Of all the must-have maxed-out muscles, there’s one that every man secretly wants above and beyond the rest: big, bulging biceps. Why? Not only are they a regular hit with the ladies, but they give you that A-lister aesthetic of your dreams. Here, the celebrity trainer behind the mind-blowing muscles of Creed III reveals all…
Michael B. Jordan’s boxer body has long been an obsession of ours at DMARGE. Since the release of the first instalment of the franchise back in 2015, we’ve broken down the brutal reality of trying Jordan’s Creed workout for 30 straight days and also done a deep dive on the many Hollywood secrets of getting shoot-ready-ripped fast.
In anticipation of the release of the third instalment, Creed III, we also got a chance to sit down with Jordan’s co-star Jonathan Majors, who described the punishing mental and physical challenges that getting shredded presents, including lifting heavier weights and throwing faster punches as the carb consumption gets smaller and smaller…
But now, we’ve managed to find the secret sauce that everyone’s been waiting for: the secrets to getting Creed-style biceps. How? By getting the inside scoop from man-of-the-moment and personal trainer extraordinaire, Corey Calliet.
Speaking to Men’s Health, Calliet boiled it down to two key ingredients, before breaking down the workout in greater detail: form and intensity are everything. Building an A-list physique requires pushing a lot of weight, but also keeping your heart rate elevated and form absolutely perfect whilst doing so:
“I love to do things at a high pace, high intensity no matter what I’m doing,” Calliet says. “As long as I’m paying attention to form and control, I’m able to get what I want out of it because I want to get that heart rate up. Even when I’m lifting weights, I don’t like to just be hitting the heavy weight and then just sit down and chill.”
The Creed Bicep Secrets You Need To Know
To help you get armed and ready for action, here are Calliet’s three insider tricks for building bigger biceps:
Drop Sets to Push Past Fatigue
3 rounds of 8 to 12 reps at each weight
Start with a normal round of curls and just when you think your biceps can’t take any more, drop the dumbbells, pick up a lighter set and knock out some more reps.
Then, do it one more time.
Before you know it, you’ve knocked out nearly 30 reps. Calliet advises keeping a rep or two “in the tank” so you’re not completely drained after your first set.
Perform two to three total drop sets, starting with about eight to 12 reps before lowering the weight and performing another set.
More important than any number of reps, however, is to maintain focus on your form and maintain that mind-muscle connection.
Master the Half-Iso Curl
3 sets of 10 reps
If you’re looking to take your dumbbell curl game up a notch, try incorporating a 90-degree hold with your “non-working” arm.
While the unilateral version of this exercise may be common, it doesn’t allow for much rest. By maintaining the hold, both arms are engaged and the standard curl becomes a lot more challenging than you might expect.
This move not only targets your biceps but also demands concentration and stability from the opposite arm; as you focus on the curl, you’re simultaneously working to maintain the hold with the other arm.
With just a few sets of 10 reps on each arm, prepare for the pump of a lifetime.
Spider Curl for Peak Contraction
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
For leading-man biceps, here’s the finishing move that will get you there: the spider curl.
This exercise places major emphasis on the mind-muscle connection and forces you to lock your arms to the top of a bench, eliminating any chance of “cheating” by relying on secondary muscles.
As you perform the spider curl, it’s important to maintain a perpendicular angle between your arms and the ground while also squeezing your glutes and abs.
To really feel the burn, aim for three sets of eight to 12 reps with each arm. You can even alternate between each arm to heighten your awareness and focus on the curl.
So it seems that anyone can have big-screen biceps but, as ever, these things don’t come easy. Calliet says that discipline and consistency are everything – a refrain any fitness nerd will have heard many times before.
So next time you head down to the gym, give these exercises a go… once you see that knockout pump, there’ll be no turning back.