Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson got into the biggest, baddest, most physically imposing shape of his life last year, and he regularly shares insight into his giant workouts on social media, demonstrating the exercises he uses to build immense strength and size in his jacked biceps, giant back and cannonball shoulders.
When it comes to the latter, the Black Adam and Jumanji actor likes to end his workouts strong—and he just offered a look at a ferociously intense shoulder finisher.
“Burn baby burn,” the actor wrote in the caption of his latest Instagram Reel, in which he can be seen performing the complete, uninterrupted routine, consisting of a dumbbell lateral raise variation dropset, starting with 10 reps at 50 pounds and then performing 8 reps at each subsequent weight, reducing the load by 5 pounds each time until he reaches 5 pound weights.
This approach, which Johnson describes as “running the rack,” allows him to execute the exercise to failure at each weight and continue performing repetitions once he has maxed out at a certain amount of weight by lightening the load.
Additionally, the absence of any recovery time at all while switching to a lower weight means the muscles are being placed under maximum fatigue, so Johnson is completely exhausted by the time he reaches the end of the rack. As he remarks himself: “5-10lb dumbbells never felt so heavy.”
“This is an absolute beast MF of a finisher with great volume and time under stress,” Johnson added, “and a phenomenal shocker to your muscles & system for progress, gains and stamina.”
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
