Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson [1] 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 [2], and we both were former collegiate athletes [3].
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 [4] 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 [5]?!) 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 [6] 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 [7] with explosive training and exercises like power cleans. I should be doing more upper-body workouts [8], 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 [9], 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 [11] 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.