Sylvester Stallone Workout Routine & Diet Plan

Sylvester Stallone's body has had significant fluctuations throughout his career. While he has maintained a lean, muscular look in most of his movies, his weight has varied a lot. For his role in Victory, Stallone had a hardcore diet that just included 200 calories (yes, calories!) of protein per day. He had a baked potato as well to avoid fainting. This allowed him to get down to 159lbs!

For Rocky III, Stallone cut his weight even further. He dieted down to 155lbs by eating 10 egg whites, a piece of toast, and an occasional piece of fruit each day. After he reached this incredibly lean weight, he built up pure muscle mass until he reached 175lbs. His workouts to get down to 155 were even more extreme. He started the day with a 2 mile run, did 18 rounds of sparring, and 2 hours of weight lifting and jumping rope. He would run again later in the afternoon.

Stallone himself acknowledges that these were extreme measures. In general, a balanced diet and regular workout routine can help you achieve your goals.

Sylvester Stallone's workout routine for the Rocky and Rambo movies was intense. He was extremely dedicated and determined to sculpt a muscular physique. Stallone was able to gain10lbs of muscle in 6 weeks through very hard work. He grew from 170lbs to 180lbs. His chest grew from 44 inches to 50 inches, biceps from 16.5 inches to 18 inches, while his waist only went from 29 inches to 29.5 inches. His body fat hangs around 6% when he's not filming, 4.5% while filming. In addition to the following exercises, Stallone has been known to wear a 40-50lb backpack while climbing steps.

Stallone's workout included training twice per day for six days per week.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Morning: Chest (bench press), back (pulldowns), abs (crunches)
Afternoon: Shoulders (military press, lateral raise), arms (curls), abs (crunches, leg raises)

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday
Morning: Calves (calf raises), thighs (squats)
Afternoon: Rear deltoids (bent over row, shoulder press), traps (upright rows), abs (crunches)

This is just a sample of the exercises he performed. Generally he did 3-4 exercises per body part. He would perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. He varied his training as well to avoid plateaus.

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Like his training routine, Stallone's ab workouts were extreme. He trains his abs three times every two days. He performed 50 reps of the following exercises in a circuit training workout (one right after the other).

Situps
Leg raises
Side leg raises
Side bends

This circuit was repeated 5 times.

Sly Stallone's diet varies based on the role he is playing. As noted above, he'll eat highly restrictive diets to lose extreme amounts of weight. If he's adding muscle for a role, he'll ramp up his protein intake.

It's rumored that Stallone lost 7lbs in 2 weeks with a vegetarian diet as well. His calories were limited to 1,000 per day and his meals included fruit salad, wholewheat pasta, cheese, macaroni, tofu, potatoes, and various other veggies.