Sometimes it seems nothing can stop Sylvester Stallone. Though he’s now 75-years-old, he still packs a punch. Rambo 5: Last Blood saw the iconic hero taking on Mexican drug cartels, he’s playing King Shark in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and is starring in intriguing superhero thriller Samaritan. Beyond all that Stallone is a popular presence on social media, regularly posting updates of his workouts.
But his latest has fitness experts raising their eyebrows. This video shows Stallone doing a bizarre workout in which he lifts two 45lb barbell weights from a kneeling position. First up, it doesn’t look like any workout move I’ve ever seen (the top comment is “the hell is he doing lol”) and secondly, he’s making very over-the-top grunting noises. Check it out:
Weightlifting experts think this might be a gag video, with the best breakdown coming from fitness expert Simon Miller. In a YouTube dissection of the footage he lays out his case that these are fake weights, saying that they don’t respond as you’d expect them to at that poundage and that Stallone’s muscles aren’t flexing in the right way. It’s also notable that Stallone put “heavy” in comments, perhaps implying sarcasm about this particular routine.
Stallone’s gym workouts are admirable, though he’s previously sounded a note of caution about the impact this has on his body. After the release of Rambo 5, he said:
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the gym because I’ve been out there doing Rambo, which caused a lot of damage. So now I’ve got to fix things.
Sylvester Stallone will next appear in The Suicide Squad on August 5th. But my most anticipated upcoming release is his director’s cut of Rocky IV. Now officially titled Rocky vs Drago, the movie will expand on the climactic fight and crank up the brutality. After some delays, this new version was recently confirmed for a theatrical release on November 11th, 2021.