If there’s a human version of the perfect design, it’s John Cena. It’s difficult to gauge whether we’re at Cena 2.0, Cena 3.0, or something even later, since his range of skills could position him as a game show host, the lead in a major motion picture, a sketch-comedy cutup, or a WWE elder statesman who drops into Raw and other productions to throw a few taunts and elbows. Cena’s most recent achievement is playing firefighter Jake Carson in the family comedy Playing With Fire (released Nov. 8). It’s the latest of his cinematic turns as a lovable brute with a big heart and a twinkle in his eye.
While mainstream moviegoers may see Cena, 42, as an overnight success, he’s the first to tell you the journey has been anything but quick and easy. Cena’s rise in popular culture has been steady but not glitch-free. As with any well-designed product, the strategic improvements had to be updated before the final version hit the market.
“The movie thing has been almost 20 years in the making. The hosting stuff has been 10 years of promoting WWE,” says Cena, who currently helms Nickelodeon’s Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? “I understand why people say, ‘Man, you came out of nowhere.’ But I know myself, I know my journey. I know exactly what it took to get here, and I know exactly where I want to go.”
And that’s the key to the latest design of John Cena. He’s his own creation.
“I have known with a clean and surgical purpose every single deed from the second I picked up my first weight at 12 years old,” says Cena, who grew up in West Newbury, MA. “That’s the sole difference between me and someone who says, ‘Well, I kind of want to do that.’ You say you want to continue to raise the bar, what are you doing now to raise it? We just don’t ask ourselves that question enough.”
It was his stints on ESPN and WWE programs that opened the door to hosting, one of those media jobs that look a lot easier than they are. As any WWE superstar will tell you, doing any outside gig while mired in the brutal WWE schedule is usually a pipe dream. But Cena was willing to put in the time and effort.
“The hosting work was essen-tially betting on myself,” he says. “A lot of this stuff, I’ve been fortunate enough to do, but it comes with tremendous sacrifice.”
Not that he’s complaining, of course. In fact, it was all part of the plan.
“I remember working Sunday night shows, flying to do the Today show, then flying to Raw, and then flying back to the Today show. But that’s on me. I’m orchestrating all of that.”
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock / Shutterstock
Multiple Blockbusters
Cena has a series of roles in huge movies coming up in the next couple of years that should further advance his film ambitions. In 2020, he’ll be featured in Fast & Furious 9, Project X-Traction (with Jackie Chan), and Dolittle, the Robert Downey Jr. remake of Dr. Dolittle. (Cena will be voicing an “upbeat polar bear” in the film.) He’s currently filming the Suicide Squad sequel.
These are some of the most highly anticipated films scheduled to be released in 2020 and 2021, and they should bring in billions in the box office. But that doesn’t mean Cena won’t continue his stints on TV and other projects. How does he find the time? It’s the result of a tireless work ethic and lessons he learned after breaking into the WWE in 2002.
“WWE taught me to make the plate really heavy,” explains Cena, a 13-time WWE champ. “It’s a grind. Where other people would find the labor too intensive, my attitude was, ‘All right, let’s roll up our sleeves and get it done,’ because that’s just the nature of the beast.”
That beast was created by Vince McMahon, chairman and CEO of WWE and a man Cena considers a mentor. McMahon’s leadership was especially important during a low point of Cena’s career, when he felt he failed in his first starring role in a 2006 film backed by McMahon called The Marine.
“I have no problem taking accountability for that. None. If something goes wrong, the best thing to do is put it on your shoulders,” says Cena, who learned how to handle the setback by McMahon’s example. “That’s a lesson that I’ve learned from him. Be accountable for your failures. Vince takes accountability for everything—no matter what. And he’s probably the most valuable mentor in my life.”
As you would expect with somebody who doesn’t take himself too seriously, Cena admits to being less than perfect. But mistakes are inevitable. What’s important is that you grow from them.
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Pranto Podder/performix / M+F Magazine
How China Changed His Training
Case in point: weight training. A constant in Cena’s life, his workout program has gone through significant changes over the years. Age, travel, career pressures, wear and tear—it all adds up.
And it all came to a head when Cena was filming Project X-Traction. The Chinese-funded production was shot in China, which required Cena to live in the country for six months. It was there that he discovered the limitations of his emphasis on strength training.
“Living in China gave me an honest assessment,” admits Cena. “It’s a completely different environment that’s more focused on speed and flexibility rather than strength. Being there for six months, I was forced to adapt.” For years, the 6’1″ actor and WWE superstar had carried 250 pounds on his thick frame. But in China, he quickly learned that range of motion was far more valued over brute strength.
“They would say, ‘Dude, I don’t care how much you bench or squat, can you touch your foot to your head?’ I said, ‘No. Who can do that?’ ‘Well, everyone here. And, by the way, you’re going to start, and we’re going to begin by stretching you out like taffy.’ ”
His Chinese colleagues had a point. “I didn’t do enough flexibility, simply out of neglect. I couldn’t move very well,” he says.
