The worlds of professional wrestling and that of a Hollywood action move star have a few crossovers — namely that one, more often than not, must have a body which appears to be sculpted out of granite.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was never a small man during his spell as one of the top entertainers in the history of sports entertainment but his transition to becoming the world’s most bankable action move star has led to him getting even bigger so as to look as big as possible on the silver screen, and a lot of that comes down to the 47-year-old’s intense arms routine.
The trick is to do as many isolation movements as you can muster. The Rock uses George Farrah’s arms workout, which calls for starting out for a set on a lower weight, adding an extra set to your routine. The key to improving muscle mass on your arms isn’t to load as much weight as you can but rather to compel blood to flow to the areas you wish to work on (too much weight will cause you to exhaust yourself too quickly). Starting with a set at a lower weight will allow you to maximise your workout later when you increase the weight for additional reps.
To determine which lower weight is actually correct for you, you should be feeling some sort of ‘burn’ but not to the extent where adding extra weight will be impossible because you have tired yourself out.
“You always want to protect the thing that allows you to do what you want to do,” The Rock says of his motivation to keep working hard in the gym. “In this case, my ‘thing’ is to protect my training. Regardless of what time zone I’m in, or getting pulled in a thousand different directions or how little sleep I’ve gotten — I’ll always find a way to train, get after it and push through. Training is my anchor. It centres me and allows me to then work a full 12-14 hour day of business. Find your anchor, protect your anchor.”
For Fast & Furious 8, The Rock coupled his workout regime with a massive 6,000 calorie-a-day diet — showing how adequate nutrition (or in this case, a massive increase in calorie consumption) provided his muscles with the necessary nutrients to grow.
Five Exercises To Boost Your Arms
- Barbell bicep curls
- Preacher curls
- Dumbell hammer curls
- Cable curls
- Overheard tricep extensions
Reps: 3 times 8-12 reps is good for each, but remember to start light and warm-up your arms before moving to the heavy stuff. You can also substitute in reps of seated bicep curls, triceps push downs, skull-crushers and triceps dips to make sure that you are activating as many muscle groups as possible.
