Tuesday, October 22, 2013

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

By Russ Howe


Most guys who have exercised in a gym at some point in their lives have done so because they want to obtain the lean look of their favorite action movie star. However, finding the Sylvester Stallone arm workout is certainly easier than actually doing it for real, as you are about to find out.

However, you would be wise to avoid the common mistake of presuming that movie stars have a secret formula or an easy way to sculpt the end product which you see on the silver screen. They do not.

Sylvester Stallone in particular is noted for his almost fanatical devotion to his fitness routine, with many co-stars telling stories of how they had never known a man to train as hard as him for a film.

This arm circuit is split into 4 stages, running through each muscle in the arm by itself to allow for greater focus on the area in question. We will cover a section for biceps, forearms, triceps and a cool down phase. Each phase is performed as a circuit four times.

Hammer Curl with dumbbells - Feel free to go quite heavy, given that this is the first exercise and your muscles will still be very fresh. Aim for around 12 reps.

Dumbbell Curl on an incline bench - 15 reps with a bench set to a 45 degree angle.

Biceps Curl using an EZ bar - The fundamental biceps exercise, perform 12 reps using a regular grip before switching to a much harder wide grip and forcing out a few more.

Lying Cable Curls - Wheel a bench underneath a dual cable station and attach a straight bar to a high pulley. Perform curls while lying on the bench, curling towards your head. The gravity and cable working against you will ensure that this is a very difficult exercise indeed. Aim for 15 reps on a relatively light weight.

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.

The triceps section involves a few big moves to really get the blood pumping. It's the biggest muscle in this workout, so push yourself hard if you want to see an even better return on your results. The first move in this phase is Close-Grip Bench Press, which you owe 10 reps. Try to keep the elbows from flaring out as you perform this, to minimize chest and shoulder involvement.

After getting that out of the way, you can move on to Bench Dips to failure. We will immediately follow this up with a set of 12 Triceps Pushdowns and more Dips to failure, before rounding out the phase with 20 Triceps 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.

If you make it through this workout you will have a new found respect for the final physique you see on the movie screen the next time you watch a Hollywood action movie. It's simple yet brutal approach is deliberately misleading, leading many people to jump into it and regret it later on. Use lighter weights than you usually would because it is performed as a high intensity circuit, rather than a standard gym session.

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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