Ripped on The road: Wings like Franco!

Wings like Franco

One of the most iconic physiques of all time, at only 5'5'' Franco Columbu was nearly as wide as he was tall!

its Columbu not Columbo!

He wasn't just seriously broad! Side on Franco possessed awesome thickness and development all the way from his upper traps to lower back, I mean this guys spinal erectors were as thick as pop eyes forearms and mildly denser than Joey Essex (sorry Joey).

what gave Franco his wings?

With a long background in power lifting he was as strong as he looked, weighing around 200lbs it’s reported he could deadlift over 700lbs.

He took his power lifting routes and carried them into his bodybuilding career, this philosophy transferred into Franco’s training style, helping Columbu create his famous physique.

Let’s have a look at a couple of the staples of the Sardinian strongman’s back routine and see if we can take a few gems with us into our own training.

Franco was a big advocate of getting off the bench, getting off the machines and loading a heavy barbell.

'Don't sit or lie on the benches all the time!

Remember, to have big, powerful muscles you must handle heavy poundage's.'

The Franco Deadlift set

He didn't save these for leg day; he would begin his back session with heavy deadlifts including a little Franco tweak that I really like.

What better place to begin building a beastie back and body than with deadlifts.

Here’s the Franco Deadlift

'On every repetition I also do three shoulder shrugs. For instance, if I do 3 Deadlift reps, I also do 9 shrugs.'

He would add load with each set while decreasing the reps with a scheme like 8,7,6,5,3,3.

That adds some serious time under tension whilst keeping the volume and intensity high!

Caution; your traps the following day may feel like they had a massage from the big show.

Work like that will explode the posterior chain, so ride with caution I suggest you work up to this level slowly, as the rapid jump in intensity and volume will leave you're nervous system fried, training hard is good but training clever is cleverer…

Start small, try 3 sets and try adding in a set per week.

Week1 – 3x6 – 2 shrugs every other rep.

Week2 – 4x6 – 2 shrugs every rep

Week3 – 5x6 – 3 shrugs every other rep

Week4 – set of 7,6,5,4,3 – 2 shrugs every other rep

Week5 – Franco sets - of 8,7,6,5,3,3

Week6 – increase load and repeat cycle

Franco power - High Pulls

A move usually reserved for the Olympic lifters, not one usually associated with bodybuilders, but Franco knew the benefits. Even some bodybuilders can feel envious at the upper back development of Olympic lifters.

Lu xiaojun - animal

This is one move that help set Franco’s back apart from the rest of the bodybuilding crowd.

A training exercise stemming from Olympic lifting traditionally used to help train a specific portion or quality of the main lifts, the clean and the snatch.

There are two variations to the pulls, being the clean and the snatch.

The high pull Columbu performs are “clean” high pulls and represents a portion of the clean, where the lifter begins from the floor all the way through mid thigh as in the full lift, only the barbell is not caught on the shoulders as in the clean, at actually somewhat resembles a very powerful upright row (which it most definitely is not).

Not only will your trap development skyrocket, you may also find your overall athletic ability does the same.

You can do pulls from the floor, from the hang or from blocks, all have slightly different benefits.

Using a regular width weightlifting grip on a heavy barbell, pull the bar from the floor as in a deadlift then as you hit midthigh powerfully extend at the hips, knees and ankles accelerating the barbell as high as possible whilst also pulling with the shoulders and arms keeping the barbell close and elbows high.

using a regular weightlifting grip....

“I immediately repeat for 3 sets of 8 reps with 315 lbs. This gives my whole back and shoulder girdle a great workout. I only do this exercise once a week.”

That’s a lot of reps! Remember Franco was advanced, when it comes to Olympic lifting and the variations quality is key this aint crossfit!

tekkers

I recommend keeping the reps below 6, 3 is my favorite number.

but Franco what is this crossfit?

I highly recommend taking the time to watch, read and practice the Olympic lifts, find someone who’s good at them and get some tips or hire a good coach! “Ahem”

Building a big back requires more the lat pull downs! So here are 2 routines for you to take away inspired by Franco with a few more of his favorites thrown in for good measure.

Routine one - Density

A – Franco Deadlift sets - adding volume each week as above

B - Seated rows to neck 4 sets of 10 reps – 1-2 squeeze in contracted position, 1 sec pause in stretch position.

C – upright rows 5 sets of 8 reps

“I use a close grip and pull the bar up to the chin with full concentration on the trapezius. I keep the elbows high, tensing the traps completely at the top”

D - Bent over lateral raises 3x8/8/4 (8 strict heavy/8 strict lighter/ 4 heavy)

Routine two - Wings

A - Franco – repetition high pulls – 2 sets of 8 (moderate weight) grooving the movement. Increase load 2 sets of 5, 2 sets of 3. Weight follows form! Form comes first in everything, especially this!

“This gives my whole back and shoulder girdle a great workout. I only do this exercise once a week.”