Buff Influencer Bretman Rock Talks Workouts

With some 18 million followers on Instagram, 15.4 million on TikTok, and 8.8 million YouTube subscribers, Bretman Rock has established himself as a leading queer influencer. The buff 24-year-old Filipino influencer who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii and came to fame when his makeup tutorials went viral in 2015. Since then "he has had his own reality TV show, 'MTV's Following: Bretman Rock' (2021), has featured in several music videos, and in October 2021 was the first openly gay man to appear on the cover of Playboy. Rock has received multiple awards and honors for his work on social media including a People's Choice award for 'Beauty Influencer' and an award for 'Breakthrough Social Star' at the 2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards," reads his Wiki entry.

He is also famously known as the BADDEST B*TCH. "He actually is the baddest though – whether it be in makeup, sports, fashion, and many more, he can SLAY them all!" said Instinct Magazine.

The 24-year-old has partnered with numerous makeup brands, as well as having released his memoir titled "You're That Bitch: & Other Cute Lessons About Being Unapologetically Yourself."

In addition to his beauty tutorials, Rock is a comic and performer, equally willing to post a video of him putting diapers on a chicken as well as work-out videos. It was his fitness regimen that was the focus of a recent interview in GQ, which discussed a common misconception.

"When you grow up gay as fuck, you're kind of pencilled in as weak and flamboyant," he says. "It releases such a different serotonin in me knowing that I can lift something heavy, even though I don't look it." From the fifth grade to high school, Rock was part of his school's track team (and almost went to college for it), but now he mostly sticks to heavy bodybuilding workouts.

He says athletics have always been a part of his life. "All the way back to the minute I was born. I was named after the wrestlers Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and The Rock. My dad was really big on sports and my mom was also a sports girl–they bonded through that because she was a volleyball girl and he was a baseball guy. Since I was raised by sports people, with a sports name, I had to be gay and do good in sports. First I did more team playing sports like football and baseball. That's kind of why I stuck to track, because those two sports helped me figure out that I'm not a team player and I love track because either you're fast or you're fucking slow, you know what I mean? There's no such thing as team in track. I stuck with track all the way from fifth grade to high school and I almost went to college for it. But now I just do bodybuilding workouts and I still run as often as I can."

And there are very good reasons why Rock looks so buff – he really works at it.

"(E)very time I tell somebody my training routine they're like, 'there is no way you work out that much,'" Rock said. He goes to the gym from Monday to Friday for bodybuilding workouts where he focuses on a different part of his body every day. On Saturdays, he does group workouts because "during the week it's just me and my trainer and I miss the environment of working out with a lot of people." He calls Sundays "an active rest day. I'll do a hike, I'll go to the beach, or I'll do a run. I even count babysitting as an active rest day because girl, my sister's kids, they be putting me through it. But I am active all throughout the entire week, bad bitches don't take days off, honestly. As long as I'm doing something active every day, that's really all that matters to me. "

He also famously deadlifted 405 pounds in a skirt and made it look easy in a video. That, though, isn't the highest he's been able to lift. "I added 10 more pounds on each side after that video. I failed, but I picked it up again a week after and I got it: 425 is my PR. But if nobody saw it then is it really a PR?"

He also addressed how he takes an ice-cold plunge every day in a video series called "Ice Ice Baddie," which he said started simply because he wanted additional content.

"I was watching a lot of videos of white straight men doing it on TikTok, and I was like, if these white straight men can do it, best believe my gay ass could do it every morning. A quote that really stuck to me was that if you can get in a cold tub every 7:00 a.m., then you can get through anything throughout your entire day. Nothing can bother you. A part of that is honestly correct. It truly has helped me a lot with my mental clarity. I feel like I'm less anxious throughout my day. Time is honestly what gives me the most anxiety–it's so cliche to say, but the two hours go by so fast and it makes me feel like I'm taking my day slower. It helps me stop and think. There's the body benefits as well, I really feel like I'm cracked out every time. I probably can't say that in the article, but I really feel like I could do a whole entire marathon after the ice plunge. But I'm gonna be honest, I did that for two weeks straight every day, and after the two weeks I was like, I cannot be fighting my demons every 7:30 a.m. I need to just do this when my body needs it because I don't wanna hate it."

To read more about Rock, including his dietary regimen, read the GQ interview here.