How the actor trained to prepare for the filming of the new part of the legendary franchise.
The international trailer for Rambo: Last Blood was released last week. The film will appear in Russian cinemas on September 19. 37 years have passed since the release of the first part of the cult franchise, the leading actor Sylvester Stallone is already 73, and he is still in excellent physical shape. The One Man War is still Stallone's War.
How did Stallone prepare for filming?
With each new part of "Rambo" Sylvester Stallone built up his muscles, becoming more and more athletic. In many ways, he was helped with this by the two-time holder of the title "Mr. Olympia", one of the most famous bodybuilders in the world, Franco Colombo, who for several years was his personal trainer. Through training with Colombo, Stallone kept fit and prepared for the filming of Rocky and Rambo.
In his best years, Stallone had indicators of about 170-180 kg in the bench press and 200-220 kg while sitting.
Sylvester Stallone training program from Franco Colombo
Monday / Wednesday / Friday Morning: chest, back, abs. Evening: shoulders, arms, abs. Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday Morning: drumstick, thigh. Evening: rear deltas, trapeze, abs.
For the role of John Rambo, Stallone needed to gain muscle mass. The training was different from the Rocky training, where Stallone played a boxer, and therefore did a lot of cardio exercises, ran and boxed. This time, it was impossible to spend calories on such workouts. Preference was given to strength training in the gym. With the help of bodybuilders with whom the actor managed to get acquainted, he gained four kilograms of lean muscle mass without excess fat.
Sylvester rocked his abs every two days, three times a day, doing over 500 reps. He performed torso, leg raises, side leg raises, and side crunches. He performed each of these exercises 50 times one after the other, repeating the cycle five times.
An important part of Stallone's preparation is naps. An hour of sleep helps to recuperate after a grueling morning workout.
According to Franco, "if Sylvester Stallone decided to become a bodybuilder, not an actor, with his great proportions, amazing athletic ability and assertiveness, he would definitely become one of the best bodybuilders."
Now the age does not allow the actor to carry out such intense training, so he reduced the load. Still, Sly's program is unlikely to be up to most people his age.
Stallone's daily routine and workout regimen
Morning:
7:30 - getting up, taking aminoksilot. 7:45 am - breakfast with easily digestible food (2 eggs, 4 figs, toasted bread made from coarse rye flour). 8:00 - 9:00 - rest. 9:00 - workout: warm-up - 10 minutes, working out the muscles of the arms - 45 minutes, delta - 25 minutes. Abdominal muscle workout - 25-30 minutes. At the end - 500 turns with a gymnastic stick.
12:30 pm - lunch (salad, fried chicken, fried zucchini, fruit).
Afternoon
Solving business issues. Dinner: fried fish, salad, spinach, two slices of toasted dark bread. From time to time, instead of chicken and fish, the actor eats veal. But any meat from Stallone's diet, he says, is cooked simply and low in fat. At one time, his food was so impeccable that if he ate a hot dog, he would have painful cramps and cramps.
Usually Stallone trains three days in a row, and rests the fourth day. If a tough business week is ahead, the number of workouts is reduced to half, and the amount of food is also halved.
In August last year, Stallone's official Instagram posted a video of his training for filming in the last installment of Rambo.
Sylvester Stallone firmly believes in what the ancient Greek philosopher Plato preached: "To be a fully developed person, you need to build your mind and body in equal measure."
Stallone is the clearest example of the fact that it is never too late to start training. The actor began to work regularly to improve his physical condition when he was already 30.