Michael B. Jordan Reveals What Keeps Him Motivated to Stay in Shape Between Film Roles

It should come as no surprise that Michael B. Jordan works extremely hard to get in shape for films such as the Creed franchise, Black Panther, and the 2021 Tom Clancy action-thriller, Without Remorse. But while Jordan works with a team of personal trainers and nutritionists to prepare him for those roles, staying in shape during his down time is a different beast altogether.

Admittedly, the 36-year-old actor says he took a brief hiatus from hitting the gym while on the press tour for Creed III, and is preparing to get back in shape. But as Jordan recently told People, maintaining a level of fitness between roles is no longer the challenge it used to be.

“At this point I know what works for me and what doesn't," Jordan explained. “Now it's just about being consistent. Coming off the movie and the press tour, it was very stressful so I took a little break. I'm at the end of my hiatus right now, so I'm getting ready to actually get back into shape now."

Jordan says that "finding a healthy balance of just breaking a sweat" has been helpful, participating in activities such as swimming, baseball, or frisbee that provide a natural workout. Yet, he notes the importance of maintaining a "baseline fitness," and was at one point doing 300 push-ups and 200 sit-ups throughout the day.

"I gotta at least hit my number and that kind of keeps you tight," Jordan recalled. "When you rebound and you let yourself go too far, then it's like the mountain that you gotta climb is that much steeper instead of just touching up along the way."

And although he admits that managing his eating habits can be a struggle and says that he "loves food," Jordan also detailed how diet plays a huge part of his fitness regime.

"Eating consistently is something that I found really helps change your body. Dieting, intermittent fasting, there's different approaches to it," he continued. "But for me, I kind of look at it as your body's like a fire. Every so often you gotta keep throwing logs on a fire to keep burning that off. And the logs, that's the food that you eat. So you're constantly eating and you're burning it off and eventually your body will start to burn off the fat that's been stored up. So, that's kind of been my approach to how I stay in shape.”

At the end of the day, Jordan says what has always kept him motivated has been "the fear of failure." As in, the fear of showing up on set and not being in shape.

"Because a lot of people if they don't meet their goals, nobody knows about it," he added. "For me, if I don’t meet my goals, that's gonna be a poster on Sunset that says, 'Mike didn’t meet his fucking goals.' So I think the pressure of having to be seen by the world and immortalized and, you know, the internet is always there. I think it kind of keeps pressure on me."

Clearly, the strategy is paying off. In the past, Jordan's trainers have relied on a combination of bodybuilding-style strength training and HIIT cardio sessions to get him in shape. And as far as we know, the internet has had no complaints as of yet.