Sylvester Stallone Diet Plan & Workout Plan - PAT Fitness

Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ Diet Plan

Diet and nutrition play a role in Rocky’s training as early as the first film when Stallone chugs raw eggs from a tall drinking glass. Behind the scenes, the actor’s diet plan was no less extreme. That theme continued well into his career and only grew more intense with each subsequent film. By Rocky III, the actor was practising some dangerous eating habits in his pursuit of lean body mass and bulging muscles.

Back in 2017, Stallone posted a rare photo from the set of Rocky III, in which he’s performing a handstand (or “fist” stand) inside the ring. While he appears to be in top shape, he revealed that his diet plan was leaving him in a state of mental and physical exhaustion. Specifically, he wrote the following:

“I was on a very high protein diet which did not provide much physical or mental energy. During the period I only ate very small portions of oatmeal cookies made with brown rice and up to 25 cups of coffee a day with honey and a couple of scoops of tuna fish. Sounds incredible right? At the time my body fat got down to 2.9 which is a really dangerous level. I may have looked pretty good on the outside but inside it was (a) very dangerous thing to do.”

Stallone went on to write that the film was about change or adaptation and so too are his personal fitness habits. “I will always believe the adaptation is the key to survival and that’s what this story was all about,” he wrote. Nevertheless, malnutrition was taking its toll at the time, and the actor was feeling the drain. The handstand he’s performing in the photo was actually his attempt to “try to get some blood back into my head so I could carry-on with the complicated fight choreography.”

With his 25-cups-of-coffee days behind him, Stallone currently advocates for a more practical diet plan. In his 2005 nutrition book “Sly Moves,” he highlights the importance of drinking water, in particular. “Eight glasses. Ten glasses. A gallon. Lake Michigan,” he writes. Not just a way to stay hydrated, water helps curb appetite, as does chewing sugar-free gum or eating a banana (according to the actor). He also stresses the importance of cheat days, allowing for one per week.

Here’s an example of a Stallone meal plan around the time of “Rambo 4,” “Rocky Balboa,” and the first “Expendables” movie:

• Pre-breakfast: A glass of liquid aminos
• Breakfast: 3 egg whites, half yoke, Irish oatmeal, toasted pumpernickel bread, fresh papaya, few figs
• Lunch: Roasted summer squash, broiled skinless chicken, salad, figs or berries
• Dinner: Salad, broiled fish, high-fibre toasted bread; veal on occasion

Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ Workout Routine

Keeping both himself and his fans on their toes, Sylvester Stallone approached each Rocky movie with different physical goals in mind. For the first two instalments, his training regimen was largely centred around building mass. By Rocky III, however, the actor was mostly targeting muscle definition. In the process, he dropped his body fat percentage down to a jaw-dropping (and dangerous) low of 2.9 per cent.

“I wanted to look like Tarzan—sleek, tight, almost catlike,” said Stallone of Rocky III, in which he squares off against Mr. T’s Clubber Lang. “I wanted to forget the bulk and go for well-developed muscles.”

For Rocky IV and the second Rambo, Sylvester Stallone basically went full body-builder. Enlisting the help of former Mr. Olympia Franco Columbu, the actor wanted nothing short of bulging muscle and rock-hard firmness. By the time he stepped into the ring against Ivan Drago (played by a similarly shredded Dolph Lundgren), the effort had definitely paid off.

In an interview with Pop Workouts, Columbu said the following: “I had to charge Sly a good amount for the training because he wanted to train full out, just as if he were preparing for the Mr. Olympia contest. That meant two workouts a day, six days a week. I had to drop almost everything else in order to concentrate on getting him in the best shape of his life.”

Working with a different trainer, Sylvester Stallone continued to push himself well into the 21st century. Even in the early 2000s, he was working out twice a day, six days per week. He was kind enough to share an example of his training schedule for when he was making 2006’s Rocky Balboa through to 2010’s The Expendables. While not as dangerous as his previous regimen, it’s still fairly extreme. Here’s how you can train like Rocky and get a Sylvester Stallone body of your own:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Mornings: Chest, Back, and Abs

• Incline Bench Press (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Dumbbell Flys (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Close-grip Bench Press (5 sets, 6-8 reps)
• Wide-grip Chin Ups (6 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Bent-over One-arm Lateral Raises (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Close-grip Seated Rows (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Raised Leg Crunches (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Seated Extension (3 sets, 8-10 reps)

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Afternoon: Shoulders, Arms, and Abs

• Military Press (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Side Lateral Raises (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Bent-over Dumbbell-Flys (5 sets, 6-8 reps)
• Barbell Curls (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Seated Incline-dumbbell-curls (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Concentration Curls (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Lying Dumbbell-raises (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Bent-over One-arm Lateral Raises (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Cable Pull Downs (3 sets, 10 reps)
• Alternate Leg Raise (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Decline Bench Sit-ups (3 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Oblique Crunches (3 sets, 6-8 reps)

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning: Calves and Thighs

• Seated Calf-raises (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Standing Calf-raises (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Standing Barbell Alternate Calf-raises (5 sets, 8-12 reps)
• Incline Leg-press (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Squats (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Seated Leg-extensions (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Leg Curls (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Leg Extensions (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Stiff Leg Deadlift (4 sets, 10-12 reps)

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Afternoon: Rear Deltoids, Traps, and Abs

• Bent-over Dumbbell Rear-Delt Raise (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Cable Crossovers (4 sets, 10-12 reps)
• Reverse Pec-deck Flyes (5 sets, 8-12 reps)
• Barbell Shrugs-front (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Barbell Upright-rows (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Flat-bench Cable-rows to Neck (4 sets, 8-10 reps)
• Ab Crunch (4 sets, 8 reps)
• Oblique Crunches (4 sets, 10 reps)
• Cable Crunch (4 sets, 10-12 reps)