Corey Calliet – It’s A Lifestyle

Words + Interview: Tyrone Davis

Meet the man behind Michael B. Jordan’s physique, celebrity trainer Corey Calliet. After running into Michael on the set of “Fantastic Four”, Corey has been active in keeping him in shape ever since, most recently for “Creed II”.  His clientele includes other notable names in Hollywood but Corey is willing to work with anyone, providing training and meal plans via his website for those who aren’t able to see him in person. We spoke about his start, rules to getting in shape, his other business ventures and why to him, this is a lifestyle. Take notes.

Where are you from, originally?
I grew up pretty rough in the streets of New Orleans, LA. My moms died at a young age so I grew up with family. Basically, I had a tough upbrining to prepare me for the place I am at today.

How did coming from a place like that, how did you get into fitness? Were you an athlete as a child?
I was an athlete, of course. I played Pop Warner Football, I ran track and I was a musician in high school. I was in the band. My passion for this (fitness) didn’t come from me being an athlete. It came from me actually wanting to look good. It came from wanting to make girls look at me. It didn’t have nothing to do with athletic ability. I wanted to look good. I wanted to have abs and I wanted to get attention.

Ok, how did you end up to relocating to Los Angeles?
Well, I met Michael B. Jordan on Fantastic Four. I was actually on set for about a whole month and I was supposed to be working with the cast but nobody wanted to train with me. It just so happened one day I was supposed to go train Jamie Bell and Kate Mara and when I got to the set, neither one of them wanted to train anymore. As I was leaving, Michael came out the trailer, he saw me and I saw him. From that day on we connected and vibed and we started training every day. When we finished the process with Fantastic Four, we found out about Creed and he asked me, “How do you feel about coming to LA?” and around August of 2014 I flew out to LA and that’s where the journey began.

So “Fantastic Four” was filmed in New Orleans?  How did you end up getting on that set?
No, it was filmed in Baton Rouge. A guy named Aaron Williamson was the local celebrity trainer and he reached out to my mentor Ken Hensley to see about training the cast. Ken wasn’t available but he told him he had someone that was good for the job, so he called me. I remember leaving church one Sunday morning and I don’t usually check my voice mail but Ken sent a message saying this guy is looking for someone to train the cast for this movie. I instantly called Aaron and he broke down the job. I told him that before he finished the conversation to go check out my social media and my results. So, he went to my social media and saw what I could do and instantly called me and told me he wants to give me the job and he came in that following Thursday and we went to set and that’s where the journey began as far as the Fantastic Four movie.

You’ve worked with Michael B. Jordan for “Creed” but you’ve also worked with him for “Black Panther”, correct?
I work with him on anything he has to have muscles for.

Ok, did you train him specifically for his look or did any boxing techniques come in play?
The boxing techniques were going to come into play because he had to learn how to fight and we started learning how to fight when we were down in Baton Rouge. I know some boxers can look ok and have great boxing skills but I wanted him to look like a boxer that is trying to play an actor. My goal was to make him look better than Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers). I knew that was the movie we had to follow. Apollo Creed had a crazy body in Rocky so my goal was to make Michael look better than that. I was reaching for the aesthetically pleasing and almost perfect physique and boxing, I was good at that too.

In preparation for “Creed II”, was anything done differently that go round?
Yes, if you’ve seen the movie, Michael is much bigger than he was in Creed. I used the methods that I used to get him big for Black Panther and I used that mass and that toneness to actual get him ripped for Creed. If you look at his body closely you’ll see that he is actually bigger in Creed II than he was as Killmonger. Every time I’ve trained Mike, I’ve just added to it. The only thing we did differently this time was do a lot more boxing and a lot more training as far as boxing choreography and conditioning work.

When you’re working with clients, are you working with those that are already decent or people who are overweight, or how does that work normally with the rest of your clients?
I work with everybody. It doesn’t matter if you come to me obese or if you come to me like you never ate nothing in your life. I work with people based on their goals. With anyone I work with, I always see what I can do for them and I might ask them what they want. The key with me is that I have an artistic eye when it comes to training people’s bodies. I’ll tell you what you could look like or what you’re going to look like because it’s hard to tell what you want when you look at yourself every single day.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle for people who want to lose weight?
The biggest obstacle is themselves. They quit too early. People start working out on Monday and if they don’t have results by Wednesday, they quit. They don’t understand patience, time and process. If people could understand that they didn’t put that weight on overnight so it is going to take time to get it off, I think a lot more people would have more success when it comes to losing weight. When we’re talking about people needing to see results in a couple days, what exactly is a healthy amount of weight to lose on a monthly basis?
I think 10 to 15 pounds in a month is really good because if your losing 2 or 3 pounds a week that means your losing body fat and not just water weight.

