I once again tried eating and training like The Rock for 24 hours, following his diet and workout plan that he uses to prepare for movie roles
Five years ago I trained eating and training like The Rock for 24 hours. I thought it would be easy… you can do anything for a day, right? But the accumulation of his routine left me feeling exhausted and nauseated from the huge quantities of food (mainly the rice), and I decided to end the challenge early by skipping the final meal and going to bed!
The Rock’s daily routine
But now I feel I’m ready to take on the challenge again! The key things to the challenge are:
- Wake up at 4am
- Perform 30 minutes of cardio (running or the elliptical machine)
- Perform one of this weights workouts (choose from one of his 5 day split workout routines)
- Eat 5,000+ calories split over 5-7 meals
I CAN DO THIS!
The Rock’s morning cardio
The Rock wakes up at 4:00 am, has some morning coffee and then gets straight into his morning cardio. Previously I went for a run, and covered just over 5 km. However, at 4:00 am it’s pretty much pitch black even in May, here in the UK. So this time I opted for the elliptical.
The Rock’s breakfast
I’ve seen lots of different reports about what The Rock eats for breakfast, and ultimately this depends on what particular role he’s preparing for, and what phase of his prep he is in. However, the most common breakfast I’ve seen is:
- 10 oz steak
- 3 egg whites + 1 whole egg
- 2 cups/150 g of rice or oats
- 1 large glass of fruit juice
The Rock’s workout routine
As with the Rock’s diet, his plan will change depending on his specific prep and phase. His training plan for Black Adam looked very different to some of his other plans for example. Most people attempting this challenge seem to reference his 5-day split routine he used to get ready for his role as Hercules. Here is the split:
- Back
- Chest
- Legs
- Shoulders
- Arms & Abs
Last time I did his back workout as it was how he starts his week, and I was bit shocked by the amount of volume. It took me over 90 minutes to get through it! This time I decided to try his arms and abs workout, as on paper, it looked the easiest. This involved:
- Arms
- Dumbbell curls – 4 sets of 12 reps
- Hammer curls – 4 sets of 12 reps
- Spider curls – 4 sets of 12 reps
- Tricep pushdowns – 4 sets of 12 reps
- Weighted dips – 3 sets to failure
- Abs
- Hanging leg raises – 4 sets of 20 reps
- Cable crunches – 4 sets of 20 reps
- Russian Twists – 4 sets of 20 reps
I can tell you that it was deceptively hard. The abs involved 80 reps per exercise, and I was in all kinds of pain and cramps from this!
The Rock’s Meal plan
The Rock’s meal plan for the rest of the day is pretty simple, but the quantities of everything are just huge. Basically every meal consists of a protein source, a vegetable, and varying amounts of carbs. here are some example combinations:
- Salmon, broccoli and rice
- Cod, asparagus and rice
- Chicken, broccoli and rice
- Steak, potato and salad
It seems that most days he eats 6-7 meals per day, apart from Sunday’s where he has a huge cheat meal, and as such eats around 5 meals in total, still hitting around 5,000 – 5,500 calories.
The Rock’s cheat meal – Rock Toast
In my first attempt at the challenge, I tried the 6-7 clean meals. But this time, as it was a Sunday, I thought I would try one of his legendary cheat meals. There are plenty to choose from, but the one he seems to talk about the most in recent social media posts is his famous “Rock Toast”.
This is normally presented in 2 huge slabs, and covered in different condiments such as peanut butter, jam/jelly, maple syrup, cream, coconut + pineapple chips… the list goes on. It looked mouth-wateringly tasty, so I found the recipe:
- The batter/custard
- Milk
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- The bread
- 4 inch cuts of brioche loaf
- I could only find pre-sliced brioche in my supermarket, so I used 4 slices together
- Frying
- Butter
- Cinnamon
It’s very easy and quite quick to make. You soak the brioche in the batter and fry each side in butter on a frying pan until it’s completely sealed. It then needs about 10 minutes in the oven to make sure it’s cooked all the way through.
It smells incredible as your’re cooking it. I then had 2 variations, one with peanut butter and jelly, the other had maple syrup and cream. I demolished the maple syrup and cream variant first, but the peanut butter and jelly option took some eating. I had to push through, and I felt a little ill for a while afterwards.
Not surprising given it was nearly 2,500 calories in total! That’s how much I average in a day normally!
The Rock’s evening routine
Once again, I see lots of different reports on this. The most common is that he ends most evenings drinking his own “Teremana Tequila”. I couldn’t get hold of any easily in the UK, so I was recommended a few different brands that were similar.
He drinks this just with ice, so I did the same. The initial reaction was that it was stomach turning and reminded me of some very messy nights out from my student days, but ultimately it was quite enjoyable!
