Recently, I’ve been doing quite a few photoshoots, and I’ve had a number of people ask me how I get ready for them. Most fitness models and bodybuilders are known to take drastic measures getting photo ready.
Typically, they’ll do carb depletion, increase cardio and training, and of course, water and sodium manipulation… And the list goes on. The idea is to look as dry as possible.
Well funny enough, I don’t change a thing when I’m getting ready for a photoshoot. That said, I don’t like the extremely shredded, dry, vascular look.
To me, it is absolutely unattractive! I’m not worried about getting all the water out from under my skin. Besides, when I do a photoshoot, I want to show people how they can look while enjoying life.
If I resorted to obsessive means, what would I be teaching you? I’d give you an unrealistic ideal. The night before my photoshoot, you’ll see me enjoying plenty of salt on my food, chocolate and yes – PopChips!
What Is The Concept Behind This?
Looking downright incredible each and every day comes down to two things.
First – building up a high level of strength. When you develop amazing strength, your muscles will always look dense, tight and developed.
When people focus on doing a large amount of training and fatigue work, they end up looking puffy one day and flat another day.
If you want to look consistently good and be powerful, you need to focus your efforts on gaining strength. You can do more fatigue/volume work on the lateral and rear delts to put you over the edge… But that’s like the icing on top of the cake!
Secondly – you need to bring your body fat levels down to the 6-9% range for men.
This is where you look amazing. Your waist will be taut, your muscles defined, face chiseled and you’ll have great muscle separation and proportion. It’s only when you get down to the 6-9% body fat range that you really start to stand out!
This is why actors focus on leaning down for movie roles. They know that if you get lean, you don’t need to have a lot of muscle to look good.
This Is The Power Of Strength + Leanness
When you’re lean and extremely strong, you look good all the time. You’ll always look sharp. You don’t need to pump up or do any water, sodium or carb manipulation!
In fact, you can enjoy plenty of carbs and salt in your diet all the time! This brings me to another point: salt only causes excessive water retention if you consume more than usual. This is why continual salt restriction is a horrible idea!
But first, a few things:
Sodium is a required nutrient that the body needs to function properly. Theoretically, if you were to consume a zero sodium diet (this is very difficult to do), you can die. Secondly, sodium has no influence on fat gain. However, sodium can cause water retention.
That said, only if you are consuming more salt than you normally do. So if you typically restrict salt, then you go out to a restaurant, you may feel more bloated or weigh a couple pounds heavier the next day.
This isn’t because you consumed high sodium; it’s because you consumed more sodium than you are used to… If you don’t want to retain water from eating salt, then just use a moderate amount everyday.
How To Add Icing To The Cake
To look sharper than usual, I recommend running a solid calorie deficit up to the shoot. When your calories are on the lower end, you’ll look tighter.
As long as you are consuming a moderate amount of carbs, you’ll still look full and tight! 3-4 days before a photoshoot, I’ll make a point of dialing in the Aggressive Fat Loss Strategy.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
In 3-4 days, I can drop close to a pound of fat, but the lower calories will make me look tighter and leaner!
Another really important tip is to rock a tan :)
Having a nice, natural tan will showcase more definition and give you a sleeker look.
