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🏋️‍♂️ The Rock's leg workout — Worth the hype?

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Ricky Goodrich
May 10, 2024

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Here’s what’s going on today:

  • Critiquing The Rock’s leg workout

  • Should you actually train to failure?

  • Breaking down the science of bedtime protein intake

Exercise Science

Israetel 3:16

Credit: @WWE

Dr. Mike Israetel is here to throw The Rock’s training program over a bridge and into the Piscataqua River. (IYKYK.) In a recent video, the YouTuber with an exercise science degree (and a strong desire to change training for the better) analyzed Dwayne Johnson’s leg workout and offered expert advice on improving it to add even more muscle to Rocky’s body.

Looking at the enormous heaps of muscle adorning his frame, most people probably think Johnson is already maximizing his workouts, but Dr. Israetel isn’t so easily swayed. The Final Boss makes key errors in his quad-development goals that everyone else can benefit from fixing in their own training.

Filling out your $500 shirt is all well and good, but taking notes from this video will also have you busting out from your $500 pants.

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Hypertrophy

Don’t Fail at Failing

Credit: ME Image / Shutterstock

Training to failure is a tried-and-true method for building muscle, but how necessary is it? A new study, which breaks the mold by using people who lift weights as its test subjects, suggests there might be a better way to optimize hypertrophy sessions.

To be clear, nothing about the study indicates that training to failure doesn’t work. However, the potential dangers of going all out to complete muscular failure — versus stopping two reps shy of failure — might not be worth the risks. If you can build the same amount of muscle without pushing to that level, is there actually any reason to do it?

Decide for yourself using the data available in the link below.

Nutrition

Sweet Dreams Are Made of Protein

Credit: eldar nurkovic / Shutterstock

Many sacred cows of bodybuilding have been toppled in the modern world of science and research, but others still remain. Some tenets, like the need to ingest a protein shake right before bedtime, are much slower to leave the party. However, the findings of a recent study seemingly want to stuff this particular ideology away in the back of the closet for good.

Protein timing remains one of the most controversial topics in the Land of the Meathead, and this study is yet another salvo in the ongoing, double-sided barrage. If you were already leaning toward the “it doesn’t matter” camp, this might help ease your mind about potential nighttime muscle wasting. 

Give the analysis a read with a fresh set of eyes, and do what seems right for you.

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Everything Else

Push Your Press to New Heights

Credit: PeopleImages .com - Yuri A / Shutterstock