Cena learned the value of stretching, and it’s now a high priority (more on that later). His entire outlook changed dramatically. While he’s lost size and strength as a result, he’s gained more functional ability and has suffered fewer aches and pains.
“I actually lost 20 pounds. Now I’m about 240-ish, and I’ve basically taken 50 kilograms [112.5 pounds] off the bar on every lift. But I feel better. I’ve always had back problems, but after seven months of stretching and working on flexibility, I have none.”
Don’t worry, longtime Cena fans. He’s still superhero-size. But he came to the realization that aging deserves respect, and hard training can be just as satisfying even if you’re not going for personal records and maximum muscle size. To Cena, the most important principle is consistency, no matter what your goals are.
“People will ask me, ‘What’s the best advice you can give somebody?’ They’re expecting me to say, ‘Well, bro, here’s the secret.’ The secret is commit. Commit and do the work. I get tired of people not believing me when I say that.”
Making a Difference with kids and Vets Cena’s success and his family–friendly image have earned him the adulation of children around the world, and he has responded. He holds the record for most wishes granted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation with more than 600 and counting. To Cena, it’s time well spent.
“People always ask me about Make-A-Wish, saying things like, ‘Dude, that must be so hard.’ No way! Make-A-Wish is awesome. The families are excited, the kids are excited. It’s happiness. I’m aware that they’re facing some difficult times. I tell them I can’t relate, but I can listen. I’m there with the mindset that I’m supposed to bring joy to these people. And by the way, they bring equal joy to me.”
Somehow, Cena has found time for another worthy organization called the FitOps Foundation. FitOps was created in 2016 by Matt Hesse, a veteran himself and CEO of Performix—a sports company with gyms and world-class supplements. Its brand mantra: “Fuel Your Purpose.”
Hesse created the foundation to help veterans replace the loss of purpose many feel when they return home from serving their country with a career in the fitness industry. FitOps holds camps in Arkansas and Georgia (it’s in the process of establishing a permanent base of operations in northern Arkansas) that offer personal training certification for qualifying veterans. FitOps equips vets with newly acquired skills to help them transition from serving on the battlefield to changing clients’ lives. Hesse believes his personal mission is to address veteran suicide through the power of fitness and has enlisted Cena to tackle the massive endeavor with him.
Cena has long been an enthusiastic supporter of U.S. military forces. In 2019, he pledged to match all donations made to FitOps between Sept. 30 and Nov. 11 (Veterans Day), up to $1 million. He’s also been making personal appearances at its training locations. But there’s no red carpet or entourage involved when Cena arrives, just camaraderie and iron. To Cena, it’s a humbling and rewarding experience to train with vets.
“It didn’t matter who I was to them. They were weeks into their camp, and I’m the new guy. I’m over in a corner just warming up, out of everybody’s way, and one of the veterans says, ‘Hey, what do you want to do? Doing lower-body stuff?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, let’s squat.’ ”
As with the Make-A-Wish children, he recognizes that he hasn’t had the same experiences as the veterans. “I have never tried to put myself in their shoes. I always just let them know, ‘Guys, this is life in my lens, and this is the thing that I can offer you. And I’m a good listener, so let’s just hash it out.’ ”
It says a lot about Cena that he’s just as comfortable around seasoned military vets as he is around children stricken with serious illnesses. He has a natural empathetic outlook and is able to make a genuine emotional connection with people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds. To Cena, it’s about living with a purpose.
“I just don’t go to work,” he says. “I want to be involved with things I love. And that is the main driving force that’s keeping me going.”
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Pranto Podder/Performix
Making a Difference with kids and Vets
Cena’s success and his family–friendly image have earned him the adulation of children around the world, and he has responded. He holds the record for most wishes granted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation with more than 600 and counting. To Cena, it’s time well spent.
“People always ask me about Make-A-Wish, saying things like, ‘Dude, that must be so hard.’ No way! Make-A-Wish is awesome. The families are excited, the kids are excited. It’s happiness. I’m aware that they’re facing some difficult times. I tell them I can’t relate, but I can listen. I’m there with the mindset that I’m supposed to bring joy to these people. And by the way, they bring equal joy to me.”
Somehow, Cena has found time for another worthy organization called the FitOps Foundation. FitOps was created in 2016 by Matt Hesse, a veteran himself and CEO of Performix—a sports company with gyms and world-class supplements. Its brand mantra: “Fuel Your Purpose.”
Hesse created the foundation to help veterans replace the loss of purpose many feel when they return home from serving their country with a career in the fitness industry. FitOps holds camps in Arkansas and Georgia (it’s in the process of establishing a permanent base of operations in northern Arkansas) that offer personal training certification for qualifying veterans. FitOps equips vets with newly acquired skills to help them transition from serving on the battlefield to changing clients’ lives. Hesse believes his personal mission is to address veteran suicide through the power of fitness and has enlisted Cena to tackle the massive endeavor with him.
