WHEN DWAYNE JOHNSON hit his mid-40s, he began altering his fitness center ways.“The wear and tear in the joints, it catches up with you,” says his longtime trainer, Dave Rienzi. This coincided with one among Johnson’s largest undertakings but since changing into the worldwide icon generally known as The Rock: building a physique worthy of a superhero. And not simply any comedian ebook determine—one robust sufficient to be performed by the largest man in films.
This yr, Johnson turned 50 (which we mentioned with him, amongst different matters, in his new Men’s Health cover interview). To preserve the icon in antihero form for his position in Black Adam with out placing him at risk of overtraining or damage, Rienzi implements these 4 methods in his routine.
How The Rock’s Strength Coach Keeps Him Healthy (and Strong) at 50
1. Pre-Exhaust!
Johnson doesn’t want to train ultra-heavy, so he makes lighter masses difficult. He’ll usually do a set of an isolation transfer (say, a chest cable fly), then instantly comply with up with a compound transfer (say, a bench press). The iso transfer leaves his chest fatigued, making the compound transfer tougher, even with a average weight.
2. Do Glutes for Days
“We really prioritize training the posterior chain,” says Rienzi. Johnson does Romanian deadlifts 2 or 3 occasions weekly in an effort to assault his again muscle mass, glutes, and hamstrings. Glute muscle mass assist shield the decrease again—and preserve him explosive.
3. Squat Late
Most lifters do squats early of their exercise. Johnson often does them because the final transfer of leg day. That means his leg muscle mass are already burned out from different lifts (like these Romanian deadlifts!), so he can tax his quads and hamstrings with a average weight.
4. Slow. It. Down.
During not less than 2 strikes in each exercise, Johnson concentrates on time under tension. He’ll seize a average weight for, say, a biceps curl, then curl up, squeeze his biceps, and slowly decrease the load for 4 seconds. “Thirty-five-pound dumbbell curls with a 4- second negative for 10 reps is a brutal exercise,” Rienzi says. Do 3 to 4 units. Enjoy the burn.
Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., is the health director of Men’s Health and a licensed coach with greater than 10 years of coaching expertise. He’s logged coaching time with NFL athletes and monitor athletes and his present coaching routine contains weight coaching, HIIT conditioning, and yoga. Before becoming a member of Men’s Health in 2017, he served as a sports activities columnist and tech columnist for the New York Daily News.