Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has dropped 22kg over the past year while preparing for his latest film role.

The 54-year-old is set to star as an eccentric 70-something known as the Chicken Man in Lizard Music, meaning his trademark hulking physique wasn’t required. Instead, Johnson has spent the past 12 months getting noticeably leaner.

That hasn’t stopped him training as hard as ever, though. Johnson still lifts six days a week to maintain as much strength as possible, dedicating two sessions to his favourite body part – legs – while also splitting the rest of his week between arms and abs, back, chest and shoulders.

‘I train legs twice a week – the hardest body part, it’s my favourite body part to train,’ Johnson said in a recent Instagram video. ‘I train legs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. My leg workout in the middle of the week is just as intense as it is on Saturday, but Saturday is the big day – the weekend leg day. On Wednesday I focus more on volume and posterior chain, but the intensity is still the same and I finish with 25 to 30 minutes of cardio on the stair stepper.’

It’s a return to a more traditional style of training for the Hollywood star, who previously spent four hours a day preparing to play MMA legend Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine. That preparation involved three daily sessions covering MMA technique, cardio and weights, with director Benny Safdie wanting Johnson to appear ‘bigger’ and ‘puffier’.

For Lizard Music – also directed by Safdie – the brief has been very different.

‘My current weight is 106kg and holding conditioning very nicely,’ Johnson says.

Achieving that physique has required Johnson to pay particularly close attention to his nutrition. Recent posts have detailed his pre-, intra- and post-workout meals, designed to support the weight cut while remaining sustainable.

‘[I] wanted to be strategic and wise about the weight cut and not implement anything extreme. My high-carb days (approx 450 grams of carbs) fall on my two leg days and Sunday, and my low- to medium-carb days (250-300g) fill out the rest of the week,’ he explained.

‘[I] feel phenomenal at this weight. Strength, endurance and pumps with training are all fantastic – cardiovascular is excellent and holding conditioning nice and tight. Of course my muscle fullness fluctuates through the week with lower-carb days, but nothing a few pre-workout rice cakes, honey and a pinch of salt can’t fix.’

Pre-Workout

• 140g rice
• 50g protein powder
• 140-150g frozen blueberries
• Ice
• Water

‘Not reinventing the wheel here, but started blending my rice with my protein powder for a fast-digesting pre-workout,’ Johnson says. ‘Usually I do the old-school Cream of Rice (orange box), which has always been the staple, but this blended jasmine rice change-up works great too. By the time I get to my first round of working sets I’m ready to go. Good to add to your rotation – give it a shot and let me know.’

Intra-Workout

• 50g dextrin carbs
• ½ teaspoon Himalayan salt
• EAAs
• 275-300mg caffeine
• 10g creatine

Post-Workout

• 75g protein powder
• 140-150g frozen blueberries
• Ice
• Stevia
• 125g rice

‘Post-workout meal since I’m always on the go and don’t have time to sit down and eat,’ he says. ‘Blend. Enjoy.’