About the Author

Rick has never written a serious thing in his life, some of which can be found at ESPN the Magazine, McSweeney's, Radar Magazine, Deadspin, Flak Magazine and The Morning News. The rest can be found here. He lives in Los Angeles, is a White Sox fan, and maintains a personal blog.

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When Sylvester Stallone says something, you stop whatever you’re doing, get rid of all distractions, sit the fuck down, and listen!

Which is why we are obligated to point out this four-step program by AskMen.com to get amazing ab muscles by the man himself. While most of them are pretty basic in regards to ab workouts, the minor tweaks he offers to the exercises are worth the read. Here’s one he calls the “Broomstick Twists”:

The move: Set an incline bench with ankle supports at a 45-degree angle. Sit upright on the bench and secure your feet under the supports. Hold a broomstick behind your head and across your shoulders, supported by your outstretched arms. Twist left and right on the axis of the stick, feeling the burn at your core.

Sets: 3 sets of 10.

The Sly Report: This one gave me the best abs of my life. Later, it really helped get me chiseled for Rambo II and Rambo III. I’ve been using this beauty for years. The secret is the combination of incline and twist, which creates unrelenting contractions that shape the “core,” the set of muscles that includes the lower back, the glutes, the hip flexors, and the mini-mountain range that runs from the abs to the obliques. A powerful core is a kind of anchor that lets you throw farther, swing harder, reach higher, and perform better, especially as you get older. So go ahead: stick it!

Tip: It’s not a sit-up, so don’t bend forward. This is all about the twist.

Bam! Straightforward, just like you’d expect Stallone to be. So why do you need to read it? Folks, this is a man who knows about ab muscles. He’s 64 years old and still looks like this:

You have to take his advice, right?

If I end up with abs like that when I’m 64, well, odds are something has gone horribly wrong in my life and I’ve been forced to overcompensate by suddenly becoming a workout madman. Or I’ve been doing Sly’s workout for 30 years!