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Fitness & Health

15th Jul 2019

The Rock’s upper body workout builds electrifying strength in no time

The Rock's latest workout video is one of his best. It contains a cool graphic helping to pinpoint exactly which muscles you recruit

Alex Roberts

For top-notch fitness inspiration, you don’t have to look much further than The People’s Champion

The Rock’s Instagram account is one of the best on the entire platform. Take one look and you’ll see a treasure trove of instructional workout videos, motivational posts, WWE throwbacks and photos of sushi.

What more could you want?

One of The Rock’s latest workout videos is arguably the best.

In it, the Hobbs and Shaw star outlines each exercise with a description of what he’s trying to achieve. But this one also comes with animated graphics courtesy of Muscle and Motion.

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

Speaking about this animation, The Rock said, “My friends over at Muscle and Motion created a musculature & fiber breakdown of all my movements.

“It’s a cool visual for you to see and now have a mental reference for your own workouts and your muscles activity. Check out the slow eccentric contractions at the end of my chain dips – those eccentrics are a bitch but pushing past that pain and tissue breakdown is what promotes your muscle growth.”

This particular workout was focussing on the upper body, and predominantly the bigger muscles such as the chest and back.

The exercises The Rock performed are:

  • Seated Cable Crossover
  • MAG-Grip Seated Row
  • Weighted Dips (with chains)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzUJ-wBFz_s/

As well as honing in on the major muscles worked, this clip also pinpoints smaller muscles activated. It also highlights how changing the angle of an exercise affects muscle recruitment.

Should The Rock have performed the Cable Crossover with handles set at a low position, this would have brought more upper chest (clavicular head) into play. However, this version focusses mainly on the pec major (most of the mid and lower chest).

The graphic is also useful for understanding which exercises provide the biggest bang-for-your-buck. Take the weighted dip, for example. While The Rock was focussing on his triceps, the pecs and front shoulder also feel the force too.

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