Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
Hi, I’m Christopher E. Hudspeth and I’ve been a fan of Michael B. Jordan’s work for years.
Back in June, the Creed II trailer dropped and after watching it 14 times I said, “Yo, I wonder if I could get in shape like that?” which was kinda weird because I was alone in my room talking out loud to nobody.
View this video on YouTube
That’s where Corey Calliet comes in. He’s a celebrity trainer who you may’ve seen on Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, and he’s been working with Michael B. Jordan for years.
@mrcalliet / Via instagram.com, instagram.com
I reached out to Corey and over the next couple of months, plans were made to dedicate 30 days in October to a workout regimen and diet inspired by what Michael B. Jordan endured for the role of Adonis Creed.
The goal was simple: See if someone who has a 9-5 can quickly get into boxer-esque condition like actors do for movie roles.
Because I knew so far in advance that I’d be on a strict diet, I was eating out and buying whatever junk foods I pleased from the store.
Just accidentally said, “oh hell yeah” so loud that multiple ppl in the store turned around to see why, but it was just because I saw a thickly frosted slice of carrot cake
I’ll be honest — I convinced myself that it was actually best to eat a bunch of processed, fried, fast foods because it’d make for more drastic physical results. Yes, y’all, I was really tilting bags of Hot Cheetos to my mouth and chugging ‘em like soda saying, “This is my sacrifice, I’m doing it for the content.”
On Oct. 1, I met with Corey Calliet for our first workout.
BuzzFeed
I’d still been going to the gym at least a few days a week during those two months of carefree eating, but I definitely hadn’t been pushing myself. You ever have super chill workouts where you scroll through Instagram or carefully select a song between sets, never really breaking a sweat along the way? That was me in August and September. Mediocre workouts, but the music was fire.
Needless to say, the first workout with Corey was brutal. He had me doing all sorts of exercises at a pace that frankly felt like attempted murder.
BuzzFeed
After the first workout, we discussed the bad habits I’d developed over the past couple months, and Corey assessed my physical condition and performance. Here were the main takeaways:
1. Eating junk food for two months (even for the content) was both unnecessary, and a mistake.
2. I needed to workout at a faster, more focused pace — no social media or DJ’ing between sets.
3. Since I only had 30 days, I’d need to follow the diet STRICTLY, keeping the cheat meals to a minimum.
Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
So, it was time to begin. Just to give you an idea of what I was dealing with diet wise, here’s a rundown of what it entailed:
BuzzFeed
1. Six meals a day.
2. Measure and weigh servings on a food scale.
3. Foods I ate: Egg whites, oats, blueberries, chicken breast, ground turkey, spinach, green beans, brown rice.
4. At least a gallon of water every day which meant I was just constantly drinking ALL DAY.
The fitness regimen required me to workout six days a week, each session dedicated to a different body part, with additional cardio.
Christopher Hudspeth / BuzzFeed
The first week my entire body hurt, but the soreness in my legs was an extra level of miserable. When I walked, it looked like I was an infomercial actor exaggerating how difficult walking is.
Comedy Central
The workouts were tough, and it felt like as soon as I left the gym I had to go to my kitchen to take time I couldn’t afford, using energy I didn’t have, to cook meals that I didn’t want.
Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
You know everything I said above about how the first week sucked? That. All of it, again.
Christopher Hudspeth / BuzzFeed
It’s a challenge to workout with Corey because he goes so hard, but it’s beneficial having him present because he pushes you. When you’re working out on your own, you’ve got to find a way to motivate yourself. For me, that was music.
I discovered that I really like listening to movie scores while working out, especially while running. Man of Steel by the brilliant Hans Zimmer was my personal favorite (listen to “What Are You Going To Do When You’re Not Saving The World?” during cardio and you’ll 100% feel like a superhero).
Along the way, I wrote notes in my phone to keep track of how I was feeling.
