Dwayne Johnson, also known as “The Rock”, once one of the greatest professional wrestlers alive has now cemented himself as the No. 1 action star in Hollywood.

The Rock has won the WWF Heavyweight title six times and the WWF Tag Team championships five times. When there seemed little more to achieve in the world of wrestling he turned his crazy work ethic to Hollywood, much the same way Arnold Schwarzenegger did in the early 1980’s. Dwayne’s undeniable muscular presence on screen almost certainly helped to get his foot in the door, and early on you may have been forgiven for thinking that the rock was just another muscley meat head trying to make it on the big screen.

Fast forward to today and it is clear that Dwayne Johnsons drive for greatness far exceeded anyone’s expectations. Not only has he continued to perfect his physique despite now being in his mid-40s, but after years of “beating on his craft” he is now one of the most talented male leads in the business.

More Athlete Than Actor – The Dwayne Johnson Workout is Born

During research for this article it became clear that Dwayne Johnsons work ethic resembles more that of a pro athlete than your regular Hollywood action man. The Rock is up at 4am, 6 days a week, smashing out a 50min cardio sessions before breakfast. He then does what he describes as “banging and clanging” in the gym for around another hour, all before he officially starting his day as a Hollywood superstar. No matter how you look at it, thats impressive.
Although Dwayne has admitted to changing up his workouts routines depending on what his next movie role demands, this 4am ritual seems to remain unchanged, day in day out, 6 days a week. It is what he commonly refers to as his “anchor”. More on that later.

The Rocks Workout Principles

Dwayne Johnson has used a host of different workout styles over the years. When he turned are 40, he admits that he felt the need that he needed to train smarter if he was going to take it to the next level.
It was around this time (2011) that the rock more or less full embraced a more simplified “traditional” bodybuilding workout style. Dwayne says that the beauty of a simple workout structure and exercises is that its hard to stuff up, but you do need to ensure that you have good form, this is the key to building good quality muscle.
For each movie role, Dwayne changes up his workout according to the demands of the film, and has mentioned in many interviews that you must “know your role”.
Regardless of the movie, a few key components of the rocks workout remain unchanged;

• 4am Wake up
• Cup of coffee
• Cardio workout for around 45-50mins, a favorite is the elliptical, presumably due to its low impact on the joints.
• Breakfast
• Hit the Gym, known by Dwayne as simply “banging and clanging”

This first 2-3 hours of each day, Dwayne refers to his “Anchor” and says that he knows that if he gets this training in that is will have the energy to work for another 12-16 hours.
The rock uses a host of different workout techniques to force his muscles to continue to grow, they are as follows;

Pyramid Structured Sets – This means Dwayne Johnson begins with higher reps, and a lower weight, and with each set of the exercise reduces reps and increase weight.

Reverse Pyramid Structured Sets – As the name suggests this is the opposite of the above technique, and you begin with a heavy weight you can only perform around 8 reps, then reduce the weight with each follow set so you can perform 10 and 12 reps respectively. Although this is less common to see in Dwayne Johnson’s workouts, this approach seems to be used occasionally.

Straight Structured Sets – This is when no change to the number of reps is made for any set, for example performing 3 sets of 10 reps.

Now in his mid 40’s, he’s a well-seasoned trainer. Quoted as saying “I go by feel,” , and remarks that when he’s in the gym “it’s all business” and can be seen on countless Instagram posts reminding us we need to “FOCUS!” . The Rock’s favourite body part? Legs, when training 6 days per week they get worked twice, on a 5 day per week schedule he makes sure to leave them for Saturday, allowing additional time to train them.

“The Rock ” Dwayne Johnson Gain and Pain Workout Routine.

In the film Gain and Pain Dwayne Johnson plays the cocaine addicted bodybuilder, Paul Doyle. In true Dwayne Johnson style, he was committed to beefing up his physique that he described as needing to have a “hard, animal quality” about it. Playing a character that was just released from prison where all they do is workout, in a movie that is centred around the culture of bodybuilding was no easy task, but the following workout helped him nail it.