At 68 years old, Sylvester Stallone could be forgiven for hanging up his combat gear and putting his feet up. But for this summer’s The Expendables 3 – the third instalment of Sly’s own star-studded throwback franchise – he’ll be pushing the bar once again, promising some outrageous stunts and an even bigger line-up of action-movie icons including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes and Mel Gibson.
‘I’ve never seen Sly more motivated,’ says his long-time trainer and friend Gunnar Peterson. ‘He’s kind of the elder statesmen, so you’d think there would be some latitude granted if he wanted to back off, but he doesn’t want to. I don’t think he goes in going, “I want to be more ripped than those other guys”. He just wants to be the best version of himself he can possibly be.’
The secret to Stallone’s continued success has been constantly switching up his training, keeping in mind his advancing age and the toll that more than 30 years of onscreen ass-kicking has taken on his body. ‘I write a different workout for Sly every day,’ says Peterson. ‘He does a lot of multi-joint movements to keep himself in working order. He’s still doing a lot of dives, rolls and falls, and he’s had a few surgeries, so he needs to stay healthy.’
'Making this kind of movie is like a weird sporting event,' says Stallone. 'And like any sport, you're going to get injured - there's no getting away from it. While we were shooting this film I ended up taking a fall on my back and having to have some metal put in there. All you can do is show up really fit, and then it goes downhill from there.'
With all the hanging off buildings, helicopters and elevator shafts he’s been doing of late, Sly’s latest addition to his workout arsenal has been a greater focus on forearms. ‘One thing that we’ll do is attach a wrist roller to a cable so that there’s constant tension on it,’ says Peterson. ‘He’ll also do lateral raises with dumbbells using fat grips. It’s the same stuff I do with NFL and NBA guys so that they can grip the ball harder and don’t give away turnovers so easily. He gets after that stuff, he loves it.’
Hang tough
Want Stallone’s forearms? It might take years – but Gunnar Peterson’s grip-strength finisher is a good start. Add it to the end of your upper-body day.
Fat-grip lateral raise
Sets 3 Reps To failure
Use Fat Gripz to perform split-stance lateral raises. Holding for a second at the top of each rep will make you gurn like Rocky.
Towel pull-up
Sets 3 Reps To failure
Sling a towel (or a pair) over a pull-up bar, then do pull-ups with a neutral grip. Three reps is impressive – aim for five.
Cable wrist roll
Sets 1 Reps To failure
Attach a wrist roller to a cable machine so that there’s constant tension on your forearms. Raise the weight stack by ‘rolling’ the cable in. Lower it by rolling the opposite way.
The Expendables 3 is in cinemas from 14th August. Watch the trailer below.
