John Cena Gets Brutally Honest About the Real Reason He Opened His Legendary Gym
John Cena Gets Brutally Honest About the Real Reason He Opened His Legendary Gym originally appeared on Men's Fitness.
On the outside, John Cena's gym doesn't look like much—but it's shaped some of WWE's biggest names. Cena gave Stephanie McMahon a tour of, Hard Nocks South, his gym located in Tampa, Florida.
Cena opened Hard Nocks South in 2008 because he was tired of training in gyms he didn't like. He wanted his own space—one built around serious lifting.
"Believe it or not, I was just sick of working out at shitty places," Cena answered when asked about what inspired him to open the gym.
The name comes from Hard Nocks, a gym in Amesbury, Massachusetts owned by Dave Nock where Cena first started lifting.
Before WWE opened its official Performance Center in Orlando, Florida in 2013, Cena's gym became a training ground for many top superstars—including Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.Inside of the gym, there's a stacked dumbbell rack, lifting platforms, power racks, barbells, plates, medicine balls, and more. But you won't find rows of treadmills or fancy equipment, it's purely old school.
If you were expecting an aesthetics-driven, modern gym—this isn't it. The walls are bare, the paint is nonexistent, but the history runs deep.
Hanging next to a massive American flag is a "Top 10 of All Time" board. These are the best lifts ever recorded at the gym. One name stands out: Ettore Ewen—known in WWE as Big E—holding the bench press record with 575 pounds.
"It's Ettore's world and we're all just living in it," Cena says.
The gym has also become a place for support outside of training. "
This is a very safe space for conversation to be kicked around, for you to have a bad day but not stay in a bad day," he says.
The rules of Cena's gym are very simple: no music, no Smith machines, embrace the squat, and rack your weights, as he shared with Muscle and Fitness.
Hard Nocks South is not open to the public.John Cena Gets Brutally Honest About the Real Reason He Opened His Legendary Gym first appeared on Men's Fitness on Jun 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by Men's Fitness on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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