Let’s face it: For most of James McAvoy’s career, he’s been a bit of a shrimp. That hasn’t stopped him from landing roles in action movies — like the cartoonish and very fun Wanted in 2008 and the rebooted X-Men franchise. But neither of those films really required McAvoy to do any heavy lifting (physically, at least.)

But, oh boy, that one changed. McAvoy revealed way back in a January interview with the fashion site Mr. Porter that he’d been pounding down eggs and protein to bulk up for Split, M. Night Shyamalan’s surprise sequel to 2000’s Unbreakable with Bruce Willis. But we hadn’t really seen those results in full form until now, when McAvoy stepped out onto the street during a break in filming the third movie in Shyamalan’s trilogy, Glass. And holy crap, is he jacked. 

McAvoy explained to Mr. Porter that he initially bulked up for Split on an extremely tight schedule.

“I googled ‘good way to put on muscle quick’, just went into a gym and did it myself: a power-lifting routine called 5×5. You do five different exercises four or five times a week, and they’re huge, big exercises,” McAvoy said. “It’s super-simple, but it works every muscle. And I’d eat 5,000, 6,000 calories a day. Instead of eating two eggs in the morning, I’d eat eight. Then a snack of chicken breast. Then two chicken breasts for lunch, and then a steak or another snack. Then two salmon steaks for dinner.”

All told, that’s a huge amount of food and lifting. But that was months ago — and McAvoy has certainly been back in the gym to get even bigger for Glass, where he’s going to have to go head to head with Bruce Willis (who, despite his age, is still pretty huge). 

The internet, of course, is obsessed with McAvoy’s new look. It’s not every day that the sensitive, slim actor best known for playing a young and nerdy Professor X decides to explode out of the gym looking like a giant slab of beefcake.

We can take these pics for what they are: Eye candy. Also, for all the dudes reading this; it’s bulking season, baby, so consider this your inspo to get swole.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health US.

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