The Principles Of The Rock Leg Workout Explained
By Howe Russ
Celebrity workouts are one of the most commonly searched for items in the fitness industry. The majority of gym members and fitness enthusiasts trying to learn how to build muscle have, at some point in their lives, been influenced by seeing their favorite personality or movie star build a great physique. One such personality is Dwayne Johnson.
This trend has grown in popularity over the last ten years and, naturally, many celebrities have caught onto the fact that there is a good business opportunity here. This is why you'll often find personalities regularly releasing fitness dvd's which cash in on the 'next big thing' in fitness. As you'll discover, however, the superior workouts tend to come from those who purely train because they enjoy training.
Despite sticking to the proven basics, it would be foolish to assume The Rock leg workout is just going to be another ordinary gym session.
Don't be fooled into thinking all of the results Dwayne Johnson has accomplished over the last year have been achieved in the gym, of course. There are several factors which have been put into place to ensure maximum results even before he steps foot in the gym and these are the areas many people overlook, such as diet and rest.
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.
* Box Squats - 5 sets of 25 repetitions.
* 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.
* Leg Curl - 4 sets of 12, 10, 8 and 6 repetitions with a burnout set of 12 at the end.
* 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.
The pyramid principle allows you to consistently increase the resistance level on every set performed by slightly lowering the target number of repetitions involved as your progress with an exercise.
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.
This trend has grown in popularity over the last ten years and, naturally, many celebrities have caught onto the fact that there is a good business opportunity here. This is why you'll often find personalities regularly releasing fitness dvd's which cash in on the 'next big thing' in fitness. As you'll discover, however, the superior workouts tend to come from those who purely train because they enjoy training.
Despite sticking to the proven basics, it would be foolish to assume The Rock leg workout is just going to be another ordinary gym session.
Don't be fooled into thinking all of the results Dwayne Johnson has accomplished over the last year have been achieved in the gym, of course. There are several factors which have been put into place to ensure maximum results even before he steps foot in the gym and these are the areas many people overlook, such as diet and rest.
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.
* Box Squats - 5 sets of 25 repetitions.
* 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.
* Leg Curl - 4 sets of 12, 10, 8 and 6 repetitions with a burnout set of 12 at the end.
* 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.
The pyramid principle allows you to consistently increase the resistance level on every set performed by slightly lowering the target number of repetitions involved as your progress with an exercise.
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: Discover how to build muscle with expert personal trainer Russ Howe PTI. This workout, the rock leg workout, is just one of tons ready on his exclusive fitness site.