What Is The Sylvester Stallone Expendables Workout?

By Russ Howe


The Sylvester Stallone Expendables workout has become one of the most popular celebrity fitness plans of the last few years and is now one of the most asked questions in gyms around the world, alongside things such as "Should women use weight?" and "Which whey protein should I use?"

Today's article will take you by the hand and walk you through the entire thing. Be warned, however, it's not for the faint of heart! [
Watch the video guide to the sylvester stallone workout here.
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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.

We start here with 12 chin ups. Then we go for 20 repetitions of biceps curls using an EZ-Bar, once that is done you immediately transition to a wide grip on the same bar and force out an addition 6-8 reps. From here, we move into hammer curls with an incline bench for 12 reps in total.

By now your biceps will be starting to burn but the work has only just begun, as we move into two lesser known exercises. First up is the high cable curl, which involves lying on a bench and curling a high pulley down towards your forehead for 12 repetitions. The biceps section is then wrapped up in style with a bout of zottman curls. You'll be performing 10-12 on each arm here, focusing on the flick of the wrist at the top of each move which will bring your forearms into play ahead of the next phase.

Your forearms are about to be tested in round two, as Stallone picks four of the best exercises in the book to hit his lower arms. First up is the oldest move in the book, wrist curls. Aim for 20-25 reps here and then progress to a reverse grip for the same number of lifts immediately afterwards. The third exercise in the forearm workout may stump quite a few people as it is rarely seen in gyms these days. Handshake curls involve taking a hammer curl grip on a dumbbell and holding the weight with your arm at a 90 degree angle, before focusing on flexing your forearm up and down for 30 reps in total. Wrapping up the forearm phase is a timed hang. See if you can hold out for 2 minutes on this.

The final phase focuses entirely on your triceps. The back of your arm has yet to be tested, so you'll be pushed quite hard here. Begin with 12 close-grip bench presses and then immediately switch to triceps dips until failure. Once here, transition into a lying triceps extension for 12 more reps before once again hitting failure on dips. By this stage you'll be feeling the burn considerably and the final exercise of the round, rope pushdowns, will finish you off entirely.

Most of the exercises in this plan will seem familiar to anybody who exercises regularly, with the possible exception of handshake curls. What may shock you, however, is the circuit style nature of the plan itself. This isn't performed in straight sets, it's performed as a circuit. Each phase is done 4 times over.

For those who have time, the plank position and a set of close-grip push-ups are usually used as a wrapping up phase after the main body of work has been completed.

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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