Franco Columbu’s Complete Book of Bodybuilding

by Franco Columbu

  • Round 1 — All contestants appear on stage and, without contractions, stand as they normally would.

  • Round 2 — Compulsory poses are executed by each contestant, one athlete at a time.

  • Round 3 — Individual posing routines are presented to the judges.

  • Round 4 — The judges call forth contestants to strike similar poses for comparison. This is sometimes called the posedown.

  • Round 5 — This round is for the audience to judge their favorites. Usually held on the evening of the contest, it’s filled with lights, music, and drama.

  Let’s take a closer look at each of the five posing rounds and suggest how you can enhance your performance in each.

  In the first round, where all contestants stand more or less normally, the judges will take a look at you from the front, side, and back. Even though the rules call for no contractions or poses here, be aware of your posture and presentation. Stand erect and balance your weight correctly on both feet. Poor posture or an imbalanced stance usually is a sign of nervousness and lack of confidence. Always appear confident and solid on the posing platform and keep smiling. Smiling is an essential tool for radiating confidence. When asked to turn so your side is toward the judges keep it slightly open to the judges; it looks better that way. And when turning your back to the judges, spread your lats as much as you can while keeping your arms in — and most important of all, turn your neck slightly to the judges. This will flex your trapezius muscles and allow you to maintain eye contact with the judges, two very positive and point-gaining effects.

  In the second round, the head judge will call the sequence of compulsory poses desired. And once he does, everybody must do that routine in the same style. The poses are a front lat spread, double biceps from the front, side chest pose, lat spread from back, double biceps from back, front abdominals with arms up and one leg extended, most muscular, or the crab, and side view of triceps. Remember to keep eye contact with the judges for as long as you can without breaking concentration on each pose. Be aware of exactly where the judges are and face them for maximum exposure.

  In the third round, you present your individual posing routine for the judges. You and your fellow contestants will be called out in order by contestant numbers (assigned before the judging begins), to execute a posing routine of your choice. Regarding that choice, most good bodybuilders are capable of performing somewhere between 25 and 35 poses. You ought to be able to bring that down to 15 or so of your very best poses. Be objective about selecting what makes you look your best. And, of course, select a sequence which allows you nice transitional moves between poses. Never forget to maintain eye contact and to keep smiling.

  Front abdominals: a compulsory pose

  Posing routines are usually accompanied by music. You will have prerecorded the music and have given tapes to the proper show technician to be played during your routine. The selection of posing music is strictly an individual matter. The main thing here is to select something that you are comfortable with and that suits your personality. Do not be concerned about what someone else has selected; stick to your preference.

  In the fourth round, the last phase of afternoon competition, the judges will call from five to seven of the highest-scoring contestants to execute the same pose. You should attain the best pump you can and come out feeling your competitive best, ready to beat all the fine competition the contest has to offer you. What usually happens is that the judges will call two or more contestants at a time, choose one who exemplifies a certain quality of a particular body part, and then, dismissing the other or others, call for two more athletes to compare body parts with the one remaining. It is a process of elimination and a test of your emotions. It is also the heart of the competition when you go man-to-man for the overall title.

  A common error in the comparison round is to forget that the judges are sitting below the athletes, either in some form of orchestra pit or, at very best, in the first row or two of seats, but lower than the stage. Some bodybuilders have the idea that leaning backwards during front poses helps make the pose look more heroic. The truth is, however, that when you lean backwards and away from a judge who is seated lower than eye level to begin with, you only afford him a spectacular view of your nostrils and armpits, and muscular nostrils and armpits will add very few points to your score. What makes considerably more sense is to lean forward slightly; that will show your best body parts to even greater advantage.

  In the final round, at night, you can straighten up and make eye contact with the audience. But at every point before that, you must show the judges some personality and considerable respect to go along with your body. Even superhuman bodies still house a human personality inside of them, and the judges will be looking for a demonstration of just that.

  It is especially important during this round to show more than the judges want to see. For example, if the judges call you to do a double biceps pose, most athletes think that the judges are only looking at the biceps. Wrong. I want to show them my biceps the best way I can but I will flex every other body part so that the judges see that I built the biceps in proportion to the rest of my body. Proportion is very important and must be demonstrated through your poses.

  Preparing for Contest

  In amateur contests, the head judge will tell you how much oil, if any, you may use. (There are no restrictions in professional contests.) You shouldn’t come out dry, because some of your details will get lost in the bright lights; on the other hand, you shouldn’t look shiny. Oil must be rubbed into the skin, not merely left on the surface. I always use a minimum amount of oil, but I sprinkle a few drops of water around just before my entrance for a good glistening level. The lights will certainly make anyone perspire, but it is a good start for me.

