5 weeks to Nationals: NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
Have you ever seen the shots of celebrities with and without make-up?
This is what I call: SMOKE AND MIRRORS, and a lot of what fitness modeling is, is precisely that.
A lot of the images people see online of fitness models, whether it is a professional photo shoot for advertising or self promotional purposes, or professional on-stage pictures of competitors, are not true depictions of their subjects.
By this I DO NOT MEAN that their abs have been Photoshopped (as people love to discredit a hard earned physique by implying some sort of digital modification) By the use of "smoke and mirrors" in fitness modeling I mean the use of hair, make up, tanning and posing to enhance an already hard earned physique.
Upon seeing some of my latest competition pictures my dad called me and over the phone explaining his concerns for me getting "too big". I laughed and said, that those pictures are not what they seem and that he would think otherwise if he saw me in person. Understandably this was not enough to calm his fatherly fears of me becoming "too muscular"
A month later I picked him and my mother at the airport and my dad's jaw dropped. With a worrysome expression he asked: "Alex! What happened to you?!?! Why did you get so small???"
I laughed again and said: "Dad, I told you so, the pictures are not me, this is me :)"
Both my mom and dad have had concerns about my health ever since I started Bodybuidling (which is nothing else other than the art of shaping your body through nutrition and exercise). But after their 1 month stay with me and my husband, they came to the enormous realization of not only the tremendous health benefits I had acquired since I adopted this lifestyle but also the happiness and fulfillment benefits that this journey had brought to my life.
"I have never seen you as happy, as vital and as productive before" - Alejandro (dad)
"I am so proud of who you have become. I had my doubts before but not anymore" - Perla (mom)
"You become sort of a SUPERHUMAN when you compete Alex" - my boss
Now, let me start from the beginning and introduce myself. For all of those who have only met me online.
HOLA !My name is Alejandra, but you can call me Alex. I am 5'3" and currently weigh 116. I have 2 businesses one as a lifestyle coach and personal trainer and another as an illustrator and fine artist.
Look at this picture, would you even think I workout if you met me at the mall?
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Now this is me without the sweatshirt. You might look at me and say. Oh she probably does some yoga. Some people might no even notice I workout. Plus I am proudly wearing one of my "cheat-meal-tshirts".
.JPG)
Now, look at me in my gym wear. Does it look like I lift heavy weights?
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What if I do this?
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Fun facts about me: I can deadlift about 1.5 my bodyweight, which is 175 lbs for 2 reps, squat 155 lbs for 5 reps :) and I can leg press about 320 lbs for 8 reps.
Now check this out. Pose on the left just chilling, pose on the right front pose for Figure competitor consisting on how wide of a lat spread can I achieve.
Now look at me with my suit, hair and makeup, about 5 coats of tan and weighing probably about 3 lbs less of what I currently weigh and doing strict posing for the Figure category:
And yes, I eat tons of carbs :), as in pasta, rice, oatmeal, potatoes, bananas... (I do not know why people keep widening their eyes in disbelief every time I tell them that I eat carbs! If you are widening your eyes I hope I can proof to you that you do not necessarily have to take "carbs" out of your diet to achieve your goal, you just gotta know how to use them and/or teach your body to use them properly.
NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
Last week a couple of gym members approached me. One of them was concerned about my health and why I had lost so much weight and the other thought I had turned vegetarian.
On various occasions people have commented on my Facebook pictures of me being "too masculine". One time someone even became offended by my pictures stating that women should never look like that and that it was VERY WRONG of me to promote this as health.
All of this, while still being me, the 5'3" - 116 lbs girl.
I used to get upset and troubled when someone's opinion of me, didn't match my own. Then I came to the realization that the reason I got so upset was because I was trying to impose my vision of fitness onto others. I came to learn that everybody defines FITNESS in a different way and made the personal commitment to help find my clients (those who were ready to listen to what I had to teach) what THEIR PERSONAL DEFINITION OF FIT is (not mine), and help them to achieve it.
Like I said before. Not everyone can look like this, nor wants to look like this, nor has to look like this, nor even thinks looking like this is possible... you get the idea. And it is OK!
We are all special for who we are and what we want and this is what makes us unique!
The same way we ladies love the invention of pushup bras to improve our curves, or in my case, use a sportsbra that I hardly fill, NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS.
Do not wrong people in their journeys, instead ask them what their journey is like, and why did they started it in the first place.... you will be surprised at the stories people will tell you. Don't miss out on that chance by passing judgement on others.
I want to invite all my members to share in a picture of what being fit means to them. If you want to share a bit of your story and what inspires you to be showcased in a future post, please email me at alediazme@gmail.com or send me a private message through Transformation Journeys.
