Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson kicked off the Super Bowl with an energetic appearance, showcasing his boulder-like physique in a live introduction to the game, as well as a debut ad for his brand, ZOA Energy.
Johnson's strength and conditioning coach shared the workout that helped Johnson get stacked for the national spotlight.
Dave Rienzi, who co-founded ZOA Energy, posted on Instagram that some serious leg training helped build the star's massive muscle in his famous traveling gym, the Iron Paradise.
The routine includes exercises like leg extensions, presses, curls, and lunges, all of which can help develop muscle and strength in the quads, glutes, hips, and hamstrings
The Rock uses machines and weights in his leg workouts
The workout starts with a dynamic warm-up with leg swings, walking knee hugs and a standing figure-four stretch. It also includes foam rolling, which can help warm up the muscles for workout prep or recovery. Experts say to avoid foam rolling directly on your back, joints, or connective tissue, like the IT band, for best results.
Then Rienzi gets into the glutes with the abductor machine, which helps strengthen the hips and core, and reverse hyper-extensions to fire up the whole posterior chain without stressing the joints. He performed three sets of 12 reps each. You can also do hip thrusts as an alternative to reverse hyperextensions, according to Rienzi.
"Activating the glute at the beginning of a workout takes stress off your knees as well as your lower back," the video commentary says.
Next up is three sets of 20 reps on the leg extension machine, warming up the knees and prepping to work on the quads, the big muscles on the front of the legs.
For some heavy lifting, Rienzi works in four sets each of 25 leg presses, 24 lunges weighted with dumbbells or barbell plates, and 15 safety bar squats (with chains for added resistance). He recommends increasing the weight with each set and resting two minutes between squat sets so you can maximize your efforts.
The workout finished by burning out the hamstrings, the muscles on the back of the thighs, with either the seated leg curl machine or standing single leg curl machine. In either case, Rienzi said to focus on controlling the negative, or eccentric part of the exercise, as the weight is lowered and the muscle extends.
The final challenge, he said, is walking back to your car after exhausting every major muscle group of the legs in one intense session.