  Your routine should be well-paced, of course, with the same interval between poses. If you become confused or make a mistake, do what seasoned actors do: continue as smoothly as you can. Your poise during such an unlikely event will count for a lot.

  Regarding your choice of sequence, it’s a very smart idea to show the judges and/or the audience your second or third best pose first, then your less spectacular poses, then your good ones, and the very best pose last. If you don’t feel you have enough good ones in your routine, it’s much better to cut down, choose your two best, and do them twice each as long as they are evenly spaced with the rest of your poses.

  How do you get pumped up to do your best posing? Assuming weights are not allowed backstage, which is frequently the case, you’ll have to become creative. First, determine which body parts need to be pumped to look better — not all parts will. If you need a thigh pump, 100 reps or so of squats with no weight are excellent. My favorite weight-less exercises include dips between chairs, pushups (done with your feet elevated, such as on a chair, and with your fingers facing each other, five inches or so apart), calf raises on steps for each leg, lateral raises with chairs, backhanded isometrics in a doorway, and handstand pushups. You need to do at least 15 or 20 reps more than you usually do, one set only. When you have finished, go through your entire posing routine hard, 4 or 5 times, to complete your pump. This will also help you become familiar and confident with your routine.

  Sportsmanship

  Regardless of what happens during a contest, your behavior on stage is being monitored closely by thousands of people as well as the judges, who might come just to see you in the next contest. You must learn how to control your unique disposition on stage, and always appear pleasant regardless of the decision. Above all, do not mumble obscenities while on stage because the judges and the audience can hear or lip-read your remarks. If you are not #1 with the judges, you can still be #1 with the audience. The public is your fan club and without fans there would be no stars. Frequently, place winners have become bigger stars than the overall winners because of the public. If you are disappointed by a decision, create something positive. You have the power to turn any situation around by your thoughts and your attitud
e. But they have to be positive, not negative.

  I certainly did not win every contest that I ever entered, but I have reached and maintained what some would call superstar status. Every bodybuilder has experienced defeat including every top superstar. Throughout the years, I have seen countless temper tantrums both on stage and off. I believe the main reason for these tantrums is the irritability that can be caused by rigid dieting and/or by the use of drugs. My recommendation to combat this is to stop all drugs and return to a normal well-balanced natural diet one week before a contest. It is also a good time to relax and work with your mind.

  I know that a very important factor that helped me win the 1981 Mr. Olympia was my mental attitude. All year long, there were rumors about this and claims about that. I was occupied by my chiropractic practice and business concerns — I have a life that is too full to be plagued by rumors and doubts. I also knew that many contestants were worried about me. All they did was train, sit in the sun, and worry about me. Without all that free time to worry, I never doubted the outcome of the contest.

  This also relates to your self-confidence. If you are fearful, it shows on stage. Be sure that your presentation radiates self-confidence — no matter what. If you don’t win, so what? The only important thing to remember is to always do your best under any circumstances and the best will come back to you.

  During that final round, the stage is yours. Impressions do count whether you win or lose, so make yours the best along with your muscular presentation. Afterwards it will be to your advantage to have pictures available and sign autographs for your fans. They will love you.

  Chapter 5

  BODYBUILDING FOR WOMEN

  Advocates for women’s bodybuilding have been around for many years. But it has only been recently that bodybuilding for women has really caught on. It is truly amazing how much women have contributed to the sport — especially in the area of competitive posing — in a short time. Women’s contests are becoming as popular as the men’s contests.

  Some women bodybuilders have physiques that are incredibly muscular and well defined. Yet, because of their hormonal differences with men, these women’s muscles follow feminine curves and serve only to accent their femininity — they do not look like men, believe me! These hormonal differences (women have more estrogen and men have more testosterone) mean that women have to train harder than men to become muscular.

  Another difference between women and men — besides the obvious — is in body fat content. The average female should have 25 percent body fat, whereas the average male should have about 15 percent body fat. The female structure contains most of its fat in the stomach, hips, and thighs; this is why a woman can’t really train successfully with a man’s training program. Most women’s goals in training will be to reduce the fat in the lower body while building the upper body. Women in general have been tested to be 23 percent weaker in the upper body than in the lower body. Thus weight training is the best way for them to balance and strengthen their bodies.

  The first step in becoming a bodybuilder is to trim off all of the fat from the lower body. This is done by high repetition, aerobic-type exercises and through a well-balanced diet.

  The lower body most likely should be trained daily whereas the upper body should be trained three times per week with weights. To increase strength and build the upper body, women should use less repetitions and as much weight as they can comfortably handle. To reduce the lower body, they should use very high repetitions with light weight or no weight, and little or no rest between sets.