For somebody who might lose a whole lot of weight what actually happens to the extra skin? Do you have any techniques to tighten them up?
I’m going to be honest with you. A nutritionist will help you with that because when people lose a lot of weight real fast, that means the skin is still soft because they did something that made the body dehydrated itself because it’s not getting enough nutrition to tighten the skin up and fill it up again with good muscle. When you lose weight too quick, you see that loose skin. I tell people all the time to take their time losing the weight and the skin will tighten itself up. If you are 385 pounds and you get down to 185, of course you are going to have to get that cut off by a doctor. If you take your time losing that weight it will tighten right up.

You’ve also worked with Angela Bassett and she’s always been known for having really nice arms and keeping her physique together. How do approach working with someone like her?
Well when you have a woman who is already accustomed to working out, knows how to train and has done a lot of trans-formations already, I don’t train them easy. What I do is a lot of intense trainings because I have to trick their bodies to continue to change. When I meet Angela on Fantastic Four and we worked out those 2 or 3 times, we didn’t do anything that was easy. It was very hard and something that was go-ing to make her body go into shock and actually be able to benefit and change from it. Also, nutrition is key as well. If they don’t eat right, things won’t change.

Diet and exercise: Which is more important?
It is 100/100, man. Your diet determines how you’re going to change and your workout determines how fast you’re going to change. I always tell people that if they are going to put a 100 into their nutrition, put 100 into their training as well. I can’t do the ol’ 65/35 or the 50/49, no. They’ve got to give 100 on both sides or they are not going to get the results they really want.

When you’re talking about diet, a lot of people are vegans as well as vegetarian these days but are the meat eaters doomed or can they too maintain a balanced diet and still be considered healthy?
Of course. The thing about it is that it is the type of meats that people are eating and how much they are consuming. Make sure you’re eating lean meats. Don’t eat a whole lot of pork and fatty meats, you know? I’m never against eating meat because I walk around myself at 235 pounds with a six pack and I eat meat every single day.

A lot of people think eating meat you get a lot of your protein. I know you can get proteins from other foods as well. What are some of them?
You can get protein from eggs and certain beans. You can get protein from protein substitutions like protein drinks. There are all types of ways to get protein. I’m not a vegan expert but I know enough to live a healthy lifestyle if I wanted to try it but you just can’t get enough protein out of a plant. That’s just my personal opinion.

Aside from being a celebrity trainer, you also have become one of the “50 Most Fit Men In The World”. What was that like?
First of all, that was an honor to be in the same conversation with Conner McGregor, Usain Bolt and so many other different amazing athletes. That made me realize that there are eyes on me and I have a responsibility to continue to live the lifestyle that I live and to continue to inspire others to do it. It takes a lot. I feel like all these days of training for years and years in the gym, I’ve earned the right to be called that. That was an honor.

You have a few endeavors based off of what you do for a living. Can you tell us about ‘Revenge Body by Khloe”?
Revenge Body is an awesome show, man. The thing about Revenge Body is that I’m able to reach people not just in the gym but reach their minds as well. I have a big thing on being able to inspire and motivate people. I speak life into people and I do that on air by being able to take people who have been mentally and emotionally beat up and being able to help them rebuild not only physically, but most importantly mentally and emotionally.

Ok, what can new listeners expect from your radio show “It’s a Lifestyle”?
It’s a Lifestyle is a different type of show. The vibe of the show goes good with the music and there is a message with the show that helps people believe in themselves and teach each other motivation instead of entertainment behind messy bullying and what’s going on in the media. We like our listeners to feel reenergized and feel good about themselves and help them get that word that they needed just when they were going through something. Just being able to relate to and understand somebody that is just like them and being there in their lives instead of someone you see and hear everyday on everyday radio.

You also got a “Beats by Dre” endorsement. That’s huge and what are your thoughts on that?
Well I worked with Beats by Dre recently. We did a couple of projects together. Growing up, I remember when their headphones first came out and buying so many pairs of them. Now, being able to partner with them and doing things like that was amazing. It is one of my dreams come true.

At this point do you consider yourself fully successful? What does success mean to you?
To be honest with you bruh, it is one thing to reach success but it is another thing to say successful. I would say I’m definitely successful but the level of success that I’m trying to reach, I haven’t even tapped into it yet. I never get satisfied, I’m never complacent and it is never enough for me. I keep that mind set and I’m never going to fall back. I love the fact that I’m successful but I work towards complete success everyday. That is my goal. So, that’s were I’m at right now when it comes to my career.

Last question: Being from Louisiana, I need your “Top 5” artists of all time from there.
Lol, Lil Wayne is #1, Juvenile is #2, Mystikal is #3, RIP Young Greatness and I’m going to say #5 is the No Limit Family. That is what I was playing all day.

Follow Corey Calliet on Instagram @mrcalliet. His website is www.coreycalliet.com.

Photo By Bobby Quillard

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Twenty4Seven Magazine Twenty4Seven Magazine is a monthly digital and quarterly print publication founded in 2009. Though we cover a little bit of everything, our primary focus is urban entertainment and lifestyle.

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