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.
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.
The Rock leg workout is something which is particularly eye catching.
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.
Of course, two of the major factors behind the huge results are the intensity of each session and the nature of the exercises being performed. While sticking to old, proven movements such as Squats and Leg Curls, you will be able to adopt new techniques such as keeping minimal rest periods between sets, therefore increasing your fat loss results and stamina simultaneously.
If you can get the right techniques in place the actual exercises can be kept relatively straight forward, as you can see below.
* Box Squats - Five sets of twenty five.
* 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.
* Four sets of Lunges performed on a Smith Machine, with eight repetitions per leg.
* Lying Leg Curl - Like the Leg Press, this classic old machine is used for four sets of pyramid training. This time we have twelve, ten, eight and six repetitions in each set. Again, you should follow the final set with a burnout set of twelve.
* And finally, the Standing Calf Raise rounds out the session with six sets of 16 repetitions followed by a burnout of 20 after the final set.
To anybody who finds themselves constantly searching for the next big exercise to develop, this workout may look quite simple. This is a common mistake to make. While it certainly does stick to the basic movements, this actually works in your favor because those basics are still the optimal exercises for building a powerful lower body. Intensity is key here, keeping your rest periods as low as 30 seconds between sets will dramatically increase fat loss results.
Furthermore, there are two classic bodybuilding principles here which will ensure muscular hypertrophy is accelerated. Those are the pyramid and burnout principles.
A technique which is nowhere near as commonly used as it used to be, the pyramid system is designed to help you hit each different fiber in the targeted muscle. It does this by gradually lowering the repetitions in each set, allowing you to add more resistance every time you finish a set.
The burnout principle, on the other hand, is designed to take your target muscle to absolute failure. It involves finishing your final set then immediately placing a lower resistance on the bar and pushing out up to 20 reps.
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.
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.
The Rock leg workout is something which is particularly eye catching.
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.
Of course, two of the major factors behind the huge results are the intensity of each session and the nature of the exercises being performed. While sticking to old, proven movements such as Squats and Leg Curls, you will be able to adopt new techniques such as keeping minimal rest periods between sets, therefore increasing your fat loss results and stamina simultaneously.
If you can get the right techniques in place the actual exercises can be kept relatively straight forward, as you can see below.
* Box Squats - Five sets of twenty five.
* 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.
* Four sets of Lunges performed on a Smith Machine, with eight repetitions per leg.
* Lying Leg Curl - Like the Leg Press, this classic old machine is used for four sets of pyramid training. This time we have twelve, ten, eight and six repetitions in each set. Again, you should follow the final set with a burnout set of twelve.
* And finally, the Standing Calf Raise rounds out the session with six sets of 16 repetitions followed by a burnout of 20 after the final set.
To anybody who finds themselves constantly searching for the next big exercise to develop, this workout may look quite simple. This is a common mistake to make. While it certainly does stick to the basic movements, this actually works in your favor because those basics are still the optimal exercises for building a powerful lower body. Intensity is key here, keeping your rest periods as low as 30 seconds between sets will dramatically increase fat loss results.
Furthermore, there are two classic bodybuilding principles here which will ensure muscular hypertrophy is accelerated. Those are the pyramid and burnout principles.
A technique which is nowhere near as commonly used as it used to be, the pyramid system is designed to help you hit each different fiber in the targeted muscle. It does this by gradually lowering the repetitions in each set, allowing you to add more resistance every time you finish a set.
The burnout principle, on the other hand, is designed to take your target muscle to absolute failure. It involves finishing your final set then immediately placing a lower resistance on the bar and pushing out up to 20 reps.
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:
Your next move: Learn how to build muscle with expert fitness coach Russ Howe PTI. This session, the rock leg workout, is just one of many ready on his free fitness site.