I want to hear about you!
This is what I call: SMOKE AND MIRRORS, and a lot of what fitness modeling is, is precisely that.
A lot of the images people see online of fitness models, whether it is a professional photo shoot for advertising or self promotional purposes, or professional on-stage pictures of competitors, are not true depictions of their subjects.
By this I DO NOT MEAN that their abs have been Photoshopped (as people love to discredit a hard earned physique by implying some sort of digital modification) By the use of "smoke and mirrors" in fitness modeling I mean the use of hair, make up, tanning and posing to enhance an already hard earned physique.
Upon seeing some of my latest competition pictures my dad called me and over the phone explaining his concerns for me getting "too big". I laughed and said, that those pictures are not what they seem and that he would think otherwise if he saw me in person. Understandably this was not enough to calm his fatherly fears of me becoming "too muscular"
A month later I picked him and my mother at the airport and my dad's jaw dropped. With a worrysome expression he asked: "Alex! What happened to you?!?! Why did you get so small???"
I laughed again and said: "Dad, I told you so, the pictures are not me, this is me :)"
Both my mom and dad have had concerns about my health ever since I started Bodybuidling (which is nothing else other than the art of shaping your body through nutrition and exercise). But after their 1 month stay with me and my husband, they came to the enormous realization of not only the tremendous health benefits I had acquired since I adopted this lifestyle but also the happiness and fulfillment benefits that this journey had brought to my life.
"I have never seen you as happy, as vital and as productive before" - Alejandro (dad)
"I am so proud of who you have become. I had my doubts before but not anymore" - Perla (mom)
"You become sort of a SUPERHUMAN when you compete Alex" - my boss
Now, let me start from the beginning and introduce myself. For all of those who have only met me online.
HOLA !My name is Alejandra, but you can call me Alex. I am 5'3" and currently weigh 116. I have 2 businesses one as a lifestyle coach and personal trainer and another as an illustrator and fine artist.
Look at this picture, would you even think I workout if you met me at the mall?
.JPG)
Now this is me without the sweatshirt. You might look at me and say. Oh she probably does some yoga. Some people might no even notice I workout. Plus I am proudly wearing one of my "cheat-meal-tshirts".
.JPG)
Now, look at me in my gym wear. Does it look like I lift heavy weights?
.JPG)
.JPG)
Fun facts about me: I can deadlift about 1.5 my bodyweight, which is 175 lbs for 2 reps, squat 155 lbs for 5 reps :) and I can leg press about 320 lbs for 8 reps.
Now check this out. Pose on the left just chilling, pose on the right front pose for Figure competitor consisting on how wide of a lat spread can I achieve.
Now look at me with my suit, hair and makeup, about 5 coats of tan and weighing probably about 3 lbs less of what I currently weigh and doing strict posing for the Figure category:
And yes, I eat tons of carbs :), as in pasta, rice, oatmeal, potatoes, bananas... (I do not know why people keep widening their eyes in disbelief every time I tell them that I eat carbs! If you are widening your eyes I hope I can proof to you that you do not necessarily have to take "carbs" out of your diet to achieve your goal, you just gotta know how to use them and/or teach your body to use them properly.
NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
Last week a couple of gym members approached me. One of them was concerned about my health and why I had lost so much weight and the other thought I had turned vegetarian.
On various occasions people have commented on my Facebook pictures of me being "too masculine". One time someone even became offended by my pictures stating that women should never look like that and that it was VERY WRONG of me to promote this as health.
All of this, while still being me, the 5'3" - 116 lbs girl.
I used to get upset and troubled when someone's opinion of me, didn't match my own. Then I came to the realization that the reason I got so upset was because I was trying to impose my vision of fitness onto others. I came to learn that everybody defines FITNESS in a different way and made the personal commitment to help find my clients (those who were ready to listen to what I had to teach) what THEIR PERSONAL DEFINITION OF FIT is (not mine), and help them to achieve it.
Like I said before. Not everyone can look like this, nor wants to look like this, nor has to look like this, nor even thinks looking like this is possible... you get the idea. And it is OK!
We are all special for who we are and what we want and this is what makes us unique!
The same way we ladies love the invention of pushup bras to improve our curves, or in my case, use a sportsbra that I hardly fill, NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS.
Do not wrong people in their journeys, instead ask them what their journey is like, and why did they started it in the first place.... you will be surprised at the stories people will tell you. Don't miss out on that chance by passing judgement on others.
I want to invite all my members to share in a picture of what being fit means to them. If you want to share a bit of your story and what inspires you to be showcased in a future post, please email me at alediazme@gmail.com or send me a private message through Transformation Journeys.
I want to hear about you!
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