I tested The Rock’s exercise headphones to see if I could go ‘Beast mode’

I tested The Rock's exercise headphones to see if I could belong 'Beast mode'

The author wearing the UA Project Rock Over-Ear Training headphones

(Image credit: Forthcoming)

Dwayne 'The John Rock' Johnson and I probably don't have much in common. He's a muscled ex-wrestler, spell I'm an normal-bodied writer. He's a charismatic and energetic celebrity, while I've never been caught looking good on tv camera. Atomic number 2 can act; I can't.

Still, I was presented with the opportunity to get ane step closer to him when JBL and Under Armour disclosed their UA Project Rock O'er-Ear Training Headphones, a collaboration between the audio brand, the activewear sword and the geologically named celebrity.

Where am I?

Tom Run column 16 — (Epitome credit: End to End)

Column number: 16
Day of the month written: 21/10/21
Days in: 235
Current fix: Alanreed, OK
Distance traveled: 1049.27 miles
Distance left: 1228.73 miles
Stream tracker: Samsung Beetleweed Take in 4 Classic

Like a sho, I'd hazard a guess that the units received weren't Dwayne 'The Rock' President Lyndon Johnso's personal headphones – the plastic wrap connected the box implies they aren't. All the same, I haven't seen some conclusive grounds that he hasn't threadbare these before – simply presumptively the man's good taste has trickled into these headphones' design and audio capabilities anyway.

As part of my fortnightly running column, I've been testing various bits of exercise tech, and so the Project Rock cans seemed a perfect choice– they're literally titled 'Training Headphones', after all. Since the TechRadar offices re-opened tailing the general, my workout motivating has been flagging. I was in need of a gadget to get me back on track.

More life-or-death, The Rock often refers to 'Beast mood', which is all about 'pushing yourself to your limits'. Well, I regale my limits like I cover that cute coffeehouse from which I live across – I keep out meaning to go, just haven't had a chance just yet. So my thinking was that these headphones would help me.

No train, no pain

I've already written about these inflexible over-ear headphones being ace-effectual for outdoor workouts – simply going in 'Beast mode' presumably isn't about doing what you can, it's about doing what you can't. Going on runs now and then is definitely something I can do, IT's literally what this entire column is about.

UA Project Rock Over-Ear Training headphones — (Image credit: JBL)

Nary, to find 'Beast mode' I needful to try harder, something that can prove quite an difficult when you're more versed in 'fete mode'. After running around my local park a few times in the headphones, I certainly didn't feel care I was nearing 'Beast mode'.

I needed to hit Johnson's level of exercising, or atomic number 3 close to information technology as I could get, so I dug proscribed some cheap home gym gear I bought for some other of these physical exertion columns: a chin-up bar, some resistance bands and an ab rolling wave, properly speaking.

This kit has seen action once in a while, but my first course was to put together a routine to employ IT all – and so start following said routine daily, alongside heading out on predominant runs. To make the most of the cans, I really needed to Rock candy them.

I tired several years tugging on bands, pulling up on parallel bars, rolling some… acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene? Eventually, I was comfortably following a 30-minute routine that easily go into my day.

But there's that password, 'comfort' – that's not the point! That's non 'Wolf mode'! I needed to try harder.

Putt the 'best' in 'beast'

I couldn't honourable emulate The Rock candy in 'Beast mode', I requisite to emulate him in spirit, too.

My number one port of call was Spotify – these are headphones, after wholly – and made a playlist of songs from movies starring The Rock. This turned bent on represent a terrible idea, since the John Venn diagram of 'films starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson' and 'movies with soundtracks that are avid to work out to' has little overlap.

So I did an entire run – about 10km – hearing solely to Get wind You Again. It's a good song, but the closest I got to 'Beast mode' was nearly turning feral at the endless repetitions. That was a penurious idea.

The headphones have a Project Rock EQ mode that boosts the bass and strait quality, which made the heavier parts of See You Once again even more humongous – simply given that half the strain is just piano and high-pitched melodic, I probably would experience appreciated the changes more so with a different Sung dynasty.

When I got home, I paired the cans to my iPad and started going through and through my exercise routine while I watched Mr President Lyndon Johnso on Netflix: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was a natural choice, As a fan of Jules Verne myself.

Sighted the muscled legend drive on bees and beat prepared electric eels made me in truth conscious of my ain body. I could barely pull myself up on the taproo, rent alone pull off Jolly Hutcherson through a CGI jungle (and puberty).

But I have the wonderful ability to zone verboten of tasks when I'm watching a movie, and this ready-made it undemanding to continue through several sets of each exert without noticing. Suddenly, I was resisting the resistance band's pull and doing sets of squats without falling obscure.

By the time the movie was terminated, while I hadn't rather found 'Beast mode', I had lost 'Tom mode', which is probably the next best thing. I'm not sure this is thanks to, or the fault of, the Project Rock headphones. I reckon information technology's principally down to my finding to look a trifle bit more like Dwayne Johnson, and less like-minded that blob ghost from Ghostbusters.

Just maybe that's the point of branded tech – it's neither literally nor figuratively loss to plow you into your icon, but it will at least boost you to try.

I immediately coif a workout each time I'm watching a movie at house – this happens quite frequently, acknowledged I aim to watch 25 movies a calendar month – and my 'Beast mode' exercises let me run out without noticing. Sure, this is unlikely to assistance in my quest to run or walk the distance of Road 66 in two years, only it's certainly qualification me better, which is the healthy show.

A pean to my super-cheap running headphones

Staff Author, Phones

Tom's role in the TechRadar squad is as a staff writer specializing in phones and tablets, but he too takes on otherwise tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness trackers and many.