Some cool Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu facts

[backinthegymbro]

I read Franco's autobiography - Coming on Strong and it has a lot of details about Arnold that i never knew. It's also one of the best books i ever read. Very motivational with great stories and quotes, but it'd be far too much to post them all here.
ITT i'll post some random bits for if anyone is interested.

1. The first time Franco saw Arnold, it was at a place where the bodybuilding competition in Stuttgart was being held. They also held a power lifting competition. when Franco asked his teammate why they couldn't lift yet, he was told that the bodybuilders get to go first.

Franco: What happens?
Teammate: Nothing much, they don't lift weights or anything onstage. They just come out and pose to show their muscles and whoever is built best wins.
Franco: Who decides who wins?
Teammate: Judges
Franco: And that's a sport? What are we waiting for? What a waste of time! I could tell them that right now if they're all waiting to find out. The tall guy there is in a class of himself. (the tall guy being 17 year old Arnold Schwarzenegger, who did end up winning. Franco ended up being last place since he didn't train certain lifts and didn't have experience in powerlifting).

2. When Arnold met Franco, it was at the gym Franco trained at. They had the following conversation:

Arnold: I saw you lift in Stuttgart.
Franco: Why would you remember me? I was terrible, i smelled up the place.
Arnold: That's why i remember you. I thought, why would he be here if he's out of his depth like that? And i decided it must have been because you wanted it badly enough.
Franco: Yes i did.
Arnold: You've improved since.
Franco: I certainly hope so. I'm working my ass off.
Arnold: Listen, why don't you schedule your training so we can work out together? These guys are chit, i need some competition, someone who can handle the same kind of weight i can. I need to run faster.
Franco: Why? Where are you going?
Arnold: To the top.



3. When you watch Pumping Iron, Arnold talks about ''the screamer''
In the movie he says he was competing against him and that they carried him off stage.
Franco says this is not the full story.
What happened was: Arnold and Franco were hired as guest posers for a bodybuilding competition in Munich and weren't competing themselves in it.
They went to the gym for a work out, and the screamer was already there working out. He looked like chit but had a huge ego and thought he'd win.
So Franco and Arnold decided to mess with him.
When he asked for advice what might help him win, they convinced him screaming during each pose would help.
And that's exactly what he did. He was never carried off the stage, but he says Arnold and Franco were laughing so hard, they had to keep each other from falling over.

4. Arnold and Franco started a tradie company called: European Experts in Marble and Stone.
Because Joe Weider didn't pay them a lot and they wanted more money. Franco had experience laying bricks back in Sardinia (his home town) while Arnold would mix the concrete.



5. Surprisingly, they both end their autobiographies with a similar quote / message. i'll put them both here:

Arnold schwarzenegger: Total Recall:

“You’ll have plenty of time to rest when you’re in the grave. Live a risky life and a spicy life. And every day do something that scares you.
We should all stay hungry!”

Franco Columbu. - Coming on Strong

Whatever it is you do in life, you can never grow in self-esteem unless you get good and pumped first and stay that way. And any time spent without a pump is time you can never get back again. I wouldn't let any opportunities get away if i were you. I never did.

[TheFitLord]

I met both of them in 1991, they're legendary. It would have been cool to train with them.

[JtotheIzzo]

Good **** op!

[ifisthole]

Why do you read only books on bodybuilders?

why are you asking that in a website called www.bodybuilding.com stupid alt

[Motiviert]

red red red , red red red red red!

What?

[Motiviert]

Mirin op srs. Both of those dudes are LEGENDS

[outfoxxed]

rip franco. rip arnie too for that matter

[sickdevildog1]

OP, good post dave man

red red red red red red red, red.

fixed

[DrewDarden]

Good post OP. 👍🏻

[AndyLausmax]

Aside from Dave Draper and Frank Zane's books, Franco's is a publication I've always wanted to read. I think I'll put it in my short list. Thanks for sharing.

[Sterilite]

Never Had A Friend Like Me

[volkan96]

Mirin their quotes at the end, needed that right now ty for sharing. Would rep but on recharge.

[AWillis]

damn.

thanks for the motivation

[backinthegymbro]

Here i will add some great motivational quotes from Franco's book. The following are Franco Columbu Quotes.

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Once you are at peace with your mind, you can do just about anything for your body that you want to.

(When talking about Sardinian kids and staying indoors all day similar like miscing) They have sports, but not toys or games to keep kids sitting down indoors, because they have the same net effect as processed foods. Mentally or physically, and maybe in both ways, they make you soft.

(When talking about being allowed to take up boxing, which was his original dream, as long as he had a job) My performance on the job improved almost at once too. I disliked construction with a deep passion. But now i saw it as task and reward. The work entitled me the joy of competition, and it seemed to me that the harder i worked at my job, the more i was entitled to follow my dream.

Doors are always open to winners.

(When talking about what he envied about Arnold) He knew just what he was doing and where he was going.

(Quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger when talking to Franco) You might as well aim as high as you can. You can always get it if you want it enough.

Nothing can undercut your training like negativity.

I was not interested in being a laborer for the rest of my life. Not in Sardinia, Germany or anywhere else. That alone was enough to keep me going.

You should see the expression on the face of a man who realizes for the first time that he is easily handling more weight than he did the last time out. The sheer joy of seeing your body advance from a single phase to the next is worth the pain ten times over.

(Talking about catching up to Arnold who was ahead in the bodybuilding sport) You never know how fast your receiver can really, really run until you throw the pass a little farther in front of him than usual; if he wants it badly enough, he'll get there.

(Talking about Arnold teaching franco how to lift weights with mind over matter) He corrected my mistakes and helped me see how limitless the training really is, once you understand your true potential.

Both the sport and the training is more mental than i can ever tell you.
You are really what you think you are;
The best of us constantly see and feel ourselves to be just a smidgen bigger than we might be, thus the striving never stops.
That's why you see guys strutting around elbows out half an hour into his first workout. That's how he sees himself, realistic or not;
If he stays with it, that is what will happen too. It's quite magical.

(When talking to Arnold and hearing he couldn't train at night because he had a date and offered to train tomorrow) Then i'll start tonight without you. Tomorrow is chit!

You don't really find out what you're made of till you're down as far as you can go.

You ask the muscles to do all you know it can, then you do more. The bodybuilders who get the most out of that ''more'' phase are the ones who go farthest.

The bodybuilder who sets his mind to ''I can take it'' is well on the way to winning and need hardly dwell on anything else.

(When talking about living in America) I was very happy in California, too, and in that frame of mind one can learn very quickly.

(Similar how Arnold told Franco how he needed him as a training partner so he could run faster to the top) The atmosphere in America made me run faster.

(When talking to Mike Katz who was insecure because he used to get bullied and just got called fat) Get to the gym and get to work. And stop worrying about what people say.

(Talking about setting up a home gym and training alone for the Mr Olympia and hearing bodybuilders tell him that that was a mistake and how a regular gym is absolutely necessary. Ps: Franco won the allround mr olympia that year and was the very best) You don't win contests or anything else in life by merely listening to what others think. I had work to do.

You can't believe the difference that attitude alone makes.

You don't have to be the biggest to win. You just have to want it the most.

Each bodybuilder takes on Nature and himself, respectively the most potent force and the most formidable opponent on earth, and he wins over both.

[kingmanaverage]

Arnold will forever be one of my heroes.