How to Get a Model Body

by Jari Love

World famous fashion model Claudia Schiffer once admitted that her body was in terrible condition. She admitted to a steady diet of junk food, a lack of exercise, and generally depriving her body of what it needed in order to keep her super lean, model perfect body. Later, she began working with trainers and eating a healthy diet and said that she could not believe how weak she had once been and how much better she felt following this new routine.

We can all take a page from Ms. Schiffer and implement healthy lifestyle choices while working towards a truly "model perfect" figure. When we say we want the body of a model, it would be wiser to go for a fitness model's look rather than a fashion model's appearance simply because so many fashion models are the result of bad behaviors and even somewhat dangerous ones.

For example, for muscles to really "pop" and stand out, the body has to have a minimal amount of fat covering this underlying musculature. That might be possible by depriving the body of calories - but it is not all that realistic. When the body is starved of all its needs, it taps first into muscle and not into stored fat. When the body is also chronically deprived, it harms the natural metabolic process. Instead of behaving in a predictable way, the starved metabolism slows, and continues slowing. This impairs calorie burning and makes it very easy to gain and retain weight.

If you want a model body you have to eat a good diet, do a lot of exercise, drink lots of water, and be sure you are getting the nutrients you need. It is fairly simple to accomplish, but you may want some "insider's secrets" used by fitness models around the world.

These are very basic tips, but will give you an idea of how they get their optimally trim and fit appearance:

• Low calorie, high protein diets

• No sugar at all - this means no fruit either

• Healthy fats each day - several servings of olive or flax oil, avocado, plain nut butters, coconut, or another healthy fat is essential

• Minimal carbohydrate intake - usually in the form of whole grains or moderately starchy vegetables

• No dairy (except eggs)

• Steady food intake all day to keep the metabolism burning - three to five small meals, with snacks and lots of fresh water

• At least 30 minutes of cardio and another 30 of resistance training, or more

Doing this "routine" is often the most direct way to slowly develop a model's body while remaining healthy too.