In case you missed it, Creed III is now in theaters. InsideHook staffers had no chance of missing it — there’s been a 50-yard billboard announcing the movie’s arrival hanging outside our office for weeks now, which means I’ve gotten used to walking past titanic shots of Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors’s rippling muscles on the way to and from lunch. Both actors did one hell of a job to get in shape for this film, spending multiple months bulking, then cutting, while eating right, sleeping well and fine-tuning their boxing chops all throughout. (Jordan also found time to direct the film.) And now, we’ve got a secret to one of the stars’ ab workouts.
As we’re always careful to point out, this sort of training is rarely complimentary with a sustainable 9-5, and you shouldn’t feel pressured to get into Creed III shape anytime soon. There’s a reason that the actors themselves tend to abandon these routines not long after the shooting’s wrapped.
Still, some of their workouts are actually pretty simple and are worth giving a try next time you’re in the gym. We’re a big fan of this four-move ab workout, which Jordan and Majors’ trainer, Corey Calliet, recently uploaded to Instagram.
Here’s how to do it:
- Hang from a pull-up bar, with a good wide grip
- Alternate 20 knee raises straight in front of your body
- Alternate 20 knee raises across the body
- Bring both knees up towards your chest 20 times
- Hold your legs straight out in front of you, at a 90-degree angle, for 20 seconds
You’re supposed to do four rounds of the circuit. I’ve tried this ab workout a couple of times at the gym, and total disclaimer, it’s really freaking hard. But that’s what makes these sorts of workouts so effective — they’re simple and compelling that you want to give them a try, only they’re deceptively harder than anticipated.
Consider: it’s hard enough doing a dead hang for any period of time. We’ve advocated trying to hang from a bar for a few minutes a day, in order to reset your shoulders/spine, strengthen your grip and engage your core, but this is a dead hang plus a number of movements that would be difficult to perform on a mat.
My advice? Start slow. You won’t get into billboard shape in one go. Maybe isolate the exercises before you attempt the full circuit. Or give yourself a quick break from the hang before moving on to the next progression. Completing just one-fourth of the moves, or one-fourth of the circuit, is triumph enough. You’ll accomplish the full knockout eventually.
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