How To Get The Lean Appearance Of An Action Movie Star

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.

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.

One particular action star, Sylvester Stallone, is well known for his intense workout schedule and it would be ill advised to attempt a full scale workout in his style without first familiarizing yourself with the surroundings at your local gym for a few months.

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.

Dumbbell Hammer Curl - Go quite heavy on this exercise for 12 reps while your biceps are still at their full ability.

Incline Bench Dumbbell Curls - Set a bench to a 45 degree angle and perform dumbbell curls, ensuring you get the twist at the top of each rep to build the peak of your biceps muscle. Shoot for 12-15 reps here.

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 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.

Zottman Curl - Bring your forearms into the equation for the final 10 reps of the biceps section with this move. It's a regular biceps curl twinned with a great forearm builder by simply putting a twist at the top of the motion so that your wrist is facing away from you. You need 12 reps here.

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 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.

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.

After four rounds of each phase, you will be feeling pretty exhausted by the time you round out the triceps phase. There is only a cool down phase remaining. It is always advisable to do a cool down, particularly after a session as brutal as this one, because it will help you to prevent blood pooling and feeling faint. The cool down only consists of two exercises - holding the plank to failure three times and a set of close-grip push ups to failure.

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.

While everybody has aspirations to train like their favorite action movie star, the Sylvester Stallone arm workout is not for everyone. Before you attempt it, look through each of the exercises and decide upon using significantly lighter weights than you usually would for each move.




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