Look Like An Instagram Model: How To Bring About A Visual Change In Your Physique As A Woman
Fitness goals can differ severely from person to person. While some women might want to improve a specific area of performance, other's might just want to improve their body composition. If you fall in the latter category, there is a good chance that you wish to improve your physique visually, but not to a point where you end up looking like a bikini competitor. Instead, women now want the 'Instagram model' look. If that is what you wish to achieve, here’s what you should and shouldn’t be doing.
What are the key characteristics of this look?
A taut waist
Well-sculpted glutes
Proportionate legs
Toned arms
What you’ll realize here is that, to achieve this look, neither do you have to reach your natural muscular potential nor do you have to get extremely ripped to show off an extremely chiseled 6 pack. This look is all about tone and proportion. Having a tight waist, with good lower body development and just decent upper body development is enough to create the proportion required to achieve this look.
How do you get there?
If you’re planning on getting this look naturally, there is one thing you should remember;
“It comes down to smart work, not hard work.”
Not to discredit the importance of hard work, but if you aren’t genetically gifted with a lean frame desperately yearning to put on lean mass, you’ll have to reassess your strategy. Simply put, without the right approach, it is very easy to be stuck in a cycle of working hard and not seeing results, without realizing the fact that it has been months and you have yet to make any significant change to your body.
To see if you are stuck in this cycle, honestly analyze your body composition now versus a year ago from today. If you feel you haven’t made the progress you should have despite of putting in the work, it might be time to change your approach. This isn’t to make you feel bad about yourself, but to help you make changes going ahead.
Here is why this is important. It is very easy to make quantifiable progress in fitness, for example, a year ago you did not workout at all, but now you do 5 hours of cardio and 2 hours of lifting a week. Of course, this is progress… right? Well, you have definitely improved your fitness and kudos for that. But if you look the same now as you did back then, or the differences are so minor that you yourself can’t notice them on a consistent basis, did you really progress if your goal was to improve the way you look?
Yes, you did put in hard work and now you're doing more. But what if I told you that you could actually change your physique visually doing lesser of the things that don’t matter as much and more of things that do. This is where smart work comes in. Being smart with your approach will help you achieve results in a more efficient way, and while hard work will still be required, it won’t be the only factor determining your results.
What you should and shouldn’t do?
1. Don’t become a cardio bunny.
Cardio is great for general fitness and health and should be incorporated in every routine. While there are people who skip cardio, there are other’s who make it their only focus. And that is exactly what you shouldn’t be doing if you want to bring about an aesthetic change in your physique. If you feel that hours of cardio is what will give you the physique you desire, you’re wrong. In fact, it could be a recipe for 'skinny fat’ and I’m sure that’s not what you want.
If you truly want to build a physique with a 'flat stomach’ and a taught waist, you have to understand that excessive cardio will only do more harm than good. And no, cardio isn’t going to eat up your gains if done carefully. But it surely will tap into your recovery reserves and the effect could be strong enough to derail you from your plan.
Instead, limit cardio to 1-3 sessions a week and focus the spare time on more important factors like your nutrition, strength training, and resting!
2. Don’t drastically cut calories
Don’t be that person who eats everything in sight because it's the last day before the “diet” starts and then aggressively slashes down their intake to 1000-1200 calories. Such people generally tend to yo-yo between phases of dieting and binging and end up making no real progress. This is definitely what you shouldn’t be doing. In fact, it will be in your best interest to slowly drop calories, as this, in turn, will increase your ability to build strength in the weight room, helping you build muscle and achieve your end goal. Also, if you do experience a plateau going deeper into your diet, you will be able to drop calories further, something that wouldn’t be a viable option if you would start dieting on calories as low as 1200.
To learn more about setting up your nutrition, check out 'How Much Should I Eat To Lose Fat?’.
3. Stop pump training
This could be one of the biggest mistakes made. If you still think that the ab circuits and light dumbbell work you see on Instagram are what gives fitness models the look they have, you’re oh so wrong. In a world hungry for attention, people will make content that gets the most views. It is your job to be smart and separate the BS from the reality. If you truly want to change the way you look, you’ll have to lift heavy. Heavy is subjective, but it basically means that you would see the best results lifting a weight you can perform 6-12 reps with.
This means you should lift a weight that's heavy enough to fall in that range, and once it becomes relatively ‘light', progress to the next weight. You will NOT make visual changes if you don't induce progressive overload. Also, lifting heavy won’t cause as much of the burning sensation as you get from pump training. This is absolutely normal. Remember, smart work > hard work. Get stronger over time and you’ll be shocked to see your body change.
If you do not have a training program to help you build your physique in the proportion you desire, use the free training program provided in 'The Guide To Achieving Your Goal Physique For Women’.
Few more things to keep in mind
Try to spend at least 3 days a week strength training.
Try to limit the time spent on cardio to a maximum of the amount of time spent on strength training.
Focus on eating a diet high in protein to support recovery and growth.
Train ‘important’ muscles with a higher frequency (number of times a week).
Do not ignore hydration, food quality, sleep quantity, and sleep quality.
Conclusion
Making a visual change in your body eventually comes down to dialing in your nutrition and training. Reassess your approach over time and make sure you aren’t making the mistakes mentioned in the article above. Focus on getting stronger over time and emphasize the key muscle groups in your training. Combine this with a relatively low body fat percentage and you’ll be looking like an Instagram model in no time. Most importantly, remember to enjoy the process. As long you’re consistent with the right approach, the results will come.
