A conversation with bodybuilder Franco Santoriello by Shawn Maves
FRANCO’S STORY
Franco Santoriello was considered one of the top bodybuilders in the world in the early 90’s.
He was on the cover of muscle magazines back then but now heads Jack’dup4Jesus, a ministry that uses body-building to bring people to Jesus. Franco grew up as a tough kid from South Indiana, and his first sports interest as a teenager was football.
“My max bench press was 495, I could squat 740 and curl 90 pound dumbells.” The result of total power and pure devotion – physically. Today Franco goes harder for a much greater strength, “150 percent total dependency on God!”
‘My dad and I had a dream of me becoming a football star so I trained intensely in the weight room early on’. When Franco was 15 years old his father left home leaving a void in his heart and his football dreams came to an end. Franco soon turned to drugs and escalated his use for several years. He entered his first bodybuilding contest and went on to win Mr. Teenage USA when he was 18 years old.
Watch Faith & Fitness Magazine’s interview with Franco Santoriello hosted by Shawn Maves.
PRO CAREER
Franco went on to win the 1989 NPC Men’s Nationals light-heavy weight class in Miami to earn his pro card. He also signed a big contract with Cybergenics, a leading supplement company at the time. Franco was featured on TV advertisements on ESPN and magazine covers for Muscle Mag, Muscular Development, Ironman as well as many European media outlets.
Franco admits to the use of anabolics ‘but only a fraction of what other pros were using”, he told me. In my exclusive video interview above for Faith & Fitness Magazine he mentions “I never used GH but a close friend of mine died because it”.
Franco owes much of his success to his relentless intensity in the gym and John Parillo’s training system and nutrition. In the Faith & Fitness Magazine interview, Franco recalls his strength: “My max bench press was 495, I could squat 740, curl 90 pound dumbells for 6 reps and military press behind the neck 315 x 6 reps”.
Franco continued to enter pro contests until his last one at the Night of Champions in 1995. Just before that he was introduced to heroin by a pro wrestler he was training with. Later that year Franco had an overdose that sent him to the emergency room clinically dead, but God spared his life and the doctors were able to revive him.
DRUGS and ADDICTION
What started as an experiment with marijuana and alcohol ealier in high school turned into a full out drug addiction by age of 30. After using cocktails of drugs from pain pills, cocaine, crack, heroin and crystal meth, Franco faced death a second time when he survived a widowmaker heart attack.
PRISON
In 2011 Franco was convicted for charges of a hit and run incident and drug warrants in Ohio. He started a 3 year sentence at a Correctional Facility in Caldwell, Ohio. After a few months in prison Franco remembers thinking “I can’t do this”. He started to get suicidal thoughts, “Being dead seemed like a far better option than being alive. I knew I had the better part of three years left to serve…”
In his prison cell he recalled all the crushed lives and broken relationships, and all the people he hurt, compounding his guilt, shame and pain. Franco cried out in surrender to Jesus Christ to be Lord and Saviour. God was right there in the storm. The God of the Bible is the God of the second chance, the God of the reversal and that’s exactly what started to happen in Franco’s life: a reversal.
NEW GOALS, NEW LIFE
Franco’s new life in Christ started in prison. His tortured soul was set free long before being physically released from prison. He no longer had suicidal thoughts and found purpose as he started to daily read his Bible right there in his prison cell. He began working out again and soon Franco was using his platform to minister to other inmates.
“Nine months later, I was running that prison,” he says. “I was doing workouts four hours long. I had everybody in the prison wanting to work out with me. I was running fitness programs and Bible studies. When Franco was released from prison, he didn’t go back to his addictions and old ways like many others do.
BEFORE AND AFTER
Get two copies of Franco’s book (one for you and one for a friend) so that you can read and share his full story.Franco Santoriello was one of the biggest name bodybuilders of his time. What started off as a harmless experiment with marijuana and alcohol as a teenager turned into a full-fledged drug addiction.His destructive lifestyle led him to homelessness, unemployment and ultimately a three year prison sentence. There he surrendered his life to Christ and has now found God’s real purpose for him through his ministry Jack’d Up 4 Jesus.
Franco’s story illustrates that God always has a plan for us and no matter how far we’ve gone it’s never too late to make a U-turn.
After surrendering his life to Christ in prison, Franco found his real purpose in life in serving others. “We need to pray like it totally depends on God and work like it totally depends on you. 150 percent total dependency on our God/Jesus and very hard work is a winning recipe for success”, Franco says.
A BETTER KIND OF GRIPP
There’s a lot in the past – a lot that God has put behind Franco. Drugs and alcohol addiction, prison, selfishness and even the all-consuming behaviors of bodybuilding. Sin has a way of holding you in it’s grip but God has a much stronger grip on your life.
Santoriello is now back in prison and the gym – BUT in a very different way. He’s praying for people, sharing his life story and by training with others who are passionate about bodybuilding he is helping them discover what it means to draw on the total power of God and have pure devotion to the compassionate and hope filled work of Christ.
In addition to his autobiography, Before and After, his second book is in production. This book is a powerful new tool to help people grow in faith in Christ Jesus. It is titled GRIPP and is a 5-point discipleship program for use in prisons, gyms and the military. You’ll find it available on his website for individual and group study. 
Franco has been featured in many interviews and articles. Watch the dramatic telling of his story as it appeared on CBN’s The 700 Club.
GREATEST AMONG YOU IS YOUR SERVANT
Franco still trains hard at the gym and gives fitness advice, but he says he wouldn’t trade his life now for his former fame of being a top Bodybuilder. “There’s no way in the world I would give up what I have today. I’m newly married 5 years ago… I have a beautiful baby, we have a business, we have a ministry, we’re doing Kingdom work. We have lives of purpose. Our life is serving the King [Jesus], reaching out to broken people and seeing lives restored.”
The disciples once asked Jesus who would be the greatest, and Jesus answered ‘the greatest among you is your servant. Franco also shows us pure religion in action. Some day Jesus will ask us when we get to heaven: When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was sick and in prison, did you visit me? Franco and others are following those commands from God.
Our life is serving the King. There’s no way in the world I would give up what I have today.
Franco sums the Christian life this way: ‘Hard work, consistency and discipline with the Word of God [Bible], worship and prayer with acts of love and service make for an excellent child of God/ Christian”.
Be sure to watch our exclusive interview with Franco hosted by Shawn Maves.
Franco Santoriello is featured on the cover of the October/November 2020 issue of Faith & Fitness Magazine. To connect with him directly go to his website: Jack’d Up 4 Jesus.
One Response
Great job Franco!
I just read your bio. Yes, God in Numero Uno! May you and your family continue to be blessed! Sobriety & Deep Faith is a must. I will have 26 years of sobriety from alcohol this month. Everyday is a blessing. 🌠💪