on fatigue:

The body has an incredible language all its own. When we’re young, we “listen” through instinct. It’s only as we get older that we start to lose contact. After a while we start to rationalize. We tend to do things out of habit. If we train a certain length of time with a particular weight and number of sets, we have a tendency to get off a “death bed” if necessary to do the workout. The body is saying “no”, “do less”, or “nothing.” When you ignore the message you are apt to get injured and whatever training you do won’t give you the results you are working for. Now this doesn’t mean to cater to laziness. Be honest with yourself and you’ll know the difference.

Franco Columbu

In practice, the 14-day cycle is a template, not a contract. If your joints ache, your strength drops for more than a session or two, or you dread the next workout, cut a set or two per exercise or add a rest day, then build back up. As he says, that is not the same as skipping work because you don’t feel like it.

Franco Columbu’s Muscle Building Diet

Columbu’s diet was plain, whole-food eating with a Mediterranean feel, built around eggs, dairy, fruit, vegetables and a serving of fish or meat at lunch and dinner. This is his daily plan as it is commonly reported:

No portion sizes or calorie totals are given, so use it as a meal structure rather than a fixed plan. A few points stand out:

• There is protein at every meal: eggs, yogurt, cheese, and fish or meat twice a day. For most lifters, about 1.6 g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day (around 0.7 g per pound) covers most of the muscle-building benefit.
• Most of the carbohydrate comes from fruit, juice, granola and vegetables. If you train twice a day as he did, you will probably need more, from foods such as rice, potatoes, bread or oats.
• Liver is rich in iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin A. Because its vitamin A content is very high, eat it occasionally rather than every day.
• The wine is optional. Large amounts of alcohol after training reduce muscle protein synthesis, so mineral water is the better default.
• To gain size, add portions or an extra meal. To lean out, trim the juice, granola and cheese first and keep the protein foods.

Should You Run Franco Columbu’s Routine?

Columbu was a full-time, elite athlete with a powerlifting base and years of hard training behind him. Twice-a-day sessions and 20 or more sets per workout are a lot of work for anyone else, so match the plan to your level:

• Advanced lifters: run it as written for one or two cycles and watch your recovery. If your heavy sets stall or drop, switch to the once-a-day version.
• Intermediate lifters: use the once-a-day version (about 20 days per cycle) and take one set off each exercise to start.
• Beginners: this is not a beginner program. Start with a simpler full-body or upper/lower plan and come back to it later. If you are not sure where you stand, see are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced lifter.

Even if you never run the full cycle, three of its ideas transfer to almost any program: train each muscle about twice a week, start each session with heavy compound sets and finish with higher reps, and keep building strength on the big lifts while you train for size. Our guide to balancing hypertrophy and strength training covers how to combine the two.