Mark Webster describes himself as a pretty average guy. The 37-year-old startup founder lives in New York City with his wife and their 2-year-old daughter.
Oh, and for the entire month of February, he's eating and working out just like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
While Webster might think he's average, Johnson's diet and fitness routine is anything but that. It involves spending two hours a day at the gym, doing intense lifting and cardio workouts. And of course, there's the famous fish. Back in June, Johnson announced that he eats more than two pounds of cod per day, roughly 821 pounds per year.
So why did Webster, a middle-aged dad, decide to live and train like Johnson, a former professional wrestler, for a whole month?
Now, Webster says he's looking to shake things up again. His Rock-inspired fitness plan is all about "disrupting" his existing regimen and finding new motivation.
"I'd been in a good fitness routine for two years now, but decided to try this to kick myself in the butt," he says.
Using info from interviews with Johnson, as well as details gleaned from the actor's Instagram account, Webster formulated his plan for the month. He works out six days each week, taking Sunday off to rest. There's no rest from the cod though. His diet of seven daily meals remains the same all week.
Here's what a typical day looks like for Webster:
5:00 a.m. — Webster's alarm clock goes off.
5:40 a.m. — He arrives at the gym and starts his workout. First, it's 50 minutes of hard cardio on an elliptical machine.
6:30 a.m. — Webster eats his first breakfast in the lobby at the gym. It consists of 10 ounces of steamed cod, two hard-boiled eggs, and two cups of oatmeal.
6:45 a.m. — He's back in the gym for 60 to 90 minutes of lifting. Each day he works a different muscle group, like legs, arms, or shoulders. For more on the specifics of each workout, click here. He finishes with stretching and foam rolling his muscles.
8:30 a.m. — Webster gets back to his apartment and hits the shower. After, he wakes up his daughter and the two of them eat breakfast together. His second breakfast consists of eight ounces of cod, 12 ounces of sweet potato, and a cup of veggies. Two-year-old Nina, he says, forgoes the fish.
9:30 a.m. — He heads to the office with three packed meals in hand. He'll eat them throughout the day.
11:30 a.m. — Meal number three for the day. It's eight ounces of chicken, two cups of white rice, and another cup of vegetables.
2:30 p.m. — His fourth meal is slightly bigger. Webster eats eight ounces of cod, two cups of rice, yet another cup of vegetables, and tops it all off with a tablespoon of fish oil.
4:30 p.m. — Another meal. This one is eight ounces of steak, 12 ounces of baked potato, and a nice spinach salad for extra vitamin K.
6:45 p.m. — Webster heads home and eats dinner with his family. Yup, you guessed it, more cod. Meal number six includes 10 ounces of cod, two cups of rice, and a salad. During dinner, Webster fires up his rice cooker and gets started on meal prepping for the upcoming days.
9:00 p.m. - Webster's final solid meal of the day is an omelet made with 10 egg whites, a cup of onions, peppers, and mushrooms, and another tablespoon of fish oil.
9:45 p.m. - Webster chugs a protein shake just before he goes to sleep each night.
10:00 p.m. - Bedtime. Though Webster says 10:30 is more realistic most days.
Sound like a lot of work? It is.
"Figuring out food prep has been the biggest disaster so far," Webster says. "I'm basically making three proteins: cod, chicken, and steak, plus all the vegetables and rice. I try and prep two days worth of meals at a time."
Webster sets up an assembly line in his kitchen, lining up 18 plastic containers to fill with his many meals. To save on time, Webster prepares the chicken using a slow cooker and has the fish market steam his cod purchases before he brings them home. His rice cooker makes six cups of rice at a time (that's how much rice Webster is eating in one day), so he has to make a few batches.
"All in, it take about an hour and fifteen minutes to do all the prep," Webster says. "My kitchen becomes like a little cafeteria."
Eating like The Rock doesn't come cheap either. Webster spends between $40 and $50 each day on food for himself. That's about $315 per week, totaling over $1200 for the entire month.
"I eat two and a half pounds of cod daily and that costs $7 a pound," Webster says. "It adds up pretty quickly."
Even though he's eating 5,000 calories a day, Webster says he hasn't gained any weight since starting the experiment.
"Considering I've doubled my calories, it's insane that my scale weight hasn't really changed," Webster says. "I won't be eating like this for the rest of my life, but I will certainly eat differently for the rest of my life after doing this."
We checked in with David L. Katz, M.D., the founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, to get his take on Webster's month-long experiment. He compared the intense 30-day regimen to a person training for a marathon or other major sporting event and believes that there's no reason a healthy 37-year-old couldn't give this a try.
"It's intense — but that can be a good thing," Dr. Katz says. "I presume Mr. Johnson is well informed about nutrition, and is making sensible choices. If the calorie intake is high quality fuel for high level exertion, I don't see a problem with it."
Dr. Katz did warn that Webster should be wary of ending the routine abruptly at the end of the month.
"The long term health effects depend much less on what happens during February, and much more on what is going on when the crocuses come up," Katz says.
So what's next for Webster?
Webster didn't start living like Johnson to physically change his body, but he says he's still seeing results. His abs and shoulders are becoming more defined, while his torso feels wider and flatter. He's charting the changes and his experiences on his blog, "Rock'ing for 30 Days," which you can follow along with here.
While he won't be keeping up with the intense regimen after February, Webster plans to incorporate several aspects of the routine — like more daily cardio and increased calories — into his regular life.
As for the cod?
"I don't think I'll ever eat it again," he says.
