How come models never lift heavy ?

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  • sammniamii
    sammniamii Posts: 669 Member
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    You do realize half if not more of the "model" pictures you see have been photoshopped, right? They may claim their workouts are what contributes to their shape, but you have to stop and think about how much tweaking each photo gets before we ever see it.

    Plus, sorry - a size 00 is not something I ever want to be. A nice well muscled 10-12 is my goal (as well as what I look for).
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    If you think that VS models are so 'perfect' and that you can achieve the same look, you need to watch this. http://youtu.be/Tl8uIbSOQa4
  • delicious_cocktail
    delicious_cocktail Posts: 5,797 Member
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    Even if she wasn't photoshopped in this illustration, she's still not my taste.

    untouch2.jpg
  • Number_44
    Number_44 Posts: 97 Member
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    Thanks, dear <3 I don't wanna look like a VS model, I just want slightly thinner legs and I don't know how to achieve that.

    Genetics.

    There are different reasons to lift weights. Become stronger, lose body fat etc. But when you lift weights you do gain muscle mass. Some of the factors that determine how large those muscles "appear" have to do with your bone size and the length of those muscles. Those are determined by genetics and you cant change that. So there may be a point you will reach where you wont be able to get your legs any slimmer than you would like them to "appear".
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    "Perfect" is a super-subjective term.

    There's a whole magazine industry of air-brushed pictures out there giving both men and women unhealthy and fictional paradigms. There are plenty of split pictures available online to show how photoshopped these pictures are.

    I guess the magazines aren't peddling fit/healthy/strong yet. So the majority of joe/jane public doesn't identify with it as an ideal. Times and tastes change, so maybe this will too, who knows?

    OP: you need to come to terms with how this has all been skewed and presented to you. There are no objectively "perfect" people. Only people who you may happen to find "perfect" given your personal taste and cultural environment.
  • kjm3579
    kjm3579 Posts: 3,974 Member
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    Some of those models are dealing with eating disorders just to keep what they feel is the ideal body. They are very different from female bodybuilders - you need to decide if you want a bodybuilders physique or that of a super model. If all you need is to loose some body fat here and there you can do that with a combination of cardio and a lifting program such as NROLFW or StongLifts 5x5. Try Bikram yoga as a possible workout and do a little running each day. Given a few months you will be surprised in the changes you can make to your body if you eat right while working out.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    In reality, models are not as beautiful as media makes them out to be. All they have is the facial bone structure that the client wants to have (because you can't change that *too* much). Everything else is post-processing.

    As for fashion models who do the catwalk - they're on the verge of death.

    If I wanted to marry a skeleton, I'd visit my local high school science room and pick one up there.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    If you want to be leaner, you have to find the right eating routines. Training (with or without weights) will tone, grow and strengthen muscles. Don't ask them what workout they do, ask what they eat, when they eat and how they prepare for photo shoot. Like bodybuilders, I'm pretty sure they have a routine that leaves them at their peak for that one period of time.

    The advice you see on lifting heavy is still the right advice for the vast majority of people because it helps us reach our genetic potential the the most healthy way possible. If you really want to do the barbie workouts, go for it. Lifting heavy takes a commitment that you don't seem to be ready for.
  • beekay70
    beekay70 Posts: 214 Member
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    It depends on the type of model. There are fitness models, and I find them much more attractive than the VS models. Lifting heavy gives a much better look and can overcome what your genetics didn't provide.
  • HelloDan
    HelloDan Posts: 712 Member
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    This!!! No magical genetics are gonna make you lose when you eat more than your maintenance.

    Of course they won't, but they will set what your maintenance level is, which may be higher than someone else who appears to be the same as you.


    It's apparently not PC these days to admit that some people are just smarter, leaner, stronger than others naturally, but it's a fact. If I posted a topic saying what diet and workout would I have to follow to be as tall as Yao Ming, you guys would just laugh at me, yet when it's other attributes, which admittedly are much more changeable, but still have limits, people seem to think anything is possible.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    A large portion of it is genetics and body type. I have skinny legs. I've always had skinny legs. I have the thigh gap the teens are dreaming of. I don't do anything to have that, it's just there, always has been, my family says I have chicken legs.