Cena has long been an enthusiastic supporter of U.S. military forces. In 2019, he pledged to match all donations made to FitOps between Sept. 30 and Nov. 11 (Veterans Day), up to $1 million. He’s also been making personal appearances at its training locations. But there’s no red carpet or entourage involved when Cena arrives, just camaraderie and iron. To Cena, it’s a humbling and rewarding experience to train with vets.
“It didn’t matter who I was to them. They were weeks into their camp, and I’m the new guy. I’m over in a corner just warming up, out of everybody’s way, and one of the veterans says, ‘Hey, what do you want to do? Doing lower-body stuff?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, let’s squat.’ ” As with the Make-A-Wish children, he recognizes that he hasn’t had the same experiences as the veterans. “I have never tried to put myself in their shoes. I always just let them know, ‘Guys, this is life in my lens, and this is the thing that I can offer you. And I’m a good listener, so let’s just hash it out.’”
It says a lot about Cena that he’s just as comfortable around seasoned military vets as he is around children stricken with serious illnesses. He has a natural empathetic outlook and is able to make a genuine emotional connection with people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds. To Cena, it’s about living with a purpose.
“I just don’t go to work,” he says. “I want to be involved with things I love. And that is the main driving force that’s keeping me going.”
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Vic Huber / M+F Magazine
John Cena Redesigned
Rob MacIntyre has known John Cena since they attended the Cushing Academy together in Ashburnham, MA. As his longtime trainer at his gym, Hard Nocks South in Tampa, MacIntyre has helped Cena transition his physique to fit whatever project he’s involved with at the time.
In 2018, when Cena spent six months in China filming Project X-Traction with Jackie Chan, he found himself pressed to display more flexibility by the martial-arts-trained athletes surrounding him. So he shifted his training focus to performing more stretching and lighter weight work. Cena gained mobility but lost muscle size and strength.
To MacIntyre, Cena’s new approach post-China was a necessary corrective.
“It was a complete upheaval in his lifestyle,” MacIntyre says. “John especially gets set in his ways when something works. It takes a major push to get him to change.
I can tell him all day that he should be doing X and Y before his workout, but he won’t listen until either it stops working or he lives in Asia for six months.” MacIntyre believes that the wear and tear of all those years crashing around inside the WWE squared circle also set Cena up for a change.
“The ring has a lot to do with it as well. It involves constant impact on the body, and China was months away from that.” Today, Cena trains differently. “Now it will be 20 minutes warming up to break a sweat just so I don’t pull anything, then 40 minutes of stretching, and then probably 40 minutes of lifting,” says Cena. “Before, it would be, like, 10 minutes of band work to get my elbows and hips open and then two and a half hours of lifting as heavy as I could go.”
Cena’s new dexterity comes with a price. He’s lost strength. And for somebody with PRs of 611 pounds on the squat, a bench press of 487 pounds, and a 364-pound clean, that can shake up your ego.
“People said, ‘Hey, you used to train like an animal. What the hell happened?’ My performance in the ring is known for strong-guy stuff,” says Cena. “I’ve worked out my entire life, and I love strength. I just don’t want to let that go.”
MacIntyre says that Cena’s schedule, underscored by his China experience, also impacts his usual hardcore workouts in fundamental ways.
“Another factor related to China is the amount of movies he has been filming back-to-back,” MacIntyre says. “You don’t always have great facilities, and the schedule can be very tight.”
Having guided Cena for decades in the gym, MacIntyre understands how to acclimate the busy actor to the vicissitudes of age and travel.
“Training for great strength takes concentration and an ability to recover from the workouts instead of being pressed for time and switching to night shoots,” says MacIntyre. “It isn’t the time to push him or for him to push himself beyond maintenance. Of course, maintenance for him would be more than most people. I always say training is about steps. You take a step up to another level, then you kind of maintain, then make another push.”
MacIntyre understands that Cena doesn’t get paid to train—he gets paid to entertain. If you think of Cena as an athlete, movie sets are his field of play.
“John’s ‘season’ is filming. That’s the job he gets paid for, so training must complement that rather than compete with it.”
As somebody who grew up with Cena and is near the same age, MacIntyre understands how his friend’s physiology is being battered by Father Time.
“As we age it is harder to dictate those pushes,” he says. “You have to listen to your body more and work with it. You can certainly still get strong or big or lean in your 40s and beyond, but the swings are bigger than in your 20s, when it is easier to beat yourself up yet still improve.” So get used to a sleeker, more flexible John Cena. He’s already used to it.
“I wake up without having to do a rolling technique in the morning,” he says. “I sleep well now.”
