Dwayne Johnson is a beast. This is no news. His physique and the intensive training he puts into building that physique is a marvel to most. There might only be a handful of people who can do what Dwayne Johnson does, and that too with such sincerity and dedication.
Many people have many different views about the Black Adam actor, however, all can agree that he is unstoppable when it comes to fitness and training. And if you are one of those who want to know how Dwayne Johnson does it, his trainer recently gave out the secret. From his diet plan to his intense training sessions that keep his heart rate at a steady state of about 135 beats per minute, the trainer gives an elaborate insight into Dwayne Johnson’s disciplined world.
Dwayne Johnson’s Training is Not for the Weak
Dwayne Johnson looks like someone straight out of a comic book thanks to his jaw-dropping physique. Spending hours in the gym is not everyone’s cup of tea, especially at the age of fifty-one. On the other hand, Johnson proves time and again why he is not like the rest of us. For anyone wondering what goes on behind the closed doors of the gym, Davie Rienzi, Johnson’s trainer, has the answer.
Talking to GQ, Rienzi opened up about training Johnson (or DJ as he so dearly calls him) and how the actor maintains his physique. For starters, Johnson trains six days a week, doing both strength training and cardio every single day. Rienzi also talked about Johnson’s Black Adam training.
“We tweak his training depending on the challenge or project, but for DJ training is always six days a week, and we do strength and cardio each day. The Black Adam training process was chest and triceps, back and biceps, shoulders, arms, then chest and back – one of those groups a day – but focused on getting lots of blood into the muscle as opposed to training really heavy. Day six is normally on Sunday, so there’s a day off beforehand, and that’ll be leg day.”
Anyone who has gone through the gruesome task of a leg day at the gym knows why Rienzi has placed it just before Johnson’s day off. Especially with the actor’s intense schedule, he simply cannot go to work without giving his legs some time to recover.
Rienzi then moved on to the actor’s cardio sessions where he switches back and forth from steady states and high-intensity intervals. In the steady state, Johnson keeps his heart rate in the 125-135 BPM range.
“That will vary between steady state and high-intensity intervals on the Stairmaster or the elliptical. With a steady state, he’s keeping his heart rate roughly in the 125 bpm to 135 bpm range, which is probably around 70 percent intensity for him. The interval training is usually maximum intensity for about 30 seconds and then immediately into a steady state for a minute and a half to two minutes.”
Well, it certainly is not easy being The Rock, is it? Apart from going all out during training, Rienzi also focuses on modifying the training each year. This is because the body is constantly changing. Rienzi takes into account his client/friend’s schedule, feelings, lifestyle, and so on for optimum and wholesome training.
Take a Look at Dwayne Johnson’s Diet
You can train all you want but you won’t see changes in your body until or unless you pay attention to what you are eating. For Johnson, Rienzi has calculated and measured meals. Since they were trying to take his physique to the next level for Black Adam, Johnson’s diet consisted of seven total meals per day.
Generally, Johnson follows a diet that has a lot of lean proteins, some whole-food meals, and simple and complex carbohydrates depending on the time of the day.
“In terms of foods, it’s always a mixture of lean protein sources like egg whites in the morning, beef twice a day, chicken breast and turkey breast throughout the day too. He would have a protein shake post-workout but sometimes I’d replace that with an actual meal. The body responds so much better to whole-food meals. We’d have simple carbohydrates, like a white rice meal, typically before or after the workout, because it’s easy to digest. And then more complex carbohydrates, like brown rice and sweet potato, later in the day.”
Johnson also has cheat meals once or twice a week, unless he is up for a shirtless gig. As Rienzi says, someone who trains like The Rock, needs to be rewarded. We couldn’t agree more!
Source: GQ
