Master of Her Own Universe

If you know of Dany Garcia, it's likely because of her role as Dwayne "the Rock Johnson's ex-wife and business manager. But Garcia has a new game plan and she's putting herself front and center.

- By Christine Lagorio-Chafkin. Photography by Carlos Jaramillo

Phil Collins is on the speakers, and Dany Garcia is lying on a mat in her family gym in Orlando, doing V-ups.

She holds a medicine ball in the air, arms extended over her head and torso, which is angled about 45 degrees off the floor. Her legs also create a 45-degree angle from the floor. "It probably doesn't look like a V," she says. Oh, it does. Her body forms an unbelievably precise V. And she performs 30 of these, flawlessly. She moves on to bentover lateral raises, three sets of eight reps, and reverse-grip pushdowns. Over the next hour, she executes five other exercises-all this after 20 minutes of muscle rolling. It's Wednesday, and it's shoulder day.

Between sets, there are short pauses. Garcia might use each pause to dance a little, or sing a line along with Collins. "My dancing is unnecessary," she jokes. But the pause is not. It's prescribed; precisely 60 or sometimes as long as 90 seconds, which tick by on her iPhone timer. The pause, Garcia says, has "changed everything."

Her husband, Dave Rienzi, a pro bodybuilder and strength coach, created this training plan-it has a three-ring binder and a cover sheet that reads "Eight Weeks to Undeniable." But at 55, Garcia has been lifting for decades. She competed as a bodybuilder for eight years, and still calculates everything she does and ingests. She's up at 6:30 to do fasted cardio, and eats breakfast at 8:30. By 9, she's showered and in workout clothes, for some quiet time to research and think. By 11, she's at the gym for two hours of weight training. By 1 or 2, she's at her desk, ready to work. Two meals fit in the afternoon-she eats five times a day and dinner with Rienzi is at 7.