How tough is Sylvester Stallone really? This video attempts to definitively answer that question once and for all.

Chapters:
02:44 - The Resilience of Sylvester Stallone
05:01 – Stallone’s workout ethic
07:03 – The Time Stallone sparred Roberto Duran and then Ernie Shavers
09:00 – Rocky 4: The best boxing fight in Cinema caused Dolph to send Stallone to the hospital
10:10 – The brutal football game in Lock Up
10:45 – The real punches Stallone took from Antonio Tarver
11:58 – Stallone’s leg and neck injury during The Expendables
13:01 – Coming Full Circle in discussing how tough Stallone is

Make sure to watch my previous video: "How Strong is Stallone?"
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First things first, let’s talk about Stallone’s resilience; which I believe is a pre-cursor to building toughness. In a perfect case of art imitating life, we need look no further than the original Rocky film. Stallone was inspired by the real-life fight between Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner, who ended up making it to the 15th round in a true show of heart, grit and determination.

For the script, Stallone was offered more money than he’d ever seen; but much like the character Rocky himself, Stallone got his million to one shot by sticking to his guns and refused to sell it unless he could also star as the lead.

The man puts so much of himself in his work. He’s played a Big part in writing and developing many of the characters he’s portrayed ever since that original underdog story in Rocky; I believe Many of these characters he’s played are largely a representation of Stallone;
It’s a perfect case of writing what you know.

I’ve done several videos on Stallone’s preparation for his Rocky and Rambo films. Rocky 3 for example, was about the most extreme. The grueling workouts, the crazy dieting. He’s even said in an Instagram post, "I would literally go to the corner between rounds, when I wasn’t directing and try to get some blood back into my head so I could carry-on with the complicated fight choreography …”

As far as his workouts go, there’s no doubt Stallone’s one of the hardest workers in the gym; former Mr. Olympia and Strong Man competitor Franco Columbo recollected that Stallone was always up for doing more; pushing himself further, which unfortunately during Rocky 2 ended up causing him to tear his pec while getting in a bench press contest with Franco, who just happened to be one of the strongest guys around at the time.

In Rambo: First Blood, the scene where Rambo jumps off the cliff and injures himself on some tree branches on the way down, Stallone performed the stunt himself during the bottom portion of the fall, and in the process, broke one of his ribs when he landed on the tree branch.

Prior to First Blood, in Rocky 2; Sylvester Stallone sparred former boxing champ Roberto Duran. For those who don’t know, Duran implied he was “Mike Tyson before Mike Tyson came along.”

In preparation for Rocky 3, Stallone decided once again to test out his level of toughness. This time with heavyweight boxer Ernie Shavers, whom Muhammed Ali said was the strongest puncher he’s ever faced.

From there we move to Rocky 4. Stallone said, I’ve done a lot of movie fights, but I believe this is the BEST Boxing Fight In the history of cinema…” which I tend to agree with, as I’m sure many of you do as well. Filming such an intense match against none other than powerhouse Dolph Lundgren was not exactly a walk in the park. In fact, Lundgren hit Stallone so hard in the chest while shooting the first round of their fight that Stallone’s heart hit his breastbone and began to swell.

Rambo 3 would follow not long after, which was still made before the days of special effects, so they had to do everything for real, rappelling out of helicopters, lying under a moving tank, running through explosions. But the most dangerous stunt of all was playing Buzkashi, which is the most dangerous game in the world. It involves grabbing the body of a 75 pound sheep, galloping several hundred yards on horseback and dropping it in the “circle of triumph”. During filming of that sequence, several horsemen went down rupturing spleens, anther shattered both hips and a 3rd rider landed so hard that he went temporarily blind for several hours.

Lock Up would soon follow and depict some of the most brutal football sequences ever filmed.
No body doubles or stunt doubles were used during the filming of the football game and Things got so intense, that Stallone claimed he almost broke his leg while filming.

In the early 90s Stallone would film Cliffhanger. Sylvester Stallone partly took on this project in an effort to help him conquer his fear of heights.

Of course we need to mention 2010s The Expendables. Early on, Stallone ended up injuring his leg; but that was just the warm-up. The tough guy he is, Stallone wanted ex-WWE wrestler Steve Austin to really add some intensity to their fight scene; the result, Stallone literally broke his neck.

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