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John Cena: Daily Routine

On Daily Routines, we profile successful leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, executives and athletes to explore the routines, schedules, habits and typical day in their life.

American professional wrestler, actor, and television presenter, John Cena, spoke to Vanity Fair in 2018 about his daily routine and a typical day in his life.

Interview highlights:

  • Morning routine: Cena usually wakes up between 6-7am. He never snoozes his alarm clock.
  • He works out after breakfast.
  • In 2018 he was learning a second language – Mandarin.
  • Sleep routine: he’s typically in bed by 11pm, and likes to play sleep catch up once every few days.

Transcript:

Hi, I’m John Cena, and this is everything I do in a day. I wake up between the hours of six and seven with an alarm. If the wake up time is past 7am, it’s by the sun. I think personally, snooze is the worst device ever invented.

I immediately get into the shower. In the shower I wash myself, shave in the shower, then brush my teeth, moisturize, leave the bathroom, begin to get dressed. I check my phone after the shower and before I get dressed.

I usually have two choices of breakfast. I don’t mean to be Warren Buffet. It’s not like I’m spending 2.73 or 3.13. I usually have a protein shake, which is made up of one cup of milk, one cup of water, two scoops of protein. Or I have a mixture of four scrambled eggs, Swiss cheese, bacon, and some sort of sauteed vegetables.

I’m fully dressed at this point, whether it’s in a suit or the classic John Cena T-shirt, ball cap, jean shorts. I do not watch TV in the morning. As a matter of fact, I watch very little TV throughout the day. During breakfast it’s more like a morning conference where I review what’s going on for the day, meetings or business I may have. I get that out of the way and I prepare for it.

I do my first workout promptly after breakfast. I believe that’s when your memory is at its peak so sometimes I choose to study. Usually it’s head to the gym and get business done. My workout always consists first of warm up. At my age, I have to get the body ready for motion. So it’s about 45 to an hour of warm up, which seems like a long time, but I’m asking a lot of my body. So I need to get it prepared.

Then I go to work. The days are split; four days of the week, two lower full body days, two upper full body days. You’ll find movements like bench press, pull ups, deadlifts, clean snatch, overhead press, etc. I shower after the gym because honestly I do work up a nice sweat and funk, so you always want to be clean for the rest of the day.

I get in my car and go to the next point of business. Whether that’d be returning home on a rare occasion or going to the next meeting place and business. It depends what kind of car I drive, because if I’m on the road, which is most of the time, I’m usually in a scheduled sedan, or if I’m lucky enough, I’ll be in the confines of a wonderful tour bus. If I’m at home, it depends. Sometimes I feel like driving a Jeep Wrangler, maybe other times a little something more exotic.

If I do listen to anything, I listened to NPR because I feel like it’s a way for me to think. And I feel as if they’re open-minded enough to give you the views they want on topics, but also to make me come to my own conclusions.

I use Google Maps, if I’m going someplace unfamiliar. Most of the time I go to the same places to do the same things. So, I use Cena Maps.

It’s always kind of time to eat. The meals are spread out on three hour intervals, but they’re very small. It could be a 230 calories protein bar, or maybe another two scoops of protein with two cups of water. I am always trying to maintain some sort of activity. If errands fall in my lap, I will run them. I don’t try to put off anything or procrastinate. I try to handle what’s in front of me when it’s in front of me. So if I do have errands, this would be the time to do them.

For leisure, I actually like to just keep my mind going. I’m learning a second language. I try to study Mandarin, if I can. That takes about 35 to 45 minutes at a whack, maybe an hour. And I truly enjoy messing around with the piano. It’s something that I started about a year and a half ago and I’m not very good, but I get better every day. And it’s very important to me because it keeps my mind sharp, but it also music comes out and that’s very soothing to this savage beast.

I try not to take a lot of phone calls during the day. I know phone calls are filled with conversation and sometimes conversations can get away from you. So I try to prioritize, what is this person’s agenda? What would they like? And if it constitutes a call, I will call them. I call my mom often because that’s the person I don’t mind spending a lot of my time talking to. I call my mom and I call the woman I love: Nicole. And those are probably the two most familiar numbers on my phone.

So the food before the food, as in the meal before dinner would simply constitute again, of two scoops of protein, two cups of water or a small protein bar. Usually I get home around 5, 6 or 7pm. Around that time I officially end my day. As in any business, any agenda is over with. I choose if I’m so lucky to be in the company of my bride to be, that is the start of our day.

For dinner. We usually have someone else prepare and I can say, if this is order a takeout or on the rare occasion where we’re hosting, we have someone come to the house and prepare, or on many occasions we actually go out to eat. This is where time escapes me and this is where I don’t necessarily watch the clock. It’s like being in a casino. We could go to dinner at 7pm and walk out of a restaurant at one in the morning.

I normally get into bed. I would safely say around 11pm. I do not wear anything to bed. If I’ve had too much to drink, I get up to pee at night. If I do dream, they aren’t dreams that I remember. Hours of sleep is a variant. So I like to play the catch-up game when it comes to sleeping. I will average for like a five-day stretch between one and four hours of sleep. And then on day six, I will sleep for eight hours sometimes possibly 12 hours and then repeat the cycle again.

Before you go…

Check out more daily routines from Barack Obama, Joe Rogan, Jeff Bezos, Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet and plenty others.

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About Author

Hey there! I'm Hao, the Editor-in-Chief at Balance the Grind. We’re on a mission to showcase healthy work-life balance through interesting stories from people all over the world, in different careers and lifestyles.