It’s amazing what muscles can do for you. Apart from improving your appearance, increasing your self-confidence, and lengthening your life, they can take you to a lot of places you may never go otherwise. The journey Arnold Schwarzenegger’s muscles have allowed him to travel has been well documented, and countless actors, musicians, and other talents have used working out to advance their careers and enhance their lives.
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, owes a lot to his training. And isn’t it interesting that after everything else he’s accomplished, after all of the hit movies and conquering the WWE Universe, he found himself in a movie doing what started as a hobby decades ago? Bodybuilding. It’s only natural. Because under all the glitz and glamour, costumes and makeup, he’s got a perennially ripped physique.
M&F got ahold of the actor to discuss the making of Pain & Gain, the new Michael Bay–directed action/black comedy based on the true story of a group of Florida bodybuilders who concoct an ill-fated extortion and kidnapping plot.
ON MUSCLE & FITNESS:
“You know, for me, Muscle & Fitness was the Bible. When I was a kid the first cover I ever saw was with Arnold as Conan—the one where he had the black face paint. And then I had the honor of spending time with Joe Weider up at the Weider office in Woodland Hills [CA, the magazine’s previous headquarters].”
ON BEING A BODYBUILDER:
“I am a lot of things, but at my core, I always have been and always will be a bodybuilder. At least in terms of training, nutrition, and the love of being a gym rat. What’s funny is, I’ve had the privilege of playing foot- ball for great teams at the University of Miami, with great coaches and great players—Ray Lewis, for example. Then I was fortunate enough to have a career in wrestling. And of course there’s the movie career. But the one mainstay—the constant in my life—has been bodybuilding. I just love the feeling of being in the gym and transforming my body through good old-fashioned hard work and proper nutrition.”
