Fitness Modeling 101 – How To Prepare For A Photoshoot

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This past Saturday I had the honor of working with Powertec Fitness as a model for their 2011 ad campaign. It was one of the coolest projects I’ve worked on this year FOR SURE and everyone on set was great.

We filmed a bunch of workout videos…did some video demonstrations…and took a bunch of still shots for the catalog, poster, and website.

The shoot lasted for about 10 hours but it was a great time. I REALLY had a lot of fun even though I was CRAZY sore afterward from doing hundreds of reps demonstrating how to use the equipment!

Anyways, many of my peeps from Twitter and Facebook have been asking me how I prepped for the shoot…and I know many of you have been asking me for a while to post more stuff about my photoshoot/contest prep diet and workouts.

So I figured I would show you guys exactly what I ate and what my workouts were like in the week leading up to the Powertec shoot. That way…when you have your own shoot…you can KILL it!

The shoot took place on Saturday November 20th and since I am in maintenance mode right now at somewhere around 5% or 6% bodyfat I only needed a few days to prepare… but you may need more days or weeks to prepare depending on your level of conditioning and/or goals.

(Keep in mind that there are many aspects of photoshoot prep…tanning, makeup, hair, skincare, etc that I’m not covering in this post. This post mainly deals with the nutrition and workout aspect of photoshoot prep)

Here’s what I did:

I started my prep on Monday November 15th for the Saturday shoot on November 20th…

Monday – 5 Days Out.

Split: Chest/Triceps/Shoulders
Reps: Dropsets. 8/12/20
Sets: 3 of each exercise
Workout: Dumbbell incline bench press, cable crossover, hindu pushups (until failure), spiderman pushups (until failure), barbell military press, side lateral raise, tricep pressdowns, dips, 100 reps with 105lbs on barbell flat bench as a finisher.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
1/2 gallon of water sipped throughout the day
100mg potassium three times per day
1000mg dandelion root three times per day
Multivitamin

During prep I followed my regular meal plan while cutting carbs down to practically zero. I ate nothing but whole, natural, fresh foods such as ground turkey, grass fed bison, chicken breast, and white fish…and the only vegetables I ate were asparagus and spinach. All of my fat intake came from olive oil, almonds, and cashews.

Here is a sample snapshot of my daily mealplan:

Meal1: 8oz ground bison, 2-3 cups steamed spinach, Mrs. Dash no salt seasoning blend

Meal2: 8oz ground turkey, 2-3 cups steamed asparagus, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, Mrs. Dash no salt seasoning blend

Meal 3: 6oz boiled chicken, spinach salad, 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, Mrs. Dash no salt seasoning blend

Meal 4: 40g protein powder, 2-3 cups steamed asparagus, 2 tbsp almond butter

Meal 5: 6oz baked tilapia, 2-3 cups steamed spinach, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, Mrs. Dash no salt seasoning blend

Meal 6: 40g protein powder, 1 serving cashews or almonds

Pretty boring stuff but it works. Don’t worry too much about taste…sure this food is bland but the taste of success after your shoot will taste better than anything you’ll ever whip up in your kitchen!

Tuesday – 4 Days Out.

Split: Back/Biceps/Legs/Calves
Reps: Dropsets. 8/12/20
Sets: 3 of each exercise
Workout: Seated cable row, barbell rows, lat pull downs, one arm smith machine rows, barbell curls, one arm dumbbell curls, barbell front squats, barbell walking lunges, seated calf raise, 100 pullups as a finisher.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
1/2 gallon of water sipped throughout the day
100mg potassium three times per day
1000mg dandelion root three times per day
Multivitamin

During prep I followed my regular meal plan while cutting carbs down to practically zero. I ate nothing but whole, natural, fresh foods such as ground turkey, grass fed bison, chicken breast, and white fish…and the only vegetables I ate were asparagus and spinach. All of my fat intake came from olive oil, almonds, and cashews.

Wednesday – 3 Days Out (This day is basically a repeat of day one but instead of drop sets I’ll do two sets of 25 on each exercise.)

Split: Chest/Triceps/Shoulders
Reps: 25
Sets: 2 of each exercise
Workout: Dumbbell incline bench press, cable crossover, hindu pushups (until failure), spiderman pushups (until failure), barbell military press, side lateral raise, tricep pressdowns, dips, 100 reps with 105lbs on barbell flat bench as a finisher.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
1/2 gallon of water sipped throughout the day
100mg potassium three times per day
1000mg dandelion root three times per day
Multivitamin

During prep I followed my regular meal plan while cutting carbs down to practically zero. I ate nothing but whole, natural, fresh foods such as ground turkey, grass fed bison, chicken breast, and white fish…and the only vegetables I ate were asparagus and spinach. All of my fat intake came from olive oil, almonds, and cashews.

