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.
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.
As with most things in life, the best results are achieved when things are kept simple. This applies here, too. While many gym members get caught up in looking for the next big secret exercise to emerge, those who stick to the old proven principles tend to experience superior results overall. Exercises such as Calf Raise and Squat remain unchallenged despite the many advances we've made in sports science over the years. Likewise, adjusting something simple like intensity can yield excellent improvements from a fat loss perspective.
Today's plan consists of just five exercises, which are as follows.
* Box Squats - Five sets of twenty five.
* Leg Press - Pyramid training with four sets of twenty five, twenty, eighteen and sixteen reps. Any remaining energy is then mopped up with a burnout set of twenty five repetitions.
* Four sets of Lunges performed on a Smith Machine, with eight repetitions per leg.
* Leg Curl - 4 sets of 12, 10, 8 and 6 repetitions with a burnout set of 12 at the end.
* Standing Calf Raise - 6 sets of 16 repetitions with a burnout set of 20 to finish.
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.
Furthermore, there are two proven hypertrophy principles at play here which will ensure you also get sufficient tears in your muscle fibers to stimulate maximum growth in your lower body. They are the pyramid principle and the burnout principle.
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.
The Rock leg workout is a challenging affair because it sticks to the basics and cuts out the two things which often prevent people from training their legs with the same intensity as they train their upper body. Those two things are a lack of intensity and lack of challenge. By utilizing a minimal rest approach and adopting tactics such as burnouts you will find leg day as engaging as any other session.
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.
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.
Discover how to build muscle with 5 simple rules.
As with most things in life, the best results are achieved when things are kept simple. This applies here, too. While many gym members get caught up in looking for the next big secret exercise to emerge, those who stick to the old proven principles tend to experience superior results overall. Exercises such as Calf Raise and Squat remain unchallenged despite the many advances we've made in sports science over the years. Likewise, adjusting something simple like intensity can yield excellent improvements from a fat loss perspective.
Today's plan consists of just five exercises, which are as follows.
* Box Squats - Five sets of twenty five.
* Leg Press - Pyramid training with four sets of twenty five, twenty, eighteen and sixteen reps. Any remaining energy is then mopped up with a burnout set of twenty five repetitions.
* Four sets of Lunges performed on a Smith Machine, with eight repetitions per leg.
* Leg Curl - 4 sets of 12, 10, 8 and 6 repetitions with a burnout set of 12 at the end.
* Standing Calf Raise - 6 sets of 16 repetitions with a burnout set of 20 to finish.
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.
Furthermore, there are two proven hypertrophy principles at play here which will ensure you also get sufficient tears in your muscle fibers to stimulate maximum growth in your lower body. They are the pyramid principle and the burnout principle.
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.
The Rock leg workout is a challenging affair because it sticks to the basics and cuts out the two things which often prevent people from training their legs with the same intensity as they train their upper body. Those two things are a lack of intensity and lack of challenge. By utilizing a minimal rest approach and adopting tactics such as burnouts you will find leg day as engaging as any other session.
About the Author:
What to do next: Discover how to build muscle with expert personal trainer Russ Howe PTI. Today's session, the rock leg workout, is just one of tons ready on his free gym blog.