Christopher Hudspeth
On day 10, I wrote, “less bloated” because I was feeling tighter, and “cake dream,” because I had a dream that I was eating funfetti cake. Nothing surreal or unique happened, just me and the cake. Safe to say, I was missing sweets.
Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
On day 15, I actually worked out with Corey and I must say, it was humbling trying to follow along with him.
BuzzFeed
He worked at a fast pace and obviously we had to adjust the weights between our respective sets, but it went better than the first week. I felt I was actually adjusting to things! I was lifting more, I’d accepted having to eat my garbage cooking, I was used to drinking the gallon of water — I’d even accepted the fact that on any given day, I was one restroom unexpectedly being occupied away from peeing my pants as a fully grown adult. The one thing I couldn’t seem to get used to was not eating Taco Bell.
This all came to a head one night when I went out and had my first significant slip up in the form of some vodkas, plural.
Once buzzed, I began thinking about Crunchwrap Supremes and Beefy Nacho Grillers. I’m not proud of this, but one thing led to another and suddenly I was on DoorDash ordering Taco Bell. Then, the universe intervened.
It turned out, Taco Bell had closed before the DoorDash driver could place my order, so it was canceled. The fact that I’d racked up over $20 on Taco Bell’s financially friendly menu lets you know that I wasn’t just going to cheat a little bit on my diet, I was going to self-sabotage on a SUPREME level. Literally, I had a Chalupa Supreme in my order.
Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
The morning after divine intervention prevented me from cheating on the diet, I took it as a sign that I needed to stay on track, so I made my basic, boring-ass breakfast.
Christopher Hudspeth / BuzzFeed
It also helped that I was starting to see physical changes. It’s pretty motivating when your abs start popping through, so I tried to make my food more tolerable by using different spices from Trader Joe’s and dumping mountains of minced garlic on everything. Sure, I probably reeked when I was sweating at the gym, but some people’s nostrils had to suffer so my taste buds could find solace.
During the final 10 days, I found myself going on extra runs in addition to the cardio assigned in Corey’s workout plan, partly because I wanted better results, but also because I was scouting out the dining options in Koreatown, noting all of the places I’d eat when the 30 days ended.
Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
The last few days before this ended, I felt the type of excitement kids feel on Christmas Eve, but from Santa’s perspective because I was anticipating eating hella cookies.
BuzzFeed
When the last day finally arrived, I was ready. I got a good night’s sleep, I ate a light breakfast, and I walked in the gym confidently. Then Corey’s workout quickly reminded me that I ain’t shit. Just like with our first meeting, it was a challenge from start to finish that had a lot of me gasping for air and trying to squeeze out reps.
However, I was stronger and able to hang longer, and I realized that any workout with Corey is going to be a struggle because no matter how much progress you make, he’s going to push you to your limits regardless.
Luckily I survived the final workout and at the conclusion of it all, Corey gave me his stamp of approval on the final results.
In celebration of completing the 30 days, and in an effort to see just how comparable the progress was to Michael B. Jordan’s Creed physique, I tried to recreate some photos of him.
instagram.com Premosch
Here’s one shot in which I flexed as hard as I possibly could, although Mr. B. Jordan appears to look the way he does when just casually standing there.
And here’s a recreation of one of the Creed II posters.
New Line Cinema, Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed
All in all, I felt the 30 days were a success. I got to workout with The Ab Whisperer, Corey Calliet and I learned that one month is legitimately enough time to make a big change.
More important than the visual results, it’s great to feel better and shake the constant cravings for sugar or processed snacks. My goal moving forward (but like, after I get some Taco Bell) is to continue working out hard and sustain a minimum of four abs, indulging occasionally, so the results of these 30 days don’t come and go, but serve as the start of a lifestyle change.
If you’re interested in trying this for yourself, Corey Calliet
is currently running a Creed inspired 30-day diet and fitness challenge, and the workout and nutrition plans are available for purchase here.
Be the first to comment