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.
Looking at the super lean physique you see on screen in the final product, it would be quite foolish to walk into a workout like this with ambitions of taking it easy. Use that vision of the end result as a barometer to tell you that this is going to be very tough.
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 workout is broken up into four stages. They are aimed at biceps, forearms, triceps and a cool down. It is performed as a circuit, with one set of each exercise in the phase without rest being classed as one round of the circuit for that particular muscle. You need four rounds before you can move on to the next round.
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 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.
After four rounds of the biceps circuit, we move on to the second phase which focuses on our forearms in a lot more depth than most guys currently do in the gym. Try to perform 20 repetitions of Reverse Curls, Wrist Curls, Reverse Wrist Curls and Handshake Curls before finishing off by simply hanging from a pull up station for as long as possible to work on your grip strength.
The workout's final stage features it's largest muscle group, the triceps. Go heavy to obtain maximum results but also bear in mind how fatigued you will feel at this point. The first exercise in this phase is Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press for 10 repetitions.
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.
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 oldest and most effective ways to blast your arms with a completely new approach. It is a well known workout and one which has been attempted many times in gyms around the world. Now it's your turn.
Looking at the super lean physique you see on screen in the final product, it would be quite foolish to walk into a workout like this with ambitions of taking it easy. Use that vision of the end result as a barometer to tell you that this is going to be very tough.
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 workout is broken up into four stages. They are aimed at biceps, forearms, triceps and a cool down. It is performed as a circuit, with one set of each exercise in the phase without rest being classed as one round of the circuit for that particular muscle. You need four rounds before you can move on to the next round.
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 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.
After four rounds of the biceps circuit, we move on to the second phase which focuses on our forearms in a lot more depth than most guys currently do in the gym. Try to perform 20 repetitions of Reverse Curls, Wrist Curls, Reverse Wrist Curls and Handshake Curls before finishing off by simply hanging from a pull up station for as long as possible to work on your grip strength.
The workout's final stage features it's largest muscle group, the triceps. Go heavy to obtain maximum results but also bear in mind how fatigued you will feel at this point. The first exercise in this phase is Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press for 10 repetitions.
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.
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 oldest and most effective ways to blast your arms with a completely new approach. It is a well known workout and one which has been attempted many times in gyms around the world. Now it's your turn.
About the Author:
Get your guide: Popular online personal trainer Russ Howe PTI helps many people how to build their best body in the gym each day. See the complete guide to the full sylvester stallone arm workout via his fitness website today.