    My daughter is 6' but she has large hips and thighs. Always has had. She's athletic, fit and low BF% but she's never going to have skinny legs. Her cousin is the same height and has the build of the VS models. You stand them side by side and you have two totally different people just based on genetics. Neither of them work at having their "look", it just happened.

    You make the best of what you have. Dress to accentuate your positives and be your best you. Don't waste your youth trying to look like someone else.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    We all have that one friend who eats whatever her or she wants as well as double the calories of everyone else but somehow manages to stay thin even with minimal, half-assed exercise. Genetics. :mad:

    or you don't know how they eat when you're not around. I find it hard to believe genetics could magically gift the ability to eat all the food without gaining. I use to be that girl...then I got fat

    There are some people who have naturally high metabolisms and really can eat anything they want, not exercise, and be super skinny. Most of the time this changes around 30 or so, but I have friends that are in their 50s and still are naturally skinny. Sugar seems to raisttheir metabolisms even higher. My Son inlaw is 5'6" and can barely keep 110 pounds on him. He lives on pizza and Mountain Dew, and very little physical activity. He is 29 and still trying to gain weight. His mother was the same way.
    Ah, if only I had just a little bit of their problem!
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Models don't lift much (I say much because most trainers do have them doing resistance training but it tends to be more metcon oriented) because they have a contractual obligation to be a certain size. They starve themselves and do tons of cario to stay a certain size.

    And then they get photoshopped.
  • Rosannajo88
    Rosannajo88 Posts: 212 Member
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    Because models are thin, not toned.
  • douceurdevivre
    douceurdevivre Posts: 28
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    As far as your legs being thinner, lower your bodyfat, but some people just happen to hold more muscle/fat in their legs, and a "thigh gap" is genetic. I am generally bigger on the bottom, so instead of being upset that I don't have thin legs, I've worked my *kitten* off (or on) in the gym to shape them and turn my legs and butt into the thing that most of my friends envy and comment on. If you want to "slim down" change your diet and lower your body fat, that simple. Lifting heavy and eating a calorie surplus everyday is going to lead to a weight gain, in addition not getting enough protein in your diet isn't ideal for muscle growth and repair. I haven't looked at your diary so I have no clue what your diet looks like, but really, hit your calorie goals and macros and give it 8-12 weeks, take pictures and measurements and watch your body change.

    I've been lifting for far more than 8 weeks, I am eating at a deficit, watching my macros and aiming for a protein-based diet. As a result, I've lost body fat (I'm at 17%) and I am now the proud owner of a skeletal upper body, ribs instead of boobs and abs (despite never having done an abs exercise in my life, lol), while my legs are confortably covered in a layer of fat and saddlebags. It's frustrating as hell and it's making me wonder if I should continue weightlifting at all. That's why I'm wondering if perhaps that high rep, low weight workout would leave me better off and slim down my legs or not.
  • clareyoung80
    clareyoung80 Posts: 177 Member
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    Ditto on the fact that the VS models have very low body fat levels. And Photoshop. If you wanted to get slimmer legs, lose body fat. That is, have a sensible calorific deficit. 'Saddlebags' are made of fat, not muscle.

    VS models differ from other models I guess in that on top of having very low levels of body fat, they build up just enough muscle. At low levels of bf, you can see it quite clearly.

    But, it is all bull because Photoshop Photoshop Photoshop.

    And also, VS models will most likely be the kind of people that along with being very tall, can 'reasonably' sustain very low levels of bodyfat. And most likely be 'ectomorph's in bodyshape. So, it'll be 'easier' for them to have thin thighs because their bodies store fat differently (ectomorphs not really storing fat that much). For me, a pear shaped endomorph, the amount of work I'd need to put myself through to get my bodyfat levels down enough to where it leaves my thighs would be...well, it would be coffee and cigarettes and cotton wool balls soaked in orange juice. And I'd be dead on my feet.

    Also, it means that if your body stores more fat in an area, say your thighs, then you're just gonna have to accept that if you want your thighs to be slimmer, you will just have to get your bodyfat lower. The weights aren't the issue here.

