At one stage or another, almost everybody who uses the gym has gone online in a bid to search out the workout program of their favorite celebrities. After all, if you're trying to learn how to build muscle you'll probably find it easier if your favorite movie star is teaching you, right? That's the theory many fitness enthusiasts have and one of the public figures who is usually at the forefront of this trend is wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson.
Of course, there is a booming fitness career for celebrities who wish to latch on the next big thing or fad diet and sell dvd's to the masses. This means many of these plans are not effective. Johnson, however, is a guy who trains simply because he loves working out. One look at his lower body routine is enough to see this.
Take one look at The Rock leg workout and it'll become obvious that your results are not going to come cheap.
One of the reasons for this is that Dwayne Johnson has achieved an impressive transformation in the last year. While his workout routine is something which anybody can do, of course, those results have also been achieved because of a strict diet and putting proven hypertrophy principles in place before hitting the gym.
There are two things here which are usually lacking in lower body training sessions. Those are intensity and basic movements. While many people get caught up in looking for the next big development in exercise and science, such as performing split squats while suspended with a resistance band, this routine sticks to the old classic moves such as Squats and Leg Press. Intensity also becomes a huge focal point of the session, with as little as thirty seconds of rest between exercises to boost fat loss.
Today's plan consists of just five exercises, which are as follows.
* Five sets of Box Squats, with 25 reps per set.
* Four sets on the Leg Press machine, with reps of 25, 20, 18 and 16 in a pyramid fashion. This is immediately followed by a burnout set of twenty five reps.
* Smith Machine Lunges - Four sets of sixteen reps. That's eight on each leg.
* The Lying Leg Curl machine gets four sets of pyramid training with reps of 12, 10, 8 and 6. Again, this is immediately followed up with a burnout set of a further twelve.
* Last but not least is the Standing Calf Raise. Six sets of sixteen followed by 20 reps as a burnout set.
One of the biggest mistakes to make, of course, is to look at a session on paper and presume it's going to be very easy because it doesn't incorporate any new, ground-breaking techniques. In fact you have probably performed all of the exercises before. The thing most people overlook, however, is the intensity level. With just 30 seconds of rest after each set you will be pushed hard.
As well as the fat loss benefits of keeping down your rest periods, you will also notice two old principles of hypertrophy are at play here. Those are the pyramid technique and burnout sets.
A technique which is nowhere near as commonly used as it used to be, the pyramid system is designed to help you hit each different fiber in the targeted muscle. It does this by gradually lowering the repetitions in each set, allowing you to add more resistance every time you finish a set.
This works quite well with the burnout principle. Burnout sets are designed to clear out any remaining energy in the targeted body part following the last set. They get their name from the feeling of burning generated in the tissue by taking it to absolute failure. To use this technique simply lower the weight after your final set and push out up to 25 repetitions at this lower resistance. The only rest between your final set ending and your burnout set beginning is the amount of time it takes you to lower the resistance.
While Dwayne Johnson has certainly accomplished some incredible results over the last year or so, his workout is incredibly basic. Yet one quick look at The Rock leg workout is enough to see where most people go wrong in the gym. Don't be fooled into thinking you can just perform the same exercises and experience the same results because the key factor in this plan is intensity. While you have probably performed every single exercise on this plan before, the real trick to getting results is the fact that legs are trained with the same intensity as upper body. As much as the probably don't like to admit it, this is something most men do not do.
Of course, there is a booming fitness career for celebrities who wish to latch on the next big thing or fad diet and sell dvd's to the masses. This means many of these plans are not effective. Johnson, however, is a guy who trains simply because he loves working out. One look at his lower body routine is enough to see this.
Take one look at The Rock leg workout and it'll become obvious that your results are not going to come cheap.
One of the reasons for this is that Dwayne Johnson has achieved an impressive transformation in the last year. While his workout routine is something which anybody can do, of course, those results have also been achieved because of a strict diet and putting proven hypertrophy principles in place before hitting the gym.
There are two things here which are usually lacking in lower body training sessions. Those are intensity and basic movements. While many people get caught up in looking for the next big development in exercise and science, such as performing split squats while suspended with a resistance band, this routine sticks to the old classic moves such as Squats and Leg Press. Intensity also becomes a huge focal point of the session, with as little as thirty seconds of rest between exercises to boost fat loss.
Today's plan consists of just five exercises, which are as follows.
* Five sets of Box Squats, with 25 reps per set.
* Four sets on the Leg Press machine, with reps of 25, 20, 18 and 16 in a pyramid fashion. This is immediately followed by a burnout set of twenty five reps.
* Smith Machine Lunges - Four sets of sixteen reps. That's eight on each leg.
* The Lying Leg Curl machine gets four sets of pyramid training with reps of 12, 10, 8 and 6. Again, this is immediately followed up with a burnout set of a further twelve.
* Last but not least is the Standing Calf Raise. Six sets of sixteen followed by 20 reps as a burnout set.
One of the biggest mistakes to make, of course, is to look at a session on paper and presume it's going to be very easy because it doesn't incorporate any new, ground-breaking techniques. In fact you have probably performed all of the exercises before. The thing most people overlook, however, is the intensity level. With just 30 seconds of rest after each set you will be pushed hard.
As well as the fat loss benefits of keeping down your rest periods, you will also notice two old principles of hypertrophy are at play here. Those are the pyramid technique and burnout sets.
A technique which is nowhere near as commonly used as it used to be, the pyramid system is designed to help you hit each different fiber in the targeted muscle. It does this by gradually lowering the repetitions in each set, allowing you to add more resistance every time you finish a set.
This works quite well with the burnout principle. Burnout sets are designed to clear out any remaining energy in the targeted body part following the last set. They get their name from the feeling of burning generated in the tissue by taking it to absolute failure. To use this technique simply lower the weight after your final set and push out up to 25 repetitions at this lower resistance. The only rest between your final set ending and your burnout set beginning is the amount of time it takes you to lower the resistance.
While Dwayne Johnson has certainly accomplished some incredible results over the last year or so, his workout is incredibly basic. Yet one quick look at The Rock leg workout is enough to see where most people go wrong in the gym. Don't be fooled into thinking you can just perform the same exercises and experience the same results because the key factor in this plan is intensity. While you have probably performed every single exercise on this plan before, the real trick to getting results is the fact that legs are trained with the same intensity as upper body. As much as the probably don't like to admit it, this is something most men do not do.
About the Author:
What to do next: Learn how to build muscle with expert fitness coach Russ Howe PTI. This workout, the rock leg workout, is just one of tons available on his exclusive gym blog.
