How To Become A Fitness Model

Friday, June 25th, 2010

No matter what age you may be, no matter what your body shape, you can become a fitness model. Even if you have a disability you can be a fitness model. Being a fitness model is different from being a fashion model.

Being a fitness model is not about matching up to a stereotype. You may be pear shaped, tall or short. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is fitness and your attitude to your body.

If you have had to overcome difficulties to achieve a better level of fitness then you make an even better fitness model. There is no question of absolute standards.

Fashion models tend to be unnaturally slim for their height. Many of them are unhealthily underweight. They set a standard that is not a good one to follow. The immage of the fashion model often persuades young women and girls that they need to diet obsessively in order to lose weight. A fitness model should not go down that route.

Fashion models look like that because they make the clothes look better. If they have no curves the clothes hang smoothly. They look like that because of their genes. They are chosen for their unusual shape.

But being a fitness model is about accepting your real body shape not about selling clothes. If you want to be a fitness model you should put impossible stereotypes out of your mind.

No matter whether you are a man or a woman you should learn to accept your own body shape. Obviously fitness training will improve it but it will not make your legs longer. Set an example by rejecting the ideal of unnatural slimness.

Men have another false body image forced upon them. They are encouraged to go for perfect abdominal muscles and bulging biceps. But there is no need to look like a body builder to be a fitness model. Many men have light frames and will never achieve the body builder look.

Unfortunately some men are tempted to resort to artificial aids such as steriods in body building. This is very harmful to their health and is entirely contrary to the behaviour of a genuine health model.

So the place to begin becoming a fitness model is by making an realistic assessment of your own body form. If you want to be a fitness model and encourage others to follow a healthy lifestyle you must be happy in your own skin.

Your fitness regime will then be directed towards improving your natural body shape not towards attaining an unrealistic goal. You should set yourelf attainable goals for improved cardiovascular function, resistance work and endurance.

There is no need to work out for longer than half an hour a day. Your whole life does not have to revolve around training as a fitness model. You have to ask yourself fit for what? You are aiming to be fit for life. There is no point being a fitness model if you do not have any life apart from training. Remember that there is life outside the gym.

As a fitness model you must also pay attention to your diet. This does not mean starving yourself. It means eating for optimum nutrition. Then your skin will be clear, your hair shiny and eyes bright. You will positively glow with health. This is how a fitness model should look.

There is no point being able to say that you are the ideal weight for your height if you look washed out and ill. The way to avoid this is by eating properly. Make a careful study of your nutritional requirements. Learn which foods contain what vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Food is about more than calories.

Eating nutritious food should not be a miserable business. A real health model must have a positive attitude to food. Eating healthily is not meant to be a punishment.

Finally, a health model takes a positive attitude to other people and encourages them to feel good about their own bodies. We all need a supportive network of people around us to be healthy and a health model should set the example in helping others to be healthy.

How to get the best weight loss results

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

When seeking to lose weight modifying your eating habits, eating more fruit and vegetables and cutting your fat intake isn’t always enough.

The best diets incorporate a healthy balance of diet and exercise which work together to effectively help your body to burn fat, boost your metabolism and feel fuller for longer.

However, one of the biggest mistakes many slimmer’s make when trying to lose weight is either eating too little – thus not giving their bodies enough calories to support the functionality of their bodies – or they exercise too little.

Top 3 Weight Loss Tips

To experience the best weight loss results, you need to make a number of modifications to both your diet and your exercise regime. However there are also a number of other techniques you can incorporate which can easily help you to experience the weight loss results you crave.

1. Eat a healthy diet of carbohydrates, protein, fibre, vitamins and fat

Despite many misconceptions that excluding fat completely from your diet can help you to lose weight quickly, eating no fat at all can in fact have the opposite effect on your body. Without fat our bodies can not function properly. Why? Because our bodies need fats for energy!

For this reason it is essential that you keep a moderate amount of fat in your diet. The most effective diets create a balance between a high protein low fat diet, however it is important that you also make sure you maintain a healthy balance of fibres, carbohydrates and vitamins too.

Many slimming programmes recommend splitting your diet into 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fats.

2. Regular exercise

One common mistake many slimmer’s make is focusing on one area of their body or following just one exercise routine.

Weight training in particular is often overlooked in weight loss plans because of its body building implications; however creating more muscle within your body is one of the most effective ways to increase your fat burn.

Research has found the more muscle you have, the more fat burn you will experience because surplus amounts of energy is needed to rebuild muscle after weight training.

However weight training is not enough. It is also essential to incorporate cardio and aerobics into your weight loss programme as these will work other essential muscles in your body.

The best weight management programmes recommend the following:

• 20-30 minutes of weight training, 3 times a week • Two 45 minute cardio workouts a week which are alternated with two 45 minute aerobic workouts

3. Slimming Pills

If you find it hard to change your eating habits, then slimming pills could provide you with the weight loss support you are looking for.

Offering your body an instant metabolic jump start, there are a number of different weight loss pills you can try:

• Appetite suppressants – designed to manipulate the production of hormones within your body, appetite suppressants trick your mind into believing you are full when you are not
• Fat burners – renowned for speeding up the metabolic processes in your body, the faster your metabolic rate, the faster your fat burn
• Carbohydrate blockers – preventing the break down of starch into glucose, carbohydrate blockers stop the digestive enzyme Alpha Amylase from completing its jobs
• Fat blockers – made of soluble and non-soluble complex fibers, fat blockers bind with fat molecules to form a viscous solution which is too thick to be digested by the body