Getting ready for a photo shoot
It’s Sunday morning and I am up bright and early having my coffee and getting ready to head out to a photo shoot. My mother has never seen anything like one so I am bringing her with me. I have done at least 1 professional photo shoot every year since 2010. Someone asked me the other day how I got into it.
I have looked through fitness magazines for as long as I can remember and there was a time I wanted to look like one of the women on the cover. I had no idea what they went through to get ready for those covers. I thought they just looked like that. I found out differently. A couple of years after John and I got married I hired a personal trainer, Lauren. I found her when I was searching on Facebook for a trainer. I looked at her website and said I want HER to train me. She looked like the women on the covers. She would come to my house once a week and put me through a workout and go through my meal plans with me. Then she said one day, You should compete in a fitness competition. I thought she was nuts but it sounded like fun so I agreed. That started what I have followed for the last decade. Let me explain.
I joined a fitness team that she coached on and realized that there was an entire program to follow to get ready for these competitions. I had to follow a specific meal plan for 12 weeks, with no alcohol or cheat meals. This meal plan was tweaked every week for the 12 weeks, there was also 1 gallon of water drank a day plus for me 2 workouts a day. A 45 minute lifting session 6 days a week followed by anywhere from 20 -60 minutes of cardio. I had 1 rest day a week then towards the end I worked out on that day as well.
It took 12 weeks to be ready to walk on stage. On top of the diet and exercise there was 1 hour of posing practice each week. You need to have a specific swimsuit the was all stoned out as well as a theme wear if you were dong bikini. There was a lot that went into this. The last week is where you cut your water intake down and also your food is really low so that they can see your muscles. By the end I looked like the ladies on the covers of the magazine. Two weeks later after I was back to eating normal (clean but normal) and not working out 2x a day I put some weight back on and no longer looked like the cover girl BUT I felt amazing. I realized what kind of work went into looking like that and the women only look like that for the time of the shoot and not all the time. Plus, the photos were edited. It was definitely a learning experience. And something that we all need to know about so we stop comparing ourselves to them.
That is when I had my first photo shoots and they were so fun! I fell in love. Now a decade later I am still doing them, this time it is not just for fun. Today’s is my 1st professional portfolio shoot for the agency I am working with. At the age of 51 I am getting into acting/film work and some modeling and I am so excited about this journey! I will share the photos when they are ready!
Just remember you are never too old to try something new. Oh and for this photo shoot I didn’t diet down :). I know I am following 75 Hard but that is for me mentally not to prep for a shoot. I feel that I want to look like myself and not be comparing me to someone else like I have done in the past.