Zabo manages Joe Gold's gym and though he works out six days a week from 2½ to 3½ hours per workout, I imagine if a close tab was kept on our hero he would be rattling the weights intermittently throughout the day. Heavy workout days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday and again to quote Zabo, "Saturday is an off day-Hooray -No workout!"

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Sources:

Muscle Builder Training Partner Series Part 3 with Deny Gable and Robby Robinson

Below is the first workout routine Steve Reeves followed 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). He trained in his garage with a 200 pound weight set he purchased with money saved from a paper route job he had.

When Stallone first came to Franco to begin training, he was 170 pounds and very well defined. But he didn’t feel he was big enough and wanted to put on 10 pounds of muscle in six weeks. Franco knew how hard Stallone was capable of training, so he decided that was a feasible goal.

Arnold's Level 2 Exercise Program from his book Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

Monday / Wednesday/ Friday

Chest

Bench Press: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Incline Press: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Pullovers: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Back

Chin-Ups: (do as many repetitions at a time as you can until you reach a total of 50 reps)

"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'S 14-DAY TRAINING SPLIT

    MORNING                               AFTERNOON

 1  Chest, shoulders                      Arms

 2  Back                                            Legs

 3  Chest, shoulders

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Sources:

Muscle Builder Training Partner Series Part 2 with Deny gable and Robby Robinson

Lou Ferrigno quote: "From what I see, most people train one bodypart a week. I think you should do more that that, hit it twice a week. They’re also doing 20 sets, which is way too many. I believe you should do only 10 to 12 sets, max, per bodypart. After every 72 hours or so, you should hit that part again. You can rotate exercises.

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Sources:

Muscle Builder Training Partner Series Part 1 with Deny gable and Robby Robinson

Frank Zane Three-time Mr. Olympia

Arnold's Level 1 Exercise Program from his book Arnold Schwarzenegger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

Monday and Thursday

Chest

Bench Press: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Incline Press: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Pullovers: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Back

Chin-Ups: (do as many repetitions at a time as you can until you reach a total of 50 reps)

Bent-Over Rows: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Power Training

Deadlifts: 3 sets of 10, 6, 4 reps to failure

Biceps Routine:

No. 1 - Regular Barbell Curls:  5 Sets of 10 Reps

No. 2 - Seated Alternate Dumbell Curl: 5 Sets of 10 Reps

No. 3 - Close Grip Barbell Curl: 4 Sets of 8 Reps

No. 4 - Concentration Pulley Curls: 5 Sets of 10 Reps

Triceps Routine:

No. 1 - Seated Press From Behind The Neck: 4 Sets of 8 Reps

No. 2 - Parallel Bar Dips: 2 Sets of as many reps as possible

No. 3 - Standing Triceps Extension With Close Grip: 4 Sets of 8 Reps

Below is a qoute from Robby Robinson’s book The Black Prince, he describes the workout routines he and the other champions used at Gold’s Gym back in the golden era of 1970's: