How To Adapt An Action Movie Star Workout Into Your Fitness Routine

By Russ Howe


The overwhelming majority of men who own gym memberships will confess that the initial reason they became interested in building a ripped physique was seeing an action hero in a movie while growing up. It's not uncommon to hear movies like Conan and Rocky cited as huge gym influences. Many of them then try to follow the same workout routines of their chosen action hero. The Sylvester Stallone arm workout is a prime example of that mistake.

Many people go on to discover that the workout is then much more difficult than they initially expected it to be. The finely tuned machine you see on the silver screen at your local multiplex cinema wasn't built overnight.

The workout Sly Stallone used to build his sculpted arms is renowned for it's simplicity and it's brutality. While the exercises are very basic, the techniques deployed are certainly not basic!

The workout in question today is a four phase attack on biceps, triceps and forearms. It is to be performed as a circuit workout, with four rounds of a section required in order to progress to the next phase of the workout.

Hammer Curl - 12 reps with a fairly heavy weight to get you warmed up.

Incline Dumbbell Curl - 15 reps on an incline bench.

EZ Bar Curls - Start with 12 standard-grip curls before switching to a wide-grip and forcing out as many reps as you can before failure. This is where most people begin to struggle with the biceps phase, so use a lighter weight if necessary.

Lying Cable Curl - Line a bench underneath a cable station and perform a curl down towards your head on the bench. This needs 15 reps and you might find that you need to use a lighter weight than expected, due to the constant tension of the cables and the burning in your arms at this point.

Twisting Chain Curls - Attach a free weight to a chain and hold the chain so the weight is hanging down. Now perform a curl, while twisting your palms to face away from you at the top of each rep. This engages the muscles in your biceps and forearms. Remember, the forearms are a lot smaller and the instability of a hanging plate is very noticeable, thus a lighter weight is required.

Following 4 brutal rounds of the biceps phase, the forearm specific section awaits your attention. Combine Reverse Curls, Wrist Curls, Handshake Curls and Reverse Wrist Curls in a circuit for 25 reps each before finishing off each round with a 30 second timed hang.

Triceps are the biggest muscle involved in this particular gym session and it is important to remember that factor when deciding upon what weight to use. Go as heavy as possible for the reps prescribed to maximize your results. It begins with a set of 10 Close-Grip Bench Presses.

Bench Dips form a large part of this phase. Perform them to failure before moving onto a set of 12 Triceps Pushdowns with a rope attachment. Then go back into dips until you reach failure again and finish off with 20 Dumbbell Kickbacks.

For the cool down phase, you will need to perform three body weight planks for 30 seconds each and one single set of Close-Grip Push Ups. Don't be fooled into skipping the cool down phase, for it is vital to ensuring you get maximum results and recovery from your gym session.

Upon completion of this workout you will probably have a huge amount of respect the next time you see an action hero on the big screen with a sculpted, lean physique. The exercises are simple and proven, but the high intensity circuit approach puts a totally new spin on things and proves to be the downfall of most participants.

The Sylvester Stallone arm workout is one of the most brutal celebrity training sessions out there and that is largely down to the man himself. After all, you wouldn't expect a Rocky-style training session to be anything too easy.




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