  Once the body is in proportion women can advance to another level of training and begin to zero in on muscularity, definition, and strength. Don’t be afraid to do this. Just as there are a lot of myths about male bodybuilders, there are probably double the number for women. The benefits of a healthy diet and vibrant fitness should encourage you to advance and to learn how to sculpt your body into a shape that is pleasing to you.

  Before advancing to the training programs, I must say that steroid drugs are even more detrimental to women than they are to men. The female endocrine system is very delicate and is easily put into a state of imbalance. The effects are irreversible and can be devastating.

  Note that the weight resistance exercises in the following programs utilize high reps because when women train with heavier weights for less than 20 reps, the effect is an increase in body size. To firm up, get definition, and lose fat, women must train with light weights for 25 reps or more.

  This advanced program may be divided into training sessions or can be done at one time three times a week. If you divide it into two days, train the upper body and do the stomach exercises every other day and train the lower body and do the stomach exercises on the other other days. Much of what I have written about training intervals and techniques in previous chapters applies to women as well as men. If a woman becomes bored or stale with her present routine, she should change training times, the routine or the order of the routine, or change partners or gyms. She shouldn’t quit or get negative. Most of the men’s training programs in this book can be modified for women by cutting down on weights and increasing reps. However, the programs just outlined are the most beneficial for a woman’s physical structure.

  Chapter 6

  BODYBUILDING FOR OTHER SPORTS

  Weight training and bodybuilding can lead you to some striking improvements in the sport of your choice. Resistance exercises are used now for every sport, especially at championship levels. When training for a particular sport there are two aspects to the training. One aspect is to train for skills used in the sport and the other is to add exercises using weights. Weight training will increase strength, stamina, endurance, and also will balance the musculature. In each sport, certain muscles are overused while other muscles are not used at all. This creates a muscular imbalance within an athlete’s structure and should be corrected with the proper weight training program. Weight training also improves coordination, which is of utmost importance in any sport.

  After a satisfying boxing career, Franco next went on to win powerlifting championships.

  Football

  Many running backs have tremendous upper-body strength and many linemen have astonishing quickness. Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears, a true superstar, is not huge as football players go, but he can press 300 lbs. and bench-press 400+ lbs. with no problem. Cullen Bryant of the Los Angeles Rams can bench-press more than that; his hand and arm strength is such that he almost never fumbles. I’m not saying these men owe everything to weight training; after all, they are remarkable athletes with many gifts.

  I’m going to list the weight exercises that, generally, are most beneficial to football players, and suggest that you make your own selections of which ones to emphasize, based on your personal goals. If you’re a lineman, for instance, I would suggest considerably more emphasis on the squat, bench press, and deadlift because you’re after raw size and power, and those are the powerlifting exercises. As a running back, you would want to do a wide variety of leg exercises. Whatever your position, you should determine your own needs within this program, simply through common sense.

  Basketball

  It’s taken basketball longer than most other sports to recognize the value of weight training. With the sport’s emphasis on quickness, basketball players have traditionally subscribed to the “musclebound” myth about bodybuilding and stayed away. But today, weight programs are being utilized for individuals, and even whole teams, at high school, college, and pro levels.

  Basketball players usually have long muscles and need weight training to strengthen them. Players whose rebounding abilities are important to their teams have trained successfully to build their gripping power and gain some welcome muscular weight to throw around under the boards. Smaller players have used weight training to add to their agility, quickness, and aggressiveness. And almost everybody can increase their leaping abilities through sensible weight training.

  Basketball tr
aining can be done before or after weight training. On the days you compete, however, it is not advisable to weight train.

  Baseball

  Many baseball players come to our chiropractic center. Using muscle testing techniques, I usually find muscular imbalances which come from overstressing one side of the body, particularly in pitching. Weight training can be very useful in preventing and correcting these muscular imbalances.

  According to one of its most durable clichés, baseball is a game of inches, so again you have to be careful about exercises which threaten your quickness. Weight training can enhance your throwing abilities to some degree. The shoulder and triceps exercises listed here will help if you are an outfielder or pitcher, but be sure to do as much ball-throwing as you normally do.

  Batting is where weight training can help you the most. You should train to help the muscles which put the snap and rotation moves into a smooth, level swing, and that’s what we’ll do.

  Soccer

  The emphasis here is on the legs. However, I am including three exercises for triceps and shoulders which should be of primary interest to goal tenders, for added gripping and throwing strength. Train as fast as you can; soccer is a game of endurance and stamina, and your workouts can help with that.

  Boxing and Karate