The Rock’s Arm Workout: How to Do It, + Tips for Gaining Muscle

If you’re active on social media or happen to have been to a movie theater in the last, oh, decade or so, you can probably smell what the Rock is cooking. Former WWE superstar turned Hollywood action hero Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson owes his fame to a number of factors. Chief among them, perhaps, his physique.

Between promoting superhero flicks and action-adventure blockbusters, Johnson enjoys publishing some of his favorite strength training workouts to the ‘Gram. Take one look into his training style and it becomes quite obvious how Johnson got so damn jacked: He trains long, hard, and often.

The Rock loves to serve up a glimpse into what he’s preparing in his muscle-making kitchen. So what’s on the menu this time? A sampling of his favorite arm workout, pulled directly from the man himself during his preparation for 2014’s period epic Hercules: 

The Rock’s Arm Workout

Your arms have two main muscles, the biceps brachii and the triceps brachii. Below the elbow, though, are a large number of smaller tissues that wrap around your forearm. A good arm workout for bodybuilding employs movements that target all three areas equally; and that’s exactly what the Rock’s training does. 

The “Hercules” Arm Workout

The Hercules workout is deceptively challenging. Sure, what you see is what you get — two “exercises” comprise the entire session, each consisting of a circuit of three biceps exercises and three triceps exercises. Simple, right?

Sure, but simple and easy don’t mean the same thing. Johnson is famous for his high-intensity, leave-it-all-on-the-gym-floor approach to bodybuilding. You’ll need to approach this arm workout with similar levels of ferocity if you want to make similar gains.

• EZ-Bar Preacher Curl + Standing EZ-Bar Curl + Dumbbell Curl: 4 x 12, as a tri-set
• Rope Triceps Pressdown + Rope Overhead Extension + Dip: 4 x 12, as a tri-set*

*Perform the bodyweight dips to muscular failure.

How It Works

Circuit training is generally utilized for the purposes of increasing calorie expenditure to help burn fat or, in some cases, as a logistical solution to help save time in the weight room. However, in some cases, it can be extremely potent for muscle growth as well. 

• Tri-sets are a form of supersets, which extend the amount of time your muscles are working. Some studies have shown that supersets are effective in stimulating muscle growth when performed properly, but do create more bodily fatigue. (1)
• The Rock advises taking some exercises to complete muscular failure. Certain data show that training to failure is wise for optimal muscle growth, (2) but other findings conflict with this idea. (3)
• The Rock uses a wide variety of exercises and equipment for the workout, which has been shown to be more effective than doing only one or two moves at a time, at least for increasing strength. (4)

How To Gain Muscle

If you wanted to win an arm wrestling match with the Rock, you’d need muscles that can go toe-to-toe with him. Gaining muscle isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but it’s a heck of a lot easier if you understand the biological processes involved. 

[Read More: 5 of the Best Dumbbell Arm Workouts for Strength, Size, and Time-Saving]

Here’s a three-step guide to putting muscle on your arms (or anywhere, really), and the science behind how it works. 

Step 1: Eat Enough Calories

When it comes to nutrition, you can think of the foods you eat and the calories they contain as having a permissive role in supporting muscle growth. That is, if you eat enough, you are permitting your body to adapt and change.

Gaining muscle is kind of like adding an expansion to a house. You need more raw material to create the structure from the ground up. Johnson is well aware of this — he periodically posts his legendary cheat meals on social media, which contain many thousands of calories at a time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpXF52NOgG9/

[Related: 20 High-Protein, Low-Calorie Foods Worth Subbing Into Your Diet]

You needn’t go that hard if you want to bulk up, though. Studies show that a mild but consistent caloric surplus, eating a few hundred calories more than you need to maintain your weight, is more than enough to help you build muscle. (5)(6)

Step 2: Consume Extra Protein

Calories may be the raw material your body needs to make a change, but protein is the key ingredient for muscle growth specifically: With too many calories but too little protein, you’re more likely to put on body fat than new muscle tissue. 

