 Although Lundgren never competed as a professional bodybuilder , he has been closely associated with bodybuilding and fitness since his role as Drago in the mid @-@ 1980s . Bodybuilding.com said " looking like a man in his 30s rather than his 50s , Lundgren is the poster boy of precise nutrition , supplementation and exercise application that he has practiced for over 35 years . " In an interview with them he claims to often train up to six days a week in the gym , usually one @-@ hour sessions completed in the morning , saying that " it 's just one hour a day , and then you can enjoy the other 23 hours " . Although he had begun lifting weights as a teenager , he cites Sylvester Stallone as the man who got him into serious bodybuilding for a period in the 1980s after arriving in the United States . Stallone had a lasting influence on his fitness regime and his diet , ensuring that he ate a much higher percentage of protein in his diet and eating 5 or 6 smaller meals a day . Lundgren has professed never to have been " superstrong " , saying that , " I 'm too tall and my arms are long . I think back then [ Rocky IV ] I was working with around 300 pounds on the bench and squat . " 
