When it comes to speaking his mind, Dwayne Johnson calls it like it is. Whether this makes him a hero or anti-hero, he doesn’t care and neither does his newest character: Black Adam. As art imitates life, we’ve measured the advice he puts on social media against the words he’s given TRAIN over the years to piece together the rules he lives by. Use them to fire up your motivation and take your training to world-beating levels.
Muscular mind
Social media rock: “Not your typical scene on our comedy ballers, as I cracked a beer toasting my character’s brother, William who committed suicide. Got me thinkin’ through bout how many of us have been affected by suicide of our friends, family. Struggle and pain is real. We’ve all been there on some level or another. My mom tried to check out when I was 15. She got outta the car on Interstate 65 in Nashville and walked into oncoming traffic. Big rigs and cars swerving outta the way not to hit her. I grabbed her and pulled her back on the gravel shoulder of the road. What’s crazy about that suicide attempt is to this day, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Probably best she doesn’t. Shit of a scene to shoot – didn’t like it – but it did remind that we always gotta do our best to really pay attention when people are in pain. Help ‘em thru it, get ‘em talkin’ about the struggle and remind ‘em that they’re not alone. We got lucky that day when I was 15 and that ain’t always the case.”
The real rock: “Working out is my therapy: it’s cheaper than a shrink. I can’t imagine my life without training, honestly. And for getting results, as with anything in life, but especially with working out, there’s no substitute for hard work. After I’ve had breakfast, I get busy with a nice session of clangin’ and bangin’ – epic pain, epic results. I’m big on ‘together we conquer’ and ‘train to progress’, so I like to share that on social media. I treat training like a metaphor for life; the dedication, the determination, the desire, the work ethic, the successes and the failures, I take them all into life.”
Food matters
Social media rock: “Yeah so this cheat meal went down at 11:45 pm last night. Eight slices of sour dough French toast topped with loads of apple pie. Sat on the couch like the big, brown, bald, tattooed glutinous version of Jabba The Hutt and watched The Force Awakens again. It was my Christmas gift to myself and I want everyone out there to remember one golden rule during the holidays “Don’t Cheat Yourself, Treat Yourself.”
The real rock: “Diet wise, I generally eat seven meals a day: I’m very prepared and organized, and everything is planned out in advance. It’s all measured depending on what I’m training to achieve. Usually I start off my day with some dead cow and oatmeal for breakfast. The other staples in my diet include chicken, steak fillets, egg whites, oatmeal, broccoli, halibut, rice, asparagus, baked potato, leafy salads, peppers, mushrooms and onions, and then also casein protein.”
Big game methods
Social media rock: “We’re all in the same game, just different levels. Dealing with the same hell, just different devils. Great training sesh! Big thanks to the hard core Mutant Nation Gym, Shanghai.”
The real rock: “I work out six days a week, and usually in the morning; but, depending on my schedule, I can also do it in the evening, but I definitely prefer the morning. With the iron, I separate body parts: legs, back, shoulders, chest, biceps and triceps. I mix up dumbbells, cables, barbells and machines. My workout is constantly changing and adapting, but for the most part it looks like this: for legs, I do squats, hack squats, one-legged hack squat lunges, leg extensions, Romanian deadlifts, seated leg curls, standing single-leg calf raises, side shoulder raises and seated calf raises. For my back, I do barbell rows, one-arm dumbbell rows, barbell shrugs, pull-ups to failure, closed grip pulldowns, cable rows with a double drop-set, dumbbell shrugs, rope pull-overs and high-rep weighted hypers. For my shoulders, I do shoulder press, hammer shoulder press, one-arm cable side lateral raises, bent-over side dumbbell lateral raises and the reverse fly machine. For my biceps and triceps, I do preacher curls, dumbbell curls, hammers, standing barbell curls, rope push-downs, overhead tricep extensions with the rope and dips to failure. I prefer high volume for arms so the burn is intense. And finally, for my chest, I do incline barbell press, flat-bench dumbbells, incline hammer strength press, flat-bench dumbbell fly and then a cable crossover super-set with dips to failure. For most moves I do four sets of 12 reps, with a one-minute to 90-second rest. I don’t play around in the gym. I always aim to be the hardest worker, and I make sure I clang and I bang to the best of my ability.”
Supplemental help
Social media rock: “Besides drinking warm cobra blood to get “Rock – HUGE.” I like Optimum Nutrition. High quality & U know what you get. RockTalk.”
The real rock: .”It’s all about hard work, discipline, and balance. I have carbs with every meal, so there’s always a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Then part of my daily regime is my glucosamine and then also a multitude of multivitamins. Then I have glutamine, BCAAs, chondroitin, and one protein shake a day, which I drink after training. When I hit 40, that’s when I really began to start training smarter. I’ve always tried to educate myself on my nutrition, about supplements, what I’m eating, when I’m eating, exercises, calories etc. Eventually I hired an awesome conditioning coach who helped me prepare for a variety of these roles and in between roles, hitting different things. And when we get in our 40s, all of a sudden we start feeling aches and pains. I take glucosamine and chondroitin for my poor joints.”
Motivational mentor
Social media rock: “There’s no magic formula or secret to success. I’m up at 4am daily and puttin’ in the hard work that I already know my competition is not willin’ to do. If they’re willin’ to get up at 4, then you bet your ass I’m getting up at 3. And if they’re willin’ to get up at 3am, then well.. I’ll be gettin’ up at 2:59 cause that’s just bullshit. I don’t pretend to do it. I do it. Daily. It’s my anchor and will always be my edge over my competition. You don’t have to wake up at the ass crack of 4am dawn to find your anchor. Whatever it is that gives you “your edge” over everyone around you – then that’s what you do. You find it, you apply it and you protect it. Whether it’s your co-workers, teammates, classmates or business associates..the hashtaganchorphilosophy applied to every facet of our lives.”
The real rock: “I work out for about an hour-and-a-half, or maybe an hour and 45 minutes. When I hit the gym, I’m coming! I train hard, I come to kick-ass – clanging and banging. With something like Hercules, I was in costume and make-up for a few hours before shooting, so I’d have to get in the workout early. I hit the gym five or six days per week, usually focusing on one body part per day. Honestly, working out anchors my day. For me, training is my meditation, my yoga, hiking, biking, therapy all rolled into one. I love it. Generally, I’m always shooting or preparing to shoot for something, so that’s why I like keeping my conditioning in a certain zone. But even if I wasn’t it would launch my day, it makes me feels good.”
