Stallone bares brutal diet regime for ‘Rocky III’

Just for fun… A flashback from Rocky three. Between rounds I would get lightheaded and quite exhausted. 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 very dangerous thing to do. But I wanted the movie to be about change. How people have to adapt to different challenges because if they don’t they will be conquered. I will always believe the adaptation is the key to survival and that’s what this story was all about … and while, getting smashed by Superstrong,CLUBBER LANG continuously four months of rehearsal plus the fight, tended to wear a person out so 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 … It’s funny, I never knew this picture existed!

A post shared by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone) on Mar 11, 2017 at 11:47am PST

Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky franchise remains as one of the most iconic boxing films of all time.

But to achieve such pop culture notoriety, the 70-year-old action star had to go to great lengths to get himself in ridiculous shape for the role.

Thirty-five years since “Rocky III” first came out, Stallone reminisced about his iconic character “The Italian Stallion” Rocky Balboa and shared the brutal diet regimen he had to go through for the role.

“Between rounds I would get lightheaded and quite exhausted. I was on a very high protein diet which did not provide much physical or mental energy,” Sly wrote on his personal Instagram account earlier this week, along with a photo of his ripped physique from the film.

“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,” the veteran actor and film maker revealed.

The photo also featured Stallone doing a headstand while in full boxing gear, which he revealed was a way to get blood back to his head, and carry on with the complicated fight choreography.

But despite the hardships he had to endure, Stallone was quite happy with the results  and even shared his personal motivations for the film.

“I may have looked pretty good on the outside but inside it was very dangerous thing to do. But I wanted the movie to be about change. How people have to adapt to different challenges because if they don’t they will be conquered,” he wrote.

In a span of 39 years, the Rocky franchise produced seven films including the 2015 flick “Creed,” which featured an aging Balboa in a mentorship role.  Khristian Ibarrola /ra

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Myself and Mr. T a.k.a. Clubber Lang , Up close and personal … I have a very interesting and funny story to tell later about what we had to go through for training.… He was game and was actually willing to take full on body shots in the closing minutes of the fight.… He was a great character and Mr T is a great sport. A true original. How we met is very interesting. More on that later… Keep Punching till your arms burn from pain, than keep punching some more!

A post shared by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone) on Mar 15, 2017 at 10:42am PDT