WASHINGTON — It’s awards show season, and social media, magazines and TV shows are full of perfect bodies walking the red carpet. Personal trainer Josef Brandenburg says that while some of those physiques are the result of hard work and healthy living, there’s a lot more behind the scenes that you might not be aware of.
Picture perfect: Retouching, contouring and other tricks of the trade
Fact: Red carpet photos are usually retouched.
Flipping through the pages of a glossy gossip magazine, readers are presented with one toned, tanned body after another. Brandenburg says it’s getting tougher to tell the difference between true fitness and Photoshop. “The technology and the artists that are doing this for celebrities have gotten so good that it’s almost impossible to tell how much is being retouched and how much is this person’s hard work. With all that you can create an illusion that looks completely real,” he says. “However, if you’re seeing an image published anywhere, with 99 percent certainty that photo has been retouched to some extent.”
Fact: You can fake muscles with makeup.
Believe it or not, Brandenburg says there are even specific makeup kits for different parts of the body. “One of the things I’ve seen marketed towards men is abdominal kits that allow you to have the contouring and the shadowing. Under most lighting, it really looks like you’ve got abs,” he says. For women, there are plenty of facial contouring tutorials available on the Internet. There are even contouring tricks for cleavage, legs, arms and necks. Just ask the Victoria’s Secret Angels.
Fiction: Waist trainers and muscle stimulators get lasting results.
“The previous generations of electric muscle stimulators, as well as the ones available now, have had a lot of lawsuits brought against them because the machines have given people third degree burns,” says Brandenburg. “So that’s a potential negative side effect.” But aside from the possible injuries, those things really don’t do much. “Just putting electrical stimulation on the muscle and having it contract a whole lot won’t develop that muscle,” says Brandenburg. “That’s not going to change your shape either.”
Waist trainers, or anything without the electrical part, are pretty much a stronger form of shapewear, says Brandenburg. “Waist trainers are like beefier, more aggressive versions of Spanx. They’ve got metal or other hard materials with a lot of structural tension in it.” Brandenburg cautions that while some celebrities may swear by them, these ‘trainers’ are really just sleeker versions of the corset. And that comes with a number of dangerous side effects. “They make it hard to breathe, which can lead to you passing out,” he says. “They can put pressure on your organs in a way that may not be good for them.”
Bottom line: “There’s no garment you can wear that will literally change the shape of your body beyond that day,” Brandenburg says. There’s no shortcut for fitness.
Quick fixes: Are there safe ways to slim down before a big event?
Fact: 45 minutes of strength training is more effective than hours on the treadmill.
Celebrities, especially actors and actresses, are filming for many hours a day, and don’t have time to waste on a treadmill. Brandenburg says celebrity trainers like Valerie Waters, who trained Jennifer Garner and Richard Gere, among others, focus on strength and interval training. “Per minute of time investment, strength training is going to give you the highest return on the time you’ve invested in your workout,” he says. “When you’re shooting 12 to 16 hours a day, you don’t have time to spend hours and hours on the treadmill. You’ve got 30, 45 minutes and you want great results for that little bit of time.”
Fact: Kettlebells are a good multipurpose workout tool.
“Kettlebell training is attractive to celebrities because you can get a lot done in a very short period of time and you don’t need much,” says Brandenburg. “You can do a lot for your fat loss, your conditioning, your backside. A lot for pretty much every part of your body.” However, he cautions, you need to know how to use them. “Just because a contractor shows up at your house and he’s got a screwdriver, doesn’t mean he’s going to do a good job at fixing stuff.”
Fiction: Body wraps are a way to drop pounds in a day
Body wraps are dangerous, period. Whether it’s a treatment in a spa or a sweatsuit at the gym, it’s a bad idea. Brandenburg remembers seeing overweight guys in full bodysuits on the treadmills as a teenager. “With those, basically you’re exercising in a sauna. The more you cover, the more you put yourself at risk for overheating and having heatstroke.” Using wraps to lose water weight may give the appearance of instant weight loss, but the effects don’t last and the process is more harmful then helpful. Brandenburg says even fitness magazines resort to dehydration to get the lean, muscular look for photoshoots. “Besides starving themselves, oiling up, tanning, shaving, contouring, besides the perfect lighting and retouching, people in the magazines will dehydrate themselves to the point where it gets dangerous.”
Josef Brandenburg’s top three tips for getting fit fast
1. Make a big change in your diet.
“Take a look at your carbohydrates, like pasta, bread and sugar. Replace them all with vegetables and some fruit. That will reduce your carbohydrate intake considerably. Make sure you consume plenty, and you won’t be depriving yourself of anything you need.”
Why: “For a lot of people, refined carbohydrates are going to make your insulin levels go up, and high insulin levels are something that makes your kidneys retain extra sodium. And if you retain extra sodium, you’re also going to retain extra water. For some people that’s an extra 5, 10 pounds of water weight. Cutting back on carbohydrates is a quick way to drop some legitimate body fat and get rid of some of the extra water your body is holding onto.”
2. Drink more water, less calories.
“Whatever you weigh, cut that in half and drink that in water every single day. It should be just water, not flavored water or anything like that. Here’s a simple rule of thumb. Don’t drink your calories. Coffee is a great example. On the one hand, coffee can be great. Plain black coffee or coffee with a little bit of Stevia won’t add a lot of empty calories. However, when you go get your fancy blended drink at Starbucks or McDonalds, you can get the caloric equivalent of one or even two milkshakes.”
Why: “Because it’s liquid, those calories don’t make you feel very full. It’s very easy to drink them and accumulate all these extra calories in your diet. Your brain doesn’t really register that you’re full. Thinking about high-calorie drinks, it’s juice, soda, fancy coffee drinks, sweet tea and others like that. Replacing those drinks with their non-calorie-heavy counterparts is a great way to not only take weight off in the short term for an event, but it’s also a great way to keep it off as well.”
3. Streamline your workout
“Focus on strength training. Focus on your entire body three days a week.”
The RAMP UP — 5min sets reps tempo rest
1A. Pretzel 1.0 1 1ea 30sec none
1B. Pretzel 2.0 1 1ea 30sec none
1C. Spiderman lunge with overhead reach 1 5ea slow none
1D. Inchworm 1 5 slow none
Strength, Core and Power — 20min sets reps tempo rest
2A. Kettlebell Deadlift 4 6 moderate 0sec
2B. DB floor press 4 6 moderate 0sec
2C. Plank w/ hand tap 3 12ea moderate 0sec
2D. Jump rope 3 50-100 1-2min
3A. Single leg squat from box 4 6ea moderate 0sec
3B. Cross body row 4 6ea moderate 0sec
3C. Single arm farmer’s walk 3 1 30-60s each 0sec
3D. Mountain climbers 3 20ea moderate 1-2min