Thursday – 2 Days Out (This day is basically a repeat of day two but instead of drop sets I’ll do two sets of 25 on each exercise. I’ll also eliminate any leg work to avoid water retention and swelling in the legs on shoot day)

Split: Back/Biceps
Reps: 25
Sets: 2 of each exercise
Workout: Seated cable row, barbell rows, lat pull downs, one arm smith machine rows, barbell curls, one arm dumbbell curls, rope curls, 100 pull-ups as a finisher.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
1/2 gallon of water sipped throughout the day
100mg potassium three times per day
1000mg dandelion root three times per day
Multivitamin

During prep I followed my regular meal plan while cutting carbs down to practically zero. I ate nothing but whole, natural, fresh foods such as ground turkey, grass fed bison, chicken breast, and white fish…and the only vegetables I ate were asparagus and spinach. All of my fat intake came from olive oil, almonds, and cashews.

Friday – Day Before Shoot:

At this point I’m feeling pretty hungry, and tired. It’s been a few days since I’ve eaten a carb meal and combine that with the low water intake and high intensity workouts back to back to back, I’m feeling quite drained and low on energy. The meal plan for today is practically the same as all of the other days…6 meals that consist of whole, natural, fresh foods such as ground turkey, grass fed bison, chicken breast, and white fish. I also keep my veggie intake to asparagus and spinach only. All of my fat intake will come from olive oil, almonds, and cashews only. So there will be nothing drastically different than any of the days before.

The only difference is that for meal #5 on this day I will begin to load up with carbs. So for meal #5 the day before a shoot I’ll usually eat a large sweet potato, several Ezekiel english muffins, or a large bowl of oatmeal.

For meal #6 I’ll usually have a large steak and half of a sweet potato. Depending on my conditioning and the shoot/event…I’ll sometimes drink a glass of red wine as well. This can help me appear more vascular.

A little trick I like to use the night before to fill out my muscles is to eat something DENSE. Something that is sugary, fatty, and has a bunch of calories. It’s usually a food that many people mistakenly believe would ruin all of the hard work they have put in…but it actually does the exact opposite.

What’s the trick?

I’ll have a medium sized slice of cheesecake or a medium cheeseburger! And I’ll usually eat it 60 to 90 minutes after my last meal of the day.

Try it and see how your body responds!

Please keep in mind that everyone is different and your body may respond differently than mine does. So be sure to experiment to see what works for you as you test out different methods to learn how your body responds. It is always a good idea to keep a journal so you can write down everything. Paying attention to detail is critical.

NOTE: there is no workout or cardio on this day.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
1/2 gallon of water sipped throughout the day
100mg potassium three times per day
1000mg dandelion root three times per day
Multivitamin

Acting silly with Jmiah Williamson, Ian Lauer , and photographer Natalie Minh @ Powertec before the shoot

Day Of Shoot:

This is where the fun begins and 30 minutes or so after I wake up I’ll make breakfast. This meal will usually consist of some steak or chicken, a small sweet potato, and a small piece of cheesecake. Even though I usually wake up on this day starving, it is important not to pound the food too fast and get bloated but to slowly chew everything thoroughly. The last thing you want is a bloated belly when the cameras start rolling…

I’ll have a few sips of water after breakfast but again it is important not to pound it…even though you are probably thirsty as hell. Of course you need to fill out your muscles, but you don’t want to overdo it…so be sure to check yourself out in a full size mirror before you get dressed. If you look ripped and your muscles don’t look flat as a pancake, just continue to sip your water as you need it. If you look or feel flat drink about 4-6 ounces of water every hour or so and maybe eat something a little salty on your way over to the shoot.

Again, please keep in mind that everyone is different and your body may respond differently than mine does. So be sure to experiment to see what works for you as you test out different methods to learn how your body responds. It is always a good idea to keep a journal so you can write down everything. Paying attention to detail is critical.

Nutrition:
No additional salt on food.
Only small sips of water
100mg potassium with breakfast
1000mg dandelion root with breakfast
One cup unsweetened organic black coffee with breakfast
Multivitamin

But your nutrition doesn’t stop there…you still need to bring healthy food with you to the shoot so you don’t go for hours without eating and/or end up having to blow your diet by eating the catering. Sometimes the catering is healthy food, especially if you’re working on a large fitness project (the catering was excellent at the Powertec shoot by the way ), but for most shoots you’ll go on, the catering (if they even have it) will suck so be sure to pack a cooler.

Here’s what I usually bring:
Bottled water
Protein powder
Chicken or steak in tupperware
Brown rice or baked sweet potatoes in tupperware
Cashews/almonds or cashew/almond butter
One protein bar.

And that’s basically it. Yes it’s that simple…AND that complicated. The only thing to do now is to rock it at your shoot!

So what are YOUR favorite photoshoot prep tricks? Do you have questions for me? Please leave them as comments below!

Jamin