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The Rocks Workout Routine Review

I Trained Like The Rock For a Week, and I've Never Been More Sore in My Life

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and I have a lot in common. We're both Tauruses (he was born May 2 and I was born May 3), we don't like people f*cking with us during our workouts, and we both were former collegiate athletes.

If you follow The Rock on Instagram or have ever read an article about him, you know he's one of the hardest-working people in the entertainment industry. He's so dedicated to staying fit that he travels with a custom gym containing over 50,000 pounds of iron whenever he's shooting. That is my dream, people: shoot action films and have a custom gym! He's one of those people who is actually busy (when isn't this man shooting a movie or campaign?!) and still puts in the work no matter what. Whenever I don't feel like waking up at 4:45 a.m. to train clients myself and go through the work, I think, "What would The Rock do?" Then I stop whining and get to work.

After some research, I came across a few of The Rock's bodybuilding workouts and decided I would give them a try. He uses a lot of cables and machines, which is the exact opposite of what I use in the gym. I felt like a rookie in the gym being that I rarely ever use machines, but it was nice to change my training modality. In sum, the workouts were challenging as f*ck.

Workout 1 — Back

When I work out, I tend to focus more on legs, core, and speed with explosive training and exercises like power cleans. I should be doing more upper-body workouts, and this one made up for all the ones I've thought about doing but never did.

  • One-Arm Lat Pulldown: three sets of 15 reps
  • Reverse-Grip Cable Pulldown: five sets of 12 reps
  • One-Arm Dumbbell Row: three sets of 12 reps (two-second pause at the top)
  • "Charles Glass-Style" Hammer High Row: four sets of 12 reps
  • Superset — Wide Grip Cable Rows With Rope Pullovers: three sets of 12 reps with 45 seconds of rest in between each set
  • Back Hyperextensions (with hands behind head): three sets of 15 reps
  • Dumbbell Shrugs: four sets of 20 reps

Workout 2 — Chest

Want to really challenge yourself? Do two days of upper-body work back to back. I laughed as soon as I saw how many reps and sets I was going to do, but it was great. I felt so strong afterward.

  • Standing Cable Fly: seven sets of 15 reps with 30 seconds of rest in between sets
  • Incline Fly: four sets of 12 reps
  • One-Arm Alternating Incline Press: three sets of 10 reps
  • Flat Dumbbell Press (palms facing each other): three sets of 12 reps
  • Superset — Flat Dumbbell Fly With Push-Ups to Failure: four sets of 12 reps

Workout 3 — Legs

By this point, my arms were shot. As I mentioned, I'm a personal trainer and an All-American sprinter and it takes a lot for me to feel sore. I was really looking forward to his leg workout because I love to train legs. We have a similar leg routine, and this one had me feeling myself (Beyoncé voice). Every muscle from my ass to my Achilles tendon was sore (to me a sign that you're working hard), but I really enjoyed this one.

  • Barbell Glute Bridge: four sets of 12 reps hold the last rep for 10 seconds
  • Single-Leg Leg Extension: three sets of 20 reps
  • Leg Press: four sets of 25 reps with 90 seconds of rest in between each set
  • Walking lunges: three sets of 24 reps
  • Vertical Leg Press: three sets of 20 reps with 60 seconds of rest between sets
  • Single-Leg Lying Leg Curls: four sets of 15 reps
  • Glute-Ham Raises: fours sets of eight to 12 reps

Workout 4 — Legs and Calves

The reps on this leg workout definitely challenged me — I was shaking so much — and I felt like such a badass once it was over.

  • Walking Lunges: three sets of 20 reps
  • Leg Press: three sets of 50 reps
  • Single-Leg Leg Press: three sets of 20 reps
  • Romanian Deadlifts: three sets of 12 reps

To say I was sore by the end of the week would be an understatement. I can't remember the last time I've felt that sore after a week's work of training! I knew the workouts would kick my ass, but they did in a good way. I found that I took my recovery more seriously, I was eating enough (no more "I was too busy to eat"), and I slept like a baby. I may not do these workouts every single day, but I do plan on implementing and adapting them to fit into my routine. Who knows? Maybe The Rock will call on me if he needs a badass female costar.

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Tamara Pridgett
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