Today we’re in the gym with The Rock, and he LOVES training legs.
Like, seriously.
Show him a new twist on an old exercise that’d make most people puke and he gets a little twinkle in his eye like a kid with a new toy. Rarely have I seen someone so giddy with excitement at the prospect of extreme pain. Then again, you don’t achieve the incredible physical transformation he has by taking it easy in the weights room!
So first thing’s first:
If you’re going to train like The Rock, you need to think like The Rock.
“I’ve always had an affinity for leg day. I save it for Saturday, as a kind of sick treat for myself to look forward to all week long. The burn… the pain… the struggle… there’s nothing quite like it!”
Today we are going to smash through one of his favorite leg workouts. This session is part of a training program which he’s used time and time again, and created the body we saw on screen in Pain & Gain, Hobbs & Shaw, San Andreas, Central Intelligence, and Jumanji: The Next Level.
Table of Contents
- The Structure Behind The Rock’s Leg Workout
- Here Is The Rock’s Leg Workout
- Training Tips For This Workout
The Structure Behind The Rock’s Leg Workout
The Rock has changed a LOT since he transitioned from WWE into movies.
The WWE-style training which focused entirely on lifting heavy weights has been replaced with a bodybuiding-style approach which uses high rep sets and burnout techniques to maximize muscle growth, while keeping The Rock’s battered joints safer from injury.
And it’s difficult to argue with the results; the man looks like he is carved from stone! He’s bigger and leaner than he ever was during his wrestling career – a fact which is made even more impressive when we consider that The Rock is 51 years old!
But here’s what I DON’T want you to do.
I don’t want you to go into this workout thinking:
“Oh, lighter weights and higher reps, this’ll be easy!”
Trust me, it won’t be.
When you do high rep training correctly it is absolutely menacing. You’ll build just as much muscle as you would with heavier weights and lower reps, but it requires a whole different kind of mental fortitude to succeed.
The Rock is prepared to endure that horrible-ness, because he knows this training style is the best way for him to pack on lean muscle tissue while keeping his central nervous system in top shape (he regularly works 17 hour days so this is key) and staying injury-free (let’s not forget his body was ravaged during his WWE days; three lower back disc ruptures, a ruptured achilles tendon, torn abdomen, torn abductor, torn quadriceps, hernia, and four knee surgeries).
Here Is The Rock’s Leg Workout
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Box Squat | 5 | 20 | 90 sec |
| Leg Press * The final set is a dropset. | 5 | 25 20 18 16 25/25 | 60 sec |
| Smith Machine Lunges * Each leg. | 4 | 16 | 60 sec |
| Lying Leg Curl * The final set is a dropset. | 4 | 12 10 8 6/12 | 60 sec |
| Smith Machine Calf Raise * The final set is a dropset. | 6 | 16 16 16 16 16 16/20 | 45 sec |
Here’s a handy infographic you can save:
Training Tips For This Workout
Pay close attention to the first exercise on today’s card.
Dwayne performs barbell box squats instead of regular squats because it’s easier on his knees and lower back. This is a great exercise in terms of safety, but it also allows the trainee to load the bar with a heavier weight, producing greater force onto the quadriceps.
You’ll also notice that the majority of exercises finish with a dropset/burnout set.
This is a good way to really finish off a muscle; after completing your final set of X reps, you’ll reduce the weight by about 30% and immediately force out another X reps. The only rest you get is the time it takes you to change the weight on the bar or machine so, as you can imagine, this is the type of technique which makes your legs sore for a few days!
If you enjoyed this article on how The Rock trains his legs, you might also enjoy reading my training breakdowns for John Cena and The Undertaker.
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