    But, anyway, in answer to your question, it's body fat not muscle that will bring you 'slimmer legs'.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    A large portion of it is genetics and body type. I have skinny legs. I've always had skinny legs. I have the thigh gap the teens are dreaming of. I don't do anything to have that, it's just there, always has been, my family says I have chicken legs.

    My daughter is 6' but she has large hips and thighs. Always has had. She's athletic, fit and low BF% but she's never going to have skinny legs. Her cousin is the same height and has the build of the VS models. You stand them side by side and you have two totally different people just based on genetics. Neither of them work at having their "look", it just happened.

    You make the best of what you have. Dress to accentuate your positives and be your best you. Don't waste your youth trying to look like someone else.

    this is spot on... seriously.

    I'll never look like one of them- I'll always have thick thighs. But I'll be able to dead lift more than they will so I'm not particularly concerned- and I feel out other clothes that they could never dream of doing without padding (and yes- they pad)

    They are not perfect. They are an idea pushed on us by fashion and media. But they do not represent the ultimate in women's physic and beauty.

    that being said- I have just recently learned what this 'thigh gap' thing is and I think it's possibly one of the dumbest aesthetics anyone could ever shoot for- it's just so inconsequential and trivial- it has more to do with bone structure than fat content. It's just like saying you are going to work out and diet enough until you have Jody Foster's check bones.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    We all have that one friend who eats whatever her or she wants as well as double the calories of everyone else but somehow manages to stay thin even with minimal, half-assed exercise. Genetics. :mad:

    or you don't know how they eat when you're not around. I find it hard to believe genetics could magically gift the ability to eat all the food without gaining. I use to be that girl...then I got fat

    There are some people who have naturally high metabolisms and really can eat anything they want, not exercise, and be super skinny. Most of the time this changes around 30 or so, but I have friends that are in their 50s and still are naturally skinny. Sugar seems to raisttheir metabolisms even higher. My Son inlaw is 5'6" and can barely keep 110 pounds on him. He lives on pizza and Mountain Dew, and very little physical activity. He is 29 and still trying to gain weight. His mother was the same way.
    Ah, if only I had just a little bit of their problem!

    They don't eat as much as they think they do.

    Variations in metabolism of course exist, but there isn't as extreme a range as many seem to think. Medical ailments complicate the issue somewhat, but even those can't trump thermodynamics.
  • Phoenix_Warrior
    Phoenix_Warrior Posts: 1,633 Member
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    We all have that one friend who eats whatever her or she wants as well as double the calories of everyone else but somehow manages to stay thin even with minimal, half-assed exercise. Genetics. :mad:

    or you don't know how they eat when you're not around. I find it hard to believe genetics could magically gift the ability to eat all the food without gaining. I use to be that girl...then I got fat

    There are some people who have naturally high metabolisms and really can eat anything they want, not exercise, and be super skinny. Most of the time this changes around 30 or so, but I have friends that are in their 50s and still are naturally skinny. Sugar seems to raisttheir metabolisms even higher. My Son inlaw is 5'6" and can barely keep 110 pounds on him. He lives on pizza and Mountain Dew, and very little physical activity. He is 29 and still trying to gain weight. His mother was the same way.
    Ah, if only I had just a little bit of their problem!

    So, you know exactly what they eat all the time then? I have a guy friend who's 6' and 130 lbs. Whenever he was around, he'd pull out hamburgers from mcdonalds and drink copious amounts of Mt Dew. We all assumed he had a "fast metabolism" too. Until about 3 months ago when I told him I was calorie counting, so he took a day to tell me how much he ate throughout a day. 900 calories. Sure, that's not every day, but that's scary low. His weight is crazy low. I never knew it until I started getting into fitness and talking to him about it. He says he puts himself on a diet whenever his stomach touches his shirt. My friend has a problem and it was something I never would have guessed. I'm not saying that, that is the case for your story or for anyone who is "naturally skinny" but my point is you don't KNOW how they eat all the time. Metabolism isn't a magical "jo gaining weight" fairy. Everyone can get fat if they eat at a surplus.
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
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    2 words. air brush

    One more word...PhotoShop.

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