The Sylvester Stallone Expendables Workout Explained

By Russ Howe


While the most popular questions in most gyms tend to be things like "Which whey protein should I use to build muscle?", there is another question which is quickly growing in popularity. That question is, "What is the Sylvester Stallone Expendables workout?". Thanks to the success of the two movies in this franchise, it seems more and more people want to train like their favorite action stars.

Today we will explain the workout for you step by step, detailing each of the moves Sly used to get in top shape for each of the 2 Expendables movies so far. []

Today's workout is going to work your arms. It will cover the three main areas and will be split into sections designed specifically to hit the front of your arm, the back of your arm and your lower arm. Your biceps are the first phase.

The workout starts with one of the oldest moves in the book. You'll be performing twelve chin-ups before moving onto EZ-bar bicep curls to failure. Once failure has been reached, switch your grip to a wider stance and then push out a further six lifts. Incline hammer curls is next up on the list, with a further 12 repetitions.

The biceps phase is finished off with 10 zottman curls, focusing on rotating the wrist during the top portion of every lift, followed by high cable curls for 12 reps.

Phase 2 lets your biceps rest up as we move down the arm to your forearm. We'll be using time-tested, battle-proven techniques here to sculpt an area of the body which most people neglect to train at all. Try forcing out 20 wrist curls, immediately followed by the same number of reps with a reverse grip. This is then backed up with 30 handshake curls and nicely finished by a timed hang to failure.

Phase three involves five textbook triceps exercises which combine to form a great circuit. Number one is an explosive close-grip bench press, focusing on letting the bar temporarily leave your hands at the top of every single rep. After lifting the bar 12-15 times, move onto triceps dips to failure. Third in this phase is a lying triceps extension which will really allow you to dig deep and develop the muscle considerably. After 12 reps, progress back to dips and then finish off this phase with 12 rope push-downs.

While you may already be familiar with the majority of the exercises in today's program, the style of the workout will take many by surprise. Sly doesn't perform regular sets, he moves through the entire section as a circuit, going from one exercise to the next without rest. He'll perform four rounds of phase one before moving onto phase two, and so on.

For those who wish to perform the entire workout, Sly usually finishes off with close-grip push-ups to failure and then three sets of the plank.

If you want to try the Sylvester Stallone Expendables workout be sure to prepare yourself for a tough session. The minimal rest stipulation tends to catch many gym users off guard so be sure to warm up fully before trying something as intense as this workout.




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