The exact “optimal” dosage of protein for bodybuilding has changed over the years as more studies have tackled the subject, but generally speaking, you should aim to consume around one gram of protein per pound of your own body weight. (7)(8)

[Read More: The Best Protein Intake Calculator for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss]

This doesn’t mean you need to force yourself to drink four or five mass gainer shakes a day, though. You can hit your protein target through a combination of whole food sources like poultry and dairy as well as via supplementation from a whey protein product. 

Step 3: Hit the Weights, Hard 

One thing you’ll hardly ever see Johnson doing in the gym is taking it easy. He may not be a pro bodybuilder aiming at the Mr. Olympia competition, but Johnson is famous for his work ethic both in and out of the weight room.

[Read More: Try This Shoulder and Biceps Workout to Build Muscle]

Gaining muscle requires you to regularly and vigorously perform strength training workouts in the proper dosage — that is, training with the appropriate volume (the number of sets you do), intensity (how hard you work), and frequency (how often you do it). Here are some general benchmarks to hit:

• Volume: Aim to rack up between 10 and 20 challenging sets per muscle group per week. This includes direct arm exercises like curls and compound movements that involve your arms such as rows or pull-ups.
• Intensity: You should train in the realm of muscular failure on a regular basis. This means working hard on every set and leaving only a rep or two “in the tank” each time.
• Frequency: Spread your weekly training volume out across two workouts instead of trying to do all your arm (or leg, or chest, and so on) training in a singular workout. 

More Bodybuilding Content

• New Bodybuilding Dynasty and True Bulgarian Method: Strength Weekly
• Jeff Nippard’s 5 Science-Backed Tips for Hypertrophy
• Demystifying Your Fat-Burning Heart Rate Zone

References

1. Weakley JJS, Till K, Read DB, Roe GAB, Darrall-Jones J, Phibbs PJ, Jones B. The effects of traditional, superset, and tri-set resistance training structures on perceived intensity and physiological responses. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2017 Sep;117(9):1877-1889. doi: 10.1007/s00421-017-3680-3. Epub 2017 Jul 11. PMID: 28698987; PMCID: PMC5556132.
2. Robinson, Z., & Zourdos, M. C. (2023, May 17). Exploring the Dose-Response Relationship Between Estimated Resistance Training Proximity to Failure, Strength Gain, and Muscle Hypertrophy: A Series of Meta-Regressions. Retrieved from osf.io/7knsj
3. Refalo, M.C., Helms, E.R., Trexler, E.T. et al. Influence of Resistance Training Proximity-to-Failure on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Sports Med 53, 649–665 (2023). 
4. Fonseca, R. M., Roschel, H., Tricoli, V., de Souza, E. O., Wilson, J. M., Laurentino, G. C., Aihara, A. Y., de Souza Leão, A. R., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2014). Changes in exercises are more effective than in loading schemes to improve muscle strength. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 28(11), 3085–3092. 
5. Slater, G. J., Dieter, B. P., Marsh, D. J., Helms, E. R., Shaw, G., & Iraki, J. (2019). Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Associated With Resistance Training. Frontiers in nutrition, 6, 131. 
6. Murphy, C., & Koehler, K. (2022). Energy deficiency impairs resistance training gains in lean mass but not strength: A meta-analysis and meta-regression. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 32(1), 125–137. 
7. Tagawa, R., Watanabe, D., Ito, K., Ueda, K., Nakayama, K., Sanbongi, C., & Miyachi, M. (2020). Dose-response relationship between protein intake and muscle mass increase: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutrition reviews, 79(1), 66–75. Advance online publication. 
8. Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., Aragon, A. A., Devries, M. C., Banfield, L., Krieger, J. W., & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British journal of sports medicine, 52(6), 376–384. 

Featured Image: @therock / Instagram