Compared to their female counterparts, males have it relatively easy in terms maintaining standards and keeping up appearances. There’s a lot more consistency with expectations. From Paris to Milan, Sydney and New York – a good jaw line and toned physique tends to be enough to get you across the line.
Yet nonetheless, it still takes work to maintain. So we sat down with three of our favourite male models to spill the beans on how they keep in shape.
Dougie Joseph
Oli Benz
Tom Bull‘Male models don’t need to be massive, if you bulk out you run the risk of losing clients’ says Oli Benz, ‘The hardest part is when you’re constantly on the move though. That’s why I centre my workouts around a mat; planks, push ups and lots of core work…something I can easily do at home and on the go. But generally I’m a pretty active person in the first place, as long as I eat right I can stay in shape just with basketball, surfing and golf.’
When you speak to a lot of guys who model though, they’re pretty blaze about it all. Mostly because they fell into the line of work and aren’t that fussed. Yet the one thing they all say is that when they do get booked on a big job (when it requires them to be shirtless) they all up the ante. More frequent, higher intensity workouts on the treadmill with a super clean diet.
Speaking to Dougie Joseph he explains ‘I think if you do the same stuff every week your body gets used to it so it stops responding – it also gets super boring. There’s dudes out there that lift every day, their traps get so big that their neck becomes indistinguishable.’ And I think most individuals would agree – no one wants to see a jacked up man on the catwalk or catalogue. It’s not really relatable nor is it very attractive.
He continues, ‘I do a lot of body weight exercise and I also mix in some boxing a few times a week – it’s always a good idea to do throw in some yoga or Pilates as well. Bases, it’s about covering all bases’.
A unanimous consensus amongst all models (male and female) is that staying in shape requires shaking things up and including some form of pilates and yoga so as to tone and lean out the muscle.
In terms of diet on the other hand, Tom likes to ‘stick to a plant based diet, where basically anything white I wont eat – apart from the occasional slip up…only if it’s hot and dipped in balsamic and olio..’ Of course with an increased intake of water a big MUST ‘my daily intake of H2o would last a camel a year’ he says.
Where Oli Benz opts for a pescetarian (still eats fish) diet ‘it keeps me eating super clean; lots of fruit and vegetables’.
For yoga, Tom recommends @yogavidanyc, boxing, Dougie says Shadow Boxing or @jgboxingacademy and for pilates – Oli likes @newyorkpilates.
