NEED TO KNOW
\nDwayne “The Rock” Johnson maintains his muscular body through a mix of diet and exerciseAt a point, he consumed up to 8,000 calories a day while still enjoying a massive weekly cheat mealThe actor shifts his workout schedule for certain roles, including getting “bigger” to play Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine<\/p>\n
Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson<\/a>\u2019s name is practically synonymous with massive muscles. So when he stepped out with a visibly slimmer physique<\/a> at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, the internet went a little wild with speculation about what happened to his Herculean body.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The former WWE star and football player has yet to comment on any weight loss rumors. But Johnson has been historically vocal about the hard work required to build \u2014 and maintain \u2014 his large, chiseled frame. Especially when a role has required him to go bigger.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal was to bring in the best physique of my career,\u201d he told Men\u2019s Health<\/a> in a November 2022 interview for his film Black Adam. \u201cWhen you have that suit on, every detail shows. Man, it was constant work, constant tweaking, tweaking, tweaking for months.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Playing UFC fighter Mark Kerr<\/a> in the 2025 film The Smashing Machine<\/a> was no different. In May 2024, Johnson admitted<\/a> to his Instagram followers that training in combat sports and MMA was \u201ca whole new world,\u201d adding: \u201cI’ve been working my a– off, this is truly a team effort to be able to do something like this.\u201d\n<\/p>\n From his blockbuster training routine to his famous cheat meals, here\u2019s everything Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson has said about his health.\n<\/p>\n He ate up to 8,000 calories a day at one point <\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson attends “The Smashing Machine” red carpet during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 01, 2025.<\/p>\n Stefania D’Alessandro\/WireImage<\/p>\n The Rock has been built on years of well-balanced meals \u2014 and a lot of them. Johnson reportedly ate between 6,000 and 8,000 calories a day when he was at the peak of his wrestling career.\n<\/p>\n Now, his meals are spread out between six a day, according to interviews with Men\u2019s Health and Delish<\/a>. He also works with multiple nutrition experts to make sure those meals meet his \u201cvery specific\u201d macronutrient requirements. Doing so has allowed him to see results quickly without hunger pains.\n<\/p>\n \u201cMy philosophy is to eat clean and make sure that my diet is commensurate with my goals, which stay consistent throughout the year,\u201d the Moana star told Men\u2019s Health. \u201cIt\u2019s better to stay in shape than to get in shape.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Johnson said he picked up the \u201cboring\u201d habit of eating the same thing every day from his dad, pro wrestler Rocky Johnson<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe taught me very early on not to eat to please the tongue but to eat to nourish the body,\u201d the actor recalled. \u201cHe taught me that when I was five. That\u2019s probably why I need therapy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He\u2019s an advocate for big cheat meals <\/p>\n Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson makes french toast in March 2022.<\/p>\n There\u2019s still room for fun in Johnson\u2019s disciplined diet. The actor has gone viral multiple times for posting big-portioned cheat meals like five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches<\/a> and his \u201cworld-famous Rock pancakes<\/a>\u201d on Instagram.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n After being named PEOPLE\u2019s Sexiest Man Alive in 2016, Johnson revealed that he had a weekly indulgence<\/a> of \u201cmassive amounts of cheat food.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt can\u2019t just can\u2019t be a normal, like, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go have some burgers and fries, it\u2019s a nice cheat meal,’ \u201d the actor explained, adding that he has a \u201cone is none\u201d rule. \u201cGet two, three, four, five of it, just a whole bunch and just lay it all out. Big cheat meals.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He does a mix of cardio and weight training <\/p>\n Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson smiles for a photo in September 2024.<\/p>\n Dwyane Johnson\/Instagram<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s workout routine depends on what he\u2019s training for. While prepping for The Smashing Machine, he told his Instagram followers that his regimen included morning cardio and strength training<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n As he\u2019s gotten older, the actor has started to \u201ctrain smarter\u201d by learning to listen to his body and let go of \u201cego training.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He told Men\u2019s Health, \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between the pain that you can work through\u2014and that\u2019s good to work through\u2014and the pain where you have to stop what you\u2019re doing and take care of that particular part of your body that\u2019s hurt.\u201d\n<\/p>\n An old wrestling injury changed the way his stomach looks <\/p>\n Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson during WrestleMania 40 on April 06, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Tim Nwachukwu\/Getty<\/p>\n In a 2021 Wired<\/a> interview with his Jungle Cruise costar Emily Blunt<\/a> (who he would later reunite with in The Smashing Machine), Johnson answered the \u201cf—– up\u201d Google search, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with The Rock\u2019s abs?\u201d\n<\/p>\n “There’s nothing wrong with them,” the Baywatch star said, adding that his \u201cfive-and-a-half pack\u201d was due to a prior wrestling injury<\/a> where he tore the top quad off of his pelvis.\n<\/p>\n He said, \u201cThat caused a chain reaction and it tore my abdomen wall. So then I had to do a triple hernia emergency surgery … so, they’re not, like, perfect abs.”\n<\/p>\n He spent years fixing a gut issue <\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson at the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n Gilbert Flores\/Variety via Getty<\/p>\n Even with an intense workout routine and a perfectly tweaked diet, Johnson still spent years struggling to digest his food properly. After connecting with functional medicine expert Dr. Mark Hyman<\/a>, he learned that his gut lining had been damaged after two rounds of antibiotics.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cI was just getting ready to launch into what would what would become a nine-month work for me,\u201d the actor said in a June 2025 interview on The Dr. Hyman Show.<\/a> \u201cI was thinking, \u2018Holy s—, how am I gonna get through this with my gut issues?’ \u201d\n<\/p>\n Within eight weeks of taking probiotics and plant chemicals like green tea, pomegranate and cranberry, Johnson said his body was back \u201con the right track.\u201d\n<\/p>\n He was asked to get \u201cbigger\u201d for his role in The Smashing Machine <\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr in ‘The Smashing Machine’.<\/p>\n \u00a9 A24 \/ courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Director Benny Safdie<\/a> revealed that he asked Johnson to get \u201cbigger\u201d and \u201cpuffier\u201d to play Kerr in The Smashing Machine. And to his amazement, the actor was up for the task of trying to match the wrestler\u2019s \u201cunique\u201d silhouette.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very specific training because if you think about it, Mark, as an amateur wrestler, there’s movements that he would do constantly all day that would just build certain fast twitch muscles,\u201d Johnson said during an August 2025 press conference for the film, per E! News<\/a>. \u201cYou know, I’m in my fifth level of life. [But] when Benny Safdie says, \u2018Hey, I need you to \u2026 ,\u2019 [I go], ‘Okay, I’ll try it.’ \u201d<\/p>\n