What does it take to go from the squared circle to the Octagon?
Professional wrestler turned action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson learned for himself when he prepared to play an MMA legend in The Smashing Machine.
The Benny Safdie film, which comes out on October 3, follows the life and career of The Smashing Machine himself, two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion and Hall of Famer Mark Kerr. It also features performances from real life MMA fighters and boxers, including Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk, and Satoshi Ishii.
So Johnson had some big MMA shorts to fill — and some top talent to keep up with.
The most electrifying man in sports and entertainment was ready, willing, and able to meet this challenge, though, and put himself through his own version of a training camp to get in fighting shape.
Let’s take a look at the kind training it takes to transform a Rock into a Smashing Machine.
Does Dwayne Johnson have a background in martial arts?
Johnson is no stranger to contact sports and stunt work. He played professional football before he started training to become a professional wrestler. And while pro wrestling doesn’t involve actually fighting your opponent for real, it does require you to learn a number of techniques from the combat sport world. This includes how to take a punch (and kicks, elbows, submission holds, and takedowns) and how to fall properly. It also involves learning how to throw proper strikes and apply submission holds, even though wrestlers don’t employ them against each other at full strength like professional fighters would.
But did he train in martial arts specifically? He’s said a number of contradictory things about his training and MMA aspirations in the past, so it’s hard to know for sure. We tried to figure this out when The Smashing Machine was first announced in 2023. Check out our blog post for a more detailed breakdown.
How did The Rock Train for The Smashing Machine?
Part One: Cross-Training
Johnson has obviously maintained a level of physical fitness throughout his acting career. This has kept him looking buff and able to perform physically demanding action roles. But staying fit for movies is a little different than being fit for pro wrestling. And both are different from being fit for MMA.
The Rock was well on his way to getting back into ring shape before he started filming The Smashing Machine. He did a 12 week training camp to prepare for his appearance at Wrestlemania in April 2024. Right after that, though, he had to pivot to getting in cage shape. That included both martial arts training and cardio, strength, and conditioning for martial arts.
Johnson’s MMA camp workouts were broken up into three parts. Mornings were all about cardio. “I did 40 minutes today of interval cardio. I guess somewhat high intensity,” he said in an Instagram reel posted at the start of his camp. “I do 45-50 seconds on the stairmaster, at level 14 or 15. Then I bring it back down to level 7 or 8. And I’ll recover for the next two minutes. So, it’s basically almost a minute of high intensity and then 2 minute recovery. But you’re keeping a really nice steady state.”
After refuelling and taking care of some other work, Johnson would return to the gym for a weight training session. While he didn’t post his full routine on Instagram, he did give us a number of peeks at his process, which included a lot of upper and lower body work that focussed on endurance and toning. (4 sets of 12-15 reps per exercise.)
The third session of the day was when he’d get into more martial arts-specific training.
How did The Rock Train for The Smashing Machine?
Part Two: MMA
Johnson didn’t post a specific routine for his martial arts training, either, but he was putting in 60-90 minute MMA training sessions at Black House MMA in California. He also posted a number of impressive training montages on Instagram. They included pad work with Muay Thai and Boxing techniques, BJJ and amateur wrestling training, and some classic MMA ground and pound. He even participated in some full-contact sparring.
“Combat sports and MMA is new to me,” he admitted in an Instagram post. “I have a base in wrestling and a little bit of amateur wrestling that I did, but this is a whole new world.”
The Rock went on to say that he was approaching his training with a boundless respect for all MMA fighters, especially pioneers like Mark Kerr.
After weeks of what Johnson called the hardest work of his life, he wrapped up his camp by training with the actual Smashing Machine.
“My training camp became complete when the man himself, Mark Kerr trained with us. He’s still a f****** machine, that can close the distance with scary speed and power. I’ll forever be grateful to the core for our his invaluable knowledge he’s been gracious enough to pass onto me and especially for the brotherhood we share. Locking up with Mark, and feeling his press and power – it’s no surprise he was an NCAA, UFC & VALE TUDO Heavyweight Champion,” he wrote in another Instagram post.
We’ll get to see the payoff of all of that hard word when The Smashing Machine hits theaters on October 3.
The Goods
Here are four ProForce products from AWMA that can help you get into fighting shape, too:
- 12 oz ProForce® Leatherette Boxing Gloves are an essential for anyone who wants to learn how to strike like the pros. $44.99 USD.
- ProForce® Combat Tactical Focus Mitt. Training with focus pads or mitts will help you develop the moves and the muscles of a professional fighter. $44.99 USD.
- ProForce® Unfilled Grappling Dummy is a great alternative when you don’t have your own MMA legend on hand to help you with your takedown and submission game. $99.99-$169.99 USD.
- ProForce® Combat MMA Shorts won’t just help you look like an MMA fighter. They’ll also give you the comfort and mobility that you need to train and fight like one, too. $49.99 USD.
