red1studios:

I need a model for a athletic clothing line apparel shoot ASAP!

CASH PAID UP FRONT BEFORE SHOOT

It will be only a couple of hours, and pays $200. You will receive multiple photos from the shoot and is a great chance for gaining some exposure and credibility. We will be working with this client all year, so more job openings in the future are possible.

They will be shooting something new every 3 weeks.

What were looking for:

Clean skin, NO: acne, scars, tattoos, body piercings etc. The photos will not be heavily retouched, so clean skin is a must.

Body type: Athletic, slender, tall, not too busty. We need a form fitting model, tight bodies preferred. Light skin toned or naturally tanned, no fake tans.

No Casting Comments!

Email a head shot, and a full body shot in athletic apparel or swim suit attire to jordan@red1studios.com and taylor@red1studios.com

valerieb-fit:

In many of my interactions with readers or friends, it’s apparent people are unsatisfied in their bodies. People show me photos of fitness models/athletes they want to look like. It’s no surprise that very few people are close to achieving those looks.

SO, YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE A MODEL?

To give you a different perspective, I’ve been in fitness model shape before and I didn’t like the view from the top.

I’m going to explain what it takes to produce that fitness magazine-quality physique. You can evaluate the tradeoffs yourself.

I will NOT give you the same stale lecture about airbrushing, Photoshopping, blah blah you’re already bored hearing those words. It requires so much more than a good retoucher to look like a fitness model.

This is just MY OWN experience. Maybe other fitness buffs can spend less time/energy than I did and get just as lean. I do know for a fact, however, that MANY in this community follow the protocols I outline below.

It’s easy to wish for a flawless physique before you know the discipline it takes.

THE PATH TO THIS PICTURE

1. From the day I started working out, it took me 3 years of working out 5-7 days/week to achieve the above physique.
2. I’ve been eating extremely clean (say, 90% homecooked food on average) for over 1.5 years of that time.
3. From Feb. 2012 - May 2012 when this photo was taken, I lost 13 pounds to get in this shape.
4. In those 4 months, I only had 3 meals TOTAL off from my plan. 
5. All other meals were home cooked. My entire diet consisted of eggs, vegetables, flank steak, chicken, turkey, almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, avocado, olive oil, the occasional sweet potato, jasmine rice once in a blue moon, blueberries and coconut milk.
6. I ate starchy carbs STRICTLY post-workout. All other carbs were sourced from fibrous veggies.
7. I ate 4 meals a day, often while sitting in class or walking down the street because I was so busy.
8. I studied for my midterms on the StepMill.
9. In those 4 months of leaning down, I drank alcohol on 1 occasion, for my 21st birthday. In the past 2 years, I’ve averaged maybe 1 drink per month or less.
10. While leaning down, I was consistently in bed by 10:30PM and up by 7AM to work out. I would wake up to multiple texts from friends wanting to see me late on a Friday night or whatever. I would have already been in my 2nd round of REM sleep by the time they contacted me.
11. I’d work out 6-7 days/week, doing 2-a-days about 3x/week.
12. My entire life schedule, school + social obligations + research papers + travel + time spent enjoying my friends/family, was ordered around my workouts.
13. I would often be in the gym for up to 2 hours a day.
14. I spent almost all my money on groceries and supplements.
15. The night before my shoot, I got a spray tan so my muscle definition was emphasized.
16. Leading up to my shoot, I performed a 3 day water loading phase, the first stage of my water depletion. Models water deplete before a shoot so they come in tight and without bloating.
17. The entire day and a half before my shoot, I did not have one sip of liquid or any gaseous foods.
18. The day and night before, I ate natural diuretics and took dandelion root pills do flush myself of any water. .
19. The day of my shoot, which was at 1PM, I only drank a protein shake in the morning. No water.
20. Before the lovely and talented NayMarie Photography and Retouching shot this photo, I worked out in the gym so my muscles were filled with blood and thus looked fuller.

I can’t lie, I love looking the way I did! But the point is: fitness models arrive at a shoot dialed in at their very, very best. “Very, very best” lasts a matter of 2ish hours. The minute you drink water again or eat a meal, you’re not as tight as you were before the water depletion.

So, even fitness models don’t look like their OWN photos in daily life, or even on the day after they shoot for mags like Oxygen. This is why comparing yourself to these people is futile and a recipe for disaster.

All that said, I am still very proud of what I’ve achieved. I do not regret my choices. I just have a new direction now. That path includes responsibilities that are not fitness related, and require prioritization.

This is absolutely not meant to knock those who live the lean lifestyle. That routine is very empowering, fills a person with purpose, and is a totally worthy goal. It’s just not my goal anymore, so I’m speaking my own truth.

I’m now 5 pounds heavier than in that photo. I often miss looking like a human statue, but I REALLY love my lifestyle now. I still train hard 6 days a week, eat very clean and healthfully, and am a committed athlete. I’m just not the elite Figure athlete I once wanted to be.

I took down all my “motivational” photos from fitness magazines. I encourage you to do the same…not because you shouldn’t want to improve your body, but because frankly you are never going to look like a fitness model for more than a few hours at a time.

Are those few hours worth it to you? How bad do you want it? You decide.

Happy lifting…

